Food from the Beach House

This is Owen’s current favorite breakfast.

He came up with the idea a couple of months ago. We were in Providence, Rhode Island for an AAU basketball tournament. It was late afternoon and we were driving back to the hotel after a day of games in which he had really played his heart out. In the car we were all remarking together on the fact that there are so many Dunkin’ Donuts in New England (a conversation we have frequently when we’re in the car in New England). Braydon pulled off at a Dunkin’ drive-through to get coffee, and Owen was eyeing the drive-through menu from the back seat. Suddenly he was “desperately hungry” (what else is new?!), and asked if he could get what was listed as a “Wake-Up Wrap.” Braydon ordered it for him.

And then my Foodie Son did something that makes this Foodie Mom so proud!!! He immediately began a Foodie Stream of Consciousness Critique of the Dunnkin’ Wake-Up Wrap. It went something like this:

“Hmmm… this thing is actually not bad. Hmmm… actually, this thing is pretty good. Hmmm… I bet if Mom made this she could make it actually really good. You know what? Mom, if you made it with a real fried egg? And more than just one tiny slice of bacon? And made it real bacon? And made sure the tortilla was really soft? It would actually be totally good. What would make this awesome is guacamole. If it had guacamole on it, that would be really good. And why do they call this a wrap? This is a type of taco.”

I heard this running commentary and knew right then and there that I would work on perfecting this thing for him. It has now become a regular breakfast for Owen. The rest of us really like it too!

INGREDIENTS:

• Eggs
• Tortillas
• Guacamole (I have found that buying the “mini” single packs is well worth it for this, because you don’t need to use much guacamole if you’re only making a couple at a time)
• Cheese (Owen prefers this with white American; the rest of us prefer it with cheddar)
• BaconTO DO:

1. Cook the bacon (you’ll want 2-3 slices per taco)
2. Fry up the eggs (1 egg per taco)
3. Place 1 tortilla on a plate, with cheese on one side (1 slice American; similar amount for cheddar). Microwave for 10-20 seconds just to heat cheese through and soften the tortilla
4. Assemble: spread guacamole on the other half of the tortilla (the half that doesn’t have cheese), place fried egg on top of cheese, bacon on top of egg, then fold so that the guacamole side layers on top of the bacon
5. There’s your “Owen’s Breakfast Taco!” Enjoy!

So, back in 2010 I posted about this “4th of July Trifle.” People, if you have not done this yet, do it. It is so good, so easy to make (I dare say, it is even FUN to make!), and the perfect 4th of July treat to share with a crowd — or, in the case of us, to share with your little family (because. Owen.). Seriously, do this! If not for this 4th, then sometime this summer! I’m telling you: YUMMO!!!!!!

Here’s the 2010 post: CLICK HERE (and — be still my beating heart! — check out the pics of then 6-year-old Owen and 2-year-old Meera!).

This is so easy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 store-bought pound cake (people, I’m telling you, buy it! not worth making it! trust me!)
• 2 packages vanilla Jello Instant Pudding
• 4 cups cold milk
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• fresh blueberries
• fresh strawberries

TO DO:

Beat together the cream, vanilla, and sugar until thick (you’re making whipped cream here; make sure it is nice and thick and creamy, but not too stiff/turning-into-butter).Next, follow the package instructions to make the pudding. If you buy the “Instant” kind, this should — literally — take you 2 minutes (you just mix it together with the cold milk).Chop/slice and wash the strawberries, wash the blueberries, and get ready to assemble.Layer into a big bowl (at home we have a nice clear glass trifle dish, but alas, we did not bring that with us to the beach house!) — pudding, whipped cream, berries, cake. Pudding, whipped cream, berries, cake. Repeat with as many layers as will fit into the bowl (we did 3 layers for this one). Gently press down on the pound cake layer, as you go, to flatten and press the layers together (you want it gently packed in, not a lot of air/space). Note: no need to even cut/dice the pound cake… just crumble it into big chunks right into the bowl as you’re layering it in. (Kyle really enjoyed this part! There’s something fun about crumbling up a whole cake! Zero perfectionism allowed with this trifle people!)Have the most artistic person in your family do a nice 4th of July design on the top with the rest of the fruit! Meera got really into this — she opted to forgo a flag this year and make a “FIREWORK!” instead. It turned out great looking!When it is done, stick it into the fridge for a few hours or — even better — overnight. To serve, scoop out nice big portions of this cool creamy goodness and enjoy! It will last a few days in the fridge and will get better as it sits!

HAPPY 4th OF JULY Y’ALL!

This summer I am going to be posting a series of food posts from the beach house in South Carolina. I’m doing this for a few reasons:

• I want to have one central, easily accessible, spot where I collect my Beach House food/recipe ideas for my own future use. Being in the Lowcountry always gets me creatively inspired. And I have to cook for my family. These two things collide for me in July and I tend to have a culinary explosion where I’m cooking like crazy, and much more creatively than usual. In the dead of winter, when I’m in a food funk, I want to be able to find my ideas easily.
• I want a record of our Beach House Food because it is becoming a “thing” for my bambinos. There are certain foods, dishes, and culinary experiences that they’ve come to crave in July. I want them to have a “recipe book” (so to speak) in case they ever want to pursue these things themselves in the future.
• Probably more than any other “ask,” I get requests from blog readers for me to please post more about FOOD. For a long time I had the “Food Friday” posts going (just type in “Food Friday” to the search line of our blog and you’ll see tons and tons of posts). There was a whole contingent of our readership who was following primarily for that aspect of our blog. In the past few years I’ve really let that drop a lot. I miss it, many readers miss it, and I somehow feel really invigorated to do it (plus, I have more time to do it) in July. For those of you foodie readers who are still hanging in there reading this hanging-on-by-a-thread blog— these Food from the Beach House posts will be, in large part, for you! Thanks for not giving up on me!
• Sharing is caring. No, seriously, it is. I get 99.9999% of my ideas in life from sources external to me. This little old blog is one way for me to give back and contribute to the communal pot. xoxoxoxo

Important Notes: we do not own this beach house (we rent it!), we are only here once a year (July!), and I am by no means a Master Chef (I just cook for my peeps!).

At the end of July I will index all these posts in one centralized spot. For now, I’ll just be posting as we go.

My first Food from the Beach House post is directly below. It’s a yummy one!

Cheers! ~Heather

Over the past couple of years this has become one of our staple beach house dinners. I don’t know why I don’t make it the rest of the year, I just don’t. But as a result, this has become an extra special and extra ‘beach house-y’ meal for us. The bonus is that this is super easy to make (because of a couple of built in “cheats”). The most awesome thing about this supper, however, is that if you double or triple it (like I always do), there will be lots of leftovers — which can be used in lots of different ways.

INGREDIENTS:

• Bottle of your favorite store-bought Italian dressing (totally skimp here and buy the cheap stuff– it seems to make it even better, I swear! This– store bought dressing– is Cheat #1)
• Chicken breasts
• Store-bought pesto (make your own, if you really want to — I’m the first to say that homemade pesto is totally 100% worth it… in certain circumstances… unlike this circumstance… in which the store-bought kind is 100% better, I swear! This– store bought pesto– is Cheat #2)
• Pasta — whatever shape you like. For some reason, Owen & Kyle always want this meal with thick spiral pasta (I have no clue why that is).
• Veggies for skewering. I always use Vidalia onion for this (because they are so good here; we are so close to Georgia where they are grown), but other than that — I buy whatever is fresh and good looking. Zucchinis and bell peppers looked good at the farm stand the other day when I was shopping, so that’s what I used this time.

TO DO:

The night before you’re going to have this meal, cut the chicken into bite-sized skewer-able chunks. Place in air-tight container (or zip-loc bag). Drown in Italian dressing (you are using the dressing as a marinade).

Place in fridge to sit overnight. See how hard this is? The chicken just sits there in the fridge while you go about your business. Marinating for the win! Tip: do not let this marinate more than 24 hours or the chicken will start to break down. 

When you’re ready to make dinner, get to work skewering. Tip: make your kids/husbands/wives/partners/friends/enemies do this for you! Skewer the chicken so that the pieces are touching, but not too closely packed together. Cut the veggies into bite-sized, skewerable chunks. Skewer them too. Drizzle Italian dressing onto the veggie skewers.

Meanwhile, prepare the pasta. Cook according to box directions, then, once drained, toss with the pesto. Note: for my family, I do two boxes of pasta and two containers of pesto. This is my tried-and-true favorite store-bought pesto:

Grill the skewers! See my little portable “travel grill”?! I love this thing. Sometime I’ll have to devote a whole post to this grill-o-mine! Anyway…. Tip: Don’t overcook the chicken! Keep it moist! The veggies will actually take longer to grill than the chicken.Enjoy!

LEFTOVERS: Seriously, the best part of this meal is the leftovers, which can be used in so many ways!

• My bambinos love the pasta heated up the next day. With parmesan cheese, this is a meal unto itself for them. They love this for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (really, no joke).
• You can also just toss all the leftovers together — the pasta, the chicken, and the veggies — and warm up for another dinner.
• But the pasta is great room-temperature, or cold, as a ‘pasta salad.’ Toss some veggies in there (cherry tomatoes and peas are my favorite for this), mix it up, and there’s a nice pasta salad for another time.
• The chicken and veggie skewers are great cold. Eat them on their own, or on a salad…
• …or mix with some couscous and raisins for a great easy dish (serve with a tossed salad and that’s a whole other meal).
• Or, place the chicken and veggies in pitas, drizzle with tzatziki sauce, or simply drizzle with more of the Italian dressing, and ta-da! awesome pita sandwiches for a beach picnic!