E: Sun Butter Cookies & Family Time

It is another busy week this week- but tons of fun & exciting things going on. We have lots of family and friends in town, or coming into town, over the next week. It has been a little tough trying to figure out how to divide up our time. On Tuesday night, we headed over to the beach house that Josh’s family is renting for the week for a delicious and relaxing dinner. Few pictures from the night:

 

 

Jenny’s amazing spinach and artichoke dip:

 

 

  Josh’s Mom knows I’m a fruit addict :)

  

The wonderful meal also included tomato and mozzarella salad and chicken. I brought the dessert- do it yourself ice cream sundaes. I  brought both vanilla & chocolate ice cream, TJs Midnight Moo chocolate syrup, fresh strawberries, walnuts, TJs chocolate covered sunflower seeds:

 

and Jenna’s amazing Sun Butter cookies made with more of the chocolate covered sunflower seeds and this goodness:

 

 

 

 

These just scream Spring/Easter to me! I plan to make a second batch for our Easter get together.

Question: I have lots of yellow summer squash, spinach and asparagus in the fridge- any meal suggestions? I also have the usual staples- ground turkey, grains, beans, etc.  Thanks for the help ;)

E: New Belgium Brewing Company Beer Bread & Steak Sandwich

Josh and I are both beer fans (well, my fan-age is being put on 100% hold during pregnancy- but NORMALLY, haha). Food Buzz and New Belgium Brewing Company recently gave me the opportunity to create a dish that either features or pairs well with a New Belgium beer (disclaimer: I received a stipend from Food Buzz and New Belgium to purchase the items to make this recipe).  I was super excited and instantly knew which beer I would use, Fat Tire:

 

Josh orders this beer on the regular when we go out, and I couldn’t wait to put together a recipe that both FEATURES and PAIRS WELL with Fat Tire. I got to thinking and decided on a beer bread and beer marinated steak sandwich.  For the bread, I looked to blog world. I found this amazing Easy & Cheesy Beer Bread from Farmgirl Fare.  I replaced the dill with chives and Fat Tire was my beer of choice. The dry mixture:

              

Adding in the Fat Tire:

The final dough:

 

The final product:

 

YUM! This bread is amazing.

Next, I put together the marinade based on a recipe I came up with:

Fat Tire Steak Marinade

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• ¾ cup Fat Tire beer
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 1 tablespoon Montreal Steak seasoning
• 1 lb flank or sirloin steak (you can either marinade the whole steak or cut into strips, depending on how you’re going to cook the steak)

  

Directions:

Mix together first 5 ingredients.

 

Add steak, cover with plastic wrap, and allow steak to marinade for at least four hours (or longer!!). Prepare steak. Steak can be either grilled, broiled, or cut into strips and cooked in a skillet with just a touch of oil.

Printable Recipe

   

To assemble the final sandwich, I toasted up two slices of the beer bread. I then placed the marinated steak, chopped jalapenos and Monterrey jack cheese slices on top. I placed the bread under the broiler for just a minute to melt the cheese. The result:

 

Turned out great! Thank you Food Buzz and New Belgium for the opportunity to make this tasty meal ;).

Are you a beer fan?