Get ready for some delicious meals coming your way! I’ve got a recap of the five dinners that my dad cooked for us while we were visiting Florida last week. I always enjoy sharing my dad’s amazing food with all of you and it makes me happy to give him a moment in the spotlight! He’s been such a big influence on my own love for cooking and I am always inspired by his skills and thoroughness as well as his willingness to try new things…whether that’s a new technique, ingredient or recipe.
For example, my dad taught me how to make sourdough and I make it exactly the same way every time because I know what the result will be. My dad on the other hand is always watching videos and reading things online about sourdough and trying things like folding versus kneading, high hydration levels, etc. I love that his brain thinks like this and it encourages me to be more adventurous and experimental.
That being said, he does have a strong lineup of tried and true recipe and you’ll see some of those in the photos to follow. I’ll wrap up this post with a few other breakfast and lunches from my time in Florida!
Here we go! Get ready to drool.
5 DINNERS COOKED BY MY DAD
Chicken pot pie with homemade pastry crust and a salad. The chicken pot pie is based off of this recipe but my dad said he uses butter, chicken thighs and makes his own crust. The thick and flaky homemade crust makes such a huge difference in the tastiness of this pot pie and the use of chicken thighs ups the flavor so much. I made the salad and it was a mix of butter lettuce, croutons, tomatoes, carrots, celery, shredded cheddar and ranch dressing.
Beef bolognese and a side salad. I don’t have a recipe for the bolognese. My dad said it’s an adaptation of many recipes from the past. If you’re wondering what the difference is between traditional spaghetti/meat sauce and bolognese, bolognese tends to have less of a tomato base and usually incorporates something like pancetta in addition to the meat (which can be beef, veal, pork, etc). It is also cooked with cream or milk. This side salad was mixed greens, tomatoes, strawberries, dried cranberries, goat cheese and balsamic dressing.
Grilled triggerfish with rice cooked in the Instant Pot. My dad rinses his rice first and then does equal parts liquid and rice along with a bit of salt. He cooks it for 12 minutes. Triggerfish is a white fish that has a slightly sweet flavor (think crab or grouper) when cooked. It’s commonly fished off the coast of Florida.
My mom contributed the steamed artichoke! My dad doesn’t like them but my mom and I do so it’s often a special treat we enjoy together.
HALLELUJAH! It’s my dad’s homemade pizza. He does it all…the crust, the sauce…and it’s SO GOOD! It’s turned into a three-day process to make the dough but boy is it ever worth it. I am obsessed with my dad’s pizza.
Lastly, we had an early St. Patrick’s dinner on my last night in Florida. I really like corned beef so my dad was sweet to do this meal for me! Through years of trial and error my dad has decided that he doesn’t like to boil the corned beef, cabbage and potatoes together. He now actually slow bakes his corned beef brisket in the oven at a low temperature and likes the results so much better. I dipped my corned beef in dijon and whole grain mustard. As far as the cabbage goes, he keeps it simple and sautés it. Now we need to talk about the potatoes. These are stuffed/twice-baked potatoes with cabbage, bacon, onion and cheese and they are to die for! Here is the recipe link. They’re from Cook’s Illustrated so you need a membership to view it.
So there are the five dinners that my dad made for us while I was in Florida! Here are a few breakfasts and lunches to round it all out…and there’s a surprise dessert for you at the end! 🙂
BREAKFAST
Yogurt bowl with Fage Total Plain 5%, honey, my dad’s homemade granola, bananas, peaches, raspberries, blueberries and peanut butter.
Acai bowl with granola, banana, raspberries, blueberries and peanut butter. This was a ready-to-eat bowl from Sambazon that I got in the freezer section at Publix. I don’t make smoothie bowls in Florida so I wanted to try this as an alternative. Overall, it was good but really sweet with 14 grams of added sugar in addition to an artificial sweetener. I’d buy it again when I don’t have access to my blender or smoothie ingredients but definitely prefer making my own!
LUNCH
This was one of my best salad creations in a long time! Baby spinach, goat cheese, avocado, strawberries, toasted pecans, edamame, deli turkey, roasted beets, dried cranberries and balsamic dressing.
Jimmy John’s picnic lunch with my mom and Finn at the zoo. I got their turkey Lil’ John (added cheese) and it was the perfect size!
14-LAYER CAKE!!!!!
Once every year or two my dad bakes a 14-layer chocolate cake. It’s a masterpiece! He baked one a few weeks ago for my nieces’s 13th birthday and I begged him to stash some in the freezer for me. Luckily, he saved me a generous amount and I got to eat this cake for dessert FOUR nights in a row!!!!! It’s best with a cold glass of milk.
Probably need to share this recipe on my blog at some point, huh?
Hope you guys enjoyed this post! It was a fun one to write. Here are a few other posts you might enjoy that involve my dad’s cooking!
10 Things I’ve Learned from My Dad About Food and Cooking
QUESTIONS
Which of these dinners would you like to eat most? (or would you pick the cake, haha)
What’s your favorite type of fish?
Do you tend to stick with recipes/cooking techniques that work or do you experimenting with new things?
Your dad seems incredible. Everything looks wonderful. I would love to dig into that pizza, it looks so tasty.
I am definitely an experimental cook, my family always teases me because I never cook things the same twice.
Funny thing, tonight I am trying a new sourdough bread recipe.
Fresh ahi tuna barely seared is my absolute favorite.
Yes, I’m very lucky to have him as my dad! I love that you are such an adventurous cook. I want to get back to that!!!!
I love reading these. It’s fun to read about your family bond. It also makes me wish I was invited to dinner!!
I tend to be like your Dad, but since having kids I’m more into whatever I have time for haha!
I’d love the pizza and I would love to have a slice of that cake!!! I love most fish.
Haha, I’d love to invite everyone to dinner! How fun would that be!? I love pizza, cake and fish the most too!
I’ve been so excited about this post since you posted that you were In Florida! ? I am always so inspired by how creative and adventurous your dad is in the kitchen! I find myself making the same things often, but hopefully when I’m on break this summer I can get a little more adventurous ☺️ (I’m going to start by making my own sourdough using your tutorial!). I like most fish though I don’t think I’ve tried many different kinds because I don’t live near the ocean and I find that fish just doesn’t taste as good when it’s not at the beach! Do you usually do frozen salmon when you’re at home? Also, I’m curious – what’s on your dinner menu this week?
Haha, I love this Megan. I make the same things a lot too and used to be better about creating and trying new recipes before I had Finn. I really want to get back to that!!! I hope your sourdough making goes well. Let me know if you have any questions. It’s a fun process to learn and easy to master!
I always keep frozen salmon filets from Whole Foods in my freezer. They’re super quick to defrost and cook for an easy dinner. I did not have a dinner menu this week!
I don’t eat meat so I’d have to pick the pizza! Haha, I loooove homemade pizza and was so happy when I figured out how easy pizza dough is to make at home. I make sauce, too, but I make a big batch and then freeze it in individual portions so I can just thaw one out while my dough is rising.
Out of curiosity, what kind of work did your dad do? My dad was a chemical engineer and I always imagine that an engineer’s brain would be perfect for creating recipes. My dad has really never been that into cooking, so I have yet to test that theory.
I tend to stick to tried-and-true recipes, I am bad about cooking the same things over and over again to the point that I have those recipes (and any modifications) memorized! I need to be better about branching out and trying new things in the kitchen.
Homemade pizza is so simple and delicious and the homemade dough makes all the difference. Great idea to freeze small portions of sauce.
My dad worked for an aerospace company for his entire career. His brain DEFINITELY works different than mine.
I used to be much better about trying new recipes and creating recipes until I had Finn. I am going to get back to it!!!!
Have you ever shared the granola recipe? It looks good!
Yes! But he’s since changed it a lot so I need to do a granola 2.0 post!
https://www.peanutbutterrunner.com/the-best-basic-granola-recipe/
I have made that cake or at least one that looks just like it. My recipe came from, of all places, an Oprah magazine. It is amazing and so full of butter a slice that size could possible make you gain 5 lbs.
P.S. Definitely a labor of love.
His recipe isn’t from Oprah magazine but I’m sure it’s similar. We eat this cake in small sliver slices because it’s so rich!