Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Beef and Bean Culinary Throwdown

Miss Sara N. Dippity smiled on me for this Culinary Throwdown event. The topic was Beef and Bean ... which had me thinking chili, but then a lucky event occurred.

It seems that my postactualbirthdaybirthday dinner was to be steak, green beans, and a salad!

... AND I DIDN'T HAVE TO COOK IT!!


Here's the steak, hot off a real charcoal fire and topped with fresh mushrooms that were browned in real butter and deglazed with some cheap wine.

And now for the bean portion of our challenge ... totally not fancy, totally traditionally (southern) bacon flavored green beans ... just the way I like 'em.
You will have to excuse the fancy china. This was a very casual assembly and the football heads were psyched to watch the Senior Bowl ... not clean dishes.
... And I sure as heck wasn't cleaning any ... or watching football for that matter.


Still milking the bean category ...
Desert was a mud pie ... a sheet mud pie, not the cavernous deep bowl kind that the Chart House restaurants used to make.
(Does that chain still exist? If so, do they still serve giant portions of mud pie best shared with a cutie?)
Mud pie consists of a crust of ground real chocolate wafer cookies (that's cacao bean!) followed by coffee ice cream (coffee beans!),a layer of fudge sauce, some roasted almonds, and whipped cream.
Oh my dog!
The really cool (heehee ... cool ... ice cream ... get it?) is that Junior doesn't like coffee anything so there is a ton of leftover mudpie in the freezer for me to slowly devour over the next week or so.



Last, but not least ... a maybe.
My wonderful sisterinlaw, Annette, sent us not one, but two peach pies this weekend and I'm assuming, that there may just be some vanilla bean extract in that pie.
Whether there is or is not, the pies are wonderful and much appreciated.
There you have it, beef and two, maybe three bean dishes!

24 comments:

Sayre said...

Great. Just great. Now I want mudpie for breakfast!

Happy PostBirthday! Looks like you had a marvelous dinner celebration.

Anonymous said...

Ya know FC, I really, really, and I mean REALLY want to have dinner with you guys when you have steak or chicken!!!

My birthday's in May if that helps!

P

Miz S said...

Happy Birthday, FC! I know I haven't been around much, but I lurk here now and then just to check up on you. Post birthday dinner looks amazing.

amarkonmywall said...

Good looking FOOD and it's not even Friday. I have some nicely orange-y 'srooms that might add color- and the taste? oh, my!

But it's not Friday yet so no time to linger and savor. Off to teach. And I do remember your stinkhorn posts- I thought of them right away. I just don't remember them been quite so flamboyantly awful...

h said...

Wow. If I lived at PFHQ, I'd weigh about 500 pounds. But I'd be a happy fatty.

Yes, to Chart House and I recommend the one in Melbourne which is run by a F.O.T. and offers a good view of NASA rockets. At least until the Obamanation shuts down NASA to spend more on graft.

http://chart-house.com


Happy Throwdown Day!

Sandcastle Momma said...

That does look good. Green beans just aren't right without that bacon flavor. Your mud pie pics have messed up my diet - I'm going to make one tonight.

moi said...

Good Lord. I just gained a gazillion pounds reading this post. My spousal unit loves mud pie. I should try this.

Now, excuse ay Moi while I go run off your post.

Thunder said...

Happy belated Birthday, again from one old dog to another!
If I'm not mistaken I'm the younger of the old dogs so Ha! ;-)

cinbad122 said...

I do not feel bad about how much I have been eating after seeing all of that! LOL

Buzz Kill said...

Wow, someone cooked for you on your birthday. What's that like? That is a plate and a half of food. Bacon flavored green beans are a great accompaniment to barbeque. \

Another complete meal for the throwdown. You'll give Troll a run for his money.

Karl said...

Good afternoon FC,

Happy belated birthday!

That's a mighty fine looking steak and your use of bean, is creative to say the least.

Thanks for joining in.

jean said...

The dinner looks wonderful. I'm going to have to agree with your son about the mud pie, coffee may smell good but it shouldn't be in ice cream.

R.Powers said...

Sayre,
I would eat mud pie for breakfast 3 days a week if someone would make it for me!

Patti,
Marking calendar now. :)

Hey Miz S,
Thanks for checking on me. You okay?


Vicki,
I think I will refrain from adding stinkhorn fungi to my recipes.
Call me crazy.


Thanks Troll! It's gone now, but the Chart House on the bayfront in St. Augustine was the place to go for good food when I was chasing skirts... before my capture.

SandCastle,
I stir fry them sometimes,and they are good, but I always come back to simmered with bacon.

Moi,
Just run around the block a few times and then come in the kitchen for a slice of mud pie.

Thanks Dave. This dinner had to be postponed a week, hence the bday connection.

Cindy,
Hey preggars! At least you have a great excuse to pig out.

Buzz,
Thanks! There were baked potatoes too, but I skipped them as part of my overall mudpie orgy plan.

Karl,
Thanks!
We appreciate you hosting us!

Jean,
Once I would have agreed completely, but I do loves me some coffee ice cream now.

Kymical Reactions said...

oh. ma. gaw. this looks oh so good, and I could seriously take a bite right out of the pictures!

mmmmmmmmmmm.

Aunty Belle said...

oh no.

tsk tsk tsk.

Oh NO!

I would run around tree blocks fer some of the mud pie!!

A fella doa nmind gettin' a bit older iffin' ya celebrate like this--wow.

Looks amazin' FC!

MamaHen said...

Dang!! your food posts make me SO hungry!! and I just ate! ugh!! I can just smell that delightful steak and 'shrooms.

lisa said...

I didn't get an invite;) Looks pretty darn good!

Unknown said...

Hi FC, I'll be up in Gainesville in February (23-26th). Any chance I can stop over for dinner to a similar meal? (I'd prefer a slightly bigger piece of pie if possible ...) You're around those parts right, or are you farther north?

Or swing down to Gainesville and we'll dine at the Waffle House -- I'm buying if that's the case! (For the record, I've never got a bad meal there.)

Corinne said...

OK- not fair!!! I am in class--- reading the blog and i scroll down to see....MUDPIE! This has simply ruined my morning. My mouth is watering as we speak.... does USPS mail mudpies???.... :)

Dani said...

John would be in heaven at your house. Poor man hasn't tasted red meat in ages.

Glad yah checked in Miz S. Hope all is well.

Kimberlee said...

Hey, happy belated birthday! OMG that is some delicious looking food. I haven't had mudpie in years...YEARS! That's just insane, isn't it? Unlike Jr., I'll devour coffee flavored anything, so you're lucky that we live so far apart! :)

Joanna Cake said...

Ive never thought to put bacon in with my green beans! I shall try some of those tomorrow. Ruf has gone home so I am no longer having to be totally vegan friendly :)

Freste said...

DAMMIT FC!!!

I bit my friggin monitor again.
Thanks for nothing.

LaDivaCucina said...

Darnit, my comment didn't post, I'll start again:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FC!!!

Your birthday dinner is one of my fave dinners, loves me some steak and mushies! yeah! I also love fresh green beans and who can resist two desserts? Home made peach pie? OMG!!! What a great, easy post for your throwdown!

Have a great week FC!