It's Time to Say Goodbye...

by Jenny

It's Time to Say Goodbye...well, at least, see ya later to Foodie Fridays for the Relafords. We have hit a one year mark of Foodie Fridays, with over 30 different countries, Foodie Friday All Stars, Foodie Friday restaurant tours, and specials for birthdays & anniversaries. We decided to take a break for a while because the last few it seemed the like the kids were tired of cooking and helping. And maybe doing all those dishes! And frankly, hubby and I were too. We decided to make it to the one year mark and then in the new year think of something new and exciting to do for our family day on Fridays. So for our last Foodie Friday Gregg ended on America!

Foodie Friday~America

Gregg tried to select dishes from different regions, some we've never made our selves.

~Menu~

Maryland Crab Cakes

Texas Pressure Cooker Chili

Green Bean Casserole

Homemade Apple Pie

 

Everything was suburb! The chili had so much heat to it that the girls weren't too fond of it. It's a recipe from Food Network's Alton Brown- it'll bring tears to your eyes! We've never made crab cakes at home before and they were delish! Ahh, green bean casserole is my favorite holiday side dish so it's pretty common around here and Juliet ate it up by the handfuls! We all made the apple pie together and it was way easier than I thought it would be! Awe...so yummy! Really, nothing better than homemade apple pie!

 



 

As we end and I think about all we've done together, I decided to put together all the pictures of each Foodie Friday. Ahhh wow.... to think where we started and all the countries we experienced, the wonderful memories we made, the experiences we got to count as "school"- It's crazy to see how much the baby has grown and changed even! This experience was much more than just cooking together- what it did for our family was priceless. We put that day aside for our family and made it sacred and precious. Even when we traveled, we tried to experience 'Foodie Fridays' in other cities- one of the coolest was being at Epcot on a Foodie Friday!

I think I'm going to have to have these made into posters for our kitchen! Loved all these moments!

 

 

 

Jamaican Cuisine...Every Little Thing Gonna Be All Right

~Jamaican Foodie Friday~

Oh...How I wish we were really in the Caribbean this week. I've never been there but I can dream when I look at beautiful photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our menu for our Foodie Friday in Jamaica:

Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin

This marinade seemed different then what I thought of Jamaican jerk seasoning because it had 2 cups of green onions that you puree with tons of spices. We marinated the pork for 24 hours and cooked it for 8 minutes on each side. It was absolutely delicious! Tender, juicy, and a good spice to it! Here's the recipe we followed. 

Jamaican Rice and Peas

This dish has an interesting combination including rice, coconut milk, habanero peppers, and kidney beans. Beans, you say? I thought you said "Peas"... Apparently in Jamaica, beans are called peas. This rice had a nice kick but a sweet element to it as well....It was probably the most flavorful rice we've ever made. SO good! Our 17 month old, Juliet, was shoveling this rice in so fast with her eyes watering from the habanero- she absolutely loved it!

Plantains- Jamaican Style

We rolled plantain slices in brown sugar and fried 'em up. There's not more to say, other then the fact, that they could be dessert by themselves. Yummy!

Jamaican Gizzada

Ok...this was the dish that caused me the most stress this week but how stressed can you be when you're listening to Bob Marley singing, 'Every Little Thing Gonna Be All Right...' The dough wasn't turning out how the recipe described, the filling should've been able to boil for twenty minutes during one of the phases of cooking but it was a solid and you can't boil a solid so something went wrong there...the dough should've been able to be shaped and precooked like a shell but we couldn't get it to stay in any type of shape so we had to bust out the tart pan...Funny though, Gregg said it was probably one of his favorite tasting desserts we've made!

It is a tart with a shredded coconut, brown sugar, water, vanilla mixture that crystalizes. They are sweet but not overly sweet. Even Evie, who is not a coconut fan, loved them!

Passion fruit & Pineapple

We wanted to have some fresh fruit and realized we've never actually had fresh passion fruit. The only problem was that we didn't know how to even cut it- thank goodness for YouTube tutorials! You cut in half and use a spoon to scoop out the very tart inside which was SO good! Gabe wasn't super thrilled with the texture, but Evie loved it!

(You can find the recipes we attempted here on my Successful Foodie Friday Pinterest board)

 

We put on some reggae, Bob and Ziggy Marley and were jammin' all day. Even though some of the recipes didn't turn out how I thought, we had a fun time making everything! We laughed and danced and made huge messes! We started the meal praying for the people of Jamaica and had a wonderful family dinner, and ended the night with a game. Overall, making memories, even if it's not beautiful, is what this adventure is all about!