Whenever I go to Vegas to visit my family, I always try to bring some food with me so we don’t have to eat out, and nobody has to really spend much time cooking. We always end up in the kitchen, whether it be cooking, or prepping, or drink mixing, and we ALWAYS have an awesome time!
Two weekends ago was the 4th of July weekend, and even though I knew I wasn’t going to be able to spend the actual day with my family, we thought it would be cool to celebrate when we were all together. I had brought up a dozen hard-boiled eggs, caramelized onions, figs, blue cheese, pizza dough and a rack of baby back ribs, so I was in charge of lunch (and partially some of the dinner). Mom bought steaks, corn, and had planned to make her potato salad. Why is it that everyone thinks their mom’s potato salad is the best? I don’t understand that phenomenon, but it’s clearly true. Every single person I’ve met thinks their mom’s potato salad the best. I know for a FACT that my mom’s potato salad is the best. 😉 Maybe she’ll let me post her recipe here someday.
We were hard workers that weekend. My brother and husband fixed the swamp cooler that was on the roof, and outside. I realize I’m stating the obvious here, but it’s VEGAS, baby! Hot hot hot! I was inside doing some organizing, so we were all busy worker bees. We got quite a bit done, and were all hungry. On the menu: deviled eggs and gourmet pizza! Both turned out so so good! Bro got out the camera and snapped some pictures of the creations:
After getting back from running a few errands, the boys finished up the swamp cooler, and I helped mom with the potato salad. I peeled potatoes, peeled the veggies for my mom’s famous Dill Dip, and I had par cooked the baby back ribs the night before. Brother salted the steak, and let it rest for an hour. I swear this is the ONLY way to cook red meat. Salt it. Wait 1 hour. Wash. Cook. Fabulous!!
All in all it was a great weekend in the company of an awesome family, eating good down-home cooking.
Deviled Eggs
12 Eggs, hard-boiled
1/4 C. Mayo
3 T. Dijon Mustard
2 T. Barbeque Sauce
2 T. Chives, chopped
Halve the dozen hard-boiled eggs, putting all yolks in a bowl. Add in the mayo, dijon mustard, and barbeque sause, and mix with a fork, or hand mixer until smooth and creamy. If the mixture is still too stiff, just add a bit more mayo. Place mixture in a Ziploc bag, cutting a tip in one of the bottom corners, and pipe into egg whites. Garnish with fresh chopped chives. You’ll notice that there is no addition of salt and pepper to this recipe. It’s plenty flavorful without it!
Gourmet Pizza
1 Pizza Dough
6 Fresh Figs, sliced 1/8″ thick
3/4 C. Blue Cheese, crumbled
2 Red Onions, julienned
2 T. Butter
Start by pre-heating your oven to 500° F, and pre-heating a skillet on medium/medium-low heat. Add butter and onions to the skillet, and cook until translucent and golden brown (without scorching), about 20-30 minutes. Place a rolled out pizza dough on a cookie tray or pizza stone (pre-heat the stone in the oven), and top with onions, figs, and blue cheese crumbles. Put the timer on for 5 minutes to check pizza. If the crust isn’t quite brown yet, give it another 1-2 minutes. Remove from oven when crust is golden brown, and enjoy!
Love the pictures and the idea of putting BBQ sauce in the yolk mix. I once did an “Italian” version of deviled eggs with some italian ceasar salad dressing with the mayo. It was tasty!
And I agree, we all think that our mother’s potato salad is the best, me included!
P.S. Can I upload a picture? The one above looks like a little monster 🙂
Hey there! You can change your pic by going to en.gravatar.com. That way, no matter what blog you post on (as long as it’s a blog powered by WordPress), it will show up! (That’s the only way I know how to do it at the moment). That “Italian” style deviled eggs sounds awesome!
Your deviled eggs look so appetizing. You should do a detail post with photos on those.