Green Beans Gratinéed with Cheese Sauce (Haricots Verts Gratinés, à la Mornay) #FantasticalFoodFight

Well, well, well, it’s French food again today!

It’s been a French-inspired summer!  First, I made Ratatouille Bake for Bastille Day, the Fougasse for Eat the World, and now Green Beans au Gratin for Julia Child’s Birthday - this month's Fantastical Food Fight Challenge!

Last year, for Julia’s birthday, I read Julie and Julia and was tremendously disappointed (Julia Child is amazing while Julie what’s her face the blogger was insipid and annoying).  I ended up sharing a recipe for puff pastry (which doesn’t actually appear in the book) because I was so underwhelmed by the book.

Fougasse (Provençal Flatbread) #EatTheWorld

It’s already time for this month’s Eat the World Recipe challenge and holy smokes, have I been a terrible blogger!  Eek!  I slammed through my summer grad school class (with a A+… bam!), then I packed the kiddoes up and put over 2,500 miles on my car and traveled through 5 states in 2 weeks!  We had a blast, but it was certainly not conducive to blogging! 

Now that I’m back I’m helping lead Vacation Bible School and getting my library ready for the upcoming school year (did I mention that we got new carpeting, so the library had to be moved out and moved back in and now I get to completely re-envision my floor plan?  It’s super exciting but a ton of work!)

But back to the challenge!  This month’s pick, France, was chosen based off the world cup winner!

Pasta Carbonara #CooktheBooksClub

Eek!  I’m flying in at the last minute with my Cook the Books Club recipe! 

Would you believe that I’ve had the book read since May and the recipe made in June?  But here I am at the last minute, because my grad school class (yes, in the singular) was legit crazy this summer?

Yeah…

We’re talking 35+ articles to read plus 4 assignments and a major project per week.  It was nuts. 

PLUS – I’ve spent days being mom (baseball-basketball-piano lessons-library-pool-bike rides (all my favorites!)), so I’ve been doing homework at night (usually from 10pm-2am)!  AHHHH!!!

But…

Homemade Hot Dog Buns & Chili Dogs #HotDogDay

Hey hey! It’s National Hot Dog day! 

Dude absolutely loves hot dogs.  When the kids are home all summer, I have to stock hot dogs and buns because he will have one for lunch at least half the week.  And the other half of the week, he’s asking to make a fire in our fire pit and roast hot dogs!

Steak Kebabs #FantasticalFoodFight

It’s Fantastical Food Fight time and it’s all about the summer favorite: Kebabs!

I had scarcely had time to process the prompt when I took the kids and visited my parents for the weekend.  My mom had just gotten a great marinade recipe from a friend, so she marinated and grilled chicken breasts (and they were fabulous) and mentioned that this was also great on steak kebabs.  That was all the inspiration I needed! 

I made these less than a week later and they were so good!  After marinating for two whole days, the steak bites are incredibly flavorful and tender. 

You can play around with your favorite kebab veggies, but I highly recommend bell peppers and mushrooms.  They’re firmer veggies so they hold up to grilling nicely!

Steak Kebabs

1 ½ lb sirloin steak, cut in cubes

½ cup Italian dressing

½ cup French dressing

½ cup pineapple juice

¼ cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce

½ tablespoon garlic powder

                                                                            

Place the steak cubes in a gallon sized zipper bag.  Whisk together marinate ingredients and pour over steak.  Seal and refrigerate for 24-48 hours.

Preheat the outdoor grill to medium heat.  Thread steak cubes onto skewers, alternating with bell peppers and mushrooms.  Cook to desired temperature and serve.

An InLinkz Link-up

Ratatouille Bake #BastilleDayRecipes

Today is Bastille Day, so my friend Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla is hosting a French themed recipe round up!

I generally think of French food as heavy comfort foods.  For me, comfort food = winter food. So, I wasn’t sure I’d find any recipe inspiration this time around. 

Kiwi Burger #EattheWorld

It’s time to eat our way around the world again and this month, we’re headed to New Zealand!  Read more about the #EatTheWorld recipe challenge here.

I think New Zealand would really be a fun place to vacation some day!  Did you know they filmed Lord of the Rings there and you can visit Hobbiton and other places in Middle Earth?