Family Time

Today is all about family

And my son Bobby is joining me in the kitchen. That's right. Starting with a delicious bite-sized tomato and mozzarella tart

This is a super simple little appetizer. A loaded with flavor spinach stuffed zucchini

God, that's good. We're grilling up spiced rubbed shell steaks. Ooh, a doggie

Yeah. An easy watermelon dessert with a citrus twist. This is a meal that the whole family can enjoy, y'all

So let's get this meal going, Bobby. We're making your recipe for grilled spiced rubbed shell steaks

I'm just going to brush our grill with a little olive oil. Because it's getting hot

I see that. I see it. I'm using our cast iron griddle to cook these steaks inside

Now, I busted a garlic clove. Uh-huh. And you're just going to rub that meal

Rubbing it down. Now, what kind of steaks are these? It's a shell steak. It's real tender, and it comes from the short loin

From the short loin. Somewhere. Right about there. Well, it looks delicious

It does look good. They're really big steaks, too. And while you're rubbing our meat with garlic, I'm going to start putting together our rub

It's real, real simple. And to make our rub, yeah, it's so simple. I'm going to use two teaspoons of dry mustard

one and a half teaspoons of dried oregano. So I have switched to the half teaspoon

And I'm going to use one teaspoon of chili powder. It'll give it some nice flavor

And to that, I'm going to add a little salt. A little fresh brown pepper

So just that quickly, we've got our rub together. And you can really make them up out of any of your dry spices and herbs that you got in your cabinet

And I've done that. I've experimented a little bit at my house with some different rubs for ribs and things like that

Yeah, let me just pat down this rub on there. And I'm going to put the rub on

You want me to flip it for you? No, honey, that's all right. I've already got my hands all over this meat

Those are beautiful steaks. Aren't they beautiful? All right, we are going to need a side dish to go with this beautiful shell steak you got going

Here, and I'm going to wash my hands. I love it when I have the opportunity to get in here in the kitchen with my family

And we always have a good time here cooking. And I usually learn something when I'm here, too

I like that. You do? You know, and I learn things from you, too. Really

Yes, I do. Yes, I do. How not? No, no, no, no

I'm just kidding. Now, we're going to cook these, y'all, about six or seven minutes per side. Right

And with a good steak, flip it one time. One time. And we like ours, like, medium rare

Or medium. We like ours medium. We. I like mine a little more medium. We

A little more medium. Like ours medium rare. Let's get some veggie going

Okie doke, son. You want to get over here? I do. And because this is another one of your recipes

It is. I'll get the pot going. Okay. We're going to slice up some fennel, just taking the tops off those, and we're going to do some red bell pepper

It's got a really nice smell to it. Oh, I love it. It smells just like licorice, y'all

It does. That's exactly what it smells like. All right, so I'm going to slice us up some red bell pepper

Okay. You know, I love the red, Bobby, because first of all, they add a lot of color, but they're much sweeter than a green bell pepper

All right, so let's get us a little olive oil in your pan

So in goes our red bell pepper. And you always want to hold your bell pepper

What, Sonny? No, no, no. It just reminds me of you slicing those bell peppers I learned back in the bag lady days

My mom taught me not to throw away anything except for that stem and just those seeds that are in the inside

You know, I would see people working in the kitchen and they'd take that. Just cut off that whole top with an inch of the pepper

And I would go behind him and say, is you crazy? Yeah, and I learned from that

But you'll want to make sure that the skin side is down on your cutting board

Because if you're working with a dull knife, it can slip and you can really cut yourself so easily

In goes the fennel and onion. All right, so we're going to toss this around

Those flavors are going to be so good, y'all. I smell them, son

Yes, I smell them, son. All right, now I'm going to put just a little bit of salt and pepper on our veggies

We've got some nice scents going in here. Yes, we do. So let's come on down here

All right. And we're going to get our zucchini squash ready. What a delicious spinach stuffed zucchini

So all we gonna do is cut these completely in two son If you would just start brushing those with olive oil And then we will just put them on our baking sheet and we going to put these in the oven about 400 degrees and we going to let

them bake for 15 minutes or until they're tender because we are going to haul these out. Let me put

A little salt on them, just a little seasoning, and then just place those

Cut side down, Bobby. This is a great, I know that you like baked potatoes very much, and you pass that on to me

I do, too. But this is a nice substitute for eating a baked potato. Yes, it is

Bobby is truly my son, y'all. He'll go out and order a salad with a side of French fries

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and put the zucchini in the oven because it's about that time. Let me check these steaks, son

Ooh, a doggies. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Ooh, doggie, doggie

Look at that, y'all. That dry rub has crusted over on that steak

giving it almost a charred, blackened look. It is going to be delicious

That's so good. I'm so lucky you're my family. Well, you know what

I'm lucky you're mine. Y'all stick around because we're going to be right back in this kitchen with family

And we're cooking. Steaks, y'all. Yes. We're going to be finishing up the filling for your savory spinach stuffed zucchini

Pretty good, huh? Mm-hmm. It is. Together we make the ultimate appetizer

And it's one of those things that people will think you went to a lot more trouble than you actually did

And a light and refreshing dessert to top our meal off. Mm

I adore watermelon, y'all. So, Bobby, I say the steaks are ready

I know which one's yours. Which one? This one. All right, put them up here on this platter

and we'll just kind of cover them up. I think mine might have just a minute more left to go

You think so? I think it might. Not long. All right. You going to eat them both

If I have to. All right, why don't you take our squash out

I've got us some things that we're going to need to stuff our zucchini with

I'm going to be using a 10-ounce package of thawed spinach. And these contain a lot of water, y'all

So there's a couple of ways you can do it. You can stick it down in a colander and press it

Or you can just squeeze it with your hands like I've just done

All right, son. Is your steak ready now? Yeah, that was enough for me

I just like mine just a little more done than yours. I know it. All right, so come on over here, son

Okay. And if you'd be dicing us up some onion. Okay. And while you do that, Bobby, I'm going to melt some butter in this pan

I'm going to get us up a couple of tablespoons of basil

Just going to slice this up. And I'm going to put it over into our vegetables, y'all

This is similar to a twice-baked potato, right? But it's done with a zucchini? Yeah

I mean, it's kind of like how we're going to take everything out of the zucchini, reconfigure it, so to speak, and put it back in

Yeah. All right, now I'm going to just put this in this bowl, get it off the stove

so now we can focus on the filling for the zucchini. So in goes our onion

But I finished that up for you. You want me to be scooping out the insides of these zucchini

That'd be great, son. There's nothing, Bobby, that makes me happier than being here in my kitchen and seeing those wonderful afternoon storms roll in

You've got a great view of them. All right, so my onions are becoming kind of transparent

So what I'm going to do now, y'all, is I'm going to add one cup of a chicken-flavored stuffing mix

mix and you can buy this at your grocery store. And this is going to be like our breadcrumbs

but they're going to be flavored. So this is going to give it even a little bit more

flavoring than just a regular breadcrumb would. All right, I'm going to toss in our spinach

Now I'm going to add about a half a cup of sour cream. I'm just going to eyeball this

about a half a cup. I think I've just about got all these zucchinis

pulled out. Okay, well I'm ready for them. Toss them down here in my pot

Now I'm going to add about a cup of sharp cheddar cheese

Right in here? I don't need to do anything to this at all? Not a thing

Just pour it on in there. Alright. All I have to do, Bobby, is mix that up

and we're going to stuff it back into our zucchini shells. Okay

And then we're going to run them back in the oven. And while you over there you might want to lower the temperature on that oven Okay Because we baked them off at 400 degrees but now we going to rebake them at 350 sun

All right. Got it. And I'm going to give this a little taste because I have no salt or anything in it yet

It smells really, really good. It's just going to need a tiny pinch of salt

I'm going to go ahead and bring over the zucchini shells. And I hope you don't get in Cody's way

I know. Excuse me, Cody. Cody's right along back here. He can be the biggest sissy

I've seen him be a sissy. He is petrified. I've seen him

Of thunder and lightning. I think that's why he's over here right now. Oh, that's exactly why he's here

He'll come find me and cower by me. All right, Bobby, I'm going to start filling these shells up

Well, I just can't resist. Here, son. I want you to taste it. Reach over there where you can get to it

Pretty good, huh? It is. Y'all are going to find that that chicken-flavored stuffing mix, y'all

really going to kind of pop that up. I'm going to fill that up

All right, back in the oven for... Okay, 10 minutes, 350. And we're getting very, very close to this family pulling this meal together

Yeah, that's good. Bobby and I get to make it a fast and simple appetizer

And they're going to be crusty and yummy and cheesy. And Bobby just can't keep his hands off our spiced rub steak

You are serious about that steak, aren't you? It's delicious. We top our lime and ginger dress watermelon with an unexpected ingredient

This is a bomb. All right, it's time to taste, Bobby. Yep

Let me get the zucchini out. Okay. Now, you go ahead and pick out the steak that you want

I did that a long time ago. Ooh, our zucchinis look good

I love me some meat. I do, too. Well, this is yours right here. Okay. Bye-bye

I'm going to put us a little vegetables on. Beautiful. That wonderful fennel and basil

All right, and here comes the zucchini. Yeah. Here comes the steak over here

Your steak is cooked perfectly for you. Turn that around so everybody can see it

Look at that. That's just the way you like them. That's exactly how I like it

Well, I'm going to try mine. That's right. I love meat. That's right

That's good. You know, Bobby, I might like the zucchini. As good as I do the steak, son

I love zucchini. Well, the steak, it's a great cut of steak

Yeah, it is. How about that crust? But the rub that you put on it is what makes it. Mmm

Well, Bobby, I see you got some more things out of this. I got something I want to show you, but I'm going to try to check this steak down before I do that

Before we move on to the appetizers. We're getting ready to make bite-sized tomato mozzarella tarts

I see you got a pastry down there. Mm-hmm. Go look at it

Parmesan cheese. Go see what I got. You can cook it if you want to

I think I'm going to have a hard time getting Bobby away from his steak. So y'all come on

And even though it's his recipe, I'll start without him. Isn't that delicious yummy

Do yourself a favor and go cook these steaks. The zucchini, y'all, was so good

Bobby, I'm impressed. In place of a baked potato anytime. Oh, yeah

All right, so we're going to take our puff pastry. And I'm going to rub it with a little flour so I can handle it a little bit easier

Now, this has been thawed out so that I can cut out circles with my biscuit cutter

All right. This is a super simple little appetizer. Okay. To me, it's like a..

We're kind of doing it backwards, aren't we? Yeah, we are. We're having a hard time leaving my steak to come show you how to do this

And we're down here making appetizers. Mm-hmm. With just a frozen little puff pastry

I'm going to prick the tops of this puff pastry a little bit. You know, there's a lot of convenience foods out there, y'all, that is not worth a Tinker's flip

But this is. But puff pastry is one of those convenience foods

It is so, so good. Only takes a few minutes to cook. Uh-huh, so we're taking..

And it's one of those things that people will think you went to a lot more trouble. To a lot of trouble

Actually did. All right, so we've got some Parmesan cheese here

Yep, just grate a little bit of it, and we're going to sprinkle that right on top of these tarts. Got the oven on 400

Five minutes. Okay, that's great. I don't do mine that way. But that all right Well I doing mine that way That right because this is your recipe Sonny Boy I doing mine that way because I want to eat my steak

If you ain't got mine, I'm going to eat your steak, too. You are serious about that steak, aren't you

It's delicious. I'm slicing your tomatoes. These tomatoes are beautiful. Okay, Bobby, that puff pastry should be ready

I got your cheese grated. I'm fixing to slice your mozzarella. All right

You can just sit that pan right there, son. All right, hot stuff. Cody, let me know if I'm in your way

And, Bobby, you just reach over here, son, and get what you need. Okay

And you put these together the way you choose to. I think I would start right here

Okay. Cheese. I've done many a party with some form of tomato sandwich

Mm-hmm. Tomato chart. Mm-hmm. Always a big hit, too. I do it a little differently, Bobby

I put mine right on the raw dough. Brush them with a little olive oil and put it right on the raw dough

And some basil. Aren't you ready for your basil? I am. Go tear those leaves maybe in half and we'll flip like a half a leaf on each one

Okay, there you go. These tomato rings are just about the same size as our puff pastry

A little bit of salt to bring out those flavors and the acid in that tomato

A bit of mozzarella right on top of each. Okey-do. Pastry. Ooh, this is going to be good

You see where this is headed, don't you? I sure do, son. That's it

Okay. So we're going to put them back in the oven. We're going to let them bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees

And they're going to be crusty and yummy and cheesy. We create dessert bursting with flavor

The dressing is delicious, isn't it? Mmm. Bobby, say about you. Tomato tarts. Perfect

They are good. They're perfect. All right, now I'm cutting us up some watermelon

Love some watermelon. So if you get down here, son, after you get us a few of those plated

I'm going to just put a little bit of baby. And you can come down here and mix up our dressing

It's a sweet and tart lime and ginger dressing that we're going to drizzle over our watermelon

It's a fourth of a cup of pineapple juice, a fourth of a cup of honey, and a fourth of a cup of lime juice

Now, Bobbi, let me show you our secret ingredient. I've got some salt out here, and look at this beautiful salt, y'all

It's a hand-processed sea salt that comes from Brittany, France. Beautiful salt

And I like salt on my watermelon. This is a juicy lime. I got a quarter cup out of it

So there's our watermelon. All right. So I got the pineapple juice, the honey, and a quarter cup of lime going in

All we need now is a teaspoon and a half of ginger

Yeah, because that's great. So I'm just going to use our whisk to break down that ginger

I'm just going to kind of drizzle it over our watermelon. and then we're going to take that wonderful salt from France

and sprinkle on top of it. Look how coarse that is. I like that

You like it? I do. Be careful. Don't get it too salty

You and Dad had me eating salt on watermelons. And shoot, all the fruits that we used to eat

cantaloupes and honeydews and everything pretty good with a little salt on it

I like salt and pepper on my cantaloupe. There you go, sonny boy

Grab those tomato tarts, Bobby. Love a tart. Love a tart. I love the mozzarella

Golly. Alright. I'm gonna dive in. Mmm! Is it good? I adore watermelon, y'all

I do too, but... I remember as a little bitty kid when we lived at River Bend

Oh, wow. That is good. Mm-hmm. And Trina and I would just be underfoot and in the adults way while they were trying to run that restaurant

And they would cut us a great big old watermelon. And Trina and I would sit out there and do a number on that watermelon

And they knew for a little bit we would stay out of their hair

Love that sea salt. That's great. The dressing is delicious, isn't it

It works real, real well with watermelon. Like I said, that salt, that salt is hidden

The salt is a bomb. You can buy this at specialty grocery stores

Bobby, it's hard to believe that you and I just stuffed, slammed, pulled

It's so full. We've had such a good time today because we are family, aren't we

I love you. I love coming over and cooking with you. I love you coming over and cooking with me

And, you know, I always try to send everybody our best dishes and our love

From my mama's kitchen to yours. See y'all next time. Bye, y'all