Father’s Day was a day of cooking for me. And don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being in the kitchen, but MAN WERE MY DOGS BARKING by bedtime. In fact, I don’t think I even said goodnight to anyone.. I’m pretty sure I just crawled into my bedroom and threw myself at the bed.
BUT IT WAS ALL PRETTY DAMN DELICIOUS. And I took not a single picture of any of it.
Here’s what we ate:
Our Main Course – Spiral Sliced Honey Baked Hams, provided by Apple Lane Farms.
Image Courtesy of Apple Lane Farms
Apple Lane Farms is a local joint and I first came to know them through their overstuffed sandwiches, and they are my HANDS DOWN favorite boxed lunch for catering work events. When I realized late Saturday that I didn’t have a main course, I called them in a panic, thinking that I’d need to give them 24 hours notice to get something ready. AS ALWAYS, they were awesome, and this was a delicious ham. Really, really good. I am drooling just remembering it.
Our Sides
Image Courtesy of Southern Plate
Collard Greens and Pepper Sauce from the Southern Plate
(You’ll see that most of my sides come from Southern Plate. If you’re not familiar with Christy Jordan, you are MISSING OUT.)
I am a HUGE fan of greens, but my boys are decidedly not. But even they ate these greens happily. (I think the ham hock helped.) And the pepper sauce included with it was good on EVERYTHING. I wish collard greens weren’t such a hassle to prep, because otherwise I’d have these at every meal.
Image Courtesy of Southern Plate
Black Eyed Peas from Southern Plate
Black Eyed Peas are another southern staple that are just a hassle to prep if you don’t have time. Because we had such a late night on Saturday, I didn’t make it to the grocery store to let my beans soak overnight. Which means I had an extra pot to watch the next morning. But you know? No big deal. I let these babies cook in the crock pot (after the soak, obviously) on HIGH for about six hours with another ham hock and they were perfect.
Image Courtesy of Pioneer Woman
Soul Sweet Potatoes by The Pioneer Woman
These are my staple dish. If there’s a family dinner, I’m asked to bring these. I’ve learned to allow longer cooking time for the sweet potatoes (honestly, I usually leave them in the oven for close to 1.5 hours), and this round I actually used coconut milk instead of whole milk. (Verdict: we liked it better. It made for a lighter, fluffier casserole.) I also crush up some ginger snaps in the topping.
Image Courtesy of The Sisters Dish
“Boston Market” Cornbread from The Sisters Dish
This was my unknown dish – the one thing my father had requested was cornbread, and I had never made this recipe. It caught my eye on Pinterest, but in reality, we don’t have a Boston Market around these parts, so I didn’t even know what it was supposed to taste like in the end. But! Hallelujah! The fates were with me, and this was delicious. It was sweet, like most southern cornbread, and made A TON. Next time, I’d like to add some corn niblets to the batter.
For Dessert
Image Courtesy of Southern Plate (AGAIN, CAUSE SHE’S SO AWESOME)
Banana Pudding from Southern Plate
When I gush over Christy Jordan, this is where I start, because this is where I started. My husband has an affinity to banana pudding, but only HIS MOTHER’S BANANA PUDDING WILL DO. So one day, I saw this randomly, and Christy was so unassuming and fun that I thought, Hey, maybe even I can manage this. And thusly, I became the NEW QUEEN OF BANANA PUDDING. Jenni totally saved my bacon here when we didn’t have any confectioner’s sugar for the meringue, and she made one out .. of .. something. I don’t know; ground up unicorns maybe. But it was very good, even though she and I were too stuffed from earlier to eat any.
All in all, there were many trips back to the food, and everyone left way too full and giddy from the joy of eating a meal that was cooked ENTIRELY from scratch. Which is awesome and I love that and it was perfect.
We even obliged Daddy in a Father’s Day Picture. He did request we find a way to not get a glare off of his head, though.
Only for you, Daddy.
And let me say “everything was delicious”, as a matter of fact I’m still eating cornbread and ham.
Thanks Sarah for going to all of this trouble, but I’m certainly glad you did, it was awesome.
First, that looks awesome. Second, I’m pretty sure I would never cook anything at all if I weren’t planning to photograph it.
Erica wants you to read ..She has also taken some pictures of the couch
I can’t tell you how much he enjoyed the feast! It was, “Oh, man, this was so good and that was just wonderful”. He went on FOR DAYS about how good it all was. How very generous you were to go to so much trouble. He loved every minute of it!