A Family Meal
When vacationing on Lake Leelanau in Michigan, Brian and I had a great time. With wonderful views of amazing lakes and great food who wouldn’t? With the Kaderavek family, one always eats well. With Brian’s brother-in-law, Ben, and his Dad, Dave, also being great cooks, it was fun to cook together. We had one special meal. Chicken, green beans, and cornbread never came together better.
Dave made some amazing grilled chicken. He just sprinkled salt and pepper on the chicken and then grilled it. The skin became nice and crispy on the outside. He cooked chicken thighs on the bone so that the meat stayed juicy. Then we added our own BBQ sauce as we liked. The chicken had a good flavor and was tender to the bone!
To accompany the wonderful chicken, Ben steamed some market green beans and then quickly sautéed them in a strong garlic butter sauce he made. The beans were sweet and crisp; the garlic added a nice spiciness to the simple dish.
I made cornbread to go with this southern style meal. I love corn bread, but I know it can be challenging to find a good recipe. Sometines when corn bread is made at home it tends to get very dry but this recipe is not like that. I discovered this recipe at a restaurant where I once worked. It comes out really well and is simple to make. I hope you give it a try next time you need corn bread in your life.
| Corn Bread (12 pieces) | |||
| 1 cup | Yellow Cornmeal | ||
| 1 1/4 up | All Purpose Flour | ||
| 3/4 cup | Sugar | ||
| 1 1/2 Tbsp | Baking Powder | ||
| 1 1/2 tsp | Salt | ||
| 3 ea | Eggs | ||
| 3 oz | Butter, melted | ||
| 1 cup | Milk | ||
| 1/2 cup | Buttermilk | ||
| 1/3 cup | Vegetable oil | ||
| -Sift the dry ingredients together. -Mix all the liquid ingredients together. – Add the dry into the liquid in three increments, making sure each one is just mixed in before adding the next. -Grease a 9×9 glass container and pour the cornbread batter into it. -Bake at 325 for about 50 minutes, a toothpick should come out clean in the center. |
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| Source: ChefsOnTheRoad.com | |||
For dessert, we made lemon bars! The recipe I like comes from an old co-worker of mine who is from California. His mom used to mail him boxes of lemon bars, and, after he shared them with me, I got hooked right away. It 
was a great summer treat and one that the Kaderaveks really like!
It was a wonderful vacation and we ate a lot of good food. Spending time with wonderful people and eating so well, I can’t help but look forward to our next visit together.