friends, food and healthy competition

Last weekend we had this good lookin' family over for dinner (sorry Katie, I had to steal it!).

Hubby and Tyler are hunting buddies, oh, and they also work together.  Tyler and his wife Katie have three gorgeous kids - I'll call them "Spunk," "Glitter" and "Teddy."

On the way to our house, Katie was giving them the "be well behaved, or else" lecture that we all know so well.  She said, "Now remember, best...." She was looking for the word "manners."

Glitter yelled out, "FRIENDS!!!"

Our boys love hanging out with these friends, who lovingly refer to them as their "new brothers."  The kids all spent the evening running from the living room to the basement and then up to the boys' rooms to jump off the bunk beds - young minds think alike.

After a smashing meal of "Elk Steak Parmesan" made by yours truly, we took out the game "Settlers of Catan" and although I was in the lead for a while, Tyler whooped us all in the end.

Although Squirt and Teddy went to bed, the older kids stayed up way too late with Noggin on demand... it's Comcastic!

In the end, one little Rufus didn't make it and this is what we found:

 

 

 

 

 

I am so sick of the same old recipes with our elk steaks and this one turned out so yummy that I thought I would post it for you to enjoy.  You can substitute regular beef cube steaks, just ignore the "pounding with a mallet" part.  I served it over spaghetti and with a big salad.

Elk Steak Parmesan
3 TB flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 eggs
2 TB water
1/3 c. crushed saltine crackers
2/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. basil
3 TB vegetable oil
4 4 oz. steaks
1 1/4 c. canned tomato sauce (I used spaghetti sauce)
2 1/4 tsp. white sugar
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
4 slices mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Use mallet to pound the crap out of tenderize the meat.
In shallow dish, stir together the flour, salt and pepper.
In separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and water with a fork.
In a third bowl or shallow dish, mix together the cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup of the parmesan cheese and basil.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Dredge the beaten steaks in the seasoned flour, dip into the egg mixture and coat with the cracker crumb mixture.
Place them in the skillet and fry just until browned on each side.
Arrange steaks in a single layer in a greased casserole dish.
Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together the spaghetti sauce, sugar, 1/4 tsp. oregano and garlic powder.
Spoon over steaks when the 25 minutes are up.
Top each steak with mozzarella cheese and remaining parmesan cheese.
Sprinkle remaining oregano over the top.
Bake for five minutes or until the cheese is melted and sauce is hot!