Family Dinner Fridays

These are such important posts for me because growing up we always were blessed to eat dinner mostly as a family. My dad worked a lot during the week but he would eat with us when he could and always on the weekends. This was the place where we caught up on the week, talked about our passions and plans, and all in the company of good food!

Admittedly we would always whine as kids to go out to eat, or in my case to just eat "normal" food (my mom likes to try the most off the wall stuff), but I am very greatful that my parents didn't succumb to this all the time. We spent so much quality time around our family dinner table, and I hope to pass this on to my children.

This week's dinner will feature my hubby's birthday dish. He is originally from Texas and comes from a little border town called Del Rio. Needless to say he and his family grew up on and completely love Mexican inspired dishes. So for his birthday I decided to make him Navajo Tacos ( a personal favorite of mine). And of course a sinfully delicious cake.

Navajo Tacos;
Bread: 3c flour, 1tsp salt, 3tsp baking soda, 2tbsp shortening, warm water
Combine all ingredients except water first. Then add water one tablespoon at a time until dough consistensy is achieved. Knead up and let sit for about 20 min. Take tablespoon size pieces of dough and roll them out to form a flat circle. Fry in hot vegetable oil on both sides for about a min or less on each side.

Toppings:
For this dish I used refried beans. I cooked the pintos according to the instructions and then mashed them up with onions, and garlic and let sit in a warm crock pot until time to serve. Wala! Homemade refried beans!!

The other toppings are just favs from the fridge. I wanted to make some guacamole but the avocados were not ripe yet. :(

Better than Anything Cake (The actual name!!)
German Chocolate Cake Mix and ingredients required therein
Caramel Syrup
Toffee Bits
Heavy Whipping Cream
Sugar
Vanilla Flavoring

Bake Cake according to box. After baking poke holes throughout the cake at about 1/2- 1 inch spaces and drizzle caramel Syrup over warm cake. Be generous with the Caramel! Chill cake in fridge until completely cooled.
For the Topping take a chilled metal mixing bowl and pour in about half a pint of Heavy whipping cream, a tsp of vanilla and about half a cup of sugar. Whip on high for a few minutes until whipped cream consistancy is achieved. Be sure to tast the topping to make sure whether or not you need to add more sugar or vanilla.

Spread topping over chilled cake and sprinkle with Toffee bits. Yum Yum!!!

I actually got this recipe from another Coastie wife I met a few years ago. Our kids have been the best of friends for years now and she always made my husband this cake for his birthday. I wanted to continue out little tradition (and have an exuse to indulge).

If you would like to share your Family Dinner recipes and photos please send them to coastiewivescorner@yahoo.com