Arlene Celebrates Father’s Day with Her Dad’s Favorite Dishes!

Well, hello and welcome to At Home today. Happy Father’s Day to one and all. We’re so glad you could join us because this is a great occasion. We’re celebrating fathers today. You guys that have decided that your children are important enough to stick around, provide for them, give them love, provide for their needs, I say thank you to you today. And I always talk about my dad, and he’s on the open of the program. He was a special guy. He really, really was. He taught me so much about life, but he also taught me more about afterlife like heaven. He was just awesome in what he would — what he — you know, it was so real to him, what heaven would be like. And I think about those things all the time because those are things that will last for eternity. It’s important to go to your kids’ ball games and to do things with them. But how much more important, Dad, for you to take them to church, to be that example of a godly man, so that they can look back and say, “Boy, my dad, you know, he took me to the ball game, but we used to go to church, too.” Or “He used to take me here or take me to a concert, good Christian music” or whatever. So, I want to applaud all you fathers today. And we’re going to make one of Dad’s — my dad’s favorite meals. I want to share with you a scripture in Isaiah from the Bible, Chapter 64, Verse 8 says, “But now, Oh Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. And all we are the work of your hand.” God says that you are the work of His hand. You are. You say, “But, Arlene, my life is such a mess.” It doesn’t matter. He says you are the work of his hand. And see what happens when you give yourself to him. Then he can be that potter that shapes and molds you into his image. The love of God is so incredible. Until you really know that love, you have not experienced love of any kind that — that can compare to the love of God. He loves you. He cares for you. And today, we honor you, fathers. I’m going to prepare a stuffed steak and all the trimmings that go with it, even a fantastic strawberry shortcake at the very end. Stay with us. We’re going to have our hint, and we’ll be right back in just a moment.

Here’s today’s At Home Hint. When measuring temperature of meat or poultry, make sure a thermometer does not touch the bone or rest in the fat. Also, remember, meat continues to cook about 10 minutes after removing from the oven while resting. If you’ve got a helpful hint you’d like to share with us, we want to hear from you. Send your hint to At Home Hints, Cornerstone Television, Wall, Pennsylvania 15148 dash 1499. Well, today we’re honoring fathers for Father’s Day, and we’re making a wonderful meal that’s very easy to do. And you should think about maybe preparing it for your father on a special day. We’re starting out with a stuffed steak. My dad loved this. One of his favorite things. Easy to do. Not hard at all. It really makes a nice presentation too. What we have is some — you’re going to make stuffing like regular plain, old bread stuffing, which is bread cubes broken up just like this — fresh bread. Don’t get that real hard, dry stuff, because that’s not the kind of a dressing you want in here. So, you just kind of break them up. Make sure they’re small. Cut them or tear them apart. And then we’ve taken some celery and onion, and we’ve basically browned it in some butter. I’m just going to add that to our bread cubes [scraping pan]. And again, it’s kind of up to your decisions — your own decision on how much as far as the taste. If you like a lot, put a lot. Now, I’m going to turn this up because I need that pan to get good and hot again because we’re going to brown our steak in it. So, I’m going to add some oil, a couple of teaspoons of oil, just enough because we’re going to braise it. All right. Now, back to the stuffing. We’ve got some butter in there and, oh, just — just sweat those vegetables a little bit. You don’t want them to be brown, but you want to sweat them to soften them because this doesn’t cook very long. You know, steak doesn’t have to cook real, real long. Then we’re going to season it with some salt. Remember, you can add more at the table and some black pepper. Very plain bread stuffing. Now, if you have a stuffing mix that — or a combination that your husband likes or dad likes, make that one for him. He’ll love it. This is the one my dad liked. This is the one mom always made when she did a turkey or a chicken or whatever. Now, once you have that ready, this is the simple part. You have a piece of round steak, and you have cut strings about 12 inches long like so, and you have them lined underneath the steak, I hope you can see that, at intervals of every couple of inches because that’s what’s going to hold the stuffing in place. So then basically we’re just going to spoon, and you know what you’ve really got to do with your hands, get the hands in there and you’re going to pat it down. Now, this is still warm. If you made this in the morning and put it in the refrigerator to cook later, you’d have to let this completely cool. You don’t want to put a — a warm stuffing into a piece of steak, and then put it in the oven. Would not be a good idea. But if you’re going to cook it immediately, go ahead and do it. Now, all we’re going to do is start to form this. It looks like, oh, my goodness, that’s an awful lot of stuffing in there! It is. But it’s OK because you’re just going to keep pushing it together, pushing it together, and it’ll come out, put it back in there. You might use a couple of skewers for the ends of it to hold that together. And I’ll do that just to help me with the task that is at hand. OK. That butter flavor on that bread and that celery and onion! Oh! Now, what I’ll do is start to tie the first one off, and you want to pull that tight, see? Like that. That will hold the stuffing in place. Keep it tight. Pull it just like that. Now, you’re going to do that the whole way down the steak. The whole way down. Even if it doesn’t quite meet because you have so much stuffing, don’t worry about it. It’ll be okay because all that stuffing is going to do when it hits the skillet, it’s going to stay there. I better take that off. It looks like getting a little too hot. But again, can you see how this is forming this beautiful roll of stuffed steak? Now, the Italians call this a braciola, but they don’t brown it in a skillet like — like my family did — my mom did. They would throw it into a — a pot of sauce that’s cooking and cook it with a real strong taste of tomato. That’s fine if that’s what you like. Make whatever dad likes. You know, there’s nothing so wonderful to me as a daughter, an only daughter, to see my dad sitting at the table just enjoying something I’d made for him because I knew he liked it. He knew I had spent time preparing that for him, and it was a sacrifice on my time because I was busy. And just for him to say, “Honey, that’s so good” meant a lot to me. I really appreciated that. So, you dads, when your kids are making stuff for you, don’t forget to show some appreciation too. So many good stories and remembrances of my — my parents and of my dad because he was a man of God. He loved God dearly. He loved God first, loved his family, loved the church, and he just felt privileged that God had called him to preach. He didn’t have a big bunch of people that he pastored. He had a small church, but he loved those people like everyone was his own personal family. And sometimes that gets lost in a big church. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he certainly was someone that if I had — if Paul and I had been blessed with children, we would have wanted them to know their grandfather because he was such a blessing to us. So, we have our steak ready to go. We have our skillet ready here. That can be done in a skillet or in a — in a nice deep Dutch oven. You see how this is? Let me get this last string off here. Here we go. Now, you kind of mold that. See how nice it is? This is going to get popped right into our — and don’t worry, if it doesn’t fit, we can bend it. [Oil cooking] We’ll make the bend like that. We’re going to take a break. When we come back, we’re going to show you all the accompaniments to go with our delicious steak. [Oil cooking] Well, if you just joined us, we’re in the middle of our program that is honoring fathers. Happy Father’s Day to you. Just want to show you how we’re braising this steak. I told you it was going around the bend. It’s like a half moon here because our pan is small. But you can do this in a larger skillet or in a Dutch oven. It doesn’t matter. But we just want to braise it like this when it’s get — when it gets nicely browned on all sides, then you’re going to add some water. And when you add the water a little bit at a time, turn the gas down, turn the heat down, and just let it cook slowly, real slowly about an hour, hour and a half. The way you’ll know this is done, you’ll put a fork in it. When the fork comes out, you’ll know it’s tender. If it holds on to it and you have to shake it, let it cook some more. OK. And then we’re going to show you how to make a gravy with this, too, a little later on. Now, the other thing I have going are some carrots, baby carrots, because we’re going to make those into dilled carrots. Dad loved dill. He just he liked the taste. He liked dill pickles. He liked all of that, but he really liked dill flavoring. So, I used it a lot in all the carrots and things that I would make for him — other vegetables. All right. So, we have those going. They won’t take too long. Now, the other thing Dad really liked was strawberries. And I don’t know very many that don’t like strawberries. Actually, I didn’t as a kid, but being around Dad, you learned to because we always had them when they were in season. So, what I have here is about two and a half cups of Bisquick. That’s a baking mix, not flour. We’re going to add three tablespoons of melted butter to our Bisquick because we’re making a shortcake. We’re going to add a couple of tablespoons of sugar. Mix that together. Now, this is going to make a cake. No, not a smooth, battered cake by any means. OK. And then we’re going to add some milk. This will make the batter, and you get about — well, we always got a lot because we really, really like strawberries. So, we’d get a couple of quarts, and we just cleaned them. We cleaned them really well and then put them in, sliced them. And then as you have done that when they’re all completely sliced, pour some sugar over them. How much? Well, if you like them, real sweet, if you don’t like them sweet. You almost have to do it and taste it. But I would start if I had two quarts. I would start with probably about three-fourths of a cup. And then you just take your knife and just start cutting down through. What happens, that renders the juice out of the strawberry, mixes with the sugar, and then you have a really, really nice broth or juice that comes up on them. Now, this is going to be a wonderful shortcake. You don’t want to mix this too much just until it gets combined and gets together. Then we’re going to spray our baking pan, and don’t use the spray with the garlic flavor. Not good with strawberries. You want to keep the butter flavor? OK. It has happened before. Don’t laugh for me. OK. And then we’re just going to pour this out onto this sheet. Let me get my little knife here like that. So many good memories of my dad because he was an awesome guy, you know, picnics and taking us fishing, taking my brothers fishing, and just all the stuff he did as a father — made time for us. He worked, you know, he was a pastor, full-time pastor, but he worked on the railroad also and kind of two full-time jobs, really. But we never lacked for attention or for love from my dad. He was just a loving guy. I sure miss him and my mom both. But I know that one day we all get to heaven, what a day that’s going to be for all of us that have loved ones that have gone on. Now I’m just putting this out, trying to make it into a kind of a round shape. This is going into a 425-degree oven. OK. You have to have that oven really hot — really, really important that it’s very, very hot when you put that in there. Here we go. When we open that again, it’s going to be a beauty. Better set this baby for 20 minutes. All right. Now, let’s see. The carrots are doing well. Our roasts — our roast stuffed steak is doing well. You can see some little drippings in this pan. Some of the bread cubes have come out. Don’t worry about that. It’s OK for that to happen. [Oil cooking] Now, I’m going to put a little water in there just to get the drippings. Now, we’re covering it like I said, and you’re going to want to turn it down just to nip. Now, the other thing that goes well, we have the carrots started. We have the strawberries ready. We need a nice big salad. Dad loved salad — big salad person. And he learned probably when he was in his 80s that, like, romaine lettuce was really good for you. So, he would always say, “Well, Arlene, I — I eat that romaine, you know, because that’s full of vitamins. That’s really good for you.” I said, “That’s good, Dad, but you can mix it up.” But anyway, we’d — we’d always make a big salad for him because that’s what he liked. OK. We have our — our lettuce ready. This is called a mandarin salad. And what I’ve done was just taken some almonds, a little bit of butter, and we kind of made, like, what they called praline that it’s — look here. You — you put them on this — in a — in a skillet, you let them caramelize, and then you put them out on the sheet, and you just let them get hard, and then you crack them apart. You had that crunch in your salad. Oh, it’s so good! You’re going to love this. OK. And we also have some sectioned mandarin oranges that we’re just going to put — this makes a really pretty springy, summery kind of salad. You could use fresh oranges if you wanted to. I’m sure they would be good. Just do them in segments because the segments are much prettier than just cutting a piece of orange. OK. And we have some green onion that we’re going to put. What a combination, huh, Mike? Two to three — Mike is dripping over here already. We have some celery chopped finely. Again, this would be to your taste, to your liking. You like a lot. You like a little. OK. And we have some parsley. I’m going to put this in here. I was going to put it in the dressing, but I think I’ll just — again, it’s variations. However you want to do it will be fine. OK. We just — we give you something to follow, but if you find an easier way while you’re preparing it, do it. That’s fine. OK. Now get your jar. And in this jar, we’re going to put a couple of tablespoons, this is our dressing, a couple of tablespoons of sugar, a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar. OK. One. Two. And a fourth cup of vegetable oil. The parsley can go in there if you want it to. And then you cannot omit this. This is the dash of red pepper sauce. Well, that was a large dash. Oh, everybody’s liking it over here. I’m thinking [panting quickly]. OK. So much for that. Now we’re going to do some — do a little with salt in there and some pepper. This is going to be our salad dressing. And you — this is the handiest thing. Just put it in a jar, shake the jar up really, really well. And when we’re at the table, we’ll pour this on. This will be a great, great salad. We’re going to take a break, tell you how you can get today’s recipes. Come back. We’ll be in the dining room with everything we prepared for dad today. Be right back. Well, I hope you were able to join us today for our special program that honors dads, fathers, the men of the world who provide for their families. That’s you. If you’re doing a good job, I applaud you today [clapping]. And I thank God for you. I hope that you picked up some pointers, family, for what you can do for dad on his special day. And we’re going to take it a little trip around the table. OK. First of all, down there on our platter, there’s our stuffed rolled steak with dilled carrots right in the middle. I like that combination together. I think it looks nice. Easy to serve. Just put a little spatula under that. Everybody can just serve themselves. Little spoon there for the carrots. Perfect! Next to that is our salad. We made a wonderful salad. It’s called Mandarin. And there’s our dressing. We’re going to put that on. You don’t want to put that on ahead of time because it wilts the lettuce, and you don’t want that to happen. OK. And the — the end of the meal is called this strawberry shortcake. There is ice cream. There are strawberries. Let me just go around the back door here and show you. See, that’s ice cream on that middle layer right there, strawberries and juice on every layer, and what you want to do is have your — your dinner, and then wait about an hour because this is a heavier dessert than something light and puffy, and he might be too full. So let this be a little bit later in the afternoon, maybe sitting out on the deck. Just say now I’m ready for my dessert. This is when you want to bring this out. Assemble it right before you serve it, because it will definitely start to deteriorate because it’s — it’s ice cream. It’s Cool Whip. It’s strawberries. You want those strawberries good and — and cold, too. We’ve added some mashed potatoes, made some brown gravy, put a nice little fruit plate with that. This is a meal fit for a king. And you know what? As a father, you are the king of your castle, your home. And what goes on in that castle has to do with you, what you allow and permit to go on. I hope it’s a place full of love. I hope that God is the center of your castle. I hope that your children have come around, and you’ve grabbed them and braced them tightly to your chest because that’s love, and that’s what kids are looking for. And I hope that you do that, not just on Father’s Day, do it every day. You want kids that are — feel secure, feel loved, and want to be at home, show them the love of God, and they’ll want to be there. So, Happy Father’s Day until we join you the next time, don’t forget, it just wouldn’t be the same without you. Happy Father’s Day.

Furnishings provided by Levin Furniture featuring Lane’s Country Living Collection. Food provided by Jordan Banana Company, wholesalers of fresh fruit and vegetables in Dravosburg, Pennsylvania.

Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.