Quick and Easy Steak House Dinner

      Hey guys! Pardon me, but this is going to be a short and sweet post. I'm preparing for a cookout today with The Butcher, our roommate Kyle, and some friends. So my time blogging is rather limited right now. Let me get right down to it...
      On the 4th, The Butcher and I decided to grill fillet mignon. I had been wanting it for a while, and thus we thought it would be a nice treat for Independence Day! Naturally, I thought it would be appropriate to prepare some steak house sides to enjoy with the main course. I chose fried green tomatoes and sautéed mushrooms.

The Mushrooms:

      For the button mushrooms, I simply sautéed them in a little bit of butter and olive oil with garlic, pink salt, red pepper flakes and crushed black pepper. Please note, I waited until the mushrooms were already browning, to add the salt. Salt brings out the moisture in mushrooms, thus not allowing them to brown properly when added too soon. The mushrooms don't take long at all, and you will know when they are ready, as they begin to shrink in size and change in color.  

The Tomatoes:

      For the fried green tomatoes, I sliced my tomatoes into about 1/2 inch slices and dredged them in corn starch, then milk, and then a mixture of yellow corn meal, cayenne pepper, pink salt, and cracked black pepper. They were then ready for frying. I pan fried them in a cast iron skillet at about medium high heat (we have gas, and it heats up really super fast). I don't have an exact time length to fry each side, I just kind of eye-ball it until they are golden brown. Once out of the pan, I sprinkle them with more pink salt and top them with Franks Red Hot when I'm ready to eat them. (They are so totally worth making, especially when your garden provides plenty of them.)

The Final Dinner:

       And, because I was too darn busy watching the tomatoes fry, I forgot to take a picture of The Butcher grilling the steaks, but I do have a final picture of the whole dinner for you to enjoy:

I think my GF Lifestyle is going well!!!