Tri-tip Beef & Roasted Veggie Dinner....

This was a family dinner we held during Father's Day weekend.

We tried out our new smoker and had awesome results!

This was simple meal of veggies and meat! Except it the taste was Gourmet Style! Simple to prepare, but there was quite a bit of prep work. Preparing the veggies took the most time.

 While my daughter, Tara (@ Trendy Treehouse), and I prepared the artichokes and other veggies. **The men had started cooking the Tri-Tips (earlier) on the new smoker. *We had seasoned and prepared the meat prior to fixing the veggies. *See below the seasonings for the meat...

Roasted Artichokes:

We washed and cleaned the artichokes. We also cut the leaves with a straight edge, removing the spiny pointed ends. Then we cut the chokes in half, lengthwise. We cleaned the center removing the fuzzy part of the choke, leaving the choke's heart intact. Set the oven to 375 degrees. On a prepared (use cooking spray) cookie sheet, place the artichokes then season while on the pan.

Seasoning for the artichokes:

Melt one cube of butter adding 1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic. Season to taste with garlic salt and pepper.

Drizzle the garlic butter over the artichokes. 

Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes. Check after 30 to 40 minutes, to judge if they need some foil covering, (to protect from burning).

*Note: The preparation of the artichokes took the longest of any of the veggies cooked this day. That is why we chose to do them first.

It's kind of hard to tell, my picture looks dark...but the artichokes have a rich "saute' brown/green" color to them.
These are so yummy....serve with melted garlic butter or flavored mayonnaise's.

~~~

Flavorful Tri-Tip:

The Tri-Tips we bought were pre-seasoned. Although, I HAD to add a few of my own. I added garlic pepper, worcestershire pepper and a little cabernet wine to soak in while waiting for the smoker. I used the cooking directions on the package and my smoker. **Each item could be different, so cook as it pertains to your package and/or directions. In our smoker, it took several hours and we based everything around that time frame.

 The medium sized red potatoes were washed, trimmed, oiled with "Riverview Ranch Tuscan Blend" olive oil. Then seasoned with garlic salt. They were cooked in the oven at 350 degrees for one hour. 

Riverview Ranch Tuscan Blend Olive Oil...
**(for more information regarding this Olive Oil and Pacific Sun, see the link below:)

** The Riverview Ranch Tuscan Blend Olive Oil was a gift from one of our neighbors. She (Wanda) has a beautiful orchard and processes her Frantoio and Leccino Olives through a local company, Pacific Sun. Her extra virgin olive oil is all natural and unfiltered. These olives are harvested in late October and milled immediately, capturing the fresh, green essence of her olives. This oil has a buttery body with fruity overtones and the traditional pepperiness of Tuscan style olive oil. This distinctive flavor reflects the unique terroir of the Jelly's Ferry region in Tehama County, California. 

Bravo Wanda!!!

 Ummm...the bottle's empty! LOL, NeeCee

Oven Roasted Veggies:

 So....next we washed and prepared zucchini, yellow squash and yellow sweet onions. We sliced the onion into rounds and the squash lengthwise. Gave them a light coat "Riverview Ranch Tuscan Blend  Olive Oil, seasoned with garlic pepper!

Baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Garlic was the last item to cook...

 I prepared the pan with cooking spray, then I slapped a hunk of butter in the pan! Adding some corse ground pepper. Saute' the garlic in the butter until it starts to brown, med-high. Then turn down the burner to a simmer and add a little vino! Yep...I used some of my cabernet that managed to still be in the opened bottle. Cook until you have a nice reduction, it will slightly brown and thicken. Ohh..that smelt wonderful! Mixed with the butter and pepper, it made a wonderful sauce for the garlic.

*I had bought a large package of prepared garlic bulbs at Costco. They had been divided into smaller individual packets. So, I used what I needed and froze the rest. Very handy!

I serve dinner with store bought sourdough bread. Which we sliced and buttered, then placed in the smoker, while we readied for dinner.

I know everyone enjoyed dinner this day...not by talking or saying so....

but, by lots and lots of mmm's between the fork tine sounds!!!

Do "Family Dinner" with Style...