Fall Break Trip {Destin, FL} + The Best Filet Recipe

Last week we had the most glorious week in Destin, FL. I shared a bunch about it on our Instagram stories and had two things that I got a ton of DM's about. Y'all wanted to know details on the house we stayed in and how to make the steaks we cooked!  I'm sharing both of those things today along with a recap of our trip.

A few years ago our schools shifted to a calendar that built in a week off at the end of September.  While I am not a fan of starting back to school in July (during a normal school year...obviously this year was different), when Fall Break rolls around it is a much needed break.  

I love going to the beach in late September because the crowds are much smaller and the weather is amazing. This year we had a lot of trips cancelled due to COVID so when some of our friends asked if we wanted to rent an amazing house with them for the break we were all for it!  

We rented THIS house in Destin, FL and it was AMAZING!!!! We rented the house through VRBO and I would highly recommend this rental.  We had three families and could have fit a fourth family because it was just that big.  

It also had a guest house with a bedroom, bathroom, small kitchen and separate game room with bunk beds that we didn't even use for sleeping purposes.  The kids pretended this was their "apartment" and would hang out over there at night to play and watch TV. 

Every bedroom in the main house had its own bathroom, comfortable beds, a huge kitchen and a living room with the most incredible views.  It also had a deck we would sit out on in the mornings and at night to watch the sunset. 

The pool was nothing to get excited about, but the kids still enjoyed it.  The best part about the house was just being right on the water. The kids could run back and forth from the beach to the pool and if you needed something from the house it wasn't a big deal to go grab it because the house was just steps away.  

We stayed with some of our baseball friends who we've been around all summer and the boys had THE best time playing nonstop all week long. There was a lot of beach baseball happening, but also a ton of football, too. 

I'm normally a stay-in-a-hotel-and-eat-out-for-every-meal kind of girl when it comes to vacations because to me, it's just not a vacation if I have to cook and clean.  However this trip was like we had our own personal chefs traveling with us. Not only do my friends like to cook, they CAN cook!  

We ate (and drank) very well during our trip. When I shared about our steak night on Instagram I got a ton of questions and I promised y'all I would share the details.  I got my dear friend, Jaime, to send me how they cooked them. 

Ingredients:  

• Filet size of your choice - cut from butcher shop - we frequent Whole Foods - ours were 8 oz
• Sprigs of fresh Thyme - 1 bunch per 2 steaks 
• Peeled fresh garlic - 1 head per 2 steaks 
• Two sticks of Kerrygold butter - cut into cubes

Directions: 

• One hour before cooking lay steaks out to come to room temperature and season both sides and edges with salt and pepper. 
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees. 
• Heat cast iron skillet with 1 tbsp of olive oil until it's smoking hot. 
• Add two tbsp of butter to the pan. 
• Add steaks to the pan - leave for 2 minutes. 
• Dump butter into heat proof bowl. Add two more tbsp of butter, swirl around pan. Flip steaks to other side - cook 2 minutes. 
• Dump butter one more time and add 4 tbsp of butter and whole peeled garlic cloves. Baste steaks with melted butter. 
• Put pan into preheated oven. 

Cook times vary based on thickness of the steak. Ours were 2.5" and we followed: 

Medium Rare: 4 minutes in oven 

Medim: 7 minutes in oven 

Medium Well: 10 minutes in oven 

Well Done: 12 minutes in oven. 

• Baste again in butter, garlic and thyme. 
• Remove steaks to plates and let them rest, but not keep cooking. Rest 3-5 minutes before cutting. 
• Enjoy! 

      

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