London broil, Part I: The Marinade

There was a day last week when I woke up, sent Carlton off to work, walked Vespa, and turned to my little dish on the kitchen counter for a... GASP!!!... no clementines left for breakfast? Or, lunchtime's dessert? Or, my infamous 4:00-snack-break-that's-not-really-approved-but-chuckled-at-because-they-know-I-get-cranky-at-work-when-I-get-too-hungry snack? Or, my before bedtime dessert (hey, it keeps me away from that bag of Nestle chocolate chips on the baking shelf, okay!)? No clementines at all and I just couldn't believe it.

So, after a quick Lean Cuisine lunch in the shop I jetted out to Winn Dixie to grab a crate of my littleorangedearlybeloveds and head back on into work.

Once I got there, I snatched up a crate and saw that they were putting out fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for buy-one-get-one-free. This is not a story of their adventures in being cooked.

This is the first part of the story of half of one of the two London broils I purchased for the same deal--buy-one-get-one-free. It's a good cut of beef. I remember my mom making a London broil every now-and-then when I was growing up, and it was always a good meal, served with mashed potatoes or baked potatoes or roasted potatoes. My mom's a meat-n-potatoes kinda girl, so that's how I'm used to eating. Can't complain about that! That's pretty much all Carlton will eat at all, so dinner tonight should be golden.

So, without anymore gabbing, here's Part I: The Marinade.

You'll need:

Dale's Seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, spicy mustard, sweet wine, and fresh garlic:

Peel the skins off of two or three cloves of garlic. I chose three, because I really like it.

Chop the garlic until you're happy with how small it is. I think I got a little carried away because I'm enjoying using my ceramic knife (thanks again, Daddy!). Then just dump the garlic into your dish.

Add in 1/4 cup of Dale's Seasoning, 1 tablespoon of the Worcestershire sauce, and 2 tablespoons of the spicy mustard:

The next step was supposed to be adding 1/4 cup of the sweet white wine. Ours was a homemade bottle of (apparently peachy) zinfandel and when I popped the cork, GA-ROSSSSSSS!!! There was no way I was going to marinade with this. Thanks for the gift, but um, no thanks. I grabbed honey instead. Add 1 tablespoon of honey to the marinading dish:

Whisk it all about. Like my action shot?

Plop in the beef. Wiggle it around to be sure the stuff really gets on there. Flip it over and wiggle it around some more. Seal it up tight and place it in the refrigerator until it's time to start dinner, hopefully for a few hours!

I'll be back around later tonight to share with you Part II: Cooking, Eating, and Loving the London Broil with some potatoes to boot! Hungry yet?

So as mentioned before, I cooked up the meatballs from the recipe that my Chelsea posted on her blog here. I must say, Carlton and I were both soooooo impressed! These meatballs were absolutely delish!

Unfortunately, because of my pitiful little excuse of a spice pantry, I didn't realize I was missing my jar of parsley until after I got back from the grocery store. I substituted thyme (a rosemary -slash- parsley tasting herb), and was very, very pleased with the end result! See this tiny box above my microwave? No room for hardly anything! And so hard to find stuff anyway, it's so high up and in the dark.

Here are my ingredients all mixed together and ready to be balled up and stuck in the hot oven. I have to admit, I used to turn my nose up at even breaking eggshells open over a bowl of cookie dough, so the fact that I'm squishing eggs, bread crumbs, cheese, and raw ground beef together with my bare fingers is pretty much a milestone.

All my happy little balls, lined up in perfectly straight rows, perfectly separated from their own neighbors from all angles:They're done! Carlton came in just a-sniffin' before I even asked him to log off Warhammer!!! "No more scenarios, babe, it's just about time to eat!"

I served these up plain style, with quick and easy Lean Cuisine pastas on the side. Since (my love and obsession) Fresh and Easy had Lean Cuisines on sale for $1.60 each, our freezer is jam packed FULL of these things. Carlton picked the ever-so-classy fettuccine alfredo while I stuck by my soulful mac-n-cheese. (*And both Carlton and I both agreed - our favorite part was the bottoms of the meatballs. I accidentally overcooked them by 1-2 minutes, and the bottoms had a delicious sort of burnt cheese crust that was di.vi.ne.*)

Vespa loved her meatball (and a few scraps we slipped her on the sly) so much that she had to rush to her emergency H2O rations that Carlton keeps on the desk, right behind her favorite napping spot on the sofa.

Full pup needs a nap! Just look at that fat tummy.

Chelsea, thanks again so very much for sharing this special family recipe with us all! This one's for the book. Oh, and you didn't warn us of the stank-butt burps we have as a result of this yummy goodness!!!

My very own "Trisha Do" list

I've been shopping around and have found just a few projects I really want to accomplish this year. Most are, of course, knitting projects, but others involve other crafty endeavors. And some things are just things that I want, which will in turn lead to more projects to complete. I don't have any set timeline for finishing any of the projects, I just know that I've found quite a bit of new materials and inspirations and must chronicle them as they are checked off my list.

1) What started this was a simple internet search through a fantastic knitting "blog" site I am a member of - actually, I'm more of a silent stalker. I don't post there, haven't presented any projects there, but have found lots of great knits and have been very inspired. My very own Desert Rose was a pattern purchased from the site, so it's obviously a trustworthy place to shop around. Lots of knitters post at Ravelry.com and tell how easy or hard a project is, share their likes and dislikes about the patterns, and even offer their own custom changes to many knits. So, I found this summer sweater that I'm head-over-heels for, and absolutely must knit.

It's very me, with some white linen pants and yellow flats... for some reason. I followed links for search for the original pattern to the sweater and found myself at this site where the pattern is located. Along with the pattern to the sweater I was originally searching for, I also fell in love with at least half the other pieces and have decided that this book is most definitely number one on my list of things to do this year.

2) Not only am I a silent stalker on Ravelry, but my Ravelry silent stalking was a spill-over effect from the same silent stalking practices here on blogger.com. I know, I know. I have been embarrassed to actually click the "follow" button on so many blogs, I have just bookmarked them and check them as often as I read up on my regularly "followed" blogs. One of these blogs was a recent find, and I am so obsessively all about backtracking and reading up on every single one of her knits! She knits a lot, and for her little baby girl niece as well as her two yorkie pups. And for herself, of course. As I was backtracking and looking at older posts of hers, I came upon this post with these:

My house will be littered with these... in jars, on shelves, in bowls... for the rest of my life, and you can count on that. I. Must. Make. These.

3) I want a special, nice, light birch or golden olive wood box to hold handwritten recipes. I want special recipe cards with embossed corners and my monogram in block letters centered at the top. It'll have its very own shelf in the kitchen, open without doors for easy access... but will be reserved for my hands only, and only for special occasions. I have no idea where this idea came from, but my mom has a special recipe box she refers to on only the most sacred of recipes - tea cookies, peanut butter cookies, pie crust, Christmas coffee cake. Some of the recipe cards are barely legible because they've been handled and used so many times, buttery fingers have moved them aside, flour has dashed across them. I want my own! In a very special box. On very special cards. Reserved for the very specialest of special recipes. And favorite recipes. I want holiday recipes and birthday cake recipes and old family recipes. I want to collect the recipes of those who are close and special to me, too. They'd all go in the box. Where will I find this box? Or, should I have this box made for me?

4) I need to have one of these rugs in my own home. I am in love. Wouldn't this one be perfect, simply butted up against an L-shaped sectional in a sort of nude-gray oyster color?

5) Knit a pair of socks in my size.

6) Knit a pair of house slippers.


7) Be a better player on this site.

8) Find someone who loves this hootin' sweater enough for me to make it for them, enough to wear it with pride and show it off exactly how it deserves to be shown. I love it, but I just can't see myself wearing it for some reason.


9) I want to organize my yarns, according to fiber, color, etc. in an open-front-open-back divided shelf like this one:


10) Figure out how the heck to make this bag for a few special ladies before 6 weeks have passed. Any help here?!?!!??

Shredded Chicken Fajita Soft Tacos - a hit!

Carlton came home hungry today at 4:45 and I had to cook up something fast and tasty!


Shredded Chicken Fajita Soft Tacos:

Two whole boneless, skinless frozen chicken breasts
Taco size flour tortillas
Chopped 1/2 of each: green, red, yellow bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup water
1 can stewed tomatoes, and their juice
1/2 cup green chile enchilada sauce
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1/2 lemon
Lots of shredded cheese
Lime wedges
Cilantro
Chunky salsa
Sour Cream (Representin' SC lovers everywhere, Katie Anne!)


Carlton called me at 4:30 and asked what was for dinner. When that question surfaces when he 's only on his drive home, I know he'll be a grumpster before long at all, so the chicken breasts I had out thawing were going to have to speed up the process if they wanted to or not. Got out my big chili pot, because I don't get to use it hardly ever, and I decided I wanted to tonight. Probably because Martha Stewart's show was all about pot today...(it was a huge joke throughout the whole show with Jimmy Fallon who moves entirely too much to be on television).

Chopped up two garlic cloves and tossed them into a tablespoon of hot olive oil in the pot. Then chopped the half of each bell pepper that needed to be eaten anyway (because they were first cut in to last week and these things only last so long), and tossed them into the sizzling garlic. Added juice from half a lemon. Covered, stirring occasionally, for about 7 or 8 minutes, until the peppers started browning. Added 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of ground cumin (taco seasoning is pretty much the same thing here). Water came to a boil in no time, and tossed in about a half can of canned stewed tomatoes, and all of that juice. Added some "Pepper Sauce" and about a half cup of green enchilada sauce, just because they were in the cabinet and had been for a long time. Dumped both chicken breasts in and covered the pot, letting everything lightly boil until the chicken was finished all the way through (about 12-15 minutes, I think). I stirred every couple minutes to keep anything from burning to the bottom, and had to add about a 1/4 cup water about halfway through because it was getting too thick.



Once the chicken breasts were finished all the way through, I took one out and shredded it with two forks and put the shredded pieces back into the pot to simmer in the sauce. The other I just sliced thinly, just in case Carlton didn't want the tomatoes and peppers mixed in with his chicken. Turns out, he actually preferred the shredded! I just warmed up a few soft flour tortillas in the microwave, got out the toppings we wanted to eat on the tacos, and we each built our own.





20 minutes to success! And, there are plenty of leftovers for another night this week - for two people eating two fully-loaded tacos each, I really could have only used one chicken breast for this.

It's 80 degrees outside...

Today was yet another warm, warm day. It feels like April/May in Georgia right now... crazy, I know! Because of the nagging warm weather, and because of a blog post that Katie made a couple days ago, I was inspired to grill out for dinner tonight.

On Superbowl Sunday, Carlton was invited to a Superbowl party at a coworker's house, and I was invited to come along with him. We showed up just in time for Geoff (party host) to start throwing tons of meat on the grill - beef ribs in marinade, beef ribs in bbq sauce, pork ribs in bbq sauce, bone-in chicken breasts in bbq sauce, and some kabobs... your choice of steak or chicken with bell peppers, onion, and zucchini mixed in. On top of all the meats, there was a gigantic self-serve salad, a 7-layer bean/guac/sour cream/salsa/cheese/etc dip, and another fruit salsa with plenty of chips for scooping. Annnnnnnd, margaritas, of course! Drinker's choice of original flavor or frozen strawberry. Of course, the frozen strawberry margaritas were a hit with me, as with the 5-ish geeky computer programmers and QA analysts.

Geoff and his wife are originally from California, lived in Boston for a few years, and are now currently in Arizona, about 45 minutes from us. Their roots, however, are in the Polynesian Islands. And I must say, Geoff's marinated ribs and kabobs were definitely a hit! No matter how much any of his guests raved about his marinade, he wouldn't give up the recipe... smart man! I finally got a few ingredients out of him, and he admitted to pineapple juice, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and a few other "choice ingredients." Needless to say, I just had to try and recreate this marinade tonight for the kabobs I grilled! Oh, those Polynesians!

So. Our grocery store didn't have just a plain pineapple juice. Can you believe that? I know, huh! I did find a pineapple + coconut juice and figured that would work well enough. And instead of buying soy sauce, ginger, and other "choice ingredients," I just went for good ole, reliable Dale's. Dale's already has all those ingredients anyway. I know, I'm smart like that.

Here's what you'll need:

bamboo skewers, soaked in water for at least 15-20 minutes

1/8 cup pineapple + coconut juice

1/8 cup Dale's marinade

1/4 cup water (my pineapple + coconut juice was pretty syrup-y so this was necessary)

2 cloves chopped garlic

3 bell peppers - 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green

1 sweet onion

fresh whole mushrooms

2 zucchini

2 small ribeye steaks, or your choice cut of steak (our grocer had ribeyes on sale and I got 2 small steaks weighing 1.25 pounds total for 7.25!)

I whisked the juice, Dale's, water, and chopped garlic together in a glass pie dish - I like to marinade in these dishes. Cut steaks into cubes about 2" square-ish, and the onion and bell peppers the same. Dump meat and veggies into the dish with marinade, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in fridge for as long as you can wait. (Ours only got to marinade for about 30 minutes before the grill got started because somebody got hungry.... I would recommend marinading longer than that if you can help yourself!) I didn't put any mushrooms in the marinade until I started putting other things on the skewers because they tend to soak up anything and everything around them very quickly. So right before you start sticking things on the skewers, dump your mushrooms into the marinade. I also prefer my zucchini cut into quarters and cooked lightly over the hot flame, so I kept them cut large and just sat them directly onto the grill instead of skewering them.

Get the skewer out of the sink/soaking dish and stab on a few of each chopped ingredient - steak, peppers, onion, mushrooms, repeat until the skewer is full, with about 2-3" on each end. Grill them all until you've got the beef as cooked as you prefer! We like medium-cooked steaks, so they stayed on the grill for about 8 minutes, I turned them once, and they cooked again for about 4 minutes.

My marinade was still not close to Geoff's, but it was closer than I was expecting! I guess nobody can cook like a Polynesian except a Polynesian.

I also chopped up a few red potatoes, tossed them in plenty of e.v. olive oil, a salt/pepper/herb mixture, and topped them very generously with about a hole brick of freshly-grated parmasan cheese. Wrapped them up in tin foil, popped them in a 425 degree oven for about 45 minutes, and they're done. Since I severely underestimated how long they would take to cook compared to the already-grilling skewers, I popped them in the microwave for 6 minutes after they had baked for about 15 minutes and they were perfect, except that they didn't get to crispen up at all... :(

Along with some totally-not-healthy-at-all cheesy breadsticks we had in the freezer, this made for a huge, delicious, very satisfying meal... with leftovers.

Okay, now back to Little Miss Desert Rose!

More Lists

A to-do list for the day, a to-do list for the week, and a grocery list.

Today marks the first day that I'm starting off motivated about my resolutions. Up first: gym workout. Next, grocery store. Then home to finish cleaning the rest of the living room.

Yesterday I ended up not going to the gym like I said I would. In a breathy, excuse-making voice: Carlton got home, we played with the pup for a while, and I just started picking up the living room until Carlton suddenly turned on me. He got hungry really quick last night and I didn't have anything prepared, or even thawed. A quick trip to Chik-fil-a in an uncomfortably silent car with a hungry man driving (careful to not breathe the wrong way or make any eye contact!) soon made everything better. And as I opened the mayonnaise packet to squirt onto my sandwich, I remembered that I had wanted to make it to the gym. Eh, shrug shoulders, go about business with mayo. And fries in the new Chik-fil-a Sauce. Mmmm. And, ahhhhhhhhhh, what a refreshing Coke to wash it all down. I'm really gonna need this workout today!

I'm really going to get back into the grove of buying things that are good for us at the grocery store. No more croissants as dinner sides, no more cookies, and absolutely no more kettle cooked chips, Carlton!!!

I've been getting together a list of grocery store items to pick up before I head to the gym... straight from there to the grocery store, and then home to unpack before a light lunch at Paradise Bakery with The Hubster. I follow a few knitting blogs, a few sewing blogs, and a few cooking blogs in addition to some very interesting friends and family... and I found one blog that perks my interest just about every post she makes. The Sisters Dish is a great place to look to when you might be stumped or in a tight spot about dinner... maybe I should have looked there last night! She makes a lot of meals straight from the crock pot, which is nice, since I've only used mine once or twice since we got married. And the recipes are rich and full of ingredients that add flavor and color to any mundane meal. Since my figure proves to me and the rest of the world that I love rich-tasting foods, I'm ready to try a recipe or two. A lot of things can be turned into a healthier version, too. I think today I'll try this out, and use some of that chicken to make this recipe. Then the rest of the chicken can be used for other meals throughout the week... on a yummy caesar salad, on a crusty roll with some cheese, you know... something like that.

I'll write a review after Mr. Picky eats tonight and let you know how it was, and re-write her recipe with my own subsitutions, aversions, and additions.

Thanksgiving for Two

Today I woke up and got right to work in the kitchen! Because it's finally Thanksgiving, it was time to finally use the Thanksgiving table decor that I recently sewed. I made a table runner which turned out so-so. As I moved the plum purple cordouroy and orange plaid wool fabrics through the sewing machine, I pulled just enough to stretch them both out, so there was a rippled effect on the hems. The runner looks wavy, which is fine, it's just not what I had originally envisioned. I also made some napkins in a black and creamy white damask print. Then came the challenge! While in North Carolina on our trip to Greg and Jillian's wedding, I innocently picked up a Martha Stewart magazine. Inside were ideas and detailed drawings on how to create multitudes of fall-themed sewn decor. I found one thing I couldn't seem to live without: a placemat shaped like a maple leaf. I decided to make the mat two-sided, an orange wool on top with a black and creamy white houndstooth on the bottom. Getting these two maple leaf place mats finished was a test on my sewing endurance for sure!!! The last craft I had on display for the Thanksgiving holiday has been hanging on our front door since Halloween: a paper leaf wreath with accents of silk florals. The paper wreath hanging on our front door wasn't really an issue here since there is no rain in the big desert!

Wreath hanging on the front door:

Table setting for two:

Detail of placemat's underside:

Turkey, potatoes au gratin, sweet potatoes, lima beans, stuffing, dinner rolls. I didn't want to make more than that, becaue we can't even finish what's listed. One vegetable for me (the lima beans, yummmm) and one for Carlton (he's discovered that he really likes sweet potatoes), and a turkey breast (legs and wings removed).

I brined the turkey for 24 hours, and followed these directions all the way through to the end. I can say that I have never had a juicier turkey in my life, unless it was deli sliced from the grocery store! All of the meat was sooo juicy!!! I am very proud of how it turned out. The potatoes au gratin were a little runny and not as soft as I prefer (even though they baked for 2 hours!), and Carlton's sweet potatoes needed a little more baking to crispen up some, but everything was overall a sweet success! I'm very proud, especially since I have never baked a turkey, a sweet potato, homemade au gratin potatoes, or stuffing before.

Carlton and I talked about what we were thankful for, and about the delicious meal as Vespa ate her (very) fair share of turkey on the floor next to the table. Even though we couldn't share this holiday with our friends and family, we had a very happy Thanksgiving together with each other.




Tomorrow night our plans are to meet up with the Cook cousins in Anthem, AZ for a post-Thanksgiving dinner. I'll be sure to get pictures of the whole crew together!


Happy Thanksgiving to All!!!