It’s Just Not Dinner Without Cat Hair

Dinner was an “eh” and a shoulder shrug.

I made this recipe for dinner tonight with a few changes: I used fresh peas instead of frozen, I used vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth, and I used my rice cooker to make the risotto.

Eh.

Shrug.

Nothing spectacular.

On a good note, I ate an Enjoy Life Cocoa Loco bar on a snack break at work today. I liked it and will buy them, but you definitely get the texture of the fig and date pastes. Not bad, though. The only bad thing I can say about them is that I really needed 2 to get through until lunch.

On a not-so-good note, while bending and squatting (you know, that half-bend, half-hunch thing you do when you want to get something out of a bottom drawer?) at work this afternoon, something in my lumbar region gave way. I am in a lot of pain, worse than any other back pain I have dealt with before, and I have had my share Cross your fingers that this is not my first osteoporosis fracture. Because that would suck.

I have one of those Thermocare heat jobbies on it now. As long as I don’t move once I get into a position (sitting down, standing up), I am fine. It’s the trying to move into a new position that is excruciating. I sure hope my legs stay up on my foam wedge while I sleep tonight or I bet I won’t be getting any (sleep, that is).

I’m sure it didn’t help that I had to haul in 5 bags of groceries and 2 boxes from Timber Creek/Natural Farms when I got home from work. The Man was sound asleep on the couch, where he remains even now. Since I had perishables in those bags and boxes, they couldn’t sit out.

Sometimes, I swear, my life is a soap opera, without all the cheating bitchiness.

I should go on record right now as disliking rye bread. Even when I ate gluten, I hated rye bread. The only time I actually enjoyed eating the stuff was at the Eagles Club Friday Fish Fry. Dad has been a member of the Two Rivers Eagles Club as long as I can remember, and they have been doing their Fish Fry thing for years. Every once in a while, I would get roped into helping in the kitchen.

I don’t know who they get their rye bread from, but it’s the only one I would eat and enjoy. I think it’s because it wasn’t overly “caraway-ee.” I have bad memories of my dad going a lot overboard with the caraway seed in the sauerkraut and to this day, too much caraway will cause me to promptly spit out whatever it is I am chewing.

So it was with reservations that I toasted two slices of Enjoy Life’s Rye-less Rye Bread to make a sandwich for dinner. To the toasted bread I added 2 slices of Hormel’s GF deli ham, baby lettuce, a couple slices of tomato, mayo, and some provolone cheese.

And it was….

…

GOOD.

Toasted, the crust was a little tough for my beat-up teeth to bite through or chew easily, but once I got past that normal annoyance, it was pretty darn good. The bread didn’t have so much caraway that it turned me off, for which my keyboard is grateful (that’s where the bite would have landed).

Would I buy it? If I was planning a reuben fest or a fish fry, you betcha. Just for noshing, probably not. It will probably take me 6 months to finish off this loaf.

But know that the next trip to my parents we take, I will have 2 slices stashed in a cooler in preparation for the Friday Fish Fry.

We had a great time at the Transworld show yesterday and timed it so perfectly that as I pulled into the driveway, sleet began to fall.

We ordered nearly all of the costumes needed for this year’s Barn, plus a few new “tricks” guaranteed to freak out most of the people who go through, and got ideas for the future too.

Can’t be specific on what we got because I hate spoilers. If you wanna know, we’re open every weekend in October

Anyway, it sleeted. Then this morning, it rained. This evening, it snows. I love to cook when it’s like this outside. And believe it or not, I did not make soup.

In hopes that my parents will come down this coming weekend with a greatly anticipated dishwasher, I stocked up on meat and poultry Friday night. With the thought of this dinner, I set in my cart 2 bone-in steaks, which is a big deal in this house as I usually buy ribeyes or filet mignon.

Pan-Fried Steak with Puffy Potatoes

For the steaks:
2 bone-in steaks of your choice
3 cloves garlic
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 sprig fresh rosemary
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

For the potatoes:
5-6 large potatoes (I used a mix of what I had, namely 3 reds and 2 huge russets)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the steaks from the fridge and set on the counter to come to room temperature.

Peel and cube the potatoes; place in a pot of water with a pinch of sea salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat, cooking until the potatoes are tender.

Peel and crack the garlic cloves. Pour the olive oil into a skillet large enough to hold the steaks. Turn on low heat; add the garlic. All you are trying to do is infuse the oil with the garlic. After 6-7 minutes, add the rosemary. Keep the heat on low.

Sprinkle the steaks with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Set aside.

When the potatoes are done, drain them well. Put them back into the pot and onto the stove to allow the heat to dissapate any remaining moisture. Then pour the potatoes into a clean bowl. Mash them with the cream and butter; if you have a hand mixer, use it, because you want these as smooth as possible. Once the potatoes are whipped smooth, mix in the cheese, salt, and pepper.

Lightly spray a small casserole dish with cooking spray. Spoon the potatoes into the dish, cover, and bake for 15 minutes with the cover on and then an additional 10 minutes with the cover removed.

While the potatoes are baking, remove the garlic and rosemary from the olive oil in the skillet and then turn the heat up to high. Once the oil is smoking hot, add the steaks. Fry for 7-8 minutes on the first side, flip, and then fry for an additional 5-8 minutes, depending on how done you like them. Remove from the pan and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

About 4:45 this afternoon, The Man sent me an IM: “Dinner honey?”

I rarely have days when I wish I was married to someone who has a clue in the kitchen, because I love to cook so much. Today, though, was one of those days. Sometimes I just want to come home and relax while someone else does all the work. Because I don’t want to drive a good distance in order to get an insured GF meal, I am stuck as I am. The Man has no interest in learning to cook.

My father is an excellent cook and makes the best pie crust I have ever eaten. My mom claims that it has something to do with his “magic” hands. I grew up in a household where the duties were split 50/50, so I tend to get frustrated with the lack of 50/50 here.

It’s not all his fault - The Man was an “oops,” born late in his parent’s life, 11 years younger than his sister. His dad didn’t cook either. So that’s what he saw growing up.

I could be nasty and show the uneven split of household duties here, but then…that’s just nasty. So I will list it in my head.

Hm.

Yup.

Jerk.

There. And now I can gloat because I am a career woman with three children (well, cats and a husband) who can “do it all.”

And this “do it all” woman wimped out with dinner tonight.

Chicken Sandwiches with Baked Potato Wedges

For the chicken:

2 hamburger rolls (in this house, 1 GF and 1 not GF)
Favorite toppings such as lettuce, tomato…
1 tsp olive oil + some for the pan if not grilling
1 tsp Liquid Smoke (per their website this is GF)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

For the potato wedges:

2 large potatoes, cleaned and cut in half, then wedges
2-3 tsp olive oil
Mix of salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder (I don’t measure, I just dump it in until it smells good)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the chicken breasts on a plate; sprinkle both sides with 1 tsp olive oil, Liquid Smoke, garlic powder and onion powder. Allow to rest.

In a bowl, combine the potato wedges, olive oil (enough to coat), and spices. Mix together so spices and oil coat all of the potatoes. Line a baking sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray. Spread the potatoes out in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

When the potatoes are near done, preheat a skillet doused with a splash of olive oil (I have a Kitchenaid Pro stove, so I have 3 different sized burners. Here I used the smallest burner on medium). When the pan is hot, add the chicken breasts and cover. Cook, flipping once, until chicken is cooked through (10 minutes or so). Remove the chicken from the pan and place on a paper towel lined plate to remove some of the oil; while draining, place a slice of provolone cheese on each.

This morning, I told The Man that most likely I would not be making dinner tonight. We had a company meeting scheduled for tomorrow and since we waited until the last minutes to come up with things to talk about and an agenda, I knew I would be at the office late.

And then to my surprise, the meeting was cancelled.

I went to the store to see what I could see for dinner tonight. The produce naturally looks a little pale this time of year, but I have been scrimping on the veggies lately, so I decided to make myself something light, yet filling.

The Man naturally turned up his nose and has been grabbing string cheese out of the fridge for his dinner. I offered to make him leftover spaghetti, but rarely will he eat leftovers.

All I did was make a half-batch of polenta with butter and parmesan; saute some squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, and orange pepper; and bake a piece of salmon.

And, boy, did it hit the spot tonight.

And it was FORTY-FIVE DEGREES TODAY! A veritable heat wave, compared to the frigid temperatures we suffered through over the past month.