Catching Up

Hello! How are you today? I realized that I've been terribly neglectful of my little blog for a good long while now, and no, I don't really have an excuse for it. What, you want to know what I've been doing that was so important it took me away from my musings? Well, I guess if you insist...

You see, we have Netflix instant streaming service to our Blu-Ray player, and we found a show we liked (but never knew when it was on) had become available recently...all 100 episodes. Yep. I've been putting off doing something I really enjoy - writing - to watch Numb3rs. I'm not proud of it, but there it is! I also haven't been feeling well, and as a result, I haven't been much in the mood to cook. Since the whole purpose of this thing is to share my adventures in the kitchen, well, it seemed a little disingenuous to write when I'm not cooking. See the logic? No? Look closer - it's totally there. 

In any event, I have done some cooking...I mean, we have to eat once in a while, right? I've made a lot of simple stuff, and a few that were a little more involved. Since no one really cares about the simple ones (I'm talking grilled cheeses, hot dogs, and other unhealthy but delicious nibbles), I'll just write about a couple of the good ones. 

For starters, I have to give Costco a shout-out for the first one. We went in looking for steaks, and in a first for our family, that's exactly what we left with - one package of beef and nothing more. Trust me, this is no small feat. Anyway, we bought a four-pack of rib-eyes with the intent of making a couple that night, and a couple later. However, we are little (not like "little person" little, but just...little) and we don't need that much beef in one sitting; our solution is to just make one and chop it in half after it cooks. By doing that, we got a $25 pack of steak to last through four meals...since we'd spend that much on one meal at a steakhouse, I'm pretty happy with the savings. I'm cheap, ya see? Geez, why am I blathering about the cost? Okay...back on topic. 

So that night when we got home I got out my trusty mortar and pestle to smoosh together some herby seasonings: fresh rosemary, garlic, lemon pepper and a little kosher salt. I rubbed it all up on both sides of the steak and let it sit for a bit while I got the broiler going. Fifteen minutes later (5 minutes per side, with 5 minutes resting time), we were ready to eat. We had simple sides of cottage cheese and homemade bread, and enjoyed a very tasty meal. The meat was awesome - it was perfectly marbled to make it tender, but without much connective tissue. Yum. I love me a good cut of beef cooked to medium rare. :)

Okay...what next? Let's see - I also made a (winner winner) chicken dinner that turned out pretty well. I fried up some thighs in my cast iron skillet, but I tried to jazz it up a little more than just your traditional fried chicken. I tossed a bunch of seasonings in with the flour (I can't remember exactly what I used, but I know there was salt, lemon pepper, maybe some chipotle powder...and other stuff), and finely chopped some garlic to add to the oil for frying. I think my thought process was that the garlic would add another dimension of flavor to the breading, but it doesn't seem like the best idea in retrospect. What I didn't consider when I had that brilliant thought is that the bits of garlic BURN. Duh. 

Anyway, I fried them for a short time to get a good crisp on the breading, then I threw the pan into the oven to finish cooking. After the thighs hit the right temp, I drained them on paper towels while I made a sauce from the bits stuck to the pan by adding a couple glugs of red wine and simmering over medium heat. I'll admit that I wasn't terribly impressed with the dish, but Ben said it was really good (bless his heart). At least now I know what not to do next time, right?

Just one more, I promise! I want to get it all out there now - who knows when I'll get on here again, right?? :)

Finally, my mom was going to be staying with us after my nephew's birthday party, and I wanted to make a nice little breakfast the next morning. Of course, it had to be something pretty easy - she wakes up a little earlier than we do, and I wanted something fast but different than the usual bacon and eggs. So, I went to my new breakfast stand-by: French toast bread pudding with spiced pears. Oh my, it's so tasty and so easy! I like it because you prepare the bulk of it the night before so you can just roll out of bed and throw it in the oven - I'm a little fuzzy in the morning, so the less I have to do the better. 

The first step is to rip up a loaf of challah bread and toss the pieces into a casserole dish. Then you whip together eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla extract and pour it over the bread, making sure it's all saturated and lovely.

When it's combined perfectly, you just press some tin foil down over the top of it (with the foil pressed onto the top of the pudding) and throw it in the fridge. The next morning, just pop it in a cold oven, set the temp and pull off the foil halfway through. How easy is that?!? The spiced pears present a little more of a challenge, but only because wielding a knife within a half hour of waking is dangerous for someone like me. Basically, it's just chopped pears sauteed in butter with nutmeg, cinnamon and a pinch of sugar til they're soft, then simmered in maple syrup. Ooohhh, if you like French toast, you'll love this. :) Of course, I never manage to take a picture of the final product given my, oh, let's call it "special" state in the morning, but luckily my good friend Sarah posted a pic in her blog here. Y-U-M. You should try it. Really. 

So I think that's about all I have for now...I have many more recipes I want to try, and hope to spend more quality time in the kitchen soon. Of course, we still have 40 episodes of Numb3rs left, so... :)

Take care!