Confession time - last night's din left plenty to be desired...

So yesterday I dropped a chunk of rump roast into my crock pot along with a packet of onion-chive dip mix I had laying around, some beef broth, and a generous pour of a bottle of Merlot that I had purchased for use in this dish specifically... Turned it on low, gave it a little nod, and took off out the door for work, happy in the thought of returning home to a great smelling dinner that was almost done..

It did smell great when I walked through the door -so I roasted some broccoli florets and chopped up potatoes drizzeled with olive oil in the oven, sprinkled them with cheese to minimize protests from The Hub, and we sat down to eat...

It was.... fine... To be honest the meat didn't have much flavor, considering it was cooked in dip mix and wine, for goodness sakes! WTF? The Hub said it was good, but I was expecting it to be a real "wow" dish and I was left totally culinarily dissapointed...

I am not even going to speculate how I might solve the problem next time... I don't see why there would be a "next time" for this blah bummer...

:::sigh::: After that let down, I think I will get The Hub to take me for burgers tonight, and let the sting of a ho-hum creation die down a bit...

Stolen Moments- "Snackie night" idea

The Hub and I love a good "Snackie Night" sometimes... like a low-brow version of antipasto night - with loads of finger food, bar snack type things piled on a wooden cutting board for us to share...
This twist on the twice-baked potato is sure to have a place of honor on that board the next time we indulge... Mini twice baked potatoes? BRILLIANT!! (Actually, everything miss MacAndCheesecake made that day looked perfect for a game day or snack night - but these must be made ASAP!)

Sorry, my bad...

Crazy times abound... first the funky cold attacked me - I recovered just enough to actually enjoy a quick trip to New Orleans last weekend to see two dear friends get married, and I returned this week to final preperations at work for our biggest event of the year!!!

Normal cooking and blogging will return next week - I pinky swear.... :)

We got the funk...

It would appear that I have a bit of a cold, food lovers... Tuesday night I started to feel a little "iffy" and my culinary prowess reflected my ick - making The H a braut and some corn, and me some chicken soup... by Wednesday morning the funk had fully settled in, and we were in for a week of "what can I throw in a pot for this guy to eat?" kind of meals..
We had
-the aforementioned Brauts and corn (and soup for me)
- Ground beef and cheese quesidillas (and soup for me)
-frozen pizza and salad (and a big hot toddy for me)

This morning I woke up wondering if bronchitis might be rearing it's mucusy head, and looking forward to the weekend not so I can hang in the kitchen with a glass of wine and cook up a storm, but so I can lay on the sofa with my Vicks 44 and mucenex....

Pass the chicken soup, please...

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice with Chicken

This last weekend I cleaned out the pantry cabinet, and found a large unopened box of brown rice, I am thinking from the begining of the summer when the inlaws were here and I thought I was going to be cooking for them..
In any case, the whole point of the clean-out was so that I could take inventory and really know what I had to work with, and then use some stuff up if I could.
So, after cooking up 2 portions of the rice per the package directions, I added some steamed broccoli florrets and stirred in a generous dollop of Mission cheddar cheese dip (the BEST cheese dip EVER packaged for mass sale)... Leaving that to melt together and get all creamy and delish, I cut two chicken breasts into chunks, seasoned with pepper and garlic salt, and browned each side in a skillet before adding a bit of my open chardonay to the pan and covering so the pieces could cook through...

Not half bad... The H ate all of his and seemed content, I could have done with a bit more cheesy flavor (but that is kind of like saying the sun will rise tomorrow.. it is always true..)
It worked, it was something different, and it used up some of what I already had.. Good enough.

Tonight, Spicy bean and cheese quesidillas - Ole!

Asian Persuasion.. Salad H will actually eat..

The H is not a big fan of salads... He calls good mixed greens "weeds," he whimpers and fishes things he doesn't like or recognize off his plate with the tip of a fork tine, he sighs heavily when I set anything other than a ceasar down in front of him...
One exception, however, is this Asian inspired steak salad... I start out with a bag of "American" salad mix, carrots, iceburg, maybe some red cabbage (he will pick that out tho).. to this I add any veggie I can get away with sneaking in - I use red and green bell peppers, because I know he will eat those, some sugar snap peas (sometimes he eats them, sometimes not), tiny pieces of broccoli florrets, extra chopped carrot, anything I have in the house that I think might get eaten.
I toss this mixture with some Newman's Own Sesame Ginger Dressing - The H LOVES the stuff, which I never would have guessed...
The final touch that helps this salad go from "meh" to "Manly" is a small portion of cleverly sliced up steak marinaded for an hour in a mix of pressed garlic, a splash of soy sauce, chilli powder, red wine vinagar, and a bit of veggie oil - then grilled or broiled to medium rare... the trick is slicing thin, so a little meat goes a long way and he isn't filling up just on a big hunk of steak...

-PS, the salad dressing itself makes a great marinade for meat if you are serving it without the salad - but I like to mix it up a bit when I am having it with the salad, and the chilli powder in the marinade gives it a nice kick (I add plenty!)