What's for Dinner?

[lindawing]

I'm cooking (at least part of) the dinner tonight. Last night when David brought the groceries home, I trimmed four fairly large chuck steaks into smaller pieces without all the fat (leaving the marble, but not the big chunks). Then I created a thick marinade of ketchup, balsamic vinaigrette, olive oil, fresh minced basil, fresh minced garlic, and dried dill weed (taste tests were delightful). The I put the marinade into a large Ziploc bag, and put the trimmed beef in with it. After carefully pressing out most of the air and sealing it, I squished it around and around and around, until all the pieces of meat were well-covered, then placed the bag into my little fridge.

In about 15 minutes, I'll be heading into my kitchen to chop up the fresh broccoli David also bought yesterday, and heat up my "George" (George Foreman Grill). The broccoli will go to the kitchen for Judi to cook, and she's also cooking the two boxes of Hamburger Helper Cheesy Hash Browns (without the hamburger) that I had stashed away in one of my cupboards for just such an eventuality.

Dinner will be between 8:00 & 8:30 PM. Yum!

[lindawing]

We've had so many fresh garden vegies this past summer, that it's hard to realize we will have to buy those things again for a while. Our garden spaces are being increased for next year, though, so that canning and freezing will be possible. With 10 people in the house, our smaller amount of produce (which seemed like a lot to begin with) made it through the summer, but without very much being saved for later times.

[MelodyOkie]

Sounds very delish!!

[lindawing]

Well...it was, but the steak left a lot to be desired in the line of tenderness. I pounded them well before marinating them, too, but three out of the four steaks turned out quite tough, regardless. I figured that they weren't really going to be the best, since the price was so good, but I took the chance. We haven't had a lot of beef this past year...mostly chicken and fish since early May. Even the hamburger prices have been high, and David's caught a LOT of fish.

Some of our own chickens are going to be butchered sometime in the next couple of weeks. We'll see how that goes.

[MelodyOkie]

That's too bad about the toughness. I for certain can not eat/chew tough... and have not been able to for quite some time, even prior to the falsies. When I was younger, I could not stand the pre-tenderized round steaks; however, Terry bought some this past year. I floured and browned it, made a gravy with the drippings, put it all in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours and it was melt In your mouth tender and so delicious. I am now a fan of pre-tenderized anything.

[lindawing]

That sounds really good, even if I can still chew!

[MelodyOkie]

[ukpoppyberry]

The marinade sounded delish! I am starving, I have a pot of spicy sweet Mexicany chicken sauce which I am putting on fried tortillas, then topping with crumbly Lancashire cheese and fresh tomato salsa, I can't wait!!!

[lindawing]

Oh, Yum! That sounds so good!

[ukpoppyberry]

It really was! I am trying to be good, have gained a couple of pounds, I want to get that off before the mince pies come out on December the first

[lindawing]

For sure!