notes on dinner, etc.

saturday, oliver and i spent the morning playing around the house, passing the time until we had to get our little butts to the airport to pick daddy up. i had wanted to make a big hunk of meat to welcome bryan home after his business trip. i had an oven roast; a beef round sirloin tip. i wanted to do something different, so i made bavarian beef. i browned the meat in the dutch oven, and added sliced onions. i deglazed with beer, then added beef stock, tomato paste, white vinegar, ginger, cinnamon, sugar, a bay leaf, and garlic. i let this simmer for about 2 hours; it came out pretty darn tender. i whisked in margarine at the end to give the sauce that lovely sheen and buerre texture (yes, i miss butter). i served this sliced thinly over egg noodles with buttered peas. it was quite yummy! next time, i think i would use a different beer (it was too light), less tomato sauce, and more ginger, and perhaps garnish with parsley.

sunday, we took it easy and hung out around the house (see ollie chillin' on the left there). i had bryan make me chicken with tomatillo sauce. he pan fried the chicken in the cast iron, and simmered with the tomatillo sauce. he served it over fried potatoes. simple and delish. he had made this before; in the oven with beer and stock. the flavor between the 2 preparations was different; the oven baked was more carmelized, while sunday's was more fresh. both were good. i just can't get enough of that tomatillo sauce!


monday, we had our first peapod dinner - hot dogs and green bean fries. we had planned on making the pasta dish we ended up making tuesday, but the sausage was frozen when it arrived and we were hungry. the hot dogs were all beef, all natural, uncured, nitrate free ones, and they were pretty good. a fun and easy dinner.

tuesday, we made the pasta i had been planning, with broccoli rabe, and chicken sausage with sun dried tomatoes. we simply sauteed the rabe in olive oil and garlic, and served with penne and the sausages. the rabe was a large and beautiful bunch, and was quite tasty with lots of garlic. the sausages were very good as well; the sun dried tomatoes made them very robust, which helped them to stand up to the rabe.

pictures from atlanta have been posted. bryan is still working on repairing the gallery, but some new february 2008 photos are available.

WFD: i am taking moose to the vet tonight (i found a lump in his neck) so bryan will be handling the baby by his lonesome for a bit, so we'll probably go for something easy. quite possibly teriyaki salmon with rice pilaf and boston lettuce salad with asian dressing. the teriyaki salmon is a pre-made (but not pre-cooked) meal we ordered from peapod, so we'll see how that turns out.