Tonight tonight tonight, hot BEEF tonight!

I do this whenever I have leftover beef on hand.  In this case, it was brisket.  Chop the beef really fine, and add it to an appropriately sized pot.  Next, add salt and pepper, some beef stock/broth(about 3/4 of the way up.).  You can also add some full bodied wine or some ale.  Let it reduce until thickened.  If you don't have a lot of time to wait until thickened, you can always add a roux (equal parts melted butter and flour, cooked anywhere from golden to dark) or slurry (cornstarch whisked into beef stock, then whisked into the broth).  Let this simmer away and then make final seasoning adjustments.  You can also add mushrooms, I did.  I like to serve this on top of mashed potatoes, on top of crusty bread (such as pain de campagne).  It also goes well with a side of braised spinach.

I prefer to taste my vitamins, not swallow them

well, I had a plethora of veg on hand and was kind of stumped on what to do with all of it.  Pasta sauce seemed like a pretty good solution.  Zucchini, onion, spinach, basil, peas, garlic, carrots, and mushrooms came over for dinner and brought a can of plum tomatoes along for the ride.  Would have been better with some brandywines but did not have any ready at this time.   Served it over angel hair...tasty.

Had to take a physical for life insurance policy and totally rocked the test.  My bp was 90 over 64.  Pretty good considering it was high a couple of months ago.  Creepy thing is, Amy's results were the same (they took it three times) two out of the three times, one of them only varying by 4 points.  Just goes to show that when you fill your body with nutrients...

"Bris" kit

Ahhhhhh, glorious mondays.  I usually do a lot of food/ kitchen prep on mondays.  Lately, that has meant smoking meat.  I did a brisket and also some pork chops.  Both turned out really well.  This photo was taken the same day that my brother was in town.  He bought the same smoker that I have and hopefully will start cranking out some tasty treats of his own.

A Brief Hiatus

So, I haven't posted for a while...luckily, I have some spare time today, so I will try and cram a week's worth of posting into a short period of time here.

This was a huge breakfast.  Normally I just post dinner, but thought I would give a peak at my breakfast on my day off.  Let it be known that I usually do not lunch after eating this monstrosity.  I have really been into berries and fruit lately, especially peaches and nectarines.  I'm cutting this short because of the volume of posting to be done.

tricken chicks

so, I know, the corn on the cob sticks out like a bag of sore thumbs, but at least it was good.  Haven't posted in a couple of days, another busy market weekend.  I did make this chicken and broccoli saute yesterday.  It was pretty fabtastic.  You just sear the chicken breasts (seasoned, of course) on both sides and remove from pan, add some broccoli florets, minced onion, and garlic (oh, and some olive oil.)  saute until medium firm (broccoli will be bright green, onions translucent) throw the (sliced) chicken back in, add a tiny bit of chicken broth/stock and a couple glugs of heavy cream.  Salt and peps, cook until thick as you like (I go for thick, almost thack!) and you're golden.  pretty easy.

On my way home the other day, I saw something bouncing around on the bike path.  I went to check it out and saw that it was a lost puppy.  She was really hot and thirsty and was crying/whimpering.  I called the vets number on her tag but they couldn't find her on their records.  It was getting really hot outside and I didn't really know what to do.  Luckily, I had a spare tube in my bag and a pocketknife so I cut the tube and made a make-shift leash for the puppy.  We ran into a lady that was asking about her and she agreed to take the pup to the vet or humane society.  The whole thing lasted about an hour.  I really had mixed feelings as the pup walked away.  She was such a sweet girl.  I just really hope that her owner cares enough to track her down.  If I thought my house was big enough and had enough time I would have scooped her up if no one claimed her.  I like helping lost dogs, and its a good thing , because for whatever reason, our neighborhood seems to have plenty of them.  So, If she is not claimed, and you are looking for a sweet pup, check her out on the humane society's site: www.capitalhumanesociety.org.  ( she's a brindle colored mix, maybe pit-bull.)