Look What I Can Do...Part 2

Look What I Can Do...

Stand up, so I can chew on the couch.

Open drawers.

Crawl under tables, helped keep Mommy and Daddy busy on Thanksgiving.

It's cold and rainy

That's perfect weather for hamburger stew. Luckily we had everything on hand tonight.

Hamburger Stew

1 T. vegetable oil

1 lb. ground beef (I like 85%)

1 onion, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch dice

3 carrots, cut into thick rounds

3 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 leak, halved and cut into 1/4 inch slices (optional)

1 T. butter

3 T. flour

1 qt. beef stock*

4 medium red potatoes, cut into chunks

1 cup Guinness (that's half a can)

1 cup canned diced tomatoes

1 T. fresh thyme, chopped

1 T. fresh rosemary, chopped

In a large dutch oven heat the oil over high heat until it begins to smoke. Add the ground beef and brown (not gray, get it brown so there are brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan). Remove the beef from the pan. Return the meat to the pan. Add the butter and melt. Saute the onion, celery, carrots, and leak until the onion begins to brown. Add the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the beef stock, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes, Guinness, tomatoes, thyme and rosemary. Bring to a simmer and continue to simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are cooked how you like them.

* There are more rants on the internet about stock than pretty much any food topic. Yes, I agree, homemade is best, but there's also reality. I do recommend using Kitchen Basics Unsalted stocks from the store. They cost a bit more, but you can control the seasoning and it has really good flavor.

Happy Halloween!!

Colorado

We had our first family road trip in September (a little late on the post). Spent a long weekend at Rocky Mountain National Park. Had a great time hiking and exploring. Don't think Aaron and I realized how out of shape we were. Danny got his first cold, but still had a lots of fun.

Bear Lake (I think?)

Fall is elk mating season

Alberta Falls

Danny loved being in the backpack, he got mad when we took him out of it.

Cooking up a storm

Megan and I have been trying to make more of an effort to eat healthier over the past couple of months, which means we've been cooking a lot more. We've been trying some new things and eating some of our old favorites as well. Unfortunately, the pictures don't really do justice to the food. For some reason food is hard to shoot. Anyway, here's what we've been up to in the kitchen:

Cannelini dip, arancini, marinated butternut squash, olives and assorted cheeses. Mmmm...lots of antipasti.

Potato and peas with cumin (our first attempt at Indian cuisine). This ended up pretty well, though it was missing something that you normally get from eating at an Indian restaurant.

This can was the start of a big batch of basic tomato sauce. It was the first time I'd cooked with San Marzano tomatoes, but I had heard a lot about how they're the best Roma tomatoes. After tasting the sauce I'd have to agree. Just a little onion, olive oil, thyme, and these tomatoes and now I've got a base for all kinds of dishes. The first use was spaghetti with basil tomato sauce.

Ragu Bolgnese simmering. There's a reason Megan and I call this stuff Italian crack. About a cup of this with a half pound of spaghetti (don't use Barilla, I'm begging you) is some of the best pasta you'll ever have. I like Mario Batali's recipe, but there are as many recipes for ragu as there are Italian grandmothers.

Some other stuff that we've been having is pan seared ribeye with polenta and pancetta sauteed mustard greens, leek and potato soup, and leftovers.

There'll be more to come because we're getting into my favorite time of year to cook: fall is for braising!

Danny's Big Weekend

Sorry about the high pitch squeal!

Down on the Farm

Danny had a fun adventure on Saturday. He got to meet some farm animal friends up close. We went to the Deanna Rose Farmstead in the OP to enjoy the weather and give Danny something new and fun to do.

There were cows, goats, bunnies, and evil (Megan's opinion) swans to see along with lots of others.

This goat was pretty friendly. I think he figured we might have food or those weeds on the other side of the fence were really tasty.

Hanging out with Mommy by the big tractor.

That's a big longhorn and a little buffalo.

Update coming soon...

Sorry for being lame and not posting much. Some computer trouble has slowed us down. Many updates to come once that's resolved.

Happy 1/2 birthday, Danny!

Danny's New Trick

Working Hard

Boy, supervising Mom and Dad is hard work! Who knew washing cars could take so long?

Antipasti night

With the threat of thunderstorms making lawn work a tenuous proposition last night I took the opportunity to do some shopping on the way home for an antipasti dinner. One of our favorite dinners is nibbling on small portions of a variety of dishes. The assortment last night included some of our favorites.

Caprese salad, country bread, roasted fennel w/ Parmesan, Danish blue and Trugole cheeses, prosciutto and melon, and olives

My feeble attempt at artistic photography

Danny sent a couple of his animal friends with his regards and apologies for not being able to join us at the table. I guess he had a prior engagement playing in his swing.

Sufferin' Succotash!

For the past week or so I'd been wanting to make salmon with some kind of sweet corn and red bell pepper side dish, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what the side dish should be. Last night I got the chance to make the salmon so I had a look at the "Joy of Cooking" to see if there were any recipes for corn that could provide inspiration.

I was a little surprised that what I had been wanting to make was pretty much succotash. The surprise came from the fact that my exposure to succotash up to that point had been Yosemite Sam saying the above phrase in cartoons.

After a couple of modifications I came up with a really good dish that Megan and I thoroughly enjoyed. Here's the recipe.

Succotash (sufferin' if you must)

1/2 T. butter

1 t. vegetable oil

1 1/2 c. sweet corn (frozen is fine)

1 1/2 c. lima beans (frozen is fine)

1/2 large red bell pepper diced

1 t. paprika

salt and pepper to taste

If the beans are not cooked, boil them for a few minutes until they are slightly underdone. Drain and set aside. Heat the butter and oil in a skillet over medium high. Add the diced pepper and sautee until the pepper starts to brown slightly around the edges. Add the corn and sautee for 4-5 minutes or until the corn starts to brown. Add the lima beans and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Add the paprika and cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Note: If the paprika starts to stick to the skillet deglaze the pan with about 1/8 c. water. Let the water cook off until the liquid has almost completely evaporated before seasoning and serving.

All I want for Christmas...

Is my two front teeth or bottom two teeth as the case may be! Danny's second tooth popped out yesterday. He was kind of grumpy during the day, but then was much happier at night. Megan checked and there was another little tooth poking out. She gets smiles. I get accusing looks because I have not been forthcoming with the steak I promised he could eat when he had teeth.

What? I Like Carrots!

Injured Fingers

Danny has had copious amounts of drool for about a month now. Aaron and I have been expecting a tooth and lo and behold one popped out on Friday. No fussiness or any other sign. Danny decided my finger would be tasty and pulled it into his mouth, where I got quite a surprise. No pictures of the tooth yet, just a tiny little nubbin. Aaron thinks he's eyeing meat more now.


Check out the drool!

Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Ahhh, who can forget those immortal words of Trent in Swingers as he and Mike drive away in the desert oasis that is Las Vegas? I think that the thoughts and feelings implied by this line encapsulate a good portion of Generations X and Y’s perceptions of Vegas. We all see the movies with high rollers risking thousands on a single roll at the craps table or doubling down on a five figure bet. In reality the vast majority of us are like Mike in the movie. As much as we’d like to be at that high minimum table, we can only afford to lose $300 and that doesn’t last very long when you have to double down on 11.

Such was the case for Megan and I and our friends Sarah and Brandon when we journeyed to Vegas last weekend for a short vacation and break from the kids. If we had to identify a common theme from the trip, it was probably the constant search for gambling that gave us a good “vibe”. One would think it wouldn’t be hard to find this, given that there’s a casino on every corner more than willing to take our money. However, when you’re just learning craps, do you really want to put $10 on the Pass Line with more laying on the odds or come bets? Not really for us.

And some people swear by Blackjack dealt from a shoe and abhor the auto-shufflers. Ask these people if they’ve ever gone through a shoe and a half of hands with the dealer getting 90% face cards or 10s on their visible cards and see if they agree. Or try playing roulette without being willing to put five or six times the minimum bet out for each spin. Not much chance you’re going to hit anything at all there my friend.

Even the couldn’t miss bet of the weekend fell through. Sidney Ponson was scheduled to start for the Royals for the first time in about three weeks. He was facing a hot Angels pitcher, which didn’t really matter because it’s the Royals. We all put money against the home team (we ought to get something for our misery). What do we end up with? A rainout and no chance to place a bet the next day because we were leaving.

Such was our luck with the gambling portion of the trip. No big winners, though there were some good hot streaks that negated some of the overall bad luck.

Luckily, our restaurant choices panned out much better for all involved than did our gambling. Enoteca San Marco and Bouchon at the Venetian, Nero’s at Caesar’s Palace (according to Brandon and Sarah), and In-n-Out Burger were the highlights as were the microbrews at Ellis Island Brewery/BBQ/Casino (how cool is that combination?)

San Marco and Bouchon had excellent though not inexpensive wine lists. Bouchon had the best French fries Megan and I had ever eaten and San Marco had some great appetizers. Nero’s had a great deal on a set menu that Brandon and Sarah enjoyed. In-n-Out was In-n-Out. If you’ve never been go. If you have been you know what I mean.

There was also the normal randomness that you encounter in Vegas: walking into Caesar’s one evening just as the contestants for the Mrs. USA pageant arrived, getting rained on walking back from Ellis Island, eating flourless chocolate cake for breakfast…

Despite the bad gambling luck it was a really nice trip. Traveling with friends was good since it’s something we’ve rarely been able to do. We missed Danny, but not so much that we couldn’t enjoy ourselves. And I got to get my Vegas fix. Megan thinks that should last me for a few years. I’m not so sure about that.

Please, sir, I want some more.

Danny's latest achievement is eating like a grown up. Well, at least a grown up that sucks on his hand between each bite. Rice cereal and sweet potatoes are on the menu and he can't get enough. Mom and Dad are astounded at the amount of food an almost five month old can put away.

Dad, the spoon's too big!

"Nom nom nom."