My food-filled week has begun!
I started with a beet smoothie for lunch, courtesy of my new smoothie cookbook (belated post coming soon, perhaps tomorrow), then a trip to Wegmans. Glorious Wegmans.
I shopped for about four different meals, plus staples like plain lowfat yogurt and milk. I stocked up on veggies like yellow bell pepper, celery, cucumber, zucchini, a Granny Smith apple and tons of fresh herbs. Kudos to me for passing on CoffeeMate’s Coconut Creme creamer… I’ve been DYING to have some, but it only came in the large size and I still have three bottles in the fridge. Boo.
For dinner tonight? SLIDERS! I came across the recipe in Barefoot Contessa’s newest cookbook, How Easy is That?, and happened to have a pound of ground beef in my freezer.
(Photos courtesy of Andrew, who actually saved the day when he asked/reminded me to photo dinner as we were about to dig in! The lighting is HORRIBLE.)
Ina’s recipe called for a garlic, olive oil, dijon mustard and thyme mixture for the meat. YUM. I served them on hawaiian sweet rolls because they’re already tiny and I love them and it was the perfect excuse to have them. For next time, I would go easier on the olive oil. My beef is pretty lean, but I’m not sure it needed the amount specified in the recipe. If you don’t mark all over your cookbooks yet, do it! I can’t tell you how helpful some of my comments are to me the next time I make a recipe, like “use LARGE dutch oven,” or “less salt,” or “this takes more time to cook.”
Needless to say, Andrew was a HUGE fan and said that I should “star” this recipe in the book. I admit, I don’t really gravitate to burgers (at restaurants or at home), but what else do I do with ground beef? Other than a good meatloaf every once in awhile, I don’t make casseroles or anything else you’d make with ground beef. I’ve made more homemade burgers in the last couple years than ever before since we’ve been buying quarters of cows to store in the freezer.
Anyone have good ideas for ground beef, other than spaghetti and meat sauce, meatloaf or burgers? I have one more pound in our freezer here and about TEN in Andrew’s parents’ freezer!
What will tomorrow bring? Probably another beet smoothie for lunch and Ina’s herb-roasted salmon with a special orzo dish. I feel like it’s Christmas around here!