Not So Dirty Un-Secret...

I have a subscription to booksfree.com and I love it. It's kind of like Netflix for books. I have the minimum subscription (two at a time), but I keep threatening to upgrade (the only person I tell is myself, so it's not really a threat, except to my credit card!). Anyway. I got my latest shipment of books yesterday (as I was driving up to my mailbox, I was thinking that my next shipment should be arriving any day now. When I opened my mailbox, there was the charming gray plastic envelope. So, Woo!) and I'm very happy. I received Charmed, an anthology of fantasy romances. The only two authors I remember are Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz, a perennial favorite)and Lori Foster. I won't write anymore about that book until I have it in front of me to make sure of my details. So far, I've only looked at the Jayne Castle story. Sadly, for me, I've read it before. Not sad in the sense that I didn't like the story, but sad in the sense that I hadn't realized that I had already read that story when I ordered the book. Oh well, hopefully the other stories will prove charming.

The other book is The Smoke Thief by Shane Abe. I've read mostly good things about this one, and it has dragons (!) so I'm looking forward to reading it. I'll probably give my Saturday over to it (Screw you bread! I'm reading a book! Sorry garden! I have my story!) especially if the fiance is out of town. Well, I could make bread and read a book at the same time, since there is a lot of down time in bread making. Also in doing laundry. So, really, there is hope for household chores being accomplished even in the face of a Book. My tendency to disappear into books is really the only thing that worries my mother about me having children... D'Oh! I just remembered, I have load-in for Shakespeare Festival on Saturday. I will be putting up walls!

Moving on.

I made beef stew in my slow cooker on Monday. It turned out fabulously, if I do say so myself (and I probably shouldn't). I love the slow cooker, I don't use it as often as I could. However, since it is just the two of us right now, that's probably not the tragedy it might be if I were cooking for a large family. There were biscuits to accompany. I used my new favorite biscuit recipe. Honey-Wheat Biscuits from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. My boy is a biscuit fiend, and he would eat these with every meal (of course, I don't know that he has met a biscuit he doesn't like, so weight the recommendation as you wish).

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

beef (I used 2.25 lbs London Broil, but any stew meat will work as well)
onion (1 large or 1 1/2 small)
garlic (3-6 cloves)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
thyme (one stem of fresh)
oregano (one stem of fresh)
rosemary (2 inch stem of fresh)
2 bay leaves
carrots (2 or 3 big ones, or a handful of babies)
3 potatoes
wine
1/2 - 1 cup chicken broth
water


Peel and slice the onion. Peel and coarsely chop the garlic. Chunk the carrots (if using big ones) and potatoes. Pile ingredients into slow cooker. Wash and dry the meat, trim any fat around the edges, chunk. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown in batches in a hot skillet with a little olive oil (add more oil as necessary, but don't overdo, I probably used a total of 2 TBSP over the course of 5 or six batches of meat). As the meat browns, toss it into the slow cooker. When all the meat is browned, deglaze the pan with the wine of your choice (I used sherry because I didn't have anything else in the house at the time). Lay the herbs on top. Pour the deglazing liquid, chicken broth and water over all, adding enough liquid to come about half way up the side of the pot. Cover and cook on high for about 5 hours or on low for 8. Or on high for 3 and low for 3.

Serve with a salad and bread of your choice.

This recipe (as written) should serve about 5-6 people. It can always be made to serve more or fewer, depending on how much meat and potatoes you use. :-) Flexible recipes are the best.

Right then. Off to feed horses.

In Case You Were Wondering...

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Because, really, who doesn't want to know how much their dead body is worth...

Dinosaurs!!!!

And you thought dinosaurs were extinct. Silly!

Also, yarn!

Weekend Wishes...

So, I almost got what I wanted to do this weekend done this weekend. Almost. I did garden, some. I watered everything and weeded in the vegetable area. Which area, so far, doesn't have much in the way of vegetables. I'm pretty sure that I have four asparagus pea seedlings that have come up, so that's good, but no tomatoes have volunteered which I find highly disappointing.

I did not take any pictures of anything. Including the lovely ripple baby blanket that I finally finished weaving in the ends. I did accomplish that, so go me! The coordinating hat is almost done, as well. I had so much trouble trying to figure out how to make a ripple brim, that I gave that up and am just giving it a "single crochet in back loops only" ripple brim. It's super cute, even if I do say so myself. Pictures will be taken and posted this week. Hopefully, before I send it off to its intended recipient.

I also meant to play with my Ravelry account this weekend. That went the way of the pictures of stuff. Nowhere!

I have two excuses (well, three, if you count lazy, which I do when I have enough energy): I had a hair appointment yesterday (which I had forgotten about) and I had rehearsal today. My hair appointment did lead, indirectly, to the purchase of yarn for the wedding afghan that is due by the end of July, so that's a good thing. I like Lion Brand Homespun. Which may make me a yarn philistine, but so be it. I prefer to think of it as being democratic. I like the super high end stuff, but in the right colors and with the right pattern, Homespun is a marvelous product. :-)

Here's an old picture to keep all none of you quiet...


Glory believes in getting her close-up

Turkey & Mushroom "Sloppy Joes"

Serves two (easily doubled, tripled or quadrupled)

dried porcini mushrooms (I'm not sure how much I used, because they were given to me when my brother decided not to use them in the dinner he was making the other night, next time, I'll use more mushrooms, possibly even mixed varieties)
1 frozen turkey "chub" (1 pound) or 1 pound fresh ground turkey
olive oil
2 cloves garlic (or to taste), chopped
salt
pepper
herbes de provence
balsamic vinegar
water

bread
shredded mozzarella cheese

Rehydrate mushrooms in water (or broth, or wine). Drain, and chop the mushrooms. Save the liquid.

If you are using frozen turkey (as I did tonight), go ahead and thaw it in the frying pan (which cooks it at the same time). About the time it is completely thawed, add a little olive oil and the chopped garlic (if using fresh turkey, warm the olive oil, add the turkey and garlic at the same time). Add salt, pepper and herbes de provence (or seasonings of your choice) to taste. Cook until the turkey has started to brown slightly, then add the soaked, chopped mushrooms. Stir everything together and let the turkey and mushrooms cook a little more. Add the reserved soaking liquid from the mushrooms, a dash or two of vinegar and enough water to cover (if you used wine to soak the mushrooms, let it reduce a little before adding the vinegar and water). Let the whole thing simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half (15 minutes or so), or until the ratio of gravy to meat suits you (me, I like wet but not soupy).

During the simmering process, make a salad.

When the meat sauce looks about right, toast some bread. Tonight, I used whole wheat sourdough baguette.

When the bread is toasted, put one piece on each plate. Spoon some meat sauce over the top. Spoon a little extra liquid over the top. Sprinkle with cheese.

Very yum. No picture, though, because I didn't take one, and because, really, it's not that attractive a dish. Delicious though, I can assure you of that.

Thoughts for next time: Diced onion added with the garlic would be good. Also, a good possibility for slow cooking... I'll have to think about what modifications that would take. The dried mushrooms could probably be placed directly into the cooker, the slow, wet heat would probably soak them sufficiently. Frozen spinach stirred in at the end and allowed to heat through... Fresh baby spinach on the bread, under the meat sauce...