I was so happy to see the sun yesterday. Even though it was only in the low 20’s, somehow when its that cold and sunny, I think spring is right around the corner. Sadly, we still have ice and snow on the ground, and I think we have some snow in the forecast later this week. 
Saturday night I decided to make a pot roast. I chopped the veggies, seasoned and coated the roast in flour, then spent about 20 minutes searing the outside before putting it in the oven to cook for two hours.
It looks good, right? But it tasted like ass. The meat was touch, the gravy was funky, even the oven fries had no taste. I barely ate half before calling it quits. Tony always wonders why I get upset when a meal doesn’t turn out, but I have high expectations of my food, and when it doesn’t work out the way I want to, I naturally get pissed.
Yesterday was a new day though, and our squirrel Lyle is becoming more and more friendly. I swear if I let him, he would eat a peanut out of my hands.
We throw the peanuts on the table on our front deck. We now have about three regular squirrels.
So I am at the back of the house on our computer, when I see Lyle jump into our Weber grill! Once he left, I went to check it out and sure enough, he’s found a hiding spot for his nuts!
Tony and I went out to lunch and then grocery shopping. It’s pretty hilarious if you watched us shop together. Tony takes the basket and walks the aisles, and I am like the energizer bunny going to get ingredients and meeting up with him – but it works for us!
So my main focus was to redeem myself from the previous nights dinner. Our store and beef shanks on sale, so I decided to make my version of osso bucco.
Osso Bucco
- 2 beef shanks (mine were 1.5 pounds together)
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup red wine
- 2 cups beef broth
Heat a large stock pot with the olive oil over medium high heat. Salt and pepper the beef shank and dredge in flour. Sear both sides – about six minutes total. Remove from the pan. Add in the carrots, garlic and tomato past and cook, using a wooden spoon to get the browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the wine, and add back in the beef shanks. Pour in the beef broth and reduce the heat to low, and simmer for two hours.
On the side I made creamy polenta – 1 cup of polenta to 4 cups water. Bring the water to a boil, then add the polenta and stir, making sure it doesn’t clump up. Reduce the heat to low, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Remove from heat, add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1/3 cup shaved Parmesan cheese.
It’s a really inexpensive meat too – each package was only $2.19, and neither of us even ate half of our shank, we could have easily split one. I am going to try to incorporate the leftover meat into a Thai soup later in the week.
I used cheap wine too and it worked really well – only $3.49 for this bottle!
This turned out great – the meat was tender, the gravy was delicious. This made A LOT of polenta, but I have an idea for a polenta breakfast cake in my head for later this week – who knows, it might work!
I have to give Chobani a shout out – they sent me a case of their two new flavors, pear and banana. I’ve had the pear one, but not the banana one – I think my boss will love a strawberry banana parfait this week. 
I am happy to report that I worked out two of the three days for Lori’s Heart Healthy Weekend. Friday I swam, and Saturday I went to the gym and did a hill climb on the treadmill for 45 minutes – thanks for the motivation to move over the weekend Lori!
Off to put my shit together for the day – are you lucky enough to have today off?
And in case you are wondering what the blog title means, Tony and I always find different ways to say I love you. Yesterday I was in the kitchen and he came in and shouted “I Can’t Quit You!” and then just left the room – I laughed so hard! I can’t quit you either Tony!
Make it a great day!
My boyfriend & I joking say “I tolerate you” instead of “I love you” all the time. I can’t even remember why we started it, but it’s become our thing.
Tony’s comment made me smile.
I hate it too when a recipe/meal doesn’t turns out to what I expected. It ruins my meal too.
Glad Sunday’s dinner was much better.
oh that osso bucco looks so good. i’ve never tried it, i need to put it on the list! the squirrels are so cute, i love the little hiding spot.
you and tony are adorable. my hubby and i are always trying to think of the most unflattering nicknames for each other. things like love chunks and honey muffin top. the latest was love butter. not exactly appealing but it makes us laugh!
I have high expectations for my meals,too, and really don’t like it if things don’t work out as I had planned. Glad the osso bucco was a success!
It sounds like we shop in similar ways… 🙂
Have a great week!
I get the same way about my meals that don’t turn out. It’s such a huge bummer! Not only are your expectations let down, but you also have to sit and eat a crappy meal! Or waste money!
Be careful with Lyle! We had a squirrel in Orland that I named “Nutsack” and he was always out on our patio, I threw scraps out there and would watch from the window and snap pics. Well….. Nutsack bored into our shed roof, which rotted out parts of it. We had to replace and reshingle it when we were trying to sell. And once we got inside one of the shed walls had to be replaced b/c he at through that. He also ate through the electrical wire for the light in there too. AND had babies in there. I had to put them in a box with a warm hot water bottle until they were rescued. So… moral of the story. They’re cute- but can also cause a LOT of damage.
Okay first of all Christina, the fact that you named the squirrel Nutsack is killing me! But seriously, thanks for the heads up, I never thought about that!
I am loving all your pictures on facebook – you are so creative!