Cheaters Steak Au Poive

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I watched my SIL’s dog.  He’s tiny, like six pounds or something like that.  She brought him over once before she left for the weekend to visit her son and his family for Thanksgiving and the dogs seemed to get along.  Well, that was while Jody was here.  Once he got dropped off on Thursday morning, it was pretty clear that he didn’t like having a brother and sister around.  Every time Rummy or Roman got anywhere near Brutus, he’d start to growl, tail between the legs.  I felt bad for him, because he is a cute and cuddly dog, but having other dogs in the house, and people walking down the street – it seemed he was barking or growling most of the time.

What made him happy?  Laying on my lap, laying under a blanket, being held or sleeping with me.  I swear it was like having an infant for the weekend.  I told Jody I’d watch him again, but not until the kids move out and he’s the only dog.  I think he is used to being an only puppers. 

On Sunday night, Rummy resumed her usual position!

One big project I did over the long weekend was to finally clear out the closet in our bedroom and put my stuff in there.  Tony only used the closet in the bedroom because a long time ago I had to be at work at 7 in the morning, and I hated having to turn on the lights to get dressed in the morning.  So Tony built me a closet in the basement – nothing much, just a long bar and a dresser, and after a while I just got used to getting dressed in the basement even after my schedule changed.

I bagged up the rest of Tony’s suits and dropped them off at Goodwill.  I had looked into getting those custom closet organizers, but holy fuck are they expensive!  Even cheap ones started at like $500 and I am not handy enough to do the cheap DIY ones you find in Pinterest.  And then I really thought about it – I am the only one who sees the closet, so why do I care how it looks?  The hanging stuff is work clothes.  The top shelf of the bookcase is comfy clothes, the bottom two shelves are workout clothes.  I told Hannah she could punch me in the face if we are out thrifting together and I even attempt to buy another pair of workout pants!

I ended up using Tony’s old tie rack as a necklace holder.  It’s nice to have one spot to put everything back.  And Helen, you’ll notice that I have more than five pairs of shoes!  It actually felt good to make this transition – truth be told I actually liked looking into the closet and seeing Tony’s clothes there so I could for if for just an instant, think that he was still here with me.

I woke up yesterday morning and did what most of you do – check your phone through Instagram and Facebook to see what we missed while sleeping.  Don’t lie and tell me you don’t do the same thing too.I checked the weather and saw that it was 37 degrees and decided I could bundle up and got my walking shoes on.

When I got back from the walk I had 30 minutes to get  ready and put my food together.  I still had to shower, but I got everything done in 20 minutes, and decided I had time to make a potato pancake for the base of my breakfast.  I heated up a non-stick skillet on high, added a touch of olive oil and Pam, then mixed 4 ounces of leftover mashed potatoes with 1 teaspoon of seasoned bread crumbs, and quickly cooked it for just 2 minutes a side until it got crusty.

Once at work I heated up my egg, spinach, and cheese and heated it up in the toaster oven.  Yummers!

I was busy at work all day yesterday – I cannot tell you how much faster the day goes when I have stuff to do all day.  Around 12:30 I thought I’d head outside for another walk, but it started pouring.  So I headed to the gym and did 2.5 miles on the treadmill while watching The Chew.

Hannah may or may not have accused me of hoarding potatoes.  I can’t help it when the price of potatoes is .99 cents a bag I nearly always throw another bag in my cart.  So potato soup was made over the weekend.  I used Pioneer Woman’s potato soup recipe.  It was good, but I ended up adding crushed red pepper to kick it up a notch.  I like that it’s still a bit chunky.

Monday nights is our customary Meat Monday night with Hannah at school.  If you think that Certified Angus Beef is out of your price range, check out flat iron steaks the next time you are at the grocery store.  They are still pretty lean, with a bit of marbling, and my store has them on sale about every other week for $3.99 a pound.  Yep, two half pound steaks for $4!

One of the restaurants I worked at served steak au poive, which is simply a peppercorn sauce.  Mine is by no means traditional at all, in fact it’s not really even that close, but it reminds me of that sauce.

I seasoned the steaks with salt and pepper and let them sit about 20 minutes.  I had a cooked baked potato so I cut that into fries and deep fried them for about 4 minutes until nice and crispy.  Once the steaks were cooked 2 minutes a side (Jacob and I both like our beef pretty rare), I set the steaks to the side and to the pan added 1/2 cup of chicken broth and scraped the bottom of the pan.  Then I added 1 teaspoon of butter, 1 tablespoon A-1 sauce and lots of fresh cracked pepper.  The top picture was with my DSLR – I just got a used 35 mm 1:1.8 auto focus lens.  Can’t wait to try it out in natural light instead of my disgusting fluorescent lighting.   The second picture is with my iPhone.

I still have yet to start decorating, but plan to do it a bit every night this week.  My SIL brought me a snowman for watching her dog, and my twin friends brought me a snowman coffee mug – love them both!

Alright, I guess I need to get this show on the road – have you started decorating yet??  Make it a great day!