I can’t imagine how many steaks I’ve cooked in my lifetime and the vast, vast majority have been done on a charcoal or gas grill. Only recently have I tried pan frying them and recently I cooked a beef tri-tip first in the oven then finishing in a pan on the cooktop (reverse sear method) . While I’ve watched them cooked on TV many times by adding the crust in a hot pan then finishing in the oven, commonly called the Steakhouse Method, I don’t think I’ve ever used it.
Before I get to the restaurant visit, here is some info about a pretty serious situation with Cindy. You likely know by now that she has been living with us for several years and for the past many weeks she has been dealing with some serious pain in her hip and knee. She has been to several doctors and none of them have been able to say for sure what is needed to fix her problem. Last Thursday, she went to see about getting another injection in her hip and after being told about how much pain she was in, the doctor sent her for a hip x-ray. At 4 pm that day, the doctor’s office called and told her to go to the hospital for emergency surgery the next morning, but didn’t tell her why. After the surgery we learned that she had an infection in her hip that even required some bone removal – bless her heart.
She will be in the hospital until tomorrow, then go to a step-down location, and finally home for six weeks on an IV. We don’t yet know if it’s Mrsa (and sure hope not), the cause of the infection, or the next step for the hip. We are just happy that the problem has been discovered and that she is no longer crying from the intense pain. Here she is post surgery after her sister fixed her hair.
I’ve yet to meet a hash I didn’t like but I don’t recall ever putting a sauce on one so I was intrigued when Lea Ann posted the recipe for Ham Hash with Eggs With Mustard Cream Sauce on her “Cooking On The Ranch” blog. I made it per her recipe below but I did all of the prep work, including cooking the potatoes, the day before. Since I plated ours, you can click on the link to see Lea Ann’s service in a bowl.
I had baked a 2 lb. salmon filet with the plan to turn it into salmon cakes but I caught a little head cold and wasn’t willing to put in the effort required to make the cakes. So, I opted to turn it into salmon chowder, which we haven’t had in many years. I looked at several online recipes and settled on one that sounded good and for which I had all of the ingredients. The recipe comes from the “Salt and Lavender” blog but I made several changes beginning with doubling the ingredient amounts. Since I like a hearty soup, I completely changed the cooking method by adding the liquid as I went along and ended up with two cups of chicken broth vs. six called for in the recipe. To see the original recipe, just click on the above link.
When Chef Lea Ann posted the recipe for Juicy Perfect Buffalo Burgers (Bison Burgers) on her “Cooking On The Ranch” blog, I was intrigued by her flavor additions and decided to give them a try for our Friday card group. As you might imagine, I can’t run by the local Vonore Food City and pick up a package of ground bison meat so I opted for the closest I could get with 93% lean ground beef. For the six of us I doubled the burger ingredients (except sugar) and made a single sauce recipe to get the recipe below. The Chef’s good pics and original recipe can be found by clicking on the above link.
Bev has been wanting to go to The Patio Italian Restaurant in Madisonville for some time so we selected it for this week’s lunch out. Before discussing the restaurant, let me give you a little background on the area. Madisonville is the seat of Monroe County which is a very rural and mountainous county just south of us. Madisonville, with a population of 5100 people has a downtown that is about three blocks long and the county (pop.46000) is full of pick up driving good ole boys and a home to southern mountain food. Yet Monroe County sports a very good Mexican restaurant Cielto Lindo Mexican Grill in Vonore and this fine Italian place in downtown Madisonville along with Donna’s Old Town Café, with the more typical food for this area.
Cindy had baked a chicken for supper a couple of days previously and we decided quesadillas would be a good use for the leftovers and since we had an open bag of spinach in the fridge that needed to be used, I went in search of a recipe that used them both. The recipe I chose was Creamy Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas from "Budget Bytes" but I changed it quite a bit to get the one below. The original can be found by clicking on the above link.
We invited Eliza and her family down for Sunday supper and since her mom (Wende) just had a birthday, we asked if she had a request for the meal. She chose Manhattan Clam Chowder, which was uncanny as I’d been thinking about it recently myself – haven’t made it in several years. The original recipe is for a slow cooker and makes about three quarts, but since I wanted enough for leftovers and to send home with Wende, I doubled the recipe to get the one below.
Before we ate, Eliza enjoyed the 60F temperature to take
a spin in the big wheel, which is kept here, and she invented a new way to play T-ball.
We only exchange Christmas gifts with one friend so this year, for my gift, I gave her five lunches at the restaurants of her choice – but she’s making me choose. This also fulfills my deal with Bev to eat out once per week. So far we had gone to our local Mexican place and the Cheddars in Alcoa and for the third meal we went to the Countryside Restaurant in Vonore – a 10 minute drive. I don’t know how long it’s been in business but it’s more than the 30 years I’ve lived in the area. It changed hands not long ago and rumor has it that the food has significantly improved.
I recently made a couple of breakfasts from leftovers that I really enjoyed.
We had made fried shrimp for supper and I had five raw ones left so I used them for breakfast. I sauteed them and chopped half of them (other half to Cindy) to use in a scramble along with some shredded cheddar. It was very good.
