The all new 100% upgraded Park Cooking Thread

[fredi*frogi]

Since the soapbox is coming to an end soon, my friends on our cooking thread that sin started asked that I start a new one over here. So here I am!

Everyone feel free to join in and post your favorite recipes or questions or even stuff in daily life!

I'll start with a recipe I made up when I had round steak thawed out but I didn't want the hassle of making chicken fried steak.

I cut the round steak in 4 manageable pieces. Placed in a 9 X 13 baking pan and sprinkled a package of au jus gravy mix over top, then I put 4 table spoons of butter, one on each piece. I baked it in the oven, preheated to 350°, for about 45 mins. Turned out very well, but the Plumber (my husband) said I needed to cook it at a lower temp for a bit longer, so if I do this again, I'll go 325 and an hour or an hour and 15 mins. I served with mashed potatoes and gravy I made with the pan drippings and green beans. 

Mom came over last nite with pork steaks so the Plumber grilled them up and brushed them with Blues Hog BBQ Sauce. She made her (gross) creamed (she means snot) peas and potatoes. The Plumber loved them, I still they look like peas in snot! I made broccoli cheddar rice to have instead of the peas and snot!

I hope to see everyone here soon! 🙂

[fruitflogger]

Since I refuse to go into Holland during "Tulip Hell" aka "Tulip Time" ..........I've sort of been eating "out of the pantry" this week. Baked potatoes, canned soup, spaghetti etc. I have a prescription sitting at Walgreens in Holland waiting for pickup, not until Sunday when it's all over.

Today it is windy & cold (high in the mid 50s........I drove 3 miles over to the lakeshore, the temperature dropped 4 degrees). Every joint hurts right now, but I'm trying to get flowers planted in the front garden bed, finish taking out the brush in the one are of the backyard, etc.

The C.A.T. has his routine in order......go out, check out the farm, come back to the house for a snack/drink & go back out again.😼

(If he drank coffee.....it would almost be like a small Mr. Fabulous was here. Almost.)😔

[fredi*frogi]

((Fruit)) C.A.T. will be a good friend to you!

I don't blame you for staying away from Holland, I probably would, too, if I were you!

We're heating up, then cooling down, then heating up. At least we're staying mostly in the 70's during the day and the 50's at nite. We're getting rain right now, like we should have been getting in all of April. 

Not sure what I'm cooking tonite, but I'll figure something out, I'm sure!

[fruitflogger]

We have been in the mid 70s/muggy for the last two days. I think I can (finally) put the snow rake back in the garage. The C.A.T. is pouting......because I took the comforter & his "special blanket" (Vellux) to the laundromat & packed them away for the summer. Let's see how long it takes him to pulll apart the light cotton open-weave blanket.......string is string.

I'd like to know how people with kids (& tons of laundry) can afford to go to the laundromat......it cost me $7 to wash the comforter, $3 for the blanket & another  $2 for the dryers. Oh, my dryer is on the fritz, starts then shuts off after2-3 minutes, then will not start again for about 45 minutes (of course, I had a full load of laundry in it). I ended up hanging stuff on hangers/draped over the shower rod/over the backs of chairs......it looked like one of those N.Y. tenament photos from "The American Experience".

I haven't had much of an appetite the last few days......tonight's going to be a dinner salad & a rarity. I found a perfectly ripe honeydew at Meijer, so I'll gorge on melon for a couple of days.

I found a ham shank in the freezer that needed to be used up. I cooked it in the crockpot with a can of chicken broth & some "seasoning veggie odds/ends", took the meat off the bone, cleared the fat & I guess I will make a small batch of potato soup on Monday.

Time to check the "alien potatoes" in the pantry cupboard.

[fredi*frogi]

We're heading into the 80° days here. And, of course, the humidity is high, as per usual. It just sort of sprinkled on us this morning, but even without the sun shining, it's dense feeling out there! 

I don't know, either, Fruit. I hate going to the laundry mat, it's so expensive when I have a perfectly good washer and dryer at home, but our comforters don't fit in the washer, and I know I don't wash them often enough!

I did sour kraut, polish sausage and parsley potatoes last nite. The Plumber came up with a reciepe that I'm going to try tonite, if it's any good, I'll share it! 

[fruitflogger]

We had dense fog this morning, then temps in the 86-87 range. Miserably hot & muggy.

I went this morning & took some of the family planters to the cemetery......can't get them in the car all at the same time. I tore out/replanted two concrete planters for one relative that are only 6 x 6 inches. They were solid roots, so they got partial new soil, 2 white geraniums & some dwarf sweet william (they were already in there, have kept coming back for several years). There's one more planter to deliver & one concrete one that needs to be taken apart & replanted.  So far, my SIL has made no effort on the planters for Mr. Fabulous, their mom or the grandparents......I don't know if she's taking care of them or not.

It was too hot to do much else, so I worked on putting together some "silk" planters for my side of the family.....got one ready for my dad, my older brother who passed away last summer....& now two for younger brothers. Every time I go home, the trunk gets fuller. 

I didn't feel up to making the potato soup, I'll do that tomorrow....I ended up making chicken salad sandwiches with avacado for dinner. There's still some left that I might turn into pasta & veggie salad.

[fredi*frogi]

((fruit)) I am not surprised SIL hasn't done anything, I also wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't taking care of them. It's always hard and I'm thinking of you.

So the Plumber came up with the idea of making two boxes of mac and cheese and mixing that with a package of browned burger. It was actually pretty good!

My mom gave me some asparagus and the Plumber found a different recipe for it on Facebook. I think we'll have the leftover mac/cheese/burger and the asparagus tonite, unless the Plumber has other plans. 

After a long day yesterday, I caved and ordered tacos from the bar. They were pretty good, actually!