Sunday, October 5, 2008

Good Food, Bad Ovens......

Ok. So I have been making some really delicious food lately. I have done a delicious venison roast last week with a recipe that was fantastic(props to my girlfriend Anna for that one!) I made that with some Basmati rice and also green beans with garlic and oil. Mmmm. Sooo good!

Then another night I made venison meatballs that were out. of. this. world. I think quite possibly THE BEST meatballs I have EVER made. Even better than beef. And I have to say, I really make good meatballs. So we had delicious hoagies and salad that night.

Umm, then I think the next night Jeff made western omelets that were oh so good. And i got the night off. I'm ok with that.

Then yesterday I made a cross rib roast. Ok. I'm going to be honest with you. Roasts intimidate me. There, i said it. Yes, I know they are easy, just put them in the oven and go on your way. But they are also easy to ruin. (For me anyway). I'm always so afraid that they are going to be dried out!
So, I had this Cross Rib Roast that I decided to make. Why not? It's got to be cooked some time, right? Right. So I marinated it in milk overnight on Friday.
Saturday, I took it out and rubbed some flour and salt and pepper on it and seared it in the cast iron skillet with a little lard. ( pork fat rules, you know)
Took the roast out of the skillet, and put it into a larger pan for the oven. Then I used the same skillet to do some garlic and onions that I had chopped up. (and I used like 5 cloves of garlic. man that smelled good).
Once that was sauteed, I added some bouillon in about a cup of broth and scraped the pan real good to get everything off the bottom and into the mix. Then poured it all on top of the roast, covered it with foil and let it cook in the oven on 275 for 3hrs.

With that I also made mashed potatoes. FROM SCRATCH. (which I haven't done in well, ummm, anyway....) and also some steamed broccoli.
This roast came out amazing! I was soooo nervous. I checked it at 3 hrs and it seemed like it needed to come out. I was praying it would be ok. I really didn't feel like having to go out and buy a different dinner! I was so happy it turned out so good!

And let me tell you something. My Hunky Hubby has been one Happy Hubby this past week.
Not all weeks are like this.
Macaroni and cheese is our friend, and chicken nuggets are no strangers either. But this was a great cooking week! Ever have one of those?

While Jeff and I were talking about food the other night it reminded us of how since we've been married we have never had a good stove. I shall share some of the saga...
When we first got married, we were renting and our oven was terrible! it was a small apartment size one and the oven temp was way off. (like we are talking at least a hundred degrees hotter. no joking)I had to keep a thermometer inside all the time! I only found this out after burning the first apple pies I ever attempted to make in my married life. There were many tears that day.

The second place we lived in was also a rental and it had an apartment size stove again. This one worked ok, but at this point we had two children and I would have like to have a bigger stove to cook on. The landlord replaced the oven with a larger one shortly after we moved out. oh well.

Now we have our own home. We were blessed to have been left with a wonderful washer and dryer, dish washer, and refrigerator from the last owner. But the stove. Ah yes. The stove.

The oven works fine. The burners are an enigma to me. I think at this point two don't work at all. The large Burner that I use the most only works intermittently. I could turn on the burner for the teapot and come back in 20 minutes and the coils are still black.
If I am in the process of say, scrambling an egg, it's quite possible the burner could turn off in the middle of cooking. It's very aggravating. I hate this stove.
At least once in my life, I would like to have a really good,large,working stove that doesn't cause me unneeded stress. Do any of you have something like this that you need to replace? Something that always breaks down? Do you have story like this? Do tell!

9 comments:

Jen said...

Well, I want to come over for dinner now! Yummy!

As for things breaking down, I've had many, things you have to rig it in a way to make work for you. But the biggest thing coming to mind today is my parents car that I drove the first year or so when I got my license. It would break down at the most inconvenient spots - right on the one lane bridge - at a stop light - oh, so many places. The problem was, it wouldn't start right back up, so you'd have to get out and ask people to push your car out of the way. How humbling for a young 16-17 year old girl! But its what the Lord gave us, and the mechanics said there was nothing that could be fixed, as everything appeared as if it should run just fine!

Ironically, it was a real pretty car, and you know what the Lord provided for us next, that ran like a top? A Gremlin! So from 17-18, I got to drive that!!! Haha!

Anonymous said...

oh man! My first car was pretty good. My mom's pontiac sunbird. I forget what year, but it was grey ans she had put hot pink wipers and license plate cover on it. I didn't think that was too "cool"

Bill said...

Meatballs...mmmm...my fav.
Dad C

Bill said...

My 1st car cost me a dollar!
It was a 1960(?) German NSU Prinze.
A little faded light green X-box.
When my friends parents sold it to me (in 1968 or 1969), it's top speed was 30mph. Someone suggested it might have a clog that needs to be blown out. Probably my father. He taught me to punch the pedal (irratically); reminds me of a Seinfeld episode for some reason. Anyway, so I took my car to the top of the highway on a hill. It took me a loooong time to get it up there at <<<30mph. So I put the pedal to the metal...went about 15mph all the way up the hill and then punched it...down hill. Got up to 50+ mph (down hill)! From then on, I could drive it 50mph anywhere! I guess I blew it out. Thanks for the advice Dad!
Dad C Jr.

Anonymous said...

Ha! Good one! At least your brakes worked going down the hill!

Liz said...

The food sounds yummie....you must have gotten that Rib Roast from the cow? Anyway, I've been cooking up a storm this week too...I think it's the cooler weather, makes ya wanna cook! Keep it up.

Anonymous said...

yeah, there's a whole new set of meals once fall comes! I just made chili the other night. yummo!

Bill said...

Meatballs...Chilli...
You're killin' me with these delicious posts!
When do I get to taste-test them?
Can I bring a couple cold ones and settle in for the night?
Dad C

Anonymous said...

ha! how about this one... tonight we had sausage,peppers and onions! Jeff did them nicely on the grill and we put it on hoagie rolls!