What's for Dinner?

After a hiatus due to a very busy August, I cooked tonight.

Tonight's menu:

Homemade garlic mashed red potatoes
Tomato, Basil, Garlic marinaded steak on the grill

The mashed potatoes were way easier than I expected! I simply brought a bunch of water to a boil. Added a bunch of quartered red potatoes, about a tablespoon of diced garlic. Reduced heat and simmered 22 minutes covered. Then I added 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 2 T of butter. After the potatoes were done I strained them and added them to the milk/cheese/butter combo.

Because I lack a manual masher, I used my hand mixer to mix everything together.

And with that, they were ready to serve!

The verdict:

They were ok. Albeit on the blander side. I think I should have added a few more herbs and a bit more salt. For a first attempt, I'd give them a 6 on a scale of 10. Something to make again, but tweak.

What's for Dinner? 2nd post of the week!

I think I just outdid myself....

Cooking 2 nights in a row! Whoa!

Granted tonight wasn't really all that hard as far as cooking went: Steak marinated in a balsamic garlic & peppercorn marinade and grilled, paired with Rosemary Garlic red potatoes (done from a McCormick Veggie Steamers packet in the microwave).

A great meal for a warm evening, no oven involved.

Prep time: 20 minutes (including marinating time and potato chopping)
Cook time: 15 minutes.

What's for Dinner?

 Sound the alarms.... I cooked.

I ended up having to run to the grocery store at 5pm (worst time EVER to visit Rainbow in EP, unless you love getting banged into by carts in clogged aisles and endless lines....) to accomplish this, but I'm happy I did.

Tonights menu:

• Italian chicken (personal creation)
• Garlic & Basil steamed green beans
• instant mashed potatoes

The italian chicken is a personal little creation of mine. I brown chicken with garlic (sometimes onion too) in oil. Use chicken broth or extra italian dressing to deglaze the pan. Then put all of that and some more italian dressing in a shallow baking dish. I bake that covered for 20 minutes, uncovered for 10-15 (I use a convection oven so time is shorter). 

The garlic and basil steamed green beans was made with a McCormick Veggie Steamers packet in the microwave. The instant potatoes were from Potato Buds instant potatoes. 

Total meal cost was easily under $10 with the chicken taking about 1/2 the budget. 

The garlic and basil green beans were fabulous! I didn't use the full amount of green beans so there was a lot of sauce with each bean but I would defiitely make these again! It was a super easy thing to make and it took me longer to chop the ends off the beans than any of the effort I put into making them. So if you're looking for a vegetable side for dinner this was an extremely flavorful option!

In a rut...

I'm in a cooking rut. I feel like we've only been home enough to eat maybe 2 meals in the last week and a half. Hopefully I'll be able to change that soon. I'm really feeling the need to cook. I just don't know what to make.

Cross your fingers my rut ends soon....