Trying new recipies

Teddy and I had a very quiet weekend this week.  It was kind of nice. 

Friday he flew home from a business trip, so I made some steaks on the grill with a yummy mushroom sauce that I'll get to later.

Saturday morning we had breakfast with my mom and dad, so we could pick up Fozzie from their house that morning (they were dog sitting with both Teddy and I traveling last week.).  Saturday was spent running errands and doing chores around the house.  We had our annual visit from our heating and cooling guy to check out the air conditioner.  Our "free" service call resulted in a check for about $400.  *sigh*  At least we shouldn't have to worry about the airconditioner going out on us this summer.

Saturday night we headed up to Erica & Kris's to visit and play some Lego rock band.  Jennifer and Heather were there too and we all had fun hanging out with Emily and Carson.  We took turns reading Emily a bedtime story before she turned in for the night. 

Sunday was a very low key day.  I've been fighting a cold for about a week, so Teddy made me stay in bed most of the day to try to kick it.  It was the first time in a long time we had a weekend with nothing planned.  We savored it since it'll be the last time for a while that will be the case.

So, this weekend I tried a couple of new recipies that I made up just from experience cooking other things.  They turned out pretty good.  The first was the mushroom wine sauce that I put over our steaks on Friday. 

Mushroom wine sauce:

1 package of sliced and cleaned baby portabello mushrooms
1 cup of red wine
1/4 cup of beef stock (or any other kind of stock you have in your pantry)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a saute pan, add the olive oil and mushrooms.  Heat until mushrooms are browned.  Then add the red wine.  Let that simmer over a low-medium heat until the wine reduces by half.  Add the beef stock and season with salt and pepper.  Simmer for a few minutes.  When ready to serve, shut off the heat and stir in the sour cream.  Then pour over the steaks & enjoy. 

It turned out really good and was a nice compliment to the grilled steak. 

Sunday I created a version of chinese stirfry.  It turned out really good and I'm sure was a lot healthier than take out.

Chinese stirfry:

1 lb of meat (works with beef, pork or chicken - I did it with pork)
4 stalks baby bok choy quartered with cores cut out
1 can water chestnuts drained
1 cup sliced white mushrooms
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
2 tablespoons rice vinigar
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon thai chili and garlic sauce
salt & pepper to taste

In a saute pan or wok brown the meat until nearly cooked.  Remove meat from pan, set aside and pour out any grease.  Add the baby bok choy, water chestnuts, and mushrooms in the saute pan with a 1/4 cup of water, cover and steam for 2 - 4 minutes.  While steaming the veggies, mix in a bowl the ginger, rice vinigar, soy sauce, brown sugar and chili & garlic sauce (add salt and pepper to taste).  Then add to saute pan with the veggies, add in the meat (include any juices that come out of the meat while sitting), mix and let simmer for 3 - 5 minutes.  Serve over white or brown rice. 

The sauce has a nice heat to it from both the ginger and the chili & garlic sauce.  If you don't like spicy food leave out the chili & garlic sauce.

Overall, it was a very nice, low key weekend.  We probably needed that rest as we ramp up for all the activities coming up - Teddy's birthday, Teddy's mom's birthday, mothers day, wedding festivities, etc...
It's going to be a busy couple of months!