I forgot to post the burgers we had the other night- so good! Not terribly friendly mind you, but with the frustration Joe and I are feeling at this ugly plateau we're both at we didn't care! I basically made 6oz burgers from nothing more than 85/15 ground beef, then after I flipped them topped them with two slices bacon and a mix of shredded cheddar and (gasp!) a tiny bit of French's onions. Then when they were done, put them together with BBQ sauce and homemade pickles! Great with roasted sweet potatoes.
Last night I made Chicken Zin. It's from my grilling book and is based on Coq Au Vin. You marinate the thighs in a mix of zinfandel, dijon mustard, garlic, thyme, and EVOO. Then grill them alongside boiler onions and shrooms. I also added the first eggplant and baby zuke from our garden! I cooked up some sprouts to go with it, and it was heavenly! All I do for the sprouts is trim them and simmer in 1/2 cup water with a chicken cube (beef is even better!) in a saute pan. This time I added bacon pieces. Simmer it about 10 minutes until they are just about done, then remove the lid and let the liquid cook out and brown the sprouts a bit. Even Sam likes them this way!
So the big plan for today is shopping- well, sort of. Joe wants to start working on the guest bedroom. That room is so atrocious! His plan is to go find a huge rug and buy it. Then he wants to base the colors and such on this rug. Pull up the rank carpet and tile the floor (it's in the basement, so we'd need a reallllly big rug!), find an antique head/footboard for the bed, replace the closet mirrors/doors... Big project. It's either that or we repaint the living room and I'm not up for that just yet. I LIKE the color we chose this last time, even if he decided once it was on the walls that he didn't. I find it relaxing!
The garden is going crazy today. We got some rain last night, and when I was out there I found several more cantaloupes! I picked a cuke the other night to have with our burgers, but there are still two bigguns out there. The onions are about ready too! Yay for gardens!!!
Off to get the kid's hair chopped! Happy Saturday!