Week 11 = STEAK!!

I swear when we started this last season, Rob and I made steak or bbq every weekend. You'd be surprised how many football cities are all about the meat. But this is our first steak game this year, and it was well worth the wait. 

New York strip was an obvious call, so we decided to make a traditional steakhouse kind of dinner. But how we we going to to get Dallas in there? 

Answer: Tex-Mex everything!

We started with a wedge salad, because Rob is crazy about a wedge salad. I don't totally get it. I mean, bacon, yes. Bleu cheese, most definitely yes. But otherwise it's just a big old lump of iceberg lettuce. That would never win a Snob Salad Competition. Anyway, we switched it to Tex-Mex by using chorizo instead of bacon.

 Chorizo is really greasy, so we cooked it and drained it and patted it dry. The results were good. I think maybe bleu cheese and chorizo is a combo I would use again.

Next game the potatoes. Seriously, that was just an attempt to balance the plate. Fingerlings, jalapenos, onion, and leeks plus a little Mexican spice combo.

Again - good result, but can you go wrong roasting veggies in an oven? Not really. 

Now for the meat! I looked up Mexican spice rub, and got a recipe from Food and Wine for Mexican Spice-Rubbed Rib Eyes with Lime Butter. 

Um, did somebody say lime butter? Sign me up!

That's basically softened butter with lime juice, lime zest, and garlic. The green was so pretty that I wanted to take a picture. Sorry it doesn't translate too well. Maybe I'll have to ask Santa for a real camera.

 Here is a picture of the meat resting with the lime butter on top. It looks like ice cream!

I still want to eat it.

Finally, it all came together. We picked up a bottle of Rioja to round it all out.

Meat is good.

Week 10 = A Confession

Before I make my confession, I want to say that I think the crab and corn choice was inspired. First, you have crab. Delicious. Add corn. Delicious again. And when you think about the number of times I have to come up with something for either New England or Indianapolis, corn and crab soup is pretty ingenious.

And if my soup really was corn and crab, we could be done already.

Crab is surprisingly hard to find in the fall in Chicago. Rob said, "Go to Mariano's," but I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid on that one just yet. Everyone acts like Mariano's is the second coming. Yes they almost always have what I'm looking for, but I was closer to Jewel and I'm not going all over town for Sunday night dinner.

Unfortunately, Jewel did not have any crab legs. I could have bought a can of the good stuff - $24.99 for 16 ounces when I only needed 8. No way - I'm too cheap for that. And I wasn't going to buy Chicken of the Sea. I'm too much of a snob for that.

So what's the solution? Fake Crab!!! I don't care what anyone says, I like it. Just not for cooking.

At least it's pretty, right?

Actually, it didn't suck. I bet the recipe would be great with the real crab in it. I encourage everyone to give it a shot. You can find the recipe at Kitchen Confidante.

Week 9 = GO PACK GO!!!!

Oh, yeah!

Not only did the Packers beat the Bears, they demolished them. Humiliated them in front of a national audience. I almost felt sorry for the Bears. LOL!

I'm taking credit for the win because dinner was Italian beef smothered in a Merkt's beer cheese sauce. (Get it? So witty!) The recipe is insanely easy. The only change from the recipe here is that I like to brown the beef. Actually, Rob likes me to brown the beef. I don't think it's really necessary, but whatever. If it was weekday, I'd probably skip it.

Ignore the vaguely phallic poblano pepper sticking out of the sandwich.

The cheese sauce isn't a recipe. Here are the instructions...

• Buy Merkt's Beer Cheese.
• Melt it.
• Add milk until it looks like sauce.

That's it.

We made enough to put on, I don't...EVERYTHING for the next week.

I also made a side of spinach, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and leeks with a splash of red wine vinegar. 

None of that has anything to do with Wisconsin or Illinois. I just needed a veggie. It's been a while. And I have to say, this my new favorite easy-to-make side. 

By the way, I also bought mandarin oranges to throw in but completely forgot about them. If anyone has a suggestion for what I can do with those, that would be great. 

Gotta go - the Pack is on!

Later,

VA

Week 8 = So Many Things Went Wrong

First, I realized last week that I've been numbering the weeks wrong all season, and I have no idea how. I haven't skipped a single week!

Second, it's Sunday and I'm only just now getting to writing up last week's dinner. In my defense, it's been a crazy week: birthday stuff, teaching stuff, coaching stuff. Pretty much life conspired against me. Not my fault.

Finally, I was less than pleased with my dinner. I made crab pierogi, but I cheated. I used egg roll wrappers instead of making the dough. I would love to claim that I was too busy, but even if I had all the time in the world, I just don't see myself making dough. Ever.

The pierogi were stuffed with crab (from a can - no judging!), bell peppers, and scallions. As I was folding it all together, I realized I had onion & chive cream cheese in the fridge, so that went into the mix, too. I'm not sure it add anything, but it made the stuffing kind of hook together better.

The best parts of the dinner were made by Rob.  He made a red pepper sauce and a beet and leek salad. Without the red pepper sauce, I think the pierogi would have been super bland. And apparently, beets and leeks are seasonal veggies for Pennsylvania, so they totally count.

I gotta run. I still have to shop for the most important game of the year: Bears @ Lambeau! Here's a hint - I made Rob go to D'amato's on Grand for the bread. Add bonus? He picked up pizza for lunch!

Later,
VA