So I woke up this morning knowing exactly what I wanted to make for dinner. Checked my fridge and pantry for what I had and made a list of what I needed. The kids and I jumped in the van, stopped at 7-11 for our free slurpee :) and then hit the store. For as grouchy as everyone kind of was, we made it through in one piece and in good time, but I still left frustrated. The meat department was not well stocked. It was a struggle to find anything like what I was looking for, which was a trip tip roast or flank steak. I grabbed some thin steaks that said "great for the grill" on them. And though they were on sale for 14 bucks they were regularly 23 dollars. I thought I could make them work.
So this evening I was all excited, chopping my ingredients. Then Joe got home, he started the grill, and then lays it on me that I would be doing the grilling. I HATE GRILLING! I am not a skilled BBQ-er. Joe and I are the perfect match in life and in the kitchen, in that he hates cooking and I hate grilling. I love cooking and he loves grilling. And I am good at cooking and he is great at grilling. Unfortunately tonight my choice for dinner was a pretty much ALL GRILL dinner. Bad luck for me.
SO what was this dinner that had taken this turn for the weird or worst, whatever? It was a recipe Rachael Ray had in her magazine last August.
PHILLY CHEESESTEAK SKEWERS!
You grill French bread cubes, onions, green bell peppers and STEAK!!
Then you make a killer sharp cheddar cheese sauce to dip it all in. I have made this multiple times, I have shared the recipe with others and I was REALLY looking forward to it. I was still feeling pretty good, when I put the steaks and my bread on the grill and closed the lid. When I went in the house to put my onions and peppers on the skewers I had soaked, I was only gone for a few minutes, I thought, so I was surprised when I saw smoke coming from the grill, through the window. I ran outside threw open the lid only to see my bread cubes or shall I say my charcoal bits sitting on the tray. Throw those away, and thankfully my bread obsessed kids had convinced me to buy 2 loaves of French bread so I had a back up. I started cutting my loaf #2 and spraying my olive oil and salt and peppering my bread AGAIN and then I put it back on the grill. Leaving the lid open this time :) Next I took my steaks off the grill, forgetting to check the temperature of the meat. They were not the best cut of meat so I didn't want to over do them. But I again was sidetracked, so I forgot the temp and just threw on the skewers of peppers and onions. Now as those were grilling I came in to make my cheese sauce. Oh I also remembered to leave the lid open, buying me some more time. 1/2 a stick of butter, melted. 2 Tablespoons of flour, once combined add in 1 cup of milk, whisking until smooth, then adding 1.5 cups of shredded sharp cheddar. Mixing until smooth. Keep warm on the stove on low, stirring frequently to keep from burning. Or put in a crock pot or a fondue pot. Anyways. I made it, that at least turned out ok. I by then had let the steaks rest enough to start cutting them. As I started cutting them I noticed quite a bit of fat but kept cutting, then I started noticing some of the thicker steaks weren't all the way done.
At that point the grill was off, the kids were screaming at each other, Maddie was screaming at me. I look down and I see she has poop all the way up her back. It is soaked through her shirt! All cooking comes to a halt and I switch into Mom mode "full throttle" I get Maddie stripped down and into the shower. I yelled for Keegan to go get Joe outside because we were on the brink of total meltdown. Joe luckily comes right in (Usually he has a sensor for when all the poop is gone:) Nonetheless he thankfully takes on Maddie, so I can get this show on the road.
Joe gets Maddie settled. I have been trying to boil a pot of water to blanch broccoli in and realize somewhere in the midst of all this awesomeness, the stove has been turned off. I restart it. And that saying about a watch pot, it's true :) The kids are now sitting at the table somewhat patiently waiting to get food. The fondue pot is keeping my delicious cheese sauce warm in the middle of the table and Joe starts to cut the steak for the kids. "Um this is not really done, Ash" That's it I'M DONE!! Microwave the steak. Throw everything on a platter on the table. Give the kids the green light and finally sit myself down.
Honestly I could barely eat it. It did not taste good to me. I had seen too much of it all. Besides some spitting out of fatty and too chewy of pieces they all seemed to like it. I will say though, there is a scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where the family is sitting down to Christmas dinner, and they are trying to choke down Cousin Catherine's turkey. Anyone remember that one? Now imagine that but with rubbery or near raw steak, depending on if that piece was microwaved or not. That was what it reminded me of, but my family God love em, kept saying "good dinner, Mom" I nodded just to keep myself from freaking.
Long story, a little less long. I NEVER EVER do this but I actually threw every bit of leftovers away. I just hope that I can get over the bad taste in my mouth to enjoy this meal again. I highly recommend it. I will try to put the pictures on but, par for the course I didn't have my SD card in. Seriously!!!
OH and Joe looked over me near the end of my already lovely meal and says "Hey, that spot (sun/age spot) right there on your face... you should maybe get that checked out, it's getting WAY bigger."
All in all. I was over it, shortly after it began. I am exhausted!
better luck tomorrow I guess!
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