Date Night at the Osbornes

We've lived on somewhat less income over the last couple years.  The recession changed our world, but I really don't mind.  We got into the habit of date nights with a movie and something nice to eat at home.  We work together and live together.  We are together 24/7 and we both have strong personalities.  We've been married forever.  We need date nights.
Tonight, I've got cube steak.  I'm planning on turning it into a sort of chicken fried steak with mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes with brocolli.  Both of us had two parents who grew up in Oklahoma.  His parents ended up in California.  Mine in Oregon.  But we are Okies at our core, both of us.

I should mention that this meal was inspired by Rocquie at SageTriffle.blogspot.com.  I do not know her, but she made a lovely dinner very similar to the one I'm making tonight for her own husband. 

http://sagetrifle.blogspot.com/2010/09/cube-steak-with-mushroom-onion-gravy.html

It is exactly what he likes, so thanks to Rocquie for the inspiration.

Chicken Fried Cube Steak and Mushroom gravy.

1 lb cube steak.   Cube steak is one of the tougher cuts that has been run through the butcher's equipment to render it softer and easier to use.  It has a lot of beef flavor if handled well.  This is from my freezer stash of the 1/2 cow we bought.

I pounded it some more with my meat mallot.  If you don't have one, I recommend it.  But a small sauce pan is what my mother used.  Hold the handle and pound away.  Remember to be happy. 

Cover the meat with butchers paper.  Or the sack from a package of crackers or cereal, which stands the pounding better than plastic wrap or wax paper.

Now sprinkle some flour over top and move the pieces around to coat them.  Sprinkle on the salt.  I don't have a recipe for this type of cooking.  This is my Mom.

A skillet good and hot with several tablespoons of good oil.  Tongs are the best tool here.  Lay the meat in the hot oil and brown on one side.  Move them around a bit and keep the temperature hot so the coating stays on.    Turn them over as they brown.  And over again until done.

Into the warming drawer, you go. If you don't have a warming drawer, cover them with a lid and stick them on the back of the stove. 

Now for the gravy.  Scrap up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.  That's the flavor.  Bring up the heat.  Another T. canola oil and 1 T. flour.  Stir to blend as it heats.  Add a good pile of sliced mushrooms.

Then add Alpenrose milk.  As the liquid approaches a simmer, the flour thickens it.  Add more milk until it is the right thickness.  You may want more salt and pepper.  Taste at this time and decide.  And a big spoon of Tillamook sour cream for richness. 

And we have a happy husband.  We watch a movie named "Date Night."  It seemed appropriate for the occasion, but it was completely stupid.  It may make sense if you are from New York, but I've never been there and, for me, the humor was just stupid. 

Remember not to skip Date Night.

Milk - Or Does It Matter

I'm giving more consideration to our food choices.  Having been raised in a family of cooks and eaters, I've always been interested in good food - good taste, good quality, trying new things.  My recent interest is to support local food production much the way I already support local hardware store owners and so forth.  When I recently bought some furniture, I shopped as much as I wanted but I bought from Main Street Furniture, Vancouver, WA and purchased from the owner of the business.  Then I called Husband on my cell phone and asked him to bring the truck and trailer to get it.  Being the good Husband that he is, he did so immediately and with minimal grumbles.

But part of me says, "hey, I work 9 or 10 hours a day and I keep a busy household!"  I need it to be easier!  Why can't I live in a world where small business owners, such as myself, are easily accessible and carry the products I need.  I mean, sometimes the stuff I need is at Home Depot, not at Grover Electric and Plumbing.  What's up with that?

So I'm on a milk thing, right now.  I've been buying Darigold, which is distributed out of Seattle.  The Portland metro area has a local Dairy - Alpenrose.  It has a long history in the area and family owned.  But none of the stores I normally shop at carries it.  

To their website I go. http://alpenrose.com/pages/index.html
I find that Albertson's carries Alpenrose.  I'm not normally an Albertson's shopper, but there is one in my community.  They carry only gallons, but that's okay, since I make yogurt out of it, too.  So, now I've decided to buy Willamette Farms Eggs from one place, produce from Diane's and Gateway Produce, I have a bread source at another place.  Safeway carries Santiam Cannery and Nor Pac canned and frozen vegetables.  But am I really going to make several stops per week for basic staples?

Have I mentioned that I work 9 or 10 hours a day and I keep a busy household?  There must be a way to support local food producers without this much work.  Is it a commercial idea to start a business that carries only locally produced food?  Don Pancho tortillas, Willamette Valley Cheese Company cheese,  local wine, Tillamook products.  There must be others.  It wasn't really that hard to buy 1/2 a cow, so why doesn't some store carry local meat?  Probably not a workable business plan for this or someone would be doing it.  The entrepreneur in me is staying awake at night thinking about it.

Remember to buy local.        

Santiam Cannery

I've blogged about Santiam Cannery before. 

http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2010/04/santiam-cannery.html

My grandparents were farmers near Stayton.  They grew beans, corn, wheat, peppermint, strawberries and other crops.  Every year, Grandpa negotiated a contract with the "cannery man."  Grandpa agreed to plant certain numbers of acres of the crops they wanted and the cannery agreed to buy the entire crop at an agreed upon price per pound. 

When the crop was ready, they hawled it in two ton farm trucks round the clock to a cannery in Stayton owned by Santiam Cannery.  I drove some of those trucks a couple years.  The Santiam Cannery brand is still out there, but now it is owned by Norpac.  Norpac has its corporate offices in Lake Oswego, Oregon.  Norpac also owns Flav R Pac. 

So there you are.  My brands for frozen and canned vegetables through the winter.

Tater Tot Casserole

The hamburger from the 1/2 cow we bought is awesome, lean and pretty.  Clearly a quality improvement over grocery store hamburger. 

Click here for that story.
http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2010/08/local-meat.html

Tonight I'm cooking one pound of my hamburger, a chopped shallot and a good tablespoon of my elephant garlic from Diane's Produce Market 

Preheat the oven to 350.  Into the cooked hamburger, I'm adding 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of Santiam brand green beans, drained.  Salt and pepper to taste.  You can turn it into a big casserole dish or start with a large oven safe skillet. 

Arrange 1 package (28 oz) frozen tator tots on top.  Bake 60 minutes or until the tator tots are hot and crispy.  Okay, so it's not gourmet, but it smells good and reminds me of happy things.  Husband comes through the kitchen saying he is looking forward to eating it. And just tell me that the kids won't eat that!  I wouldn't tell on you if you put catchup on it.

Remember to play with your food.

Linked with Simple Lives at Sustainable Eats

http://www.sustainableeats.com/2010/10/14/simple-lives-october-14-2010/

Men with Tools, part 2

Deviled Eggs are both a simple thing and a personal thing.  Every cook who makes them does it a little different.  But Men with Tools are back hard at work and this is one of their favorite snacks.  I can't hang dry wall, but I can feed those who do.  So, here is my take on deviled eggs.

Halve 6 hard-cooked eggs.  Remove yolks and mash with the tines of a fork.

Add to the yolks 1/4 c. mayo, 1 t. vinegar, 1 t. prepared yellow mustard, 1/2 t. dijon mustard, 1/8 t. salt .  Combine with the fork.

Now let me be very clear about this.  I do not own a piping bag and I don't plan to at any point in the future.  I am a simple girl.  Piping into eggs is not something I'm likely to do.  

But my melon ball scoop is just the right tool for for filling deviled eggs in my kitchen.  That's all I have to say about that.

Into the beer fridge you go, little eggs.

Remember to be happy.

Diane's Produce & Roast Potatoes

If you are local to Vancouver, WA, you really should check out Diane's Produce Market.  It is owned by Diane, go figure, who is in the store every time I'm there.  This is the type of business I want to shop at.  She is making a go of small business ownership, like me.  She is local.  She remembers me when I go there.  Okay, it isn't like going to the produce section at Freddy's or Safeway, but I'm starting to really not care.

You can find Diane's at 7702 NE 94th Avenue.  On the corner of 76th Street and 94th Avenue, just South of Padden Parkway, East of 205.

 
Here's what I bought there yesterday.

Elephant Garlic.  I haven't used it much, but I've got some that needs to get planted right now.  This one had just a little oniony smell which is very nice.  I'm looking forward to my early summer crop, assuming I get mine planted.

Red potatoes. A 15 lb sack.  It says number 2 on the sack, but they are nice and round and firm and clean.  The sack says they were distributed by a company in Sherwood, OR.

Willamette Egg Farm Eggs.  I'm becoming convinced that this is my egg source for now.  It is clear that I'm not going to do the backyard chicken thing.  The neighborhood association would flip.  But also, I have about as much responsibility as I can handle right now.  If one of them died, I'd feel horrible.

Grape Seed Oil.  I have bought olive oil from her, but she didn't have any.  I've had this stuff before.  It is not as distinct a taste as olive oil, but it is nice.


And I bought some apples which I'm going to use to make my mom's recipe for Raw Apple Cake, a fall thing for me.  I live in, well near, apple country.  Eating apples in the fall is natural.  Buying apples which were grown in Australia isn't.  I'm really getting so off of the Granny Smith thing.

Roast Potatoes are a nice change, tasty and special.  It starts with scrubbing the potatoes within an inch of their lives.  If you don't have a vegetable brush, I recommend one.  If you find a spot that you don't want to eat, now is the time to remove it with a small paring knife.

And some of that good garlic, finely chopped.

The potatoes get cut up and put on a large flat pan lined with two layers of foil.  I recommend cutting the potatoes fairly small.  You want a lot of potato surface to season and to get browned.

Add good lot of the oil, then a little more.  If you use good quality oil, don't think of it as a bad thing.  And salt and pepper.  Go ahead and season it well, unless you need to cut back on those types of things.  It's good.  Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.  Or fresh Rosemary finely chopped, if you have it.

Into a 450 oven.  Yes, this is hot, but it gets you the texture of roast potatoes.  Crispy some places, soft to the bite.  And here is the important part.  Take it out every 10 minutes or so and turn the potato pieces as much as you can.  Flip them over, move them around, then back in the oven.  You are looking at about an hour depending upon how many potatoes you have and what size you cut them.

You want the crispy browned edges.  That's what this is all about.

This together with a big chuck roast from our frozen stash of local beef made a feast and a good reward for my hard working man.

Remember to look your food in the eyes.

This post was linked to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.  Check it out.

http://amoderatelife.com/2010/10/hearth-and-soul-hop-volume-18/

Men with Tools

There have been some serious changes at the Osbornes - all thanks to the Forced Remodel.  We've spent the summer fixing everthing.  Decisions, Insurance Money, Construction Dust.  Our stuff in Boxes.  I'm happy to say that we are nearly back to normal.  The china is still boxed in the garage and I'm still looking for a few things which have been misplaced while moving things around for the construction, but nearly. 

I'm getting hardware for the kitchen cabinets today.  Husband and Step Son had a good time drinking beer, listening to Beetles music, arguing with each other, while installing my new door pulls and drawer knobs. 

I can't update the oak cabinets, but hardware should help.

And this mirror.  Really hate it.  Have for a while.  It's the gold.

Considered getting rid of it, but I have a really hard time getting rid of things.  That's another story.

I should buy stock in a spray paint company.  Old joke, but I've spray painted a ton of things.  This is copper metalic.  I'm hoping it will look similar to a finish on a lamp I've got in the living room.

The oak cabinets look a lot less dated and sad with the hardware, don't they? 

Oh, and the mirror.  I hate it a lot less with the bronze paint.  It's hard to take a picture of a mirror, so you'll have to trust me. 

I have to wait for Men with Tools to hang it.  It is heavy and the biggest nail I have doesn't seem big enough to me.  

Now off to Dianne's Produce.  I need a few things. Tonight, a big pot roast and garlic roast potatoes.

Remember to stay busy.

Sustainable and Local

I just love food.  I love restaurants.  I love places where food can be purchased.  I never really applied my business values to food, well, just because.  But recently I've been reading about sustainability, local food, and "slow food."  While I agree with many of the basic principles, there is so much, well I don't know, - Off-The-Deep-End-ness. 

The whole Save The World Thing goes right over my head.  Responsibility for my actions, I get.  I'm just that kind of gal.  But can I Save The World by re-using my bath towel the second night I stay in a motel?  No, my dears, this is called Marketing.  It saves the motel money, which isn't a bad thing.  The environmental impact must be just minute.

No, I'm not into Saving The Planet.  I'm into saving my own little piece of it, my business, my household, my small community, my fellow small business owners, my family and friends.  And yet, the ideas of sustainable, local and real food, which sounds so fresh and pithy, so new and cool, so hip and trendy, would make perfect sense to my old Grandpa, the farmer who could barely read the paper and lived through the Depression (the one in the 1930s). 

Buying locally, keeps your hard earned dollar in your community.  It allows local business people who risk everything to be in business, who hire employees, who buy products, to stay in business.  It is these folks I want to support, because I want my business supported.  It is the web of life.  The people I employee have wives and children.  They keep households, make mortgage payments, and yes buy food.  If I can not keep them working and can not make my payroll, they can't keep doing these things.  The providers of food and other necessities see less revenue.  Sound like anything you've seen recently?

So I've determined to find local food products to buy.  I want best quality and modest prices.  We can do this.  And you know what I found?  My area of Northern Oregon/SW Washington produces a lot of food.  Yes, I already knew that.  I grew up in a farming family.

But really.  Did you know there is a family owned business called Don Pancho, out of Salem, OR which produces tortillas and chips and the like?  And I can buy them at my local grocery store?  I'm finding local sources for so many things.  More about this later.