Adventures in Cooking

One of my hobbies that I thoroughly enjoy is cooking & baking for my family & friends. Lately, I've stepped out of my comfort zone a bit & am proud of myself, so I thought I would share. If nothing else, maybe it will encourage some of you to experiment with cooking as well.

First of all, this picture isn't really the point of the post, but it's food related, so it gets to be thrown in here. Doesn't zucchini baby food remind you of boogers? Seriously, if the babies knew what seasoned, non-blended food tasted like, there's no way they would eat this stuff!On to my actual topic. This was a new recipe I tried a couple of weeks ago for pork tacos. They weren't anything fancy, but J was super excited because he loves pork tacos, so that made me feel good. Don't you love it when someone shows genuine appreciation for something you do? He exclaimed that his plate was beautiful after I prepared it for him & proceeded to take a picture. So, no, we don't always photograph our food, but that's why we have this shot.
Now for my latest endeavor. I usually take J out to dinner for his birthday, but he insisted that we should just stay in to save money, so I asked him what he wanted for a birthday dinner. I was expecting a response involving either chicken or beef. Instead, he said, "You know what I would really like? A rack of lamb." Excuse me? So, being the sweet wife that I am, I consulted my cookbooks for a lamb recipe. I found a very simple one in Confessions of a Kitchen Diva. J's Aunt Debbie gave me this book several Christmases ago, & it is my absolute favorite resource. Every recipe I've tried from it has been wonderful.

So, I had a recipe, but where does one buy lamb? I usually do my grocery shopping at Super Target, & I was quite confident that they didn't sell lamb. I called some nearby meat markets & finally found one in Plano that carried it. The kids & I trekked over to Hirsch's Specialty Meats & purchased our rack of lamb. This is where I got very lucky. The trickiest part of preparing lamb is trimming the meat & frenching the bones that extend up from the lamb chops. The rack that I bought just happened to come pre-frenched, so I didn't have to lift a finger. All I did was prepare the seasonings, rub them on the meat & then roast it. Pretty, huh?
I rounded out the meal with garlic mashed potatoes, brown sauce for the lamb, sweet & sour green beans, yeast rolls & lemon icebox pie for dessert. It was a success! I had never had lamb, but it was actually quite tasty, & Justin was pleased. The yeast rolls were my other accomplishment. I had never made them before, but they were easy & they made a ton, so I now have some in the freezer.
So, go ahead, find your inner kitchen diva. She's in there somewhere. I'll leave you with a super easy but tasty recipe I found recently in a Gooseberry Patch crockpot cookbook. Who doesn't love throwing everything into the crockpot & forgetting about it all day while you get other things done?

Saucy Beef & Vegetables

2-3 lbs beef round steak, coarsely chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, sliced
2 C carrots, peeled & chopped
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 1/2 oz pkg spaghetti sauce mix
15 oz can diced tomatoes
8 oz can tomato sauce

Place meat in a slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients in order listed. Cover & cook on low setting for 8 hours. Serve over white rice. Makes 6-8 servings.