Tangy Beef Stroganoff

This is one of the meals that a couple in our Sunday School class brought us after we had Samuel. It's a fast, different way to make Stroganoff have a little more zip. :) It's SOOO yummy, I make broccoli or salad to go with it.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound sirloin steak
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup sliced onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup (8 oz) sour cream (I use fat free)
  
• Hot cooked noodles
• Paprika and chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Cut beef into 1/8-in. thick strips. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef in butter until no longer pink. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm. In pan juices, cook mushrooms, onion and garlic until tender; stir in flour. Add water, lemon juice, vinegar, bouillon, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in sour cream and beef; heat through (do not boil). Serve over noodles. Garnish with paprika and parsley. Yield: 4 servings.

A little tip...

I love cooking, and as a result I have quite a few random herbs and spices lying around our kitchen. Ground fennel, cardamom, garam masala and herbes de Provence being a few of the fairly odd fellows. Most of you have at some point I'm sure looked at the prices of herbs and spices at the grocery store and thought, "Ack! $6.00 for 1.7 oz of ground coriander? Really?"

It's got to be fairly common knowledge by now, but if it's not here's a tip: you can buy spices and herbs in 'bulk' at Central Market and other similar stores! They have pretty much anything you could possibly ever need and for a fraction of the cost. I stocked up this weekend on some staples and here's what I paid. (The price is per baggie, and one baggie more than fills a 2 oz spice jar.)

Sesame Seeds, hulled, white: $0.88
Garam Masala: $0.66
Oregano: $0.33
Thyme: $0.41
Bay Leaves: $0.11
Parsley (2 baggies): $0.72
Basil (2 baggies): $0.50



Much better than retail no? I've been replacing Adams, McCormick, and Co. little by little as I run out with bulk in jars Central Market carries for $0.99. Another nice thing about it is that when you need something for a recipe that you make only rarely (or experimentally...) and you don't need a full jar, you can go pick up just what you need for pennies! It's wonderful.

Sicko(s)

The past several days has been all about doctors and resting and the pharmacy and praying for this to be over!

Last Wednesday (the 25th) after he saw the pediatrician, Sam's congestion woke me up in the middle of the night. He proceeded to have a cold through the weekend and is still a little drippy. This Wednesday he decided not to sleep most of the night because he had a high fever and was digging at his ears. The kid seems fairly ear infection prone so I just assumed it was another and so off to Dr. Cook we went, again. But no! His ears look great, his throat not so much. Some virus just let itself in and we're waiting for it to say goodbye. Today he seems better, finally, so hopefully it's nearly through.

I on the other hand, started running a fever last Friday and just assumed I was getting Sam's cold. The fever never abated but I never got drippy so I was kind of at a loss for ideas. I had to miss nursery duty Sunday morning, and David and I were both really looking forward to getting to play with Sam instead of hearing the sermon. Instead Daddy got Sam time and Mommy found an alcove to watch the sermon in alone, I really felt terrible. That night the fever spiked above 104 and things started clicking in my brain. "Feels like the flu, my right breast is huge for some reason, uh oh..." I have mastitis. Boo! Ladies, let me just tell you, not fun. But the worst is past thanks to some antibiotics. I had been trying to wean Sam but had to stop since I got the infection. Sam actually seems happy that I had to up the nursing for awhile. For a boy that wouldn't nurse until he was 2 months old it's amazing that it's lasted this long. I really will miss it when it's gone. But, as my OB said Wednesday, "If you want to keep breastfeeding, have another baby." Ha! I'll have my sweet memories to tide me over until God says it's time.

Well Check

Sam had his one year well check this morning. He did amazing, especially considering it was past his nap-time and he received three shots. Here are his stats:

Weight: 21.07 lbs (25%)
Height: 29.5 in (50%)
Head circumference: 18 in (25%)

Dr. Cook said everything looks perfect and that he is thriving...yay!

Grandma

My Mom came to visit for 10 days for Samuel's birthday. It was so nice getting to spend so much time with her. The last long visit was for about a week when Sam was born! Many thanks to my Uncle Eric, Aunt Nunuk and Aunt Terri for getting her here and back again :)

Sam loved having her here to be an extra playmate. He would keep playing the songs on his exersaucer for her to dance to, while she was trying to get him to dance. It didn't work, until she left that is. Now when there is music he walks in circles waving his hands in the air.

While she was here we went to Galveston one day, it was the first time David and I had been down there since Ike. I have to admit it looked better than I expected. Sam, despite his love of water was not terribly excited about the ocean. But the fact that it's mid-March and the water temp is around 70 (and had me gasping) might have had something to do with it. Sam liked sitting in the hole I dug, and knocking down any kind of sandcastle (and I use the term loosely) we erected; excepting the submarine David made.







One of the things that we got to do while she was here was go on a couple of dates, for the first time since Sam was born! One night we went to the Cheesecake Factory and later in the week we went to see 'Slumdog Millionaire' which we thought was very good. I guess I'm not erudite enough to understand why Salman Rushdie thought it was so terrible.

I finally got to take her to the zoo and show her my babirusa's, my friend Meredith got to come too so that made it extra fun. I also drove them both through the Heights (Starbuck's in hand since it was cold that day) so that they could ogle the old homes there. I wish all of Houston looked like the Heights, sigh...

Saturday night we went to Todai with Aunt Nunuk and Uncle Eric, and I admit I was a little skeptical of a place that billed itself as sushi and seafood, that also expanded into a Brazilian churrasceria like Fogo's. It was actually pretty good. I can't vouch for the sushi but everything else I had was yummy. We all ate quite a bit since it's a buffet. Then we all rolled on to Target, naturally, then came back to our apartment to yak and had some hot tea.

Sunday brought packing, church, and dinner with Aunt Terri at Cleburne Cafeteria. For anyone out there who is a Luby's purist and doesn't like the way things have headed, this is where you want to be. It also brought the Amazing Race which David and I have watched pretty much since its inception and just absolutely love.

Grandma, we miss you. Thanks for helping feed Sam, clean up and letting me take a nap or two and shower everyday! And thanks for your friendship and Godly wisdom, how wonderful that I can say that my Mom is my best friend.

Happy Birthday Samuel!

Sam started his birthday with a special breakfast, multigrain pancakes shaped like...Frogs of course! And an 'S' for Samuel.


Mmmm, frog pancakes!


Then, it was off to Uncle Eric and Aunk Nunuk's house for his party. Their backyard opens to a park so we thought it would be a fun location. They were wonderful hosts, and even provided the beautiful cake!


Sam enjoyed swinging with his Nonnie and Bubbie in the park. The swing actually started rocking him to sleep, though he would kick if you tried to take him out of it.




Dad had the great idea of having trivia and dinosaur play-doh making contests. The winner of each took home a key lime pie. Congratulations Natalia, Nicole and Justin.





Since Sam was crashing on us we moved on to birthday cake. He toyed with it a few minutes and then dove right in. He loves to feed me at home and decided that birthday cake should be no exception.

















Eventually feeding Mama cake devolved and it ended up all over my face and hair. Fun times!



Sam got to open presents once we got the cake all cleaned off of him. He got lots of new books, a Leap Frog table from Nonnie and Bubbie, a Drum and instruments from Grandma and some new duds as well.


He slept long and hard when the party was over and we were all exhausted once we got home. I suppose I'm glad that I only have to do that once a year :)

Rant

We were in a minor car accident on Saturday. Not too bad, I think the worst part may have been that it hit the side of the car where Sam sits. But I do have to gripe about HPD's idea of a response. After I went running down to find a cell phone (we were on Memorial, just past the park) the dispatcher told me that they don't send an officer for minor accidents. Not even to determine who is at fault, they would just have handed us a form and sent us on our way. Now that we're trying to get the truck fixed the insurance company for the car that hit us says they would have to get a statement from the driver saying that they were at fault in order to process the claim. Like that's going to happen. Ugh! Ugh! UGH!!!!!