Cooking Doldrums

I feel rather culinarily becalmed right now. Very blah. Jelly beans currently constitute dessert most evenings, and not many of them. Dogzilla, who loves jelly beans of all flavors and kinds, would not understand that I can actually STOP eating the damn things.

I bought asparagus today and those green beans that are already trimmed for cooking. Yeah, the kind you have to trim are cheaper, even when they are on sale, but I know my lazy ass won't trim them right now so it is far better to spend a little more to get something that I'll at least microwave.

I was off today, so I made some Spanish rice. I bought discounted ground round patties for half what they wanted for a whole pound of the stuff, and since I knew I'd be cooking it today, I figure it's all ground meat. Anyhow, I browned the meat and some onions and garlic, then tossed in oregano, cumin and chili powder. Followed that with a cup of rice and a can of Mexican-style stewed tomatoes and one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce. Brought it to a boil, then turned the heat down, covered it and simmered it for a very long time, adding water and about 1/2 can of leftover vegetable stock. Now I've got lunch to take to work for three days ready.

Yesterday, before heading off to work, I made swiss steak in the crockpot. I am of the brown gravy type of swiss steak, although I've had the kind that involves tomatoes, peppers and onions. It's not what I grew up on, even though the same cut of meat is involved--round steak that is braised long and slow. For mine, I dusted serving sized pieces of meat with seasoned flour (I used onion powder, paprika, pepper and thyme) and browned them in a skillet. I layered the browned meat in the crockpot with onions and canned mushrooms. Once the meat was all browned, I deglazed the skillet with some red wine and poured it into the crockpot along with 1/2 can of vegetable broth (which is how I wound up with leftover vegetable broth). Cooked it for many hours, and it is nice and tasty. I usually use beef broth to make swiss steak, but since I used vegetable broth, I thought the wine would add some depth to the flavor and it did. I'll probably take Dad a care package, since I made enough to feed the Swiss Army, I think. He'll like a change from Easter ham leftovers, I am sure.

I went to the library today and came home with a couple of Indian cookbooks and Giada DeLaurentis' "Everyday Italian". In spite of the fact that the woman is the size of a number two pencil, I actually enjoy watching her and find her recipes quite accessible. Most of them are actually pretty healthy and lots are fairly quick. While browsing the Food TV site this morning, I found something that I think I just have to get my brother for kicks. "Mario Batali Tailgates NASCAR Style" or something like that. That has just got to be hysterical. The concept alone is hysterical. Since Mark is a NASCAR fan, I think he should have it just for kicks, although Mario probably does have some good recipes in there.

In other Food TV news, until last night, I did not like any of the remaining contestants in their "Next Food Network Star" show. Carissa, however, did a pitch for a show that I'd actually watch with her idea for "Simply Delicious, Simply French". They should let Alton Brown ex-produce her, since he seemed to bring out a side of her that has heretofore been unseen. Watching her pitch, I suddenly saw that she might be able to do for French cooking what Giada has done for Italian cooking, by making it accessible to us regular folks, even on a weeknight. She was relaxed and having fun with her pitch piece and she managed to be genuinely funny. It was a save-her-ass performance, for sure. Truthfully, I do not think Nathan, Guy or Reggie have what it takes to sustain a viewing audience. At least not this one!

Anyhow, that's my cooking doldrums in a nutshell. I think I'll go look for spring recipes! That do not involve jelly beans......