Favorite Flank Steak, Couscous Tabbouleh, and a BONUS!

My family just returned home yesterday after a long weekend in Ohio. My husband was nice enough to take himself and the kids on a road trip to visit his mom and siblings so that I could have the house to myself to entertain my high school friends.

The road weary DamFam needed a good dinner after eight hours in the car, so I marinated everyone's favorite flank steak, and tried a new salad to have alongside. Both were outstanding, and there was just enough left for the hub to take to work for lunch today.

This flank steak is one of the first 'real' entrees I learned how to make; I got the recipe from my Aunt Trish way back in 1991, and I've made it several times a summer ever since. The couscous tabbouleh recipe is from Epicurious. We also had a blueberry crumble, but there aren't any pictures because it disappeared way too fast!

Favorite Flank Steak

Serves: 4-6

Source: Aunt Trish's Recipe File

3/4 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. vegetable oil

2 T. molasses

2 t. dried mustard

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 T. minced fresh ginger

1 1/2 lbs. flank steak

Mix all marinade ingredients in a big Pyrex measuring cup. Place the flank steak in a large ziplock bag and pour the marinade in. Squeeze out all the air and seal the bag; marinate in the refrigerator for at least four hours, and up to eight hours.

Allow the steak to come to room temperature before grilling over medium high. I usually do 6 minutes per side for medium rare. Remove steak to a large cutting board (with a rim for catching juices, if possible). Cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing thinly across the grain. Transfer to a nice platter and pour any juices over the meat. MMMMMMMM!!!

The Couscous Tabbouleh recipe can be found here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/COUSCOUS-TABBOULEH-12124

And now for the BONUS RECIPE I promised! My daughters have been asking for a turn to be Guest Bloggers, and just look at the delicious dish they thought up while away in Ohio over the weekend! It's called Pond Scum Surprise!

They gathered this fantastic organic scum from the pond at my brother in law's place, plated it up, and staged the perfect photo shoot - complete with a drink and fritos from their real lunch. I thought this was just too hilarious, so I just had to post. Ah, good times!DIG IN!!!

Panzanella & an Amazing Cheesecake

We've had kind of a revolving door of parties and social functions going on around here for the past week and a half. I looked forward to this time for about two months, and it's been great, great fun -- out of town company, a huge 4th of July celebration, my big Four-Oh, dinner with friends in and out of the neighborhood, and a ladies tennis social. This weekend four of my favorite friends from high school came for a visit (an annual event for our little group), and that was a blast too! The partying with everyone was so, soooo much fun. I haven't laughed so hard in the longest time!

However, this morning I woke up and my voice was completely gone....this girl is partied out. I'm having a peaceful and quiet evening tonight at home, and have just enough energy to update the ol' blog. I've got a back log of photos and recipes that I'm going to try to get to this week.

I made these two recipes when my brother and his wife were here a couple of weeks ago. One is for my favorite Panzanella Salad (yep, that's from Ina), and the other is for my mom's cheesecake. People RAVE over this cheesecake, I'm not lyin'! I think the recipe is from 1968 (Mom, you can correct me if I'm wrong); it's tried and true, and you'll love it too.

One of the beautiful things about this recipe is that is has a sour cream topping that can cover a multitude of baking sins (your cracks, namely -- tee hee). I'm not a careful baker and inevitably, my cheesecakes always end up with massive fault lines. This topping disguises those beautifully, and you'll look like a total pro.

Panzanella

Serves: 12

Source: Barefoot Contessa Parties! pp. 102-103

3 T. olive oil

1 small French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 t. kosher salt

2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 English cucumber, seeded and sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 each red and yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced

20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped

3 T. capers, drained

1 t. finely minced garlic

1/2 t. Dijon mustard

3 T. champagne vinegar (which I could not find, so I used Sherry vinegar instead)

1/2 c. good quality olive oil

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil if needed.

For the vinaigrette, whisk the ingredients together. I used my stick blender to get it perfectly emulsified!

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red and yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

My Mom's Cheesecake

Serves: MANY!

Source: A long since gone newspaper clipping circa 1968!

1/2 lb. graham cracker crumbs

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. melted butter

1/4 lb. butter, room temperature

3 - 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature

5 eggs

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. vanilla

2 pints sour cream

12 T. sugar

2 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Mix the crust ingredients together in a medium bowl. Press into and up the sides of a 9x13" pan; bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the butter and cream cheese together until blended. Add in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until well combined. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake for 1 hour, or until center of cheesecake is very slightly jiggly. Cool for 10 minutes but maintain oven temperature.

For the topping, combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and spread over the top of the cheesecake. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before covering and chilling overnight.

**Note: I ALWAYS cut this recipe in half and make it in my 10" springform pan. When cutting it in half, I use three eggs.

Birthday, Part 2.....or, give the drunks what they want!

Sorry, my dear three readers. My local-yocal friends have asked for more party pics. So, by popular demand, I must do a party picture reprise. The funny thing is that all these friends think that my having a blog is so 'interesting' and 'cool'. I just laugh. I tell them that there are probably blogs about sock folding, weed pulling, and ditch digging, and that if they wanted to, they could have one too!

Anyway, give 'em what they want I guess, and back to food tomorrow!

My sister-in-law Megan, cozying up to Jose Quervo. He was a popular guy that evening. Go get you some limes and salt, girlie!!

Yes, I know my eyes are closed and this is not a flattering picture of me. But even though I AM THE BIRTHDAY GIRL, I sacrifice, because Adam, my YOUNGER BROTHER (yes, you're noticing his grey hair by now) needs attention and I'll accept looking queer with my eyes closed, even though he's looking handsome despite the GREY HAIR, nevermind he's almost two and a half years younger than me! WHICH ONE OF US LOOKS 40?!?!?!

My husband, Rob and our dear friend Mike. You can call him Waldo. He's married to Ann. She's in the next shot, looking guilty!

Yeah. She's going home with Waldo, if he's claiming her!

Lisa & Eric.....two of my favorite people on the entire planet! I love to split a 12-pack with Eric and then have an 'intellectual' conversation with him....he went to Yale Law, so he could have 24 beers and still sound like a genious! I love it. I know he humors me.

CONGA IN THE KITCHEN!!!!! A first! I'm going to try to get my kids to do this sometime. I think they'd dig it.

Julie and Kris.......

"SLAY-DAY! You bring me up when I'm down (up when I'm down!)" This is Slade. He's the party spin-doc.

Oh look! Two more of my favorite people, Jane and Ann. Love them!

Sorry you three loyal readers; you know who you are. I've TOLD all these fools that IF THEY WERE VERY, VERY LUCKY, that MAYBE, just MAYBE......Peter, or Krysta, or Stacey would drop by and leave them some sort of comment or critique on their outfit or their inhebriation.

I have a backlog of food photos to blog on.....good God, if this birthday week would ever just go away, I would be able to post on them.

Lordy, lordy, looks who's 40...or, pass the Botox!

Surprise! This is me, (Jane is behind me, you can't see her), Ashley, & Kris

** a note about this post: I'm having trouble with blogger tonight. I think it's because I'm trying to put too many pictures on this post. Apparently I'm not a very good blogger because it's taken me forever to do this post and it's still not the way that I want it, but I'm so tired of working on it, that this is just the way it is!! If it seems confused and jumbled, well....that's kind of how the party went too!!!

Well, my Husband got me good on Saturday night when he threw me the mother of a birthday celebration. Here I thought we were meeting up with a group of friends, and then heading downtown to see Tom Petty (uhm, I was also duped in to thinking that we had amazing seats).....instead, I was surprised by 40 of our very good friends, waiting for me in my backyard.

Party go-ers......

I wish I had pictures of the tent and decorations....I think someone does, but these are some of the pictures that were taken on our camera. Dinner was done by a local caterer who brought huge grills and did whole beef tenderloins (so big that at one point one of my friends said, 'oh, look! he's grilling alligator!' -- she was totally kidding, of course!) with sauteed mushrooms and onions, grilled asparagus, a roasted yukon gold and blue cheese potato salad, and a fabulous caesar with giant garlic croutons......yum. No pictures of any plates, but believe me, it was a perfect 40th birthday dinner!

Ann, a co-conspirator who helped to pull it off!

Julie, me, Sarah, & Ashley

Uh, things are starting to get interesting.....mind you, it's about 12:45 am in this pic!
Lori, Ann, Shelly, Lisa (in front), me, and Julie

The evening wrapped up at around 1:45 (with some friends staying until 2)! One very dear friend (Lori; she's pictured above) was so kind that she delivered an Egg McMuffin and hashbrowns to me in my bed the next morning at around 10:00, which I gulped right down, and went back to sleep.

Our next door neighbors, Fred & Jane.....what could they possibly be looking at?!

......hhhhmmm, maybe they're horrified because they've spotted the birthday girl, dancing on her breakfast bar with a dollar sticking out of her top?

Rob, me, and my sister in law, Megan...it's getting late. Notice the oily shine!


I awoke a few hours later to enjoy the Wimbledon final (well done, Rafael!), go for a four mile run, shower, and enjoy a delicious Mexican dinner downtown.......I was in bed by 9 p.m!!!

Here's a very sad picture that in no way does justice to how gorgeous the flowers were! I loved them!

Forty isn't so bad....my actual birthday is today and I've had a blast!! I hope that everyone has girlfriends and family as dear as mine. I am truly blessed, and don't think that I don't know so!

A patio improvement project.....

My back is breaking and I'm covered in mosquito bites, but dang! I have to say, for the first time in a couple of years, our patio looks good. I guess if there's an upside to our cottage being flooded, it's that our backyard has gotten some much needed attention. On normal summer weekends, I can push those awful weeds to the back of my mind and head out to the lake, but of course, this summer is different.

I grew a HIBISCUS! Unbelieveable...so unlike me!

Gardening is one of my least favorite things to do. I just don't have the passion and/or drive to go out and dig in the dirt....honestly, I'd rather unload the dishwasher fifteen times and fold never-ending whites than weed a flowerbed or prune a hedge. However, push has come to shove these past few weekends spent around the DamFam homestead. Even I couldn't stare at the weeds any longer, and really, it was getting a little bit embarrassing, having the only house in the neighborhood whose flowerpots were still filled with petrified evergreens and dogwood twigs leftover from the Holidays. We're having company the next two weekends and the thought of entertaining in my jungle of a backyard was just too horrifying. Something had to be done!

Daylillies....

Lucky for me my neighbor Carrie is a total natural in the garden. One afternoon last week, she came over with a six pack of beer and her giant bag '0 gardening tricks and whipped me in to shape. Actually, it was kind of fun! We had a good time visiting, and I was in total awe of the way she took charge of my weed-ridden flower beds and post-Christmas pots.

Homemade pesto is in my future....

Now, one week later, I'm totally hooked. The pots we planted last week are blooming like crazy and my herb garden has really taken off. Over the past seven days I've become the weed police, weilding my Roundup and showing no mercy to these relentless thistles that seem to pop up out of no where!

A new chair & candleholder, both from The Bullseye Boutique (uh, that would be Target!)

So, there's not much food related content here this evening, but watch for a post on tonight's dinner tomorrow sometime. It was sooooo good, but I'm just too bloomin' tired to write about it just now. I'm bushed (my apologies for that sad little bit of gardening humor)!!

Two Great Appetizers

I've been meaning to post these recipes for about two weeks but, as I mentioned in my last post, I've been so busy with my summertime roll as the DamFam Taxi Driver and other summer stuff that my poor blog is suffering from lack of attention.

We're settling in to a summer routine; I have all the kid's daily schedules just about memorized, so I'm not as afraid of leaving someone somewhere or forgetting my carpool duties like I was last week! My oldest is away at tennis camp so that's one less kid in the whole driving equation, but the others have swim team, synchro practice, tutoring, and tennis, so we're still hoppin' around here.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the summer hubbub is the lack of cooking that's going on in a corner of my kitchen! Just for an example, yesterday I got so involved in a gardening project that I didn't even realize it had gotten to be 5:00, and had no idea what we were going to have for dinner, so we ended up going out (for about the fifth time in a week, which I'm embarrassed to report!). I have to get better at my mealtime organization, but squeezing trips to the grocery store in between all this taxi driving is proving difficult this summer.

Anyway, here are two great summertime appetizer recipes for you. I took these to a cookout a couple of weeks ago and they were both a huge hit! Serve 'em up with some cold beers or a light summer wine ...... yum!

Confetti Shrimp

Serves: 6-8

Source: I honestly cannot remember. I have this recipe scribbled on a piece of notebook paper so I must have gotten it from a friend at some point!

1 1/2 lbs. raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (I try to use the biggest ones I can find)

olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. minced ginger

1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice

1 T. fresh lime juice

1/4 c. chopped chives or scallions, plus additional for garnish

1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped

Lemon and lime wedges for garnish

Place a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan (maybe a tablespoon or so?). Saute the shrimp for two minutes, or until cooked through. Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon and set aside in a glass bowl.

Add a little bit more oil to the pan and saute the garlic and ginger until golden. Remove from heat. Add in the citrus juices; stir to combine. Pour this mixture over the shrimp, season with salt, and toss to coat. Chill for two to three hours, stirring occasionally. Add bell pepper and chives, toss to combine. Pour onto a pretty platter, garnish with additional chives and citrus wedges.

Serve with cocktail picks, and don't forget to put out a little bowl for the tails

Roasted Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto

Serves: 6?

Source: Food Network & Giada De Laurentis

1 lb. asparagus (about 19 stalks), trimmed

1 T. olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

6-8 paper thin slices prosciutto, halved lengthwise

Grated Parmesan to garnish (if desired)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Snap the dry stem ends off of each asparagus and place on a heavy baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss. Roast until the asparagus is tender, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Wrap each asparagus with one piece of prosciutto, exposing the tips. Arrange on a platter and garnish with grated Parmesan (if desired); and serve at room temperature.

A Summer Bummer

".....And the rain rain rain came down down down
In rushing, rising riv'lets

And the river crept out of it's bed

And rushed right in to Piglet's....."

This is the little tune I'm singing to myself this morning as I depart from the usual food discussion in order to report on what's been happening here in good old Mil-wau-kay. As they say in the Hundred Acre Wood, things are getting floodier and floodier!


Just wanted to show everyone HOW MUCH WATER there is! It's crazy! These are pictures of our summer cottage on Lac La Belle, a (normally!) very pretty lake about 45 minutes from our house in Milwaukee. The picture below shows the view from our street side. Wish I had a shot of the fish swimming in the yard and the minnows around the car!



All winter long we look forward to hot summer weekends spent swimming, boating and hanging out with friends here at the lake. I'm not blogging about this to complain or whine; I know that for our family, this flood is mostly just a very big inconvenience and disappointment. There are many people throughout the midwest (and here in Milwaukee) for whom things are absolutely devastating. We don't have raw sewage in our basement like some folks, and we don't live near a farm like some of those poor people in Iowa who have piggy poop and other nastiness floating about. Yuck.

This is a shot from the edge of our deck. You can tell that tree isn't really supposed to be growing in the middle of the lake! Over yonder is the bench where I like to sit while I have my coffee in the morning (and my margaritas at night!). It's going to be hard to get out there, since the dock is under water!

The sheriff came by yesterday afternoon and said the lake will probably rise an inch or two more before the water starts to recede, which means we will definitely end up having some water in the cottage. After that I have absolutely no idea how long it will take before the yard dries up...we're really going to need about 10 days of 90 degree heat for that to happen. That could be the middle of July for all I know!

Back to food posts shortly. I've been 'swamped' (literally and figuratively) with school getting out last week and all the kid's summer activities that began this past Monday. I've spent a very good deal of time in my car this week, shuttling kids from one place to another, and I'm looking forward to this weekend!