I’ve come to the conclusion that posting every day is just not going to happen here. I don’t cook anything new some days. Some, I don’t cook anything at all. If I did, I have no idea where I’d put it, as the fridge is usually stuffed to the point of exploding!
Over the weekend, I made some chicken vegetable soup with noodles. Of course, I forgot to take any pictures of it until it was at the leftover stage, and not looking all that pretty anymore. 😛
Yesterday, I made beef tips with mushrooms. It was delicious! And easy! 😀

And warm and beefy, too.
The ingredients list here is fairly short. Olive oil, red wine, beef, mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and carrots. I forgot to put the carrots in! Really, I probably shouldn’t drink and cook. 😛

You’ll need about 2 1/2 pounds of beef. I got a boneless shoulder roast and cubed it myself. Stew meat is always rather fatty, I think, and a roast isn’t that much trouble to cube.

Saute 1 cup of shallots and 4 garlic cloves in about 2 tbsp of olive oil. This is my favorite part. It smells SO good!

Add the cubes of beef, and brown.

They will get quite juicy!
When the beef cubes are brown, empty the skillet into the crock pot.

I decided to do the mushrooms separately, so they would be nice and brown without being mangled by the meat.

I do love browned mushrooms!
They go in the crock pot also.

Now, the wine. Some for me…and you…

This was a really tasty Zinfandel, by the way…for under $10! And my beautiful Christmas-themed glass by Lolita is always fun to use.
Add 1-1 1/2 cup wine to the crock pot.

Cover, and cook on low 6-8 hours. When the beef tips are tender and almost ready to serve, add 1 bag of frozen carrots (12 oz), or a small bag of baby carrots. Then, cook until tender. Serve over egg noodles, or rice.
Bon Appetit!
I actually put some frozen peas into the crock pot, after I had served dinner. As leftovers, this was even better. I don’t know if it was the peas, or just because somehow the flavors always meld a bit more overnight.
Either way, this was a win with the family. And that makes every day a good one. 😀
Star Light, Star Bright
27 Dec 2011 4 Comments
by Nomstress in Comments, Funneh, Holiday, INFORM-ational, OFF the SUBJECT Tags: as in STARS, Deep Thoughts, edumacational, Funneh, Heavenly, Katz, learning is GOOD, LOLZ
Actually seeing the stars tonight!
After many days of much needed rain, the gloomy grey cloud cover cracked open this afternoon and the sun shone onto our soggy part of the world. Joyfully. Warmly. There was great rejoicing.
The maintenance guys also came by and fixed our heat. Yay heat! Much appreciated, guys!
Overall, it was a lurvley afternoon and evening. Still nomming on the ribs that Mum decided would be Christmas dinner this year, my fridge currently full of leftovers.
What did you guys have for Christmas dinner? Traditional, modern, or an eclectic mix just your own?
I have a friend whose family picks a country at random every year, and then does traditional foods of the chosen country for Christmas dinner. Great idea, but not going to happen here with only 1 person to cook! 😛
Today’s blogging will be, instead of food, about stars and imagination, and heavenly bodies 🙂 I know I have one, it’s just hiding behind the cookies!
Today is the birthday of German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
He was born in Weil der Stadt, Württemberg in 1571, and intended to become a theologian. He was sidetracked when he read Copernicus’s Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs, in which Copernicus posits that the planets revolve around the Sun, not the Earth.
Kepler saw Copernicus’s theory as evidence of a divine blueprint for the universe, and set out to prove the theories through scientific observation. Over his lifetime, Kepler came up with three laws of planetary motion stating:
1. That the planets travel in elliptical orbits around the Sun.
2. The planet (Earth) moves faster during the portion of its orbit that is closest to the Sun.
3. A description of the mathematical relationship between the distance of a planet from the Sun and the length of the planet’s orbital period.
Pretty genius stuff for the Middle Ages. His contemporaries were busy wiping out cats…because they helped witches communicate with the Devil. Never mind the cats (good kittehs) killed rats, and held the plague at bay. Irony, right?
Kepler was also the father of modern optics. He had poor vision himself, as a result of a childhood case of smallpox. He was the first scientist to describe the mechanics of vision in the eye, and developed lenses to correct nearsightedness and farsightedness.
He also explained how both eyes work together to produce depth perception.
Good to know, right?