Meat & Potatoes

When I was in high school I had a Spanish teacher who would describe the days that we would be doing hard work as "Meat & Potatoes" days, because we would be learning the foundations of the language.
Well since I've started working it has been a little harder to create great meals at the end of the day. I have been coming home very tired, throwing something together, then watching a movie or going to sleep. So today I decided I would make a real meal, and I got back to the basics. Meat & Potatoes.

I had a london broil skirt steak and four red potatoes already. I had Rob grill the meat to medium upstairs on the grill, while I made garlic mashed potatoes.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
4 red potatoes
4 TBSP butter
1/2 cup milk
1 TSP Garlic Powder
1/4 cup cheese. (I prefer Romano, but Parmesan works well too)

Boil Potatoes then blend all ingredients together. I usually leave mine a little chunky, and I always leave the skins on with red potatoes.

I also made edamame. I had frozen edamame, which needs boiled for 5 minutes. I then drain and saute in a pan with hot Olive Oil, Salt, and Pepper for another five minutes.

Grilled Steak-Wrapped Asparagus

Today was a very hectic day. Rob and I, with our dog of course, walked all over Seattle. But we did get to do some farmer's marketing at Pike's Place to get ingredients for dinner! We also got to use the grills on the roof for the first time since we've moved in! So all-in-all a very successful day.

I came up with the idea for this dinner after buying some very thin cut steaks at the QFC. With some asparagus and white onion, paired with a market-fresh salad, it came out perfectly!

Grilled Steak Wrapped Asparagus
 I marinated the steaks this morning in a simple oil/water/seasoning mix. Then tonight I cut the asparagus, and one white onion. Wrapped the asparagus in onion, then both in the steak, and tied with cooking string.

For the side salad I cut Spinach, Butter lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and garnished with parsley. I got most of these vegetables from Pike's today. Tossed in a simple Olive Oil Vinaigrette.

I also reaped the rewards of the cookie dough I prepared yesterday (which should set for 24 hours before baking.) The recipe for those came from one of my absolute favorite pastry blogs, Brave Tart, and can be found here http://bravetart.com/recipes/ChewyChocolateChip.