Lazy Girl Steak Birds

My mom is a good cook. One of my favorite dishes of hers is one we call Steak Birds. She pounds pieces of steak until they're flat, fills them with stuffing & rolls them up. Then they get browned on all sides and simmered in a gravy until tender. She often makes the stuffing from scratch, so it can be a time consuming dish.

I am a decent cook, but lazy. I was craving Mom's dish the other night, so I sort of faked a version. I used minute steaks, dredged in seasoned flour & browned in olive oil. Removed those from the pan and threw in some butter & onions and stirred that around until they were tender. Added a little more seasoned flour and a splash of milk, before stirring in a can of cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 a soup can of water, and a package of mushroom gravy mix. Put the steaks back in, covered the pan and reduced the heat to simmer while I went off to take a shower. (it had been one of THOSE days at work)

When I came back I cooked a box of cornbread stuffing mix, using a bit less water & butter than the package called for. I tend to like a dry stuffing anyway as it absorbs the gravy better.

Mounded a pile of stuffing on the plate, topped it with gravy and a minute steak. If I was a good girl, I'd have made green beans or a salad to go with this.

Anyway, it was good. And I made enough to get a couple of meals out of it, so I don't have to cook for a day or two!

Where has my brain gone?

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted much again lately. There have been some things going on worth posting to me, I just haven't had the time/energy to do anything about them. I'll try to work on that over the next few weeks.

Mostly as a reminder for myself, but also as a sort of teaser for anyone interested, upcoming posts will feature:

1. Going to a Neil Gaiman signing. (He's lovely)

2. Going to a house concert featuring Evie Laden & Keith Terry

3. My job has tried to kill me again, aka the moldy money story

4. British DVD's and how I'm too broke to buy them but do it anyway

5. My jackass brother is coming to visit...yay

6. Why I hate storms & wish my neighbor would just cut that damned tree down already

7. Contests, past & present

8. Games and how I get utterly addicted to them

9. Swedish murder mysteries (Camilla Lackberg)

10. S.T.A.R.E. & S.A.B.L.E. (STITCHY STUFF)

Life's Little Indulgences

Despite my battles with insomnia, my bed is one of my favorite places to be. One of my favorite pleasures is to make a bed with fresh sheets, and then crawl into it after a long shower. There is nothing like the feeling of utter bliss you get when you slide a freshly scrubbed self in between crisp clean sheets. (other bed-related forms of bliss will not be discussed in case my mother finds this blog again)

I'm something of a bed-linen junkie. I love colorful sheets. I like plain sheets. I have sheets that have been worn to pieces. I discovered jersey knit sheets and thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Then, on a trip to T J Maxx last year, I scored a set of 300 count cotton sheets on the discount rack. Bliss! Not a color I care for that much (deep dark red- looks wonderful with my purple & green bedroom, NOT), but they were $22 marked down from $79. Score!

Well, I've managed to top that. I didn't do it intentionally. I'm trying to get better about my spending. But I had some extra cash burning a hole in my pocket thanks to OT at work and a winning scratch ticket, and when I saw these, I couldn't resist. 450 count Egyptian cotton sheets in dusty lavender for under $40. They were made for me- and there was only one package, in the size my bed is, in the store. Who needs groceries anyway?

I have a quirk that doesn't allow me to wear new clothes or use new linens of any sort without washing them first. you just never know where things have been. Those sheets went straight into the wash when I got home and were ready to go on my bed by the end of the night. The result? Pure, unadulterated bliss. It's like sleeping on a cloud. I may never sleep on anything else ever again.

There is a downside to these wonderful, wonderful sheets. The purrbeasts are obsessed with trying to get to them. I don't want them on my lovely new bedding. Nightshade managed to get the comforter pulled back off the foot of the bed so she could loll on my sheets at her leisure. Malkin managed to unearth the pillows and lie on them. I've threatened to shave the next cat whose fur appears on my bed.

Actually, there's another downside. These glorious sheets make my ratty old comforters look even worse. I really need a new duvet...but I've got a birthday coming up, so maybe that will be taken care of then...


**updated** I caved in when I saw this set on Amazon. Perfect colors and good price, so I'm happy now.