Wherefore Art Thou Spring?

About a month ago, at the grocery store, I came upon a deal I absolutely could not refuse. Five thick strip loin steaks for under $20. Now I don't know about where you live but that is next to a miracle. It's basically about half the price. So I grabbed a package (and now totally wished I have grabbed two or three) thinking that surely spring was right around the corner and we'd have some grilling weather soon. Well a month later, and winter still hanging around, those five little steaks were calling my name out every time I opened the freezer.

Finally Saturday night I couldn't stand it anymore. So I heeded their call and put them in the fridge to start thawing for Sunday dinner, thinking I'd grill even if it was a little cool outside. And then it happened. Sometime in the middle of the night gale force winds howled and we woke up to blizzard warnings and this covering the bar-b-que.




Sigh. I should've known better. Isn't there some kind of Murphy's Law for grilling that says if you roll the dice with expensive steaks too early in the year, the bells will ring somewhere and set some cosmic occurence into motion whereby a blizzard will blow in for sure.

But I had them steaks thawing. And I would not be deterred. So I did what any good little wifey who promised her hubby steaks for dinner would do. I broke out the George Foreman grill. Not as good as the Bar-B-Que but it'll do. So Sunday morning before church these babies got a soaker bath in in some marinade and back in the fridge till we came home.



Then into the George Foreman, also known as the tanning booth, they went for 13 minutes (almost well done).

Yummy. Can't you just hear the sizzle and smell that goodness?

Fresh cracked pepper and a tiny dollop of butter melted on top and they were done.

Served with a mountain of these:

we could almost forget the -22*C (-7*F) outside and taste the spring and forget about this outside:

Almost. Now if we could just feel it, darn it.

OVEN ROAST VEGGIES

-4 large or 6 medium potatoes cut in large chunks

-3 large carrots, peeled and cut in 2 inch sticks

-1 large onion, peeled, quartered and each quarter cut in half

-1/2 tsp. granulated garlic (or garlic powder)

-2 tsp. seasoning. I used Watkins Potato Salad Seasoning this time. You can use any that you would like such as Italian, Greek, Cajun, Mrs. Dash, etc.

-fresh ground pepper to taste

-1 tsp. dried or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

-1/4 cup oil

Mix all in a small roaster or 13x9 pan and bake at 450*F for 40 minutes or until tender. Taste at the end of baking and then salt to taste if desired.