It's dinner time, whats cooking?

the cake came out great!!!

Thanks everyone! :) This was before the cake.........

That is a totally amazing amount of lobster!

Thats one of the barrels, there were 2 of them. ^_^

W. O. W. !!!!!!! Now I'm drooling all over everything.

LOL! They have two big barrels they fill and cover with seaweed, then cook.

That is just amazing to me.

Wow that Lobster bake looks awesome! I love the cake, so cute!

we are not seafood eaters.. but boy what a feast!!

That whole lobster bake looks better than Joe's Crab Shack or Red Lobster! I'm sure it was.

I'm up to cooking today, but that's all I will do. I'm making sirloin steaks on our indoor griddle/grill, a salad of tomatoes, onions, green pepper, sliced garlic and feta cheese in a raspberry vinaigrette and oven-baked breaded onion rings. Maybe a run to DQ later for a Blizzard - last day of the buy one, get the second 1/2 off sale. ☺

I'm cooking today as well....BBQ chicken, COC, squash casserole.....sister is bringing green beans. I'm not a seafood eater, either, but it still looked wonderful!

Ribeyes and corn on the cob. The corn was so sweet! Ribeyes were on sale so I figured go for it. I've been trying to find a cheaper cut that can be grilled and not be real tough.
Here's what I bought to try..
First one is listed under sirloin steaks http://www.hannaford.com/product/Meat/Beef/Sirloin-Steaks-Roasts/Hannaford-Usda-Choice-Short-Cut-Loin-Steak/pc/28450/c/46716/sc/46731/792615.uts
Although one looks more like this steak but is labeled short cut sirloin. http://www.hannaford.com/product/Taste-Of-Inspirations-Angus-Beef-Short-Cut-Rump-Steak/787999.uts?hdrKeyword=rump steak
I also tried http://www.hannaford.com/product/Usda-Choice-Boneless-Top-Blade-Steak-Family-Pack/792700.uts?hdrKeyword=top blade Thinking they were a decent cut by some reading I had done but now I see them listed under chuck steak so maybe I should just use them for stew!
If anyone has tried these before p.l.m.k. I could use some tips for cooking them so they are tastey! Want to make my steak loving husband happy! : )

Ribeyes on the grill, with COC for DW, (I opted for watercress & tomato salad), ½ baked potato each.

Meredith,

I have found a few simple techniques that work best when cooking steak.

I thaw the steak in the fridge overnight, then bring them out of the fridge and let them sit on the counter - covered with something or in the microwave (for protection from the cats). When I bring them out of the fridge I drizzle on a little olive oil, then sprinkle on either just sea salt or a steak seasoning mix. Let them sit like that for at least an hour and you should have success in flavor and texture. I suppose you could also try a meat tenderizer, but I find those a bit too salty and some have artificial flavors.

When cooking indoors, use a cast iron griddle/grill or good quality non stick pan. I spray the pan with olive-oil flavored cooking spray, and turn the burner(s) on to high. After a few minutes the cooking spray should start to smoke. Put the steaks on and cook until they are done to your liking. You will need to turn on your vent fan or open a door. I don't cook outdoors as we are just in the process of getting some type of grill for outside, so maybe someone else can help with outdoor grilling steaks.

I hope this helps. ☺

This message was edited Aug 21, 2011 8:42 PM

Meredith, we used to buy blade steaks because the grisle in the middle makes the meat on either side tender. DH used to put a little soy and fresh garlic, or worcestershire sauce and cook them in that. They are not a bad tasting steak, but not a lean cut by any means.
When all 5 children were home and my strays lived with me...we were a minimum of 8 strong every night @ meal time. I always offered 2 veggies, then a pasta, tater, or stuffing and of course a meat. Buying good steak for 8 people on a waitress and a carpenter's salary was not a weekly thing. So we settled for a cheaper steak we could afford and then we could have it once or twice a week. Buying in bulk is almost always cheaper..at least for us it was. Anyways...the cheapest steak we found that tasted good and came out nice on the grill or broiled was 7-bone steak.

Today I spent the day with 2 (out of 6) brothers. :) I made them homemade clam dip w/chips, fresh strings beans, ham, potatoes, pineapple, french bread and blueberry pie. ^_^

Can't help with thawing steaks, I buy them and eat them within 2 days tops so I never freeze them.

As for outdoor grilling I use charcoal, I don't like pressurized tanks of flammable gas around the house. I get the 'Cowboy' charcoal brand when I want a pronounced grilled taste, (very good with burgers), but usually I get Kingston. The Cowboy brand burns fast and hot and it's 'chunk style', (not those tidy little briquets like Kingston), so there's a lot of waste..

I like mine med rare so I leave them on for about 8 min each side, ( I get thick cuts). DW likes them well done so I start her's first and leave it on the grill a little longer while mine rests near the edge of the grill. Meanwhile I make the salad and nuke the potato, then wrap it in foil. When that's done her steak is well done and I'm good to go! Yippee!☺

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'm glad to hear the blade steaks are pretty good Celeste! We have 5 here and my husband and son will eat over a pound of meat if it's there. Even my 7 yr old daughter can eat a .5 lb. of rib eye and ask for more! That's exactly why I'm looking for something more affordable, just like you said, then we can eat steak more than on occasion. :) Pretty much the only suggestion I get from dh when I ask him what to get for dinner is 'steak'! lol
I grilled my rib eyes and I plan to get a cast iron skillet for the winter. It's been on my to get list a while. Once there's a few feet of snow I give up trying to get to the grill. If it's icy it will get frozen shut any how. I learned that lesson the year of the ice storm when we had no power for 3 days and nights.. I wish we had gas water heater and stove when the power goes out. When I was a kid and lived in mass, we always still had the hot water and stove for cooking when power was out, not up here. Not a lot of natural gas in the area so most of the houses have electric everything! We have a wood stove so we'd be really stylin in a power outage if we still had the stove and hot water. ;)

I'm with you WC, I don't like to freeze beef, it seems to change the flavor of the meat. Chicken and pork do better freezing. I usually go to the grocery store twice a week.

Totally agree, Debi! I don't much like frozen anything, except ice cream....and that's only good for a few weeks. Pixie, that sounded like an awesome meal!

I agree freezing beef isn't ideal but the package of meat I got had a $4 off coupon on it so I wanted to get the deal while I could and I won't use it right away, so I did freeze it. Hopefully it doesn't ruin it too much.

and we're just the opposite, we buy around 6 months worth of beef and freeze it, we have a membership to Restaurant Depot and it's not close to where we live so when hubby goes he goes with the huge cooler and stocks up

I made a smoked maple chicken with brown rice and left-over tomato salad. Everyone loved it.

We just got that whole freezer full of meats from the market. The chicken was part of that order.

Filet mignon and brussel sprouts on the grill, and corn on the cob.

How were the grilled sprouts? Sounds better that way than boiled.......

mmm, so good!
I cooked them 3 min in the micro w/a little water first, then put them in a pan w/olive oil and chunks of garlic and spices, and put them on the top shelf of the grill, over a diffuser, for about 10 minutes while the filet cooked.
I like them so much better that way or oven roasted than steamed.

YUM
hee hee, great minds think alike
Filet mignon, corn on the cob, sliced cucs, was going to have sweet potato but the inside was bad :(

I looked at sweet potatoes at the grocery yesterday, but just made them last week, so passed.

My wife and I were out most of the afternoon doing errands and brought subs home from dinner.

We were at Lowe's and bought a grill. It is charcoal with an option starter connected to a small propane tank. We will not be using that and did not buy a propane tank. They are assembling it for us and we will be getting it Thursday evening. I'm looking forward to doing a lot of grilling in the future.

pork steak with raseberry salsa. Very good.

Heading out to lunch......

We are getting ready to go to Olive Garden for an early dinner of their never ending pasta bowl.

Lunch was meatball pizza & salad.....

BQ SpareRibs, Salad and other Stuff.

Yum.....spare ribs are the best!

Hi Sherrie!

Rib eye on the grill, COC, french fries, tomato slices, buttermilk biscuits and apple turn overs for dessert.

baked chicken, rice and green beans

leftovers

Stromboli and a salad

burgers

Pork chops cooked in one of my cast iron skillets in ~ 2tbs light olive oil, white rice & small red beans in a tomato based sauce, COC, and ½ cinnamon danish for dessert.