Dinner: Steaks, Sweet Potato Fries, Collard Greens

So we read in one of our pregnancy books that in the last few months it is good to get some cholesterol in your diet - I don't remember why exactly but I didn't press it. Trying to meet that goal we decided to have some steaks. This was also to be our return to grilling outside since our propane had been out for a few months and we actually motivated to get it filled - more on that to come however...

I made some sweet potato fries - we've been having this quite a bit recently. This time I think I made too many and they didn't get as crispy as normal :(.

We also had some collard greens from the farmers market:

The steaks had been marinating in olive oil and seasonings overnight:

The plan was to throw them on the grill outside. HOWEVER, after I started the grill I discovered that even tho the propane tank was now full, the flame was very weak and tiny. I think something is screwed up with our grill, probably due to the fact that I never cover it after using it and it had been exposed to the elements for a few years now. Anyways, we had to abort on the outside grill and come up with a new plan. I decided to try to sear them a little on the stove-top in butter and then bake them in the oven to finish them off:

It worked out pretty well - the steak was tender and well-cooked.

Sunday Dinner Facing Each Other

Sunday night after all our gardening, we had Tad and Jen over for appetizers and wine, then they left for a concert and we moved on to cooking our dinner. Dinner was grilled pork chops, collard greens and garlic marinated Japanese eggplant:

The pork chops had a pepper/spice rub on them, and the collard greens were just our standard farmers market variety sauteed in garlic and olive oil. We've been enjoying our steak knives that Dylan's parents gave us a few months back - I really have trouble remembering how we cut pork chops before we had them!

Dylan and I realized on Sunday night that the counter top in the kitchen extends enough so that we can sit across from each other at the kitchen bar. This means that we can light candles and gaze into each others' eyes while we dine:

Summery Dinner at the Bar

Tonight was our first dinner that we cooked in our new house! It was a summery one, with bbq balsamic chicken, collard greens and raspberries (and Stone IPA). We also tried out our new bar stools for the first time - today after work we picked them up downtown from some people who we connected with on Craigslist. Instead of a dining table, we are using the bar in the new place and also our outdoor table that we've put on the deck. If we ever need an indoor dining table, we'll just pull it out of the garage :-)


More posts of the new digs coming soon!