J-J-JER-KY

The other weekend we hit the farmers market and purchased various cuts of grass-fed organic beef from a local farm. The piece I was most excited about was this roast. After cooking, it was bone dry and resembled Jerky more than the succulent roast I had envisioned. UGH! I'm not very good with roasts. It looked so bad, we opted to leave it on the stove and go out for sushi.


The thought of throwing it out really bothered me. I knew no one in our family would willing eat it. So... I turned it into Picadillo. I've never made it before, but this was so good! We wrapped it with tortillas, but it could also be served over rice.


There are hundreds of recipes for Picadillo out there. I made a Cuban version, but used shredded beef instead of the ground beef most recipes called for.

Picadillo
Chop and saute in a bit of oil
-1 onion
-1 green bell pepper
- 6 cloves of garlic
Add meat (1.5 lbs) and cook, drain fat if needed
Add
-Pimientos ( I used 2oz jar)
-1/2 cup raisins
-2 T capers
-2-3 bay leaves
-1/4 cup dry white wine
-28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
-tomato paste ( I used half of a small can)
-1/2 tsp cumin
-1/2 tsp oregano
salt & pepper
Cook for about 25-30 minutes. Sooooo good! Serious comfort food for these cold winter days.

While I cooked, Bella kept me company by rolling around on the kitchen floor. She thought this was hilarious! I can't tell you how many times I nearly stepped on her.

Copy Cat

I find it absolutely adorable that Bella toddles around and copies just about everything we do. She especially likes to imitate Noah. Here Noah is sitting at his favorite winter spot, directly in front of the heating vent. Often times Bella will do whatever he is doing, and plop down right next to him. Scooching her bottom as close to Noah as possible.

My Mind

I think I'm losing it... REALLY losing it. Yesterday several things happened to make me believe this is true.

• I went to the library with the kiddos, and when I got home my front door was slightly open. Did I forget to lock it?? Did someone break in? To be safe I asked a neighbor to check it out with me. No intruders, nothing missing, I must have just forgotten to close and lock the door. Scary! I also left the back door unlocked. I have never done this before.
• We decided to go out for pizza to celebrate Jaime's vacation. On the way home, ( I was driving) I took my cutoff, then forgot which way to turn. The road forks, and I blanked out and really REALLY couldn't remember which way to go. I went the wrong way, of course. I have driven this same route hundreds of times in the past two years. Very weird.
• After putting the little ones to bed, I ventured into the kitchen to keep Jaime company while he washed dishes. He gave me a strange look and asked me why I put my cell phone in the sink. It was under the dishes, and he nearly soaked it. I don't even remember putting it there. Phew, my lucky day that it didn't get washed. It is only about a month old after all.

Later that night, say midnight-ish, I decided to work on Bella's sweater that I am knitting. This is my first 'real' project. It has been slow going, very slow! I've worked so so hard. Somehow I dropped a stitch, or two or three. My mother showed me how to fix this while she was visiting, but every time I tried, it only got worse. No sweat... RIGHT? I'll just rip out several rows, then continue on. This didn't work either, I just can't seem to get my needle on the same row, without continually dropping more stitches... GRRR. I think I'll start over...again.

See??? OH the heartache. I should have just gone to bed, then all would be well.