a family staple: pepper steak

This meal is da bomb.  My mom has been making it for years, and it's always been one of my favorites.  It's best to have when the peppers are fresh in the summer, but it really doesn't matter. 

Ingredients:

 

3 c. hot cooked rice

1 lb. lean beef round steak, cut 1/2 inch thick

1 T paprika

2 T butter

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 1/2 c. beef broth

1 c. sliced green onions, including tops

2 green peppers cut into strips (I used red, obvi)

2 T corn starch

1/4 c. each, water & soy sauce

2 large fresh tomatoes, cut into eighths (optional)

 

 

While rice is cooking, pound steak to 1/4 inch wide thickness.  Cut into 1/4 inch strips.  Sprinkle with paprika and allow to stand while preparing other ingredients.  Using a large skillet, brown meat in butter.  Add garlic and broth - cover & simmer for 30 minutes.

 

Stir in onions and peppers - cover & cook five more minutes.  Blend corn starch, water and soy sauce.  Stir into meat mixture.  Cook, stirring until clear and thickened, about two minutes.  Add tomatoes and stir gently.  Serve over beds of fluffy rice.  Serves six.  Or one Jeff and one Stef.

 

My mom always served it with hot crusty rolls & butter.  Mmmmm.

 

 



a wrestler at THE ohio state university

Wasn't my dad such a stud?  He was the first state champ at my high school; this was a picture of him with my grandparents after returning from Columbus and winning the state title.

State wrestling takes place this weekend, so this time of year always sparks conversations (one-sided - you can't get a word in with my dad) about his good ol' days winning state in high school and then going on to be "a CAPTAIN of the wrestling team" at Ohio State.

My husband has had the pleasure of hearing these stories for the first time (and now for the 5th or 6th...), but they never get old.  While he was in college, my dad's job was a security guard at an all-girls dorm.  You can only imagine the stories about the girls.

But one of the best stories is when my dad had just gotten off work - it was really early in the morning, like 3 AM.  He said he stopped for a beer-o and a geer-o, aka a beer and gyro.  It was quiet, the streets were empty, and the snow was just starting to fall.  He drank his beer, ate his gyro and crashed in his dorm room.

A few hours later his roomates woke him up, "Dave, Dave, wake up!!  Look outside!!  There's six feet of snow on the ground!"  My dad said he didn't believe them, but they finally got him up.  He looked out the window - but you couldn't see completely out of it because the snow was so high that it covered half their windows on the first floor.  They were smack dab in the middle of the blizzard of '78.

Anyways, here's to you Dad.  A state champ and a wrestler at THE Ohio State University. 

look out Justin Bieber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



ikea, will you marry me? er, my house?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

february book club

Isn't Heather so damn cute?  And what would a wine night be without a selfie? 

Three words about book club this month:  awesome, awesome, awesome!  We had a blast - well, I did.  Jenna gave up libations for Lent so she was pretty jealous most of the night, and I don't blame her.  It was at my house so I was able to have TWO glasses of wine that ended up feeling like SIX. 

This month was all about the love in "Slammed" by Colleen Hoover.  Most of us also read the sequel, "Point of Retreat."

High school love, poetry, cancer and death.  Such an easy, great read!

Our topics of discussion included:

• First loves (and whether or not it felt like death when you broke up)
• What attracts people to one another
• Young teachers teaching high school
• All the dorks we've dated
• And the good ones
• What makes a soul mate? 
• Are you with your soul mate?
• Love at first sight
• Filing lawsuits
• Mexico

As the night goes on, more interesting topics seem to come up (completely unrelated to the book).

We forgot to do the scale of 1-10 thing, but we all LOVED the book.  I'd say it was somewhere around a...

Three with bangs, three without.  I think we need to make it six with and zero without.  And I'm seriously considering it.

all things new

New PJ's, new haircut, new books.  The moment looks so cute, until it was over six seconds later.

~~

Of course my wardrobe needed added to, and our trip to Old Navy this week ended up being successful.  (when isn't it?)

crepe color-block shirt dress

 

canvas trench coat



women's polka dot chiffon shirt dress

 

graphic pj set
 

Both dresses I ended up wearing with tights or leggings - they were a little short for teaching with bare legs.  The trench coat is something I have been needing for years.  The last one I bought was when I was a freshman in college, hence it was a size small.  Stupid college!  It was the stress.  That's how I could wear a small.  I HATED paying forty bucks for a new one (which is ultra cheap) but bit the bullet anyway.  I know I'll be happy when spring rolls around.

Speaking of spring, I'm already thinking about how I will dress my son for Easter.  Will it be a vest?  Will it be a bow tie?!  Such a challenge.

Last year's Easter outfit was like a celery green, so I want to do a different color this year.  Is it that important, you ask?  Yes.

This is what I've been leaning towards for this year...

seersucker vest @ target

 

Come on, look at that kid last Easter.  Seven months and busting out of his 12-month overalls.

valentine's day loves

 

Ah!  The love! 

That little boy makes my heart grow every day! 

Have I told you how much I also love PicMonkey?  I'm not smart enough to understand Photoshop, so it's the site I use to edit all my photos.  It's user-friendly and so fun.  For the above photos, I first used Cinerama, then added the Ombre Amour.

Something else I'm loving recently is the RedStamp app for your iPhone.  Patrick and I made sure to send Daddy twenty a few cards throughout the course of the afternoon.

Did you have a nice dinner last night?  Yeah, you know I had big plans for seafood but then I wasn't in the mood eat LIGHT.  I wanted some COMFORT FOOD.  That meant I needed a pot roast, and boy did it turn out scrumptious.  Here's the really complicated recipe I use.

3-ish lb. chuck roast

3 large Idaho potatoes

8 medium carrots

2 cooking onions

beef broth

salt & pepper

 

 

Sear your seasoned roast in a skillet of olive oil.  Place into roasting pan.  Peel and chop potatoes, carrots and onions into the size you like (we like large pieces).  Throw into the pan around the roast, and pour as much of your beef broth as you want (I used about 2/3 of a big box).  Add more salt & pepper to the top.

 

Cover and put into a 350° oven for the first hour, lower to 250° for another 1.5 hours.  Check the temp of your roast - it should be 160°.

 

Just try it.  Even if you typically "avoid red meat." 

 

(?!)

 

 

 

 

on a happier note, i bid you...our love story

Jeff and I don't have a particularly intriguing or unique love story, so I'll save you the snoring and forget the chapter book.  Of course, it's intriguing and unique to us, but let's just say a publishing company wouldn't pick it up.

We met while I was going to college locally - at a party. (!!!)

It was at a mutual friend's house.  I was only 20 years old at the time (and still a bit of a prude) so drinking was a capital N-O for me.  Jeff, on the other hand, was seated at the table and already had red cheeks and a voice that was hitting same decibel as a jet airliner.  He started making some wise cracks about my Dad buying Ford tractors and how John Deere was the only way to go.  Ten minutes later, I had forgotten about him.

Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten me. 

I got a call later that night from my cousin.  She said she had given Jeff my phone number.  Are you kidding?  That drunk guy?  Well he wouldn't leave without it, she said.

Over the next few weeks, Jeff called and called.  I ignored and ignored.  Finally succumbing to his persistance, I answered late one night.  We chatted.  It wasn't so bad.

We agreed to meet up - I was going to his house, but I really had to study.  I brought my history homework and we sat on the couch (a mile away) while he watched TV.  After his father came down to the basement to inspect my toes with a flashlight (no joke), I knew he was the one.



We went to a lot of weddings.  Suzie, this was at yours!

I surprised him with tickets to the BGSU v. Ohio State football game.  I think we spoke three words to eachother the entire day.  I don't know if it was because he was shy, or if he was pissed that I slammed the door of his brand new truck onto a cart rail in the parking lot.

 We did a lot of camping.  That's one of the best things about Jeff - he is outdoorsy just like me.

I fell in loooooooove!

A couple years later (and a few break-ups later), we decided this was it.  We were meant to make babies together.

This was the night we got engaged...one of the happiest nights of my life! 

Here we are at the BAR the night before our wedding.  I think we look nervous?

Our honeymoon was the best.  THE BEST.  We chose St. John as our destination - it couldn't have been more perfect for us.  Lots of hiking, history, and being in looooooove.

After we were married, we continued to go to our friend's weddings to share in their love for eachother.  But mostly to drink.

It was fun going to functions as a married couple...you know, like bowling functions and other functions that married people go to.

Those were the pre-Patrick days.  Just me and Jeff, being outside and loving every second spent together.

Now that we do have Patrick, I love Jeff like 10,000 times more.  There's something about seeing your best friend (that you think is really sexy) as a Daddy.

Happy Valentine's Day to all you lovers out there.  And for those of you that say "it's just a Hallmark holiday" every year, just keep it to yourself and hop on e-Harmony.



i don't even have the words, other than...

 

 

 

What an idiot.  Come on, this is classic.  Women who get assaulted, physically, mentally, emotionally, WHATEVER.  THEY ALWAYS GO BACK.  THEY CAN'T GET AWAY.  Why isn't some celebrity pychiatrist approaching her about therapy?  Or better yet, why aren't her family members refusing to let her see this moron?

 

 

 

 

 

 



a picture every hour (or two)

8 am

9 am

10 am

11 am

12 pm

2 pm

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5 pm

 

6 pm

7 pm