A trip to see Kate

Two weeks ago Kyle and I decided to take a road trip to see Kate in her college city. It was great to see her! Much to our surprise however we found that she had decided to go brunette! In my opinion Kate would look great no matter what her hair color, however I admit it is hard to get used to Kate's darker hair. She has always been the quintessential blond haired blue eyed girl. Her reasons for the change make sense though...as she has gotten older her natural hair color has gotten darker. Therefore the cost and time commitment of up keeping the blond hair has become more and more challenging. This will be a lot less maintenance for her. So for the tme being anyway, Kate has a new look!

Here is both the kids standing on the patio of Kate's apt. I ended up with a nasty cold on the 2nd day of our trip, and stayed in to rest while Kate and Kyle went out to lunch, bowling and to a movie. Wait a minute...is the same two kids that used to fight like cats and dogs while growing up? It's so great to see them spending time together!

Something else new at Kate's was the addition of two new pets. Kate is a big time animal lover and works at a pet store part time while attending school full time. She has had her sweet dog Lily for over a year now and we all just love her! I wasn't sure HOW I felt however, (nor was Lily!) about her two new pets....RATS named Remie and Rupert!

 It was a crack up to watch little Lily flitting around and following Remie as  she explored. Ears straight up and eyes bugged out...Lily was totally on guard with the rat!

 Funnier still was the fact that Remie could have cared less about  Lily's little barks and panting as she nervously followed her around and came face to face with her! That is one brave rat! The truth is that Lily wouldn't hurt a fly.

Here is Kyle holding Remie and Kate holding the much smaller and younger Rupert. Remie and her cage with all the accessories came to her free when a customer walked into the pet store and donated the rat and cage back after her daughter failed to take proper care of Remie. (when this happens  any of the employees are welcome to provide a home to the pet)  Kate had a rat in her Sophomore year of high school named Sydney that she adored and who sadly died of a a respiratory infection. After spending some time holding and playing with Remie in the store, Kate found her to have a similar personality to Sydneys so she took her home! A few weeks later while at work she went back to the baby rat cage to get a "feeder" rat for one of their boa constrictor customers. Kate said she picked the little rat out of the cage and she said she was sure the little guy was staring at her with a look that said "save me!". Kate didn't have the heart to sell this feeder rat to the snake owner, so she "hid" him with the intent of paying for him later and taking him home as a playmate for Remie! So that is how Rupert came into the picture. Since then Kate has asked one of her co workers to please go get and sell the feeder rats to the snake customers as she just doesn't have the heart to do it herself!

The reality is that it won't be long before Remie and Rupert multiply and Kate has baby rats on her hands to deal with. Luckily for her, her boss has multiple rats and has promised to take any and all babies from her to raise and or sell as pets. (Kyle has first dibs on a baby rat for his own pet)

Truthfully rats are very smart and fun pets. The tails are the only thing that really creeps me out and I never hold them. Kate and Kyle enjoy them though! I don't mind Kyle having a rat down the road as long as he cleans the cage weekly and keeps the cage locked! I don't want any escape artists!

While visiting Kate, Kyle had the opportunity to see his good friends Wyatt and Steven who were on their Spring break. I got to spend quality time with my friends in the city as well. It was nice to get away!

Recipe: Swiss Steak (gluten & grain free)

Every once in a while I'll try a new recipe and it will turn out great...really great. THIS is one of those recipes. It comes from the classic cookbook THE JOY OF COOKING, which is the first cook book I ever owned and it was given to me as a 20th birthday gift. Over the years I've made many things out of this book with great success including my family's all time favorite, Chicken and Dumplings. Kevin and Kyle are both meat and potato kind of guys so this dinner was right up their alley. Honestly, they went nuts over it. I liked it quite a bit too. The meat cooks slowly in your oven on a low temperature in sauce which produces extremely tender meat. These braised steaks, referred to in England as smothered steak, are best made with beef bottom round or round steak.

Here is what you will need:

2 pounds beef bottom round or round steak, 3/4-1 1/4 inches thick, excess fat trimmed (if possible use grass fed, organic, locally grown beef) I buy all my meat from Whole Foods.
1 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour (if you are gluten free you can use rice flour...if you are on a grain free/Paleo diet you can use Tapioca flour) ie: Tapioca flour is an approved Paleo starch
2. T olive oil
1 c. diced onion (I buy frozen diced onions)
1 c. chopped carrots
1/2 c. diced celery
2 c. beef broth
4 T. (1/4 c) tomato paste
1/2 t. italian seasoning
2 bay leaves

**Use organic on all of the above whenever possible.
*A large, deep ovenproof skillet or Dutch oven (I used a dutch oven)

Prepare the veggies. Set aside.

Cut the meat into individual steaks.

Mix together the garlic powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Sprinkle the seasonings evenly on both sides.

Dredge each steak into the flour, covering both sides. Shake off excess.

Cover the bottom of the pot (ovenproof dutch oven or deep skillet) with the 2 T. of olive oil.

Sear the meat on high heat. 4-5 mins each side.

Carefully remove the browned meat with a spatula, keeping the floured coating in tact with the meat. Cover with foil to keep warm and set aside.

Add the veggies to the pan drippings remaining in the pan. Stir, on medium heat, loosening up the browned bits and combining with the veggies for 1-2 min. Reduce the heat and cover the pan.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are softened but not browned, 5-7 minutes.

Measure out 2 cups of beef broth and add the 4 T. (1/4 c.) of tomato paste and the italian seasoning.

Wisk together until smooth.

Pour the sauce over the veggies, stirring to incorporate.

Add the bay leaves.

Return the meat to the pan. Push the steaks down into sauce. Cover.

Place pot into a prepared 325 degree oven. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours. Check for doneness at about an hour and fifteen minutes. It is done when the meat is fork tender. Mine was done at 1 1/2 hours.

After taking out of oven, remove and dispose of the bay leaves.

Spoon the sauce over each individual steak when serving. I served this with mashed potatoes and green beans. If you are on a Paleo Diet like I am you can serve this with a green salad and mashed sweet potatoes or any other Paleo approved sides. 

Enjoy!!!

A day on the golf course

When Kyle was two years old Kevin began to teach him how to play the game he has always been so passionate about...golf. For the next 10 years Kyle would go out and play golf with his Dad often and it became a bond between father and son. Then....Kyle turned 12 and slowly but surely began to loose interest in the game.

Kevin always asks if he wants to go out, but the answer has been "no" for quite a while now. So imagine Kevin's delight when on Sunday afternoon he asked Kyle if he wanted to go play and the answer was "sure Dad, why not?" When the guys came home that evening Kyle was so excited about the time they had on the course. He told us he forgot how much fun golf was and that he wanted to play more.

So on Monday I called over to the golf course (we live right across the street from it) and asked whether I could drive a cart and let him play while I tagged along as the "cart driver" I found out that not only was it OK, but that the fee for 18 holes for a "junior" is only $15 during the week. So the next day I asked Kyle if he wanted to head over to the course and the answer was a resounding "ya!"

Kyle and I had a GREAT time yesterday out on the course. The weather was beautiful and a light breeze was blowing. I found out pretty quickly that driving a golf cart was a lot of fun! The course was beautiful and I enjoyed checking out everyone's backyards that were on the course. As for Kyle, he was totally in his element and having a blast. For someone who had not played in three years I was simply astounded at how good he was! It was so much fun to watch him and we agreed that we would start going golfing once a week during the week. At $15 a pop, why not?! I truly wish I could join in on the fun and golf too, but unfortunately with my old back injury I just can't risk it.

Here are some picks of Kyle in action!

I told Kyle that he can walk across the street and hit a bucket of balls on the driving range whenever he wants and have looked into a Jr. golf clinic through our city. Today I signed him up for a one month clinic in May where kids his age meet on Wed from 4-5 and are taught by a PGA pro golfer and staff. Kyle is really exicted about doing this next month.