We live....

We didn't abandon the blog. Okay, well we did. For awhile.

But it seems I may need to revive it again.

Recent experiments show that Mac has devolped some kind of wheat or gluten intolerance. When he avoids the bread....he feel good. So, yay for me. Now I get to figure out what to use to replace bread, and noodles.

As a weekly budget saver, we were doing breakfast for dinner (also known as BFD) one night a week here. But now, no toast. No pancakes, no waffles, no French toast. Gotta think of something new.

Thus was "Eggs Beauregard" born. Out of necessity.

First thing I did was make some grit cakes. I made up a batch of grits and let it get a little thick. Then I poured that into a lightly buttered 9 inch square pan and covered it with cling film overnight. It hardened up nicely, into pretty squares of white slightly creamy goodness.

Then we took roughly a pound and a half of manager's special sirloin steak. (Pork would work here as well.) Chunked up the meat and cooked that with a diced onion until they were cooked, then added a 14.5 ounce can of "petite diced" tomatoes. This first time, all I could find in the pantry was a can flavored with garlic and olive oil, but it worked. We also threw in about 4 large cloves of minced garlic. We cooked that all together, then let it cool. (Yes, we made grillades.)

We cut the grits into quarters in the pan, and they were slippery. In fact, one made a break for it and escaped. We were careful with the others. We salted and peppered those squares and sprinkled a very light coating of flour on them (which may not be needed) before pan frying them in a little canola oil. We heated our meat and tomato mixture back up, and poached some eggs. We also whipped up a little remoulade by mixing mayonnaise with a capful of cider vineagar and some Louisiana hot sauce.

Then we assembled the whole thing like eggs Benedict.

From the plate up, it was grit cake, grillades, poached eggs, remoulade sauce, salt, pepper and a garnish of parsley.

Easily one of the best things I have ever put into my mouth. (Sorry, honey)

Grilled Beef Stew

There we were...hunting the wily dinner in the thick of the jungle called the grocery store...

Yeah, we lead an exciting life. We decided beef stew sounded tasty. On the drive home we noted it was turning out to be a nice day, and not what the weatherman had predicted. It seemed a shame to be inside all day...in fact, it made Mac want to grill something!

Thus, grilled beef stew is born.

Now in our usual beef stew, we use a good cheap chuck roast, carrots, potatoes, onions, green beans, garlic and celery. We grilled everything execpt the celery. Because grilled celery just sounds nasty.

Everything did get a light coat of olive oil and a good sprinkle of salt before hitting the grill...and at this point I realize "D'oh! Potatoes!!!" and ran inside to chunk some up real quick.

So, I madly washed, sliced and oiled while Mac tended his baliwick, the grill. Chuck those 'taters on there so I can have a photo, damnit!

My guy can sure handle his meat, there, can't he? Such a pretty piece of meat...and the roast's not bad either!

So once everythings grilled to his satifaction, off the grill with it.

Once inside we chunk everything into vaguely bite-sized chunks and into the big pot. Flour, oil, salt, pepper, paprika, thyme. Extra flavor from some coffee, soy sauce, red wine, chicken and beef broth. The celery..and some nice peeled pearl onions, because stew cannot have too many onions.


Now all it needs is a little time to well, stew. So we brought it to a simmer, turned in down and let it bubble for a couple hours, with an occasional stir now and then to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom.

Nothing left to do now, but taste for salt, slice up some crusty bread and EAT!





Yes, it was worth the extra effort. The griling really did add depth and something wonderful to the stew and we are definitely doing this again!