Martyr, She Wrote

I have had a trying week, during these past few hot and humid days of summer. Most of the Toronto area are rejoicing, for summer has found us at last. But it hurt me, mes amies, it hurts real bad (sorry, that sounded like an 80's angst love song).

I am a migraine sufferer. I have lived this summer, almost migraine-free and I knew it was too good to be true. The days frolicking around in the fall-like temperatures ended days before the heat came. My head should be purchased by The Weather Network, because it's bang-on with predictions of heat, and storms.

Alas, it has been trying, but soldiered on. Hence, the title of this blog. Yep, i'm a martyr. I laid in bed for most of the day on Thursday, thinking how wonderful it would be to take a drill to my temple and just do a bit to relieve some of the pressure (please know I never would, but in my medicine-filled haze, these are the thoughts I have), and that I needed to get better to cook the steak I had been looking forward to.

Craig came home to find me in a familiar state...flat out on my back, old-person's orthopedic pillow under my head, feather pillow on my face. The last of the daily allowance of medication had just been injested and I awaited for the pain to subside...as I tried to redirect it to my feet.

Craig immediately said that he would make dinner. "No!" came the cry from under the pillow. "I MUST make dinner tonight." Very dramatic, I know, but it was very tempting to have him go to Wendy's and get salads and other take-out foods, that I swore that I wouldn't do again.

I didn't get up to make dinner, and dinner that night actually was Kraft Dinner. The kids were thrilled. They hadn't seen KD in about a year, before we decided enough with the boxed foods. I was annoyed with myself, and my head.

Friday: The meat was still there waiting, and I was determined to make a fabulous meal. I had leftovers of the potato mash from earlier in the week, and I was going to make some Clean bread crumbs for on top of it, and I would cook it in a casserole dish. Corn on the cob for the other veggie. I couldn't find a recipe for a steak dish in my ECD books, and our ECD book of recipes has mysteriously disappeared.

Online, I found a steak marinade that sounded good and simple. I switched the sugar it called for with Agave Nectar (which I think is really just watered-down honey that they make us pay more for because it's organic....and it has a fancy name). And I didn't use the white wine it called for, it was replaced with water. Not sure if it was a perfect substitution, but it worked.

I brought all of the called-for ingredients to a boil, and stirred them on the stove. Some fell out, and a great flame shot up scaring the bejesus out of me. I am very afraid of fire, but grabbed some courage and...I blew it out. It actually went out, and I moved on to a new burner. I call that Incident Number 1.

Incident Number 2 started with the removal of the lid for the sweet potato mash. A double-take, and a gasp later and it was thrown out due to the Science class mold that graced the top of the mash. So, rice again!

All in all, the kids were thrilled with dinner, Craig too, and plates were cleaned (well, nearly cleaned in Nick's case....which is great news).

Oh, I made the yogurt cheese which is in most, if not all, of Tosca's books. I made the veggie dip recipe, and we all hated it. Sorry Tosca, much too earthy for all of us. I can't imagine any kids enjoying it. Perhaps with a bit of Agave or Sucanat. I'm not sure.

That's it for now!

Ciao!!