Not Diet Food

Yesterday we decided to have my in-laws over to play with the kids and join us for dinner. Bad idea? Well, my in-laws are very nice people who love nothing more than to spend hours (grandma at least) playing with their grandchildren while I prepare a big family dinner. In their defense, they don't know any better and think that nothing bad can come out of my kitchen. Suckers! Now, usually I can produce an edible, health-conscious meal, but not this time, when apparently my MIL is on a diet. That would have been nice if I had remembered, because she did tell me about a week ago, but me being all skinny and stuff never worries about such silly things like a diet.

Anyway, I have a crapload (technical term for freezer full) of beef and thought I would try something new. And who better to try new recipes on than my in-laws? I scoured my cookbooks and the web and decided on a beef braise. It looked rich and hearty, and the kind of meal they would enjoy if they weren't trying to lose weight.

I had never made a braise before, but I know I can make a mean stew, so this couldn't be much different except that the recipe called for an entire bottle of red wine and required 3 hours on the stove plus prep and searing. Fine, I've got wine and a kitchen timer, but I think when my in-laws arrived at 2:30 for dinner (I told them 6:00 btw) they were maybe a little shocked to see me just starting to cook something that would take all damn day. Feeling rushed, I turned up the heat to medium instead of just medium-low and by the end of cooking (which by the way still took 3 solid hours) had developed a nice burn chunk at the bottom of my dutch oven. Shhhh, I didn't tell anyone, but removed the braise from the pot and transferred it to a clean unburned dish and blamed attributed the smoky flavor to the bacon. Actually it wasn't that bad, the wine made a deliciously thick sauce and the meat was oh-so tender yet not falling apart. I served the whole thing with roasted mushrooms and pearl onions, popovers, and boiled parsley potatoes. And for dessert, I was planning to make a chocolate cake, but while Mae and I were out and about in the morning we decided to stop and pick up a DQ ice cream cake (my in-laws' fave) with extra frosting because we all know that's the best part aside from the fudgy-crunch layer.

And, apparently today is MIL's weigh-in day. Oopsies. Maybe next time I should stick with a trusty low-fat, veggie-overload chicken dish... or maybe this was just a lesson in moderation.