Please, don't get me started on New Year's Resolutions! That'll be another post. :)Well, well, well... this stepford wife finds herself and The Husband staying in tonight. It's one of the biggest date-nights of the year, but I'm OK with that. In fact, I decided that this would be the perfect time to try not one, but two new recipes!
I've been thinking about tonight's dinner all week. The Husband is working today so, of course, this dinner should be extra special. I want my husband to know how much I appreciate him bringing home the bacon all year long. :) Anyway, I defrosted the beef shank from the freezer. Or I should say grass-fed, natural beef shank.
OK- it's called a shank but really, it's part of the leg. That means it can be tough from all that walking a grass-fed, natural beef cow would do. It also means that it's full of beef flavor! I decided to try this recipe. Google also pulled up a FoodNetwork recipe, but I really like the way this was written, as if by a sister-stepford wife! So, I journeyed to Whole Foods and picked up everything I needed, fighting the crowds in the parking lot and listening to bawling children caught eating the bulk yogurt pretzels. Anyhoo, I got home and got cookin'! It's now simmering on the stovetop and only needs another 2 1/2 hours to go. My entire domain smells rich and meaty. mmMMmm....
Tomorrow, we're going to a New Year's brunch at my sister's house. Since I now have a gluten sensitivity (yes, I am a sensitive woman after all) I thought I'd make a gluten-free chocolate raspberry cake. And, since it's San Francisco I made it vegan as well. This took a bit more research than the cow leg. I mean, there's a ton of vegan cake recipes out there, but they all use stuff I'm not sure about, like tofu and strange egg-substitutes. Anyways, I found a recipe that seemed to satisfy me. I depended a lot on the reviews. The dough tasted OK- not great but then again, there's no gluten. or eggs. or butter. or milk.
Now the cakes (ooOOoo... yes, it made two round cakes) are out and cooling on a rack on the dining table and, I gotta tell ya', they look like cake. Score '1' for the vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free cake recipe. Tomorrow I'll make this chocolate icing and ice it at my sister's place. I mean, it's got chocolate in it so it can't be that bad.
Perhaps I'll let you all know tomorrow how it went.
