Dinner (Mis)Adventure

Growing up and throughout college I ate a lot of food from a box. I didn't care what was in it as long as it tasted good and I could make it fast. When I walk through the grocery store and look at all the crap I used to eat on a regular basis...I am just amazed. So when I made the transition to a Paleo/Primal diet, I had to learn how to cook real food. And I had to learn quick.

I ate a lot of hamburger patties the first month (or two...or three...). It was the easiest and quickest thing I knew how to cook; even then I had little to no experience cooking them. Slowly I began branching out: scrambled eggs, frozen chicken breast cooked in the toaster oven...frozen veggies were a life saver! Luckily for me the internet is full of great people who share their Paleo recipes, and I decided to give some a try. Lo and behold, I discovered that I really enjoy cooking! Keeping an eye on everything, and prepping stuff to put in next, and trying to time everything to be ready at the same time...it's a little stressful, but in a good and fun way because when you're done you get to EAT! I've also learned that I really like cooking for my friends and family. Good Food + Good People = Happy Cavegirl.

Which leads me to tonight's story.

A miscommunication between me and my friend led to me having a lot of food and only myself to eat it. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm going out of town this weekend which meant it had to be eaten tonight. I picked up some KC Strip Steak from the store on my way home from work. (My friend is a vegetarian, so I didn't have any meat in the house. Cavegirl needs steak.) I had asparagus and butternut squash at home to go with it--before tonight I had never cooked any of these things by myself.

I think it would have turned out better if my husband had not been working late.

I preheated the oven for 350 degrees and cut my squash in half lengthwise. That was more difficult than I had imagined. I placed the squash cut side down on a baking sheet and added some water. I put that in the oven and set the timer for 45 minutes. While that was going I set about washing some dishes. When the squash timer got down to 25 minutes I put the steaks on the broiler plate, put them in the oven, and set the oven to broil. Then I broke the stems off the asparagus while the skillet warmed up, put some olive oil in the skillet, and started sauteing the asparagus. When they were just about ready I added some butter, rolled the asparagus around in it, and turned off the burner. While I was busy with the asparagus, I forgot to keep an eye on the steak! They weren't bad...but they were a little overcooked. The asparagus and steak were done (and overdone) but the squash still had 10 minutes. I decided I didn't have time to wait. I needed everything done by 7:00 to watch the only TV show I care about watching: The Big Bang Theory. I pulled the squash out of the oven and started scooping out the inside...it could have used those last 10 minutes. Not to be deterred, I grabbed a fork and started mashing. Then I grabbed the butter and started mixing it in. I let go of the bowl for a split second and...

it fell in the sink of soapy water...

The asparagus was very tasty at least.

Cavegirl Runner