Tardiness, rabbits, marinade, and cheese plates

Yeah, those things have absolutely nothing to do with each other, but I’ve got a few extra minutes to type right now so I’m cramming it all in. There will be no clever transitions between topics today, I’m just warning you. Heh.

The girls are at school right now for an early day, which they were tardy to because at 8:00 this morn I just lying in bed wishing I hadn’t stayed up so late last night and TubaDad was downstairs in the kitchen trying to erase traces of last nights’ barbeque, when the girls suddenly mentioned that it was an early day. Oops, my bad (again, gah!) – seems I never got around to loading the special May school events into my calendar after spring break.... Luckily Ro and Ree had already gotten dressed in these adorable getups (which practically begged for one quick pic), so I threw on a hat and some sweats, we stuffed them with a few handfuls of Multigrain Cheerios, and we sped out the door:

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The rabbit has been back and apparently approves of the new menu. I went out the morning after Ro’s note, meaning to gnaw on a few carrots to give the girls a thrill that their plan had worked, and was absolutely shocked to see every single carrot had a bite taken out of it. Seriously. !!!


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For the barbeque last night, we made mashed potato casserole, grilled tomatoes (put some cherry tomatoes on skewers, pour italian salad dressing over top, marinate it for a while, then grill), and grilled steak with a yummy marinade that is our new summer staple.

Best Steak Marinade (printable recipe)

The steak marinade is fun because kids can make the whole thing themselves. Plus, Ro and Ree love the taste.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons dried basil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional, we don’t use it)
• 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic (optional, we didn’t use it, but next time will use some fresh minced garlic instead of the garlic powder above.)

Directions

1. Place the soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, basil, parsley, and pepper in a blender. Add hot pepper sauce and garlic, if desired. Blend on high speed for 30 seconds until thoroughly mixed.
2. Pour over your steak. Seal it up and marinate for a few hours in the fridge, turning the container over a few times to distribute the marinade. Then grill. (If a Texan is manning the grill, be aware that he might like his meat RARE, as in “Just knock the horns off,” you know? So you might need to request that your steak get a few more minutes on the grill.)

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TubaDad was out of town the night before last, so the girls and I had a nice cheese plate for a light dinner. Ro and Ree were playing on the monkey bars when I brought it out, and Ro danced over singing “It’s ready, it’s ready, our cheese plate is ready!!” and Ree screeched to a halt in front of it and said “Wow!!!!” I’m calling that one a successful cheese plate. Ro passionately claimed the white cheddar was the best ever, and Ree declared the havarti to be her favorite this time. The fontina (which was universally adored last week) was pretty much snubbed by all. I need to find a nice Brie for next time and some goat cheese (maybe the kind with dried fruit inside):

This one has blueberries, shelled pistachios, apple slices, black olives, raisins, and crackers – mostly because this just happened to be what we had on hand.

So, what would you put on a cheese plate? (I’m making the grocery list right now, so all suggestions are welcome!)

Alrighty, guess I’m done bouncing all over the dang place and will now wrap this up and go take a sorely needed shower. Cheers!