Going Hog Wild

Now that Bug has a tooth (and the second one is not far away from cutting through), I thought he should try a teething biscuit. He LOVED it! He was very intense while eating it, fully concentrating on getting as much as he possibly could in his mouth at once.
Needless to say....he went "hog wild." He thoroughly enjoyed it, as proven by the picture below. It didn't take him long to bite of a bigger chunk than he could chew, so after he was finished gagging, I stayed pretty close by to make sure he didn't choke himself. At one point, just a couple minutes after giving him the biscuit, I looked over at him and he was done! I couldn't believe how fast he had eaten it. As I was washing him up, I found the remainder that he had dropped in his lap.....there was about two-thirds left. So he didn't really eat the whole thing super fast, but I thought he had had enough anyway. (Didn't want to spoil his supper.)

Speaking of supper, we had Randy and Cheryl over tonight for dinner. I wanted to try something new, something that would give the "wow" factor. Usually, I don't try new recipes for company without having first tried them with family...but this was not a dish I would normally have made just for the two of us (since Joey wouldn't really eat any of it, and Baby Nick is still too little!) I made a Stuffed Flank Steak, with potato-rosemary bread (store bought), and cheesy cauliflower. The potato-rosemary bread is one of my favorites, so fragrant and savory. And one of the only ways I eat cauliflower is covered in cheese. But the stuffed flank steak was a new dish.

You start by butterfly cutting the steak, which can be quite difficult when you haven't ever done it before. But with easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Nick did a fantastic job. Then you pound it out with a meat tenderizer for two reasons: first, it breaks down the sinewy tissues in the meat so it won't be so chewy and second, to make it an even thickness. You layer the steak with cooked spinach and mashed potatoes with grated cheddar cheese and bacon mixed in. Then you roll the steak, tie it to keep in together, sear it on all sides, brush it with barbecue sauce and roast it in the oven until the meat is cooked to your liking.

Here is a cross-section view of the finished product. It was absolutely divine. I definitely delivered the "wow" factor with this dinner!

Cheryl had admitted that she could never seem to eat cauliflower because it didn't really have much flavor, but she really liked it smothered in mayo/mustard and covered in melted cheese. Randy also liked it, neither of them having had it like this before.

After dinner, we taught Randy and Cheryl how to play Phase 10. It was not one of my better games. I was stuck on Phase One twice, Phase Three five times, Phase Four twice, Phase Seven twice, and by the time I finished Phase Eight, the game was over. Oh well, such is the luck of the draw! Next time, I will teach them Mexican Train (Dominoes). That's another game that can take several hours to play!

I suppose since it is a quarter to one in the morning, I should try to get some sleep before my boys wake up and prevent me from doing so. Although, most nights, I wonder why I try to go to bed at all!