Hoedown, from Rodeo*

My bestie MAS and I were just discussing a wee problem L seems to have when it comes to purchasing meat.  I'm all for buying food when it's on sale, particularly meat.  You can get some killer deals on various cuts of different meats from time to time.  I'm also no stranger to freezing said meat if I'm not ready to prep and cook it within a day or two of purchasing it.  L is on board with all of this.  The problem becomes when L's primal instinct to get more for his money kicks in.  While I look at the number of pounds and equate how it plays out for 2, his instinct screams, "BIGGER IS BETTER!"  This means that the lovely Easter ham we made weighed in at 8 pounds.  For two people.  We I ate ham for weeks, and I'm not exaggerating with that S on the end of week.  That ham stuck around for a long time.  L also broke in his new smoker (happy 31st birthday, L!) last Monday and smoked a pork shoulder.  Another example of a time when we had more meat than was necessary for two people with average appetites. 

This is all relevant because L just called and asked me if I could hurry home after work and work on vegetables for the roast he started this morning.  A couple of months ago, L proudly returned home from the store with a piece of beef for a pot roast.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that that is Winter Food for me and that with the weather getting warmer (which is code for SWIMSUIT SEASON), the last thing I want is a thick, hearty stew for dinner (plus, as I was telling Champagne and Sprinkles, I like the pot roast I make more than his, but shhhhhh!).  Apparently after our dinner discussion last night about how we both want to eat better these days, he came home and pulled out the roast and left it defrosting in the fridge.  (Side note: I realize we bought vegetables for this over the weekend.  However, I was hoping to deter him and just use them for other purposes.  I failed.)  My current temping job requires that I leave the house before him, as in, before he's even awake yet (he goes in to work late), so when he got up, apparently he went to town with the roast and the Crock Pot.  I'm told this also created quite the mess in the fridge but that he was able to help clean it up.  We'll see...  What I know for sure (channeling Oprah here) is that he didn't get the vegetables in ye olde Crock Pot.  My job is to now figure out a way to cook them enough so that when they are added to the meat, they'll taste like they've been cooking with it the whole time.  THANK GOODNESS I HAPPENED TO GO GET A VEGETABLE STEAMER FROM BED BATH AND BEYOND LAST WEEK!  We're going to be all about steaming the freakishly large carrots and the normal-sized onion and potatoes. 

And with that, I'm done. 

BEEF.  IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER.




*If you are not familiar with this song, it's the song in the Beef: It's what's for dinner commercials from the 90s.