Impossible? Maybe not...

Last night I put on my serious cooking apron, as promised and attempted to compete with years and years of country cooking by making the fabled recipe: Country Style Steak with Gravy. 

To properly prepare Country Style Steak you are first going to have to purchase something called "Cube" Steak.  It is basically a cheap cut of meat that has been run through some sort of tenderizer machine.  You'll need about 1 and half pounds for a family of four.   

The first step is to beat your meat (not what you think) by placing plastic wrap on the counter, then the meat and covering with another piece of plastic wrap.  This will cut down on the mess completely.  With a mallet or a rolling pin, beat the meat to help tenderize it.  Do not skip this part.... you will regret it!

After tenderizing, cut into smaller pieces and season with salt and pepper.  Once seasoned you will lightly bread in flour.  I used just plain ole' flour.  I fried the meat in about a half a cup of vegetable oil on medium high heat.

This is what it should look like after you have fried the cube steak.  Now... for the hard part.  Gravy!

You'll need about three tablespoons of flour and about a third of a stick of butter, melted.  Nothing about gravy is healthy, so be warned.  While the butter is melting you will need to remove all the oil and grease from the frying pan.  You will need to leave the drippings.  I couldn't find an easy way to do this... so I used Bounty Paper Towels to soak up the grease.  It worked well for me and this way I didn't have to pick up my heavy pan and try to balance it over a cup in my sink without burning myself.

After removing the grease and the butter is melted, combine the melted butter with the flour.  Make sure that the flour is completely dissolved into the butter.  No lumps, no clumps... it should be a nice rue or like a paste.

Then you've got to add the rue to the drippings with a cup of water and whisk, whisk, whisk.  Heat the mixture slowly until it gets thick... which for me didn't take long and I ended up adding another half a cup of water to thin out the gravy. 

Then add the rest of the meat back into the pan and cover.  Simmer the gravy mixture for around 20 minutes.

Then plate it:

I served the Country Style Steak with Gravy over a bed of long grain rice.  My green vegetable was string beans and because the Husband loves yeast rolls, I pulled a few out of a bag and popped them in the oven.

My meal was a big hit.  The gravy was good... the only thing I messed up was the rice-- having never cooked plain rice before I accidentally salted the water and that left us with an overly salty meal.  Next time... no salt!

Attempting to Do the Impossible: Country Style Steak with Gravy...

Tonight is the night.  I'm going to put on my serious cooking apron and I'm going to make possibly one of the most iconic Southern meals there is.  I'm going to try to make Country Style Steak with Gravy.

What's the big deal?  I'll tell you...Everyone around these parts grows up eating this very dish.  And everyone grows up thinking that their grandma's or their mama's Country Style Steak is the best.  For this very reason I have perfected such recipes as "Blackened Chicken with Penne Pasta and Alfredo Sauce" because neither of my Grandmothers ever made anything remotely like homemade Alfredo sauce.  I don't like to compete if I know I can't win.

But the other night the Husband and I were sitting down to eat in our brand new kitchen when I asked him what he would like for supper.  I could tell he wasn't too excited about eating my take on a chicken fajita.  He told me wanted "normal" food... fried pork chops, country style steak, mashed potatoes.  Food that I simply don't cook.

So last week while at the grocery store I purchased all the things he mentioned.  Exactly a week ago I made bone-in, extra thick fried pork chops with mashed potatoes.  I even made his favorite cupcakes for good measure.  It was one of the best meals I've ever made for him and Husband was pleased.

With my confidence boosted I have decided to try my hand at the dreaded Country Style Steak with Gravy.  I'm worried about the gravy part.  Gravy is a hard thing to master and since I've never made it before... we wll see.

Stay tuned!

I Hate Being Right All the Time...

On days like this I hate being right all the time.  A few days ago I predicted that my "sometimes-monthly-friend" would be making an unwanted visit.  She showed up about 5:00pm yesterday. 

Today I went to the RE's office for my baseline ultrasound, and just like from the first failed cycle I'm full of cysts.  And having 5 large cysts on my ovaries means that for the next month or so Husband and I are out of the baby making game.

I'm disappointed.  I'm a complete Type A person and I was really hoping to knock "making baby" off my list before I go back to work.  Now it looks like I'll be back at work while we try for a family.

Now I'm thinking I probably should let my boss in on the game plan.  As long as I'm taking the fertility drugs, I'll have to be monitored which means I'll be missing some work.   I think it would take a lot of the guilt and stress off of me if he was aware of the situation.  He is young with two small children and a wife with her on set of health issues, so he is more than understanding when it comes to these sort of matters.

Honestly, now that Husband and I are in the dream home, we both are little more anxious and a lot more ready to have a baby.  I think most people in our situation would understand. 

In the meantime, I'm going to take this month to enjoy the rest of the summer vacation I've got left.   I'm also going to focus a little more energy into getting my house in order.  There are tons of things that need to happen to get my house up to snuff.

I keep telling myself that everything happens for a reason and when the time is right, a baby will happen.  In the meantime I've got business ventures, actual work, and my house to keep my thoughts busy.

Excitment...

I woke up this morning and I was enveloped in dread.  Sometime in the middle of the night I was awoken to the worst stomach cramps I've ever experienced.  I'm guessing that means that my sometimes-monthly visitor is on her way.  Here's to waiting...

So I woke up this morning less than thrilled at the prospect of no baby and more shots, medicine, and tests.  I was really hoping that this month would be the month.  I joke, often, with my friends that I should have gotten pregnant when I was 16.  It is hilarious in a sick little way that I spent my mid-to-late teens and twenties worried to death that I would fall pregnant only to find out at the age of 27 that bringing a life into the world is going to more difficult that I had ever imagined.  And to think about all those weeks when I was a total mess because of a late period!

Jokes on me.

I had errands to run today.  I had to carrying stuff to the bank and pay a water bill... so I found myself in the car and I hate driving in the car with nothing to do but listen NPR so I called my friend Olivia.  And now we are going into business!

She's a fabulous photographer and the best friend a girl could want.  I'm a creative person with great vision and no outlet who complains about my lack of outlet on a semi-regular basis.  So during our conversation we stumbled onto the crazy idea of starting a one-stop-shop event planning business.

I'm so excited at the prospect of working with a great friend, making other people happy, and at the same time making a little extra money.

This is going to be good.

Fertility Good News...

After weeks of researching IVF and PCOS and all sorts of other three and four letter acroymns for several weeks, I had resigned myself to the fact that once the new cycle started, I would no longer be what I considered a simple case of infertility.

Two weeks to the date after my last appointment, the appointment where the doctor cancelled my cycle and gave me a quick run down on what IVF was and why it was my best option, I had another appointment with my main RE.

Nervous, yet mentally prepared for what lay ahead, the Husband and I walked into my doctor's office and took our seats in the chairs in front of his desk.

He laid out the options and to my surprise he wasn't pushing IVF.  In fact he felt that after only completing one cycle he didn't think that we were ready for IVF.  I was relieved.  The money alone was causing me great stress and then couple that with all the procedures... I was a wreck.  I couldn't really believe what I was hearing, but I was glad.

He told me that he wanted to try things really slow.  Once the new cycle started then we would do 7 days of injections and then go back in for monitoring and bloodwork and that would let us know what to do next.

And so far so good.  After 7 days of injections I went back into the doctors' office for monitoring on Monday.  At that time I had no huge follicles and my estrogen levels were low.  My dosage was pushed up slightly and when I went back in on Wednesday my follicles were getting close to being mature.  My estrogen levels were increasing steadily but were in normal range.  I was kept at the same level of medicine and on Friday I went in for another monitoring visit.

On Friday I had one mature follicle and two others that looked like in the next day or two they also would be ready.  So last night we got to do the trigger shot of HCG.  I'm a little worried about how I'll react to the HCG.  Last time it made me sick... like super duper sick.  Looking back on it I think I was a little overstimulated.  I gained over 5 pounds of fluid and looked like I was several months pregnant.  It was awful, especially knowing that in the end it didn't result in the news we wanted.

I'm hoping because we've all been so cautious with this cycle, I won't have the same reaction as I did last time. 

Send the good thoughts and prayers our way.  Now we just have to wait and see what happens. I'm not the most patient person in the world, but I've always been told, good things come to those who wait.

Wish us luck!

I've Been Missing in Action, But I've Got a Good Excuse...

Like the title says, I've been missing in action.  And this time I've got a great excuse.  Somewhere in the second week of June our house passed inspection, the power was turned on and we were free to move our belongings.  Thus began the 3 week siege. 

Let me just say that I hate moving. 

At this point I think that most everyone associated with our move hates moving as well.  This hatred extends also to service people, including a poor Indian woman from Dish Network.  Four years of marriage resulted in days and days of our belongings being carted from one house to the next.  Beyond the feelings of being violated, my life is in great disarray.

Last week or day 4 of the move I had to leave the dream house for a short period of time because I was about to cry because I couldn't find a post-it pad to write my grocery list on.  In fact I couldn't find any type of paper to write on.  Maybe it was the fertility drugs coursing through my body or the fact that the Hubster's family, God love them, had seen my entire messy life-- underwear and all-- laid out in boxes and drawers before them had me on the edge of reality. 

Think about it, would you want your in-laws moving drawers of your undies?

I never intend on moving again.  It has been one of the least rewarding experiences in my life to date. 

Slowly things are starting to find a place.  Slowly the little kinks of living in a brand new home are being worked out.  Slowly I'm adjusting to the new... and I think the Hubster and Buddy are too.

I'll hopefully be posting pictures of the new house as well as filling you in on some of the details that went into making the dream house the dream house.