vacation continued :-)

Thursday night, I made dinner for my boyfriend.  I made Philly Cheesesteak Casserole.  I first browned the beef with onions and peppers, cooked the noodles, and then mixed up the sauce.  Tossed it all into a casserole dish and baked it for about 30-40 minutes.  I also added extra cheese, because, well, why not! After the 30-40 minutes, the casserole was soupier than I thought it should be, so I added some extra flour.  It also was somewhat bland, so I added more mustard before topping it with cheese to cook for 10 more minutes.  Unfortunately, I think I adding the flour was a mistake - because while the sauce thickened, it was pretty heavy (perhaps too much so).  I think adding SOME more mustard was smart, but I added a little too much for the boyfriend's taste.  But, I considered the  recipe a success overall because the boyfriend liked it, and didn't even complain about the peppers (which he doesn't like... I chopped it up very small!).  The only other downside was that the beef was a little too well done.  When a recipe says to cook meat for "2-3 minutes, until it has browned"... at least so far, steaks do not brown in 2-3 minutes!  So, am I supposed to cook it until its brown? Or cook it for 2-3 minutes?  I'm worried about the steak being undercooked and raw, but I guess if it goes in a casserole dish and bakes for 40 minutes, that'll take care of it?  Who knows.  Anyway, like I said, a success overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit, although it was not a particularly attractive dish:

So, I was somewhat busy and definitely NOT in the mood to run this week, mostly due to the ridiculous humidity here.  I finally forced myself to go today near my parent's house.  It ws still super humid, and despite not going until 7:30pm I was covered in sweat within minutes!  I think taking 7 days off wasn't the smartest idea, because I immediately had soreness in my legs.  I ended up walking more/for longer stretches than I intended (I probably walked 20+ minutes overall), but I still managed to do 36 minutes of running and went 3.77 miles.  I need to take tomorrow off (because I don't like to go two days in a row, and because M and I have plans to run together on Monday), so I will only have run twice over my vacation.  So it goes.

Today, I also made dinner for my parents in the crock pot.  I made Country French Beef Stew, served over egg noodles.  Again, I had the same problem with browning the beef: I didn't want it to still be red and raw when I put it in the crock pot, so I browned it for a little longer than the suggested 2-3 minutes.  The recipe said to let it cook for 7-8 hours.  After 6.5 hours, the meat was tender, (but not too tender? seemed like it could improve?), but the vegetables weren't cooked through enough.  So then, after 7-ish hours, the vegetables were ready, but then the meat was somewhat dry.  What gives?!?  Anyway, the stew turned out fine overall, although again it isn't the most photogenic of dishes:

29 recipes down!  I'm heading back home either Sunday evening or Monday morning, and then we'll be back to more regular running as well as more frequent cooking!