New Year's Resolutions - still in effect?

I really am trying hard to not give up on my New Year's Resolutions. Things have been crazy for us all over the past few weeks, so making new dinners and all of us sitting at the table hasn't happened much. I tried making a dish last week, but was sorely disappointed in it. Tonight, however, I was planning on making a chicken dish, but dear husband said he was tired of chicken (okay, so I use it a lot, but it's easier to cook!) He suggested some cube steaks or other type of beef. So at the grocery, I picked up some cube steak, with no idea on how to prepare it. They sounded boring to me, like not quite hamburger, not quite steak. Somewhere in between.

I get new ideas from allrecipes.com so I went there for suggestions. I found this recipe called "Berdean's cube steak" that got rave reviews! Luckily, I didn't wait until the last minute, because the recipe called for it to cook for two hours! So I followed the directions with just a few small modifications, and in the oven it went. Hubby had bought some asparagus the other day. He likes it plain and steamed, I like it with a bit more flavor. So I steamed half of it and pan-fried the other with olive oil, butter and minced garlic. I also bought some red potatoes today, but since I was using the oven at a low temp for the meat, I couldn't roast them as I would have liked. So I decided to microwave them as someone on that website suggested. Drizzled them with olive oil and some seasoning salt, and they were done in 15 minutes.

When the meat came out, the recipe called for using the drippings in the pan as a base for a gravy by adding flour and milk. Now, this recipe didn't give me specific instructions on how much flour and gravy. So I guessed. Just a small handful of flour and a dash of milk. Whisked it all up. And it was delicious!

The family was happy, and I was happy to have a success under my belt!

As for spending more time with family, we're doing a better job. Tonight we all sat at the dinner table. That's only been happening about once a week lately. But hubby decided we needed a family game night this week, so Tuesday, I'll be making my favorite for dinner, beef and noodles, and we'll play Harry Potter Clue. Should be fun!

I am just WAITING for the weather to warm up to start on a major home improvement project. Still at the top of the list is the landscaping in the front of our house, and also our kitchen (floors, walls, maybe counter.) I am gung ho to get started!

Samantha