Back into it!

Saturday was Rex's birthday. We celebrated with a homemade dinner and cake prepared for him. The majority of his family was able to come celebrate. Unfortunately we've still been battling this nasty cold. Saturday morning I woke early to prepare a cake while he practiced his drums at church. It was a coconut cream cake with coconut whipped cream frosting. Rich and yummy! After finishing the cake I took a break until he came home. Not having a strong voice and still feeling tired we rested most of his day. For his gift, I bought him a bread-machine. So making bread for the company that evening was a pretty fun task :) 

For dinner I prepared sirloin and mushrooms in a red-wine tomato sauce with garlic mashed potatoes and Raspberry vinaigrette salad. Although Rex doesn't normally enjoy salads, he likes this particular salad because and I quote "it tastes like candy." I forgot to take pictures, mainly because I was still in that sick fog, but I still want to include the main course recipe :) Hopefully I'll finally kick this cold by tomorrow so I can start cooking up a storm again in our kitchen!

RED WINE SAUCE SIRLOIN AND MUSHROOMS

Ingredients

2 lbs sirloin cut into bite-sized pieces

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

16 oz. mushrooms, sliced

1-1.5 c Cabernet or cooking sherry

16 oz tomato sauce

1 tbsp thyme

3 bay leaves

Directions

1. In a large skillet, cook sirloin and garlic in oil until meat is well-browned.

2. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. Add wine, tomato paste, thyme, and bay leaves. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

3. Remove bay leaves and serve over noodles or mashed potatoes.