May 19, 2025 Monday
Today was a good day. I didn’t sleep well, but it didn’t affect me too much. I’ve been sleeping on the couch. I battle reflux from a hitial hernia. I prop up better on the couch. Sometimes, I will give our bed another try, but don’t have much luck. It’s so cozy, I tend to slide down off the mountain of pillows only to wake the next morning with my esophagus on fire. Plus, Lane is now anemic and is always cold, so it’s quite warm in bedroom. The couch is comfy, but I still struggle to get comfortable. Both dogs think they have to sleep with me on it, so it gets a little crowded, but when you’re a mom, you make room for your babies.
My mother-in-law moved into assisted living last July. She has battled dementia for the past eight to ten years. It just progressed so, we weren’t able to stay home with her as we both have full time jobs that are really more than full time. It’s a great place and she is well taken care of. When she moved there we packed the rest of her belongings and moved them into storage. I spent most of today going through her stuff and organizing it, tossing some of it, getting some of it ready to sell and/or donate.
I had planned to make garlic butter steak bites for supper, but when I got home, I discovered all our deer steaks were tenderized which was not the style meat I was needing. So, instead I made homemade mashed potatoes and deer steak with gravy. It was delicious. I also made up some homemade ranch dressing to just have since the garden will be bringing in a bounty soon.
Recipe:
One pack of tenderized deer steak (or beef) (rinsed), all purpose flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt. I’m a down home southern cook. I didn’t measure any of the dry ingredients. I just put the amounts of each on a plate that I felt like I needed and mixed it up with my hand. I then cut the deer steaks in strip pieces and put a little salt on each side. Heat a skillet with a little of your choice of oil. I used olive oil. Dredge your meat in the flour mixture and put in skillet. You just need enough oil to sear on each side not fry them. Once they are browned on both side, I pulled them out and put them on a plate with a paper towel on it to soak up any grease. I took the skillet off the heat while I very thinly sliced a yellow onion. Put skillet back on heat, add a little beef broth, deglaze the pan and toss in the onions. Cook till tender. In an instant pot, I turned on the saute setting so it could be warming up. Put in the onions and deer steak and a little beef broth so nothing sticks to the pot while you make the gravy mixture. In a separate bowl, mix together a can of cream of chicken soup, some brown gravy powder mix, and a cup or two of the beef broth. Pour this mixture over the meat and onions. I had bought one of those quart size (I think) Swanson beef broths, and I ended up just pouring the rest of it in the pot too. I even added some more of the gravy powder mix. Really, just eye ball it. You know the consistency you want when eating mashed potatoes and gravy, so aim for that. Remember as the gravy cooks it will get thicker. Anyway, give that all a stir in the pot. Then put the lid on the instant pot, switch the setting over to pressure and cook for 25 minutes. Let stand several minutes before eating. Serve over homemade mashed potatoes.
I am thankful to the Lord for a good day and providing us with the deer so we could enjoy our supper.
