Never a Dull Moment

It's always something around here! On Thursday, I got in my van to pick Buddy up from school. And the key wouldn't turn AT ALL. I tried everything I could think of to get the ignition to turn over and nothing worked. I called the Evil Twin to pick up Buddy and I called AAA to take a look at my van.

They ended up towing it (dragging it onto the lift, because I couldn't move it out of Park and the front tires wouldn't move).

I was hopeful that I would get it back on Friday. The ignition thingy needs to be replaced. I got a call late on Friday saying they had the part, but weren't able to get to it, so they'd call on Monday when it was ready. At least I'll get it back at some point today.

Buddy walked home on Friday after school. It's only .7 of a mile and many kids on our street walk home. I guess he'll be hoofing it today, unless I get my van back sooner.

It stinks not having a vehicle, but we had the Evil Twin's Buick. He calls it his PawPaw car. It's a 2003 with about 29K miles on it. We inherited it after my mom passed away. It's nice, fully loaded. My dad was an old dude who loved his Buicks.

The Evil Twin took me grocery shopping on Saturday, so we're good for the week. Although it does seem strange to not be gearing up for a grocery run on Monday.

And, in other news, we had Pepper Steak in the crock pot yesterday. I will leave you with the recipe and then I'll put it on my recipe blog later. (I think I'm about a week behind on updating that). I still feel under the weather, tired, blah. My right lung hurts like someone is jabbing me with an ice pick every time I inhale. I *always* end up with pleurisy when the congestion moves to my chest.

Pepper Steak
1 1/2 to 2 lbs. beef round steak
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 can (16 oz) tomatoes with liquid, cut up
2 large green peppers, cut into strips
1/2 cold water
1 tbsp cornstarch.

Cut beef into 3 in. x 1 in. strips, brown in oil in skillet. Transfer to slow cooker. Combine the next 7 ingredients, pour over beef. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or until meat is tender. Add tomatoes and green pepper - cook on low for 1 hour longer. Combine the cold water and cornstarch to make a paste, stir into slow cooker and cook on high until thickened. Serve over noodles or rice.

This one has a few more steps than usual, but it is NOT hard by any stretch. This is my  mom's recipe and I follow it to the letter and serve it with rice. As you can tell, it's been loved on a lot! I think I need to transfer it to a card. I remember writing this down while on the phone with mom, so it's messy, but I can read it.

I'm working on a way to do her Swiss Steak recipe in the crock pot. That's the Evil Twin's favorite. Buddy pronounced the pepper steak to be his all time favorite crock pot recipe yet! High praise coming from a 12 year old!