A Wintertime Solution 40s Style and a Hearty Winter Meal

We have arrived at everyone's favorite time of year... the dead of winter.

In December the winter doesn't seem so bad (that's because it's still fall), in January the weather starts to get hard-core, but there is a sense that we only have to make it through the one month and then the worst will be over. With February comes the disappointment that it's all still happening, and the sudden realization that March usually sucks too. Then we start to remember that one time it snowed in April or that year where it seemed that summer never started at all. Ahhhh!!!!!

Winter came in the 40s as well (of course), and one enterprising man felt he had the perfect solution for the problem of trying to traverse Chicago's icy streets without wasting fuel or rubber. I present you Joe Steinlauf's "Ice Bike."

The bicycle, designed to punch through the ice, had no rubber on the tires, and was even equipped with mittens on the handles. I like the way you think Joe. Not mentioned in the article, but if one were to wander into the wrong part of town, I believe the wheels could be used for self defense.

I don't anticipate getting much cycling in, as I plan to deal with the remainder of this particularly harsh, Midwestern winter the best way I know how... by eating rich and hearty foods. Mmmmm.

On this week's menu we have Swiss Steak. Warm, heavy, stick-to-your-ribs Swiss Steak. The perfect way to kick-off a month long pseudo-hibernation. 

To make the steaks season 1/2 cup flour with salt and pepper. Pound the flour into 2 lbs round steak with a meat mallet (or if like me, you have no meat mallet, you can set up a more complicated system involving wax paper and a rolling pin).

There's a joke here, but I can't tell it to you.

Brown the meat in hot fat, then add a few onion slices, 1/2 green pepper, 1 cup boiling water, and 1 cup strained tomatoes. (I didn't know what strained tomatoes were, so I used stewed tomatoes. A way too late Google search indicates that I should have gone with tomato paste.) Cover the pan and let simmer for 2 hours. Alternatively, this can be cooked in a casserole dish, in the oven for 1.5 hours at 350*.

Oh man, even raw this looks good. **drool**

It smelled amazing and waiting for it to be ready was an almost painful experience. Sadly, it was a painful experience with no end. It turns out stewed tomatoes are no substitute for tomato paste. You see, stewed tomatoes have a much higher water content, and water, of course, burns off. If you are, say, on the phone with your bestie and not paying attention to the stove, you won't notice that the water is gone and that your amazing, tender, and savory steaks are being converted into lumps of coal.

I can at least compress this into diamonds, right?

I shaved some un-charred meat from one so I could get a taste of what could have been. In the immortal words of Tiffany, "It could have been so right."  My fiance had one and he ate the whole thing, he said it was pretty good, but I think that just means he was pretty hungry.

Honestly, I'm shocked that I've made it all the way to post 14 before burning something to a cinder. My son teases me that hearing the fire alarm is how he knows breakfast is ready. It's a little sad though, because we were all really looking forward to this one. However, I am grateful to be living in a time when a cooking failure is merely a bummer and not a waste of the tightly rationed family food supply.

Oh well, I am hanging up my apron for the night to have a supper of cheese sticks and ice-cream sandwiches. Nutritious.