Feast of St. Martha

Yesterday was the feast of St. Martha, the patron saint of housewives. We celebrated by grilling out (it was one of the first mild days we've had this week), and I made a special dessert that was easy to throw together.

Menu: Steak, asparagus, potatoes, and 10 minute fruit tart by Rachael Ray.

She's growing bigger every day

Steak

All I did was let the steak marinate in some olive oil and lemon pepper seasoning. I used to make the mistake of adding salt and garlic powder when I used the lemon pepper seasoning, but then read the label (I'm trying to get better at that!). That's when I discovered that onion powder, garlic powder, and salt are also present.

Asparagus

My husband taught me the correct way to trim asparagus ends. You have to hold the bottom and break them off individually, instead of cutting them with a knife. This might seem a little wasteful, but just put those ends into some compost and enjoy the tender asparagus! We make a foil pack with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper sprinkled over the fresh asparagus, and steam it on the grill for about 20 minutes.

Potatoes

I took some ideas and made up a recipe for the potatoes that turned out ok. I'll have to tweak it a little more. I made a foil packet of sliced potatoes, chunks of cream cheese and butter, and some fresh parmesan. The parmesan melted to the bottom (or was it the top? We had to flip the potatoes so that they would cook faster), the butter melted through, but the chunks of cream cheese didn't melt all the way. Maybe the chunks need to be smaller and more spread out?

The fruit tart got a little slid around

10 Minute Fruit Tart

I admit, I took some liberties with this recipe. The base is a store-bought graham cracker crust, topped with some seedless strawberry and blackberry jelly. On top of that I put instant vanilla pudding mixed with orange and lime zest, and then around the top I put a can of mixed tropical fruit cocktail and strawberries in the middle. Next time, I'm going to make the pie version of the pudding (less milk), and slice up some fresh fruits, instead of putting down a layer of jam. But it turned out great! Here's the link to the original recipe.