Food of the Gods

My dinner wasn't as photogenic as the cooks I took the recipes from, but... it was certainly delicious.

I had been wanting to try the recipe for Beef and Potatoes au Chocolat for quite some time. I had the perfect steak in my freezer... I had the good cocoa powder... and I finally had an occasion. Valentine's Day. No other day could be more-perfect for an off-label use of cocoa. But then time got away from me, and I couldn't have slow-cooked it sufficiently. So, it had to wait a day. I'm sure St. Valentine won't mind.

I paired mine with her recommendation for Pumpkin Corn Muffins and roasted Brussels sprouts. It was so good! The muffins, when used to soak up the juicy goodness, somehow worked miracles at bringing out the chocolate flavor. I realized too-late that I had no stone-ground corn meal, and thought perhaps the finer stuff I had (Quaker) would be too dense. So, halfway following her suggestions for corn-free muffins, I used a combination of 1/2 cup corn meal, 1/4 cup quinoa flakes (that I bought for hot breakfast cereal but... didn't really like) and 1/4 cup cream of buckwheat cereal (which is better than quinoa, but I never think to make it.) I can't possibly describe how much I love these muffins. They are fabulous.