eating vs. the braces

I have found the trick to keep myself on the eliptical machine at the gym, though I fear it will cancel out my exercising efforts. Gourmet magazine. Wow. So I have been getting this magazine for close to a year. It was a tough transition initially as I grew up with Food & Wine regularly arriving in the mail box. I just assumed when I became a grown-up with my own kitchen, a true lover of food required a regular delivery of Food & Wine recipes to the table. Well, I had a rude awakening when I realized that was too high of a goal for me to achieve. Newly married, first house, not-so-fantastic kitchen and a job are not helpful when attempt to cook ridiculously detailed recipes, especially for someone who is not at the top of her game when it comes to being rushed. There is something about the combination of leisure activities and time management that equals 'no fun'. So anyway, back to my discovery. I love Gourmet and perusing through this magazine not only kept me exercising, but gave me some great ideas for easy dinners.

So Tuesday's recipe was a flank steak with ancho chili poder, cocoa powder, cinnamon and chopped cabbage. I know, sounds king of gross, but talk about an easy alternative to mole sauce! So I swapped out the flank steak for skirt steak. It looked fatty, but the butcher assured me it would be more tender and less stringy, and seriously, who wants stringy steak. So this recipe was fantastic. I coated the steak and cooked it on the stove over medium high heat for about 5 minutes on each side. For people with gas ranges, this is the equivalent of medium-low, but for those of you with 10 year old stoves > medium high. I sliced it up and put it on warmed flour tortillas (no they are not super healthy, but does anyone actually like packaged corn tortillas?) with the cabbage mix and a side of spiced black beans with granny smith apples.It had such a great flavor, even Beau commented on how much he enjoyed it (which honestly, the man does not get nearly as excited about food as I do).

So back to the braces (I will tie this all together - promise). I had an appointment Wednesday where they put little anchors on my teath to hold in the invisalign trays. Needless to say I was not a happy camper as it was pointed out the only way to get the trays over the anchors and out was via a crochet needle. Oh the joys of an orthodontist approved set of teeth. So strike one, fighting with these pieces of plastic (which you can't eat with in your mouth), and strike two, skirt steak isn't so 'not stringy' when you are eating it chilled for lunch the next day. What would have happen if I bought the flank steak......