Dinner For Youngest Hawthorne.

Youngest Hawthorne is home for a few days and I always try to fix some of his favorite meals for him. And he loves rare roast beef, mashed potatoes, and cornbread, so that's what we had for dinner last night, along with a few other dishes.

First, marinated carrots and peppers.

I peeled and crinkly sliced 3 carrots, along with 1/2 red onion, and a few slices of red, yellow, and green peppers.

And here are my fancy dancy carrots. I'm sure Sandra would be impressed.

I dropped the carrots into boiling salted water and cooked for exactly 2 minutes, then rinsed under cold water to stop the cooking.

Here are the sliced peppers and red onion. Now, on to my marinade.

1 cup V8 juice 1/4 cup oil 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1 teas ground mustard 2 TB Lea & Perrins 1 cup sugar salt and pepper

I mixed all ingredients, whisking to dissolve sugar, adding in the oil last.

Poured the marinade over top my veggies and refrigerated. Next up, a squash casserole. I had squash left over from the pizza I made at Maxine's and needed to use it up.

My ingredients: yellow squash onion 2 eggs handful of fresh sage tablespoon of sugar cheddar cheese salt and pepper Paprika

I peeled and sliced my squash, chopped the onions and sage, grated the cheese, and beat the eggs.

I dropped the squash into salted, boiling water for about 90 seconds, then rinsed in cold water and drained. Chopped onions get added.

Sage goes in.

Sugar gets sprinkled in.

And half the cheddar goes in.

Finally the beaten eggs get gently mixed in.

I turned the squash mixture out into a greased baking dish and topped with the remaining cheddar.

Sprinkled some paprika over top.

And baked in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Next, cornbread.

About 1 1/2 cups cornmeal teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda salt and pepper 1 cup milk 1 egg Mix dry ingredients first. Then add the milk.

I melted 1/4 cup Crisco then added that to the mixture.

The mixture will change texture and get very gloppy after adding in the Crisco.

Beat in the egg. To be honest, I probably should have used two eggs but I was out of eggs and the texture would have been better.

Add in a can of drained corn.

Pour into baking dish.

On the adult side of the cornbread. I added sliced tomatoes, onions, and jalapenoes and sprinkled with cumin and Cajun seasoning

Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese went on top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

I had a frozen 2-pound bottom round roast which I thawed out and seasoned with salt and pepper and Montreal steak seasoning, which I had for the first time at Maxine's and decided I needed to get some.

I seared the roast on all sides in a combination of olive oil and butter. Then it went into a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes. After cooking, I let the roast sit for 10 minutes before slicing. Next, the mashed potatoes.

I peeled and diced 2 potatoes and cooked in salted water until just tender.

Added in 1/4 cup half and half, 1/4 stick butter, and 1/4 cup creme fraiche, and salt and pepper.

And here's our little spread. From bottom left continuing clockwise, my cornbread, Dixie's bone, squash casserole, mashed potatoes, marinated carrots, and Schwann's baguette. The roast is in the middle.

Here's the roast, nice and rare.

And here's my plate: From top center, clockwise: cornbread, roast beef, squash casserole, carrot marinade, toasted bread. This was just one of those plain good meals that hit the spot. Fast forward to breakfast time. Harris Teeter had Driscoll's strawberries on sale the other day and these are some of the sweetest strawberries I've ever had. I made a smoothie.

I put 4-5 big strawberries, some ice cubes, sweetener, orange juice, and milk in my Magic Blender and just blended away.

Here's my refreshing strawberry smoothie. I even added on the requisite choking hazard.