In a hurry for the recipes? Jump to the bottom of the post.
A week or so ago, I challenged you to take a shot at guessing why, after 21 years, did my husband, Stephen, decide to add meat back into his diet.
Today you get the answer, from the man himself. 😉
He’s a bit of a comedian — one of the reasons I love him . . . .
For those of you who don’t know, my life is a lot like Brad Pitt’s.
On any day — just like Brad — I might wake up and find myself the center of intense internet speculation.
I am not asking for your pity, but I will accept your sympathy. I mean, have you ever woken up to find that your personal life is the subject of a blog post? With an accompanying contest? (And recipe, too?)
Last week, I found that my decision to eat meat was being discussed far and wide. Everyone was offering opinions about me and my eating habits, thanks to Valentina and Cooking on the Weekends.
When I chose to forego meat a long time ago, I did so because I thought it would be healthy and because I wanted to see whether I could handle the challenge.
Well, that was quite a while ago. I now believe that meat in moderation is also healthy. And as far as whether or not I could meet the challenge, um, yeah, I could do it. My challenge took on a life of its own.
But here’s the reason I decided to eat meat again.
Valentina cooks almost constantly. Every day, there are amazing meals being whipped up at our house. The sights of all the foods alone are almost overwhelming. It is 24/7 hardcore food pornography. And the aromas: I imagine that it’s like living above a top-notch restaurant. Or rather, living inside a top-notch restaurant.
I decided that in passing up many of the meals Valentina cooked, I was being wasteful. Valentina — and her skill — was being wasted on me!
Valentina should have a husband who can fully appreciate her talents.
If I were married to an accomplished painter, would I tell her that I’m not a fan of the color green?
If I were married to a great poet, would I tell her that I don’t much care for nouns?
Does Brad tell Angelina that he isn’t interested in the dramatic arts?
In short, should Valentina have a husband who doesn’t fully appreciate her? Should she have to put up with that?
The answer, of course, is no.
We’ve been married twelve years. It’s been great — and I feel very fortunate. Brad and Angelina should be so lucky.
And I think I’ve finally got my head on straight now.
Because I didn’t want Valentina to divorce me, I decided to start eating meat again.
~ Stephen
And there you have it. 🙂
And as promised, I’m sending an awesome gift to the randomly selected winner of my contest. As I explained here, you didn’t have to come up with the right answer to enter — you only had to make a guess. That said, I LOVED reading your comments — and many of you were right in one way or another.
The winner will be receiving:
A hardcover copy of Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat – Not only does this fantastic book have over 200 great recipes, but it’s also about finding and cooking sustainable meat — grass-fed and pastured meat. After reading this book, you’ll understand why in my recipes, I often say to use “preferably grass fed meat.”
Digital Meat Thermometer – If you cook with meat, poultry, etc., and don’t have one, you simply must.
And now for my 16 Best Meat Recipes! Here are the links for the delicious recipes pictured here:
1. Grilled Coffee-Balsamic Flank Steak
2. Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Pork Chops
3. Braised Brisket Stew
4. Jalapeño Pepper Jack Turkey Burger
5. Honey-Lemon Roasted Chicken
6. Spicy Sriracha Meatballs
7. Andho-Red Wine Roasted Chicken
8. Rosemary-Honey Turkey Meatballs
9. Perfect Pulled Pork
10. Grilled Mediterranean Flank Steak
11. Sweet Pepper Baked Chicken
12. Blackberry-Thyme Roasted Chicken
13. Curried Tomato Beef Stew
14. Spiced Tortilla Chip Crusted Pork Chops
15. Grilled Rib-Eye Steak Marinated in Asian Spices and Korean Pear
16. Muscato Grape-Shallot Pork Chops
Cheers!
Love this! And his reason is far better than my guess. Cheers to both of you! xoxo
Thanks, Jeanne. (I think all of the guesses were part of it.) 🙂 xo
What a lucky girl you are to have such a sensitive guy and Stephen – love your sense of humor! and good looking too! Thanks for the reveal.
Patricia – LOVE this comment. We both do. XO
He is a wise man. I wouldn’t want to lose you, either!!
P.S. – I love having your compilations of favorite recipe like this! I have only made to of these – I have work to do!! xo
Thanks, David!
Awww, David, you’re too sweet. Thank you. XO
What a great answer. Your husband is a keeper! 🙂
Thanks, Cathy — Though while I love what Stephen wrote, he might have embellished a tiny bit. 😉 Might.
He’s eating meat for you. He wrote a blog post for you. He allowed his photo to be shared for you. True Love.
And he makes “emergency” trips to the store for ice cream. 😉 Thanks, Mimi. XO
Aww…. I love this post!!! Think it should be required reading for ALL married people!! Welcome back to the land of omnivores… and let me tell you – Brad Pitt’s got nothing on you!!!
We love your comment, Nancy! XO V
Sounds like he’s as lucky to have you as you are to have him. So sweet!
Awww thanks, Kelly. He’s a good one. 😉
Ha! While I assumed it was for health reasons like me (I just started again after 4 vegan years and many vegetarian years), I loved his answer! Excited to try some of your recipes, as cooking meat is not my forte.
Thanks Stephanie! I do think he was thinking about all the additional protein, too. (Though I’d like to think it was all about my cooking.) Hope it’s going well for you — I always think these major changes in diet are easier when you’re a cook — so I hope that’s helping you. 🙂 V
That is such a great reason!! You’re a lucky woman, Valentina! He’s a keeper! 😉 Enjoy your meat filled meals together, and I love all your meat recipes and pics!! Wow!
Thank you, Christina. Yes, it’s been so fun cooking one thing for the whole family, and sharing in restaurants. xo V
Guessed at the answer, and I was right. The experience sounded familiar… I was a vegetarian for 15 years, about 12 of those were the early years of my marriage. At a Chinese restaurant one day, Larry kind of whined “you aren’t very fun to share food with.” Since it was a big goal of mine to stay married, I figured I’d done my body and the planet 15 years of good. So there ya go. We’re married 37 years so far.
Patti, I LOVE your story! And now cooking so much and being so involved with the food world, isn’t it great to eat it all? Thanks for sharing this! 🙂
Hysterical. And beautiful recipe round up.
Thank you, Dana. 🙂 V
Love this post. GREG
Thanks, Greg! XO
Best. Reason. EVER!
I’ll tell him you said so, Dorothy. 😀
Ha! isn’t he adorable.
PS: I am making ‘Valentina’s pork’ again today (true story!) I’ll send you a photo of the way we end up eating it which is slightly different that your tacos with pickled tomatoes.
Thanks so much, Margot! He is pretty adorable. 😉 Would love to see your food pics.
Love your blog, and your recipes. Keep them coming
Paula from Dallas
Thank you so much, Paula! So appreciate you spending time on my site. 🙂