Mother's Day

I am so behind on my postings.  I finally downloaded all my pictures from my camera to the computer which means no more excuses!  This year for Mother's Day, we all decided to put together a nice home cooked meal for my mom.  I saw a peppercorn steak recipe on Simply Recipes a while back and I was waiting for a moment just like this to make it.

I was also on the fence about making steak since it's hard for me to tell how done a steak is while I'm cooking it.  I usually like mine medium to medium well done so I end up overcooking them a lot.  I added mushrooms to the recipe for more flavor and I'm glad I did because I under-seasoned the steak.  Lets just say it looked better than it tasted.  I made the recipe again on a separate occasion using more pepper and added butter.  Much improved. 

We also had crab cakes, spinach salad, and seasoned potatoes on the menu.   I thought it was the perfect balance.  For dessert, I made panna cotta with strawberry balsamic vinaigrette.  Very yummy!