Lotta Leftovers!

So, Demontray (my god-son) and I were making or should I say getting ready to make Brookins Beef Stroganoff (from the American Beach Cookbook for those of you who haven't read any of the other posts)I tripled the recipe.  With two men in the house and Daddy taking  leftovers for work I thought this would be just right.  We went to Publix and bought a huge package of very cheap meat (bottom round) and brought it home and ran it through the tenderizer.  The recipe calls for beef shoulder or top round, but they were practically giving the bottom away so....bottom it was!  Anyway we cut our meat into the One inch wide and one-quarter inch thick strips just like it said.....all five pounds of it, and Demontray declares, "I want to go home today".  What!! I have five pounds of beef....ready to be browned!  We had washed it and lovingly patted it dry with paper  towels....all five pounds.....each piece....(everyone should know by now that if you don't dry the meat "it won't brown properly"  Juila Child taught us that.)  What do you mean you want to go home?, I asked. I'm sure I had a look on my face.  We just got started. What about browning this stuff?  With his usual fabulous smile and extremely loving hug, he looked me dead in the eyes and said..Oh that's okay.....you can do it.  I promise I'll be back on Monday!  And off he scooted....not before telling me ...I love you so much as he exited!  So I browned beef. All afternoon!  Montray is usually the browner of the family.  It's his thing..well one of them.  He feels like it's real cooking if you have to flip it in grease.  ....We do live in the south!  This recipe didn't call for dredging the meat in flour first.  Thank heaven!  Anyway it was absolutely delicious!  I'm a grits....you know girl raised in the south.  My southern cooking skills ARE what they should be!  But this cookbook takes my souther-ness cooking to a new level!  Imagine actually browning meat without flour! I had never heard of such a thing.  But there must be something to it. I was out of this world good.  Creamy gravy with wonderful savory flavors with a zing of lemon from the marinade.  Over egg noodles! Yummy!  The recipe was submitted by Melba Brookins Sunday.  Before the recipe it talks about Mrs. Sunday a bit.  Seems she cooks it just like her mother did years ago when they still used a wood stove.  It talks about her father being a builder of homes in our area.  It mentions that when the kids were in high school He bought them cars and when they finished college and decided to marry he built them homes.  It also shows a picture of Mrs. Sunday when she was still a Brookins from 1935.....putting on the sass a little with a new car.  In case you haven't seen this cookbook yet it's more like a memoir....that's what my girlfriend Kim says anyway.  It gives a lot of history on American Beach and having three God-children from a different race I thought it would be nice to give them a little local history that talks about their race also and not just what the white folks are doing all the time.  With  that said I think we all know that it is a very deep subject and history always involves everyone.  Speaking of everyone I'm getting ready to pass out my notebooks to some of the men involved in my book.  I'll start posting about them soon I hope.  I'm giving them notebooks with the instructions of writing down a bible verse each day and commenting on it.  What ever it means to them. The book is all about Jesus and the black male.  How He works in the lives of these particular men  or in some cases how He is not allowed to work for whatever reason.  The portraits will really speak to the readers I hope and give some insights into how we are all the same....yet different. And just because we're different doesn't mean you have to be afraid of one another.   The pictures will be accompanied by bible verses and bio-type text in the back.  It has been a major trip taking these pictures and getting to know the men and their families.  I am so grateful that our heavenly Father knew I would love  this, because I never could have come up with this on my own.  Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established.  Proverbs 16:3