The Best Intentions...

It was supposed to be healthy.  Honest!  My husband suggested we grill some steaks and have a salad. Sounded good to me. We haven't had steaks in a long time and I am "out chickened" right now.  When I was purging my freezer last week, I had found a really nice ribeye steak that I had frozen.  I had actually had freezer bags when I put it in the freezer so it was not only in good shape but identifiable!  Now I only needed one more steak.  From there I perused my refrigerator and found (taking up half the space in there) 17 pounds of fresh spinach that I bought last week.  Ok, it wasn't 17 pounds but it was still way more then we would eat.  Why I felt compelled to buy this, I don't know.  So, I had the enlightened idea to make a spinach salad.  Spinach salads are one of those salads that are not quite as healthy as you think it will be(but sooo good)!  To push the whole meal over the edge I decided to make twice baked potatoes for the boys.  2 teenage boys don't think it's dinner without major carbs.  It's been years since I made these potatoes(very retro!) but they were a big hit with the boys.  At least my husband and I refrained. :)  So, it wasn't the most healthy meal, but oh, it was so good. We actually grilled the steaks out on the charcoal grill instead of the gas grill and they were to die for:

 If you are wondering why there is so much steak, it's because I sent my husband out to buy 1 steak!  The man cannot buy meat in small portions!!! :) We had enough left over that everyone will be taking steak salads for lunch tomorrow.  The potatoes were gobbled down by the boys:

And, the salad was the best!  I looked at about 10 recipes and then just decided to "wing it".  There wasn't anything left in the salad bowl tonight.  Will has even decided that he likes mushrooms. We might have to have this again this week as I still have pounds of spinach in the fridge!!

Spinach Salad

8 oz baby spinach, rinsed

2 cups sliced mushrooms

8 slices center cut bacon (or thick sliced if you prefer)

3 hard boiled eggs, sliced

dressing:

3tblsp reserved bacon fat

3 tblsp cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp mustard 

pepper(to taste)

Cook bacon in pan until crisp. Reserve 3 tblsp bacon fat and put aside.(With center cut bacon, this is about what I had in the pan). Without wiping pan, saute mushrooms until tender.  Put aside. Crumble bacon.  In small saucepan, whisk all ingredients for dressing over low heat. To serve, place spinach in bowl with mushrooms and bacon.  Pour dressing over salad and place egg slices on top.  Serve immediately.