Between birthday dinners and our recent trip to Colorado, Andrew and I have gone out to eat for an absurd number of meals in the last few weeks, so when the weekend arrived, a home-cooked meal sounded like a pretty fantastic date night plan.  Plus, with the warmer weather and extra light in the evenings, we were eager to bring the grill out of hibernation.

We went to the grocery store with the plan to buy chicken or pork–something lighter, as we’ve been eating a lot of heavy meals–but the organic steaks were 50% off.  How could we pass that up?

Back at home, as we were preparing the meal together, something occurred to me:  simple is better.  As much as I love cooking, creating, and trying new recipes, often the meals I find most satisfying are those that require the least preparation.  A little olive oil, salt, and pepper go a long way!

Here’s what was on our simple menu last night:

Grilled Strip Steaks

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Sweet Potatoes

(Plus grilled mushrooms and onions for Andrew…because he wanted to cook more things on the grill ;-))

The preparation:

–Sweet Potatoes: 1. Wash.  2. Poke holes with fork.  3. Put in oven at 425 for about 45 minutes.

–Brussels Sprouts: 1. Wash.  2. Cut off bottoms and remove any bad-looking outer leaves. 3. Slice in half.  4. Place sprouts in a bowl, add olive oil, salt, and pepper, and mix well.  5. Place in a foil-lined baking pan, and put in oven for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  (*I’d normally cook them at a lower heat, but because the sweet potatoes needed to cook as well, we rolled with it.)

–Steaks- 1. Coat with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  2. Place on grill at a medium heat for about 20 minutes.

So simple.  All that’s left to do is enjoy!

Mmm…

We each only ate about half of our giant sweet potatoes;  Andrew made it a little further with the 1/2 lb steak than I did, but we definitely have some leftovers. 🙂

Don’t underestimate the value of olive oil, salt and pepper;  simple is often better when it comes to creating a delicious meal!