By Stephanie D. Zimmerman, MSN

#FromScratch chronicles Stephie’s nutrition [r]evolution as she switches her thought process from “where should I eat” to “what should I eat”.  Follow her series as she braves the supermarket, starts to cook and explore a new way of eating.

Friday nights are date nights for me and my husband. We usually go out; however, I am a tad under the weather so we stayed in last night.

On the Menu:

1. a 4 oz Filet for me; 8 oz for him [pasture raised and grass fed]
2. a sweet potato for me; a russet for him
3. water for me; beer for him

Now, for the choreography of the meal…

I prepped the potatoes with EVOO [and] a sprinkling of sea salt before placing them in a 400F oven while John [my husband] took our son to the middle school hangout.

While he was gone, the filets were set out to come to room temperature. Upon his return, It was time to prep the filets. We began by coating them with EVOO, and that is where our culinary path divides.  

He chose to crust his filet in Montreal Seasoning [think salty, REALLY salty] while I opted for just a tad of freshly cracked sea salt.

The cooking of the steaks is John’s forte. He pan seared the filets, then finished them off in 400F oven. 

While he was busy searing, I was gathering the add-ons for our baked spuds. The only add-on we share is organic butter. In addition to butter, John likes freshly grated sharp cheddar, sour cream, [and] salt. I do allow myself a turn or two of the salt grinder to balance out the sweetness of the sweet potato.

Perfectly choreographed [and] executed; no bruised or broken toes [and] filets that melted in our mouths. 

The beauty of the evening was simply being together, cooking together, bumping into one another as we crisscrossed the kitchen, then sharing the meal together.

Food does that; it brings people together; it’s bringing us together.