My husband likes beef.  And to be honest, red meat or not, so do I.  However, now that we live in a smaller condo, complete with sprinkler system, I am going to have to figure out some other way to cook thick pieces of steak other than broiling.  Twice now I have set off the fire alarm while broiling, of all things, london broil. (Which, when you get it at Publix anyway, is a very thick, nice piece of top round that looks like a thick skinny steak.)  I think the one I cooked last night was over an inch thick. After having problems last time, I was prepared.  I turned on the vent and the boost for the fan, and I had 3 minutes left on the second side when the alarm went off.  (This is not the semi-annoying weak alarm that talks--my mother-in-law's says "fire, fire" in an electronic voice.) This is a full on wake up the downstairs neighbors hurts your ears alarm. We opened the patio door to the lanai and the windows in the front, and it didn't help.  Finally the alarm stopped, leaving us both relieved but wondering when does the sprinkler go off???  Anyway, I suppose I will have to see about other ways of cooking the london broil...maybe braising?  I don't think straight roasting would do it.

In addition to subscribing to Woman's Day magazine, I also get a recipe mailed to me every day.  Last week I received this recipe for Rustic Summer Squash Tart. It was actually in one of the recent magazines, but I had passed it by because of the blue cheese in calls for. Not my husband's favorite.  When I saw it in my inbox, I thought about it again and decided to make it anyway. I had a lonely pie crust that had been hanging out in the fridge since I had made the chocolate merginue pie for his birthday last month. I used a combination of zucchini and yellow/crookneck squash.  I might have used just a little too much, as I estimated the weight. I used dried marjoram, about 1/2 t, because I didn't feel like spending the money on fresh. I used gorgonzola cheese, which is a specific kind of blue cheese, and it was just the store brand, but I only used half and only on the bottom. I was too lazy to roast my own pepper. (It isn't the roasting, but removing the skin that gets me), so I bought a of roasted red peppers. With the price of bell peppers here, probably a bargain because a jar holds a lot of whole roasted peppers for like $1.99.  To buy fresh red peppers is something like $3.65 a pound.  Anyway, when I put the filling on the crust, it seemed like alot,  and I turned the edges up maybe just a little further than necessary to hold it in.  However, as the tart cooked in the oven, water cooked out of the squash and the filling seemed about right. Next time I will turn up less of an edge. It did look almost excatly like the picture, which was neat.  And, my husband ate it.  Not a huge giant piece, and he did comment on the cheese, but he ate it. He even suggested that it would make a nice appetizer if you spread the filling more thinly and could cut it into manageable pieces.

Speaking of pie, a while back I wrote about a peanut butter tart we tried.  The flavor was good, but the texture (with the gelatin) not so much. Then last month, I tried this chocolate meringue pie for my husband's birthday.  It had that best filling, but we weren't fond of the crust. (to be honest, I didn't make it from scratch and there is a good chance that the filling wasn't all the way cooled before I put it in the shell.)  So I decided to try to combine parts of both to see how it turned out. This may be only the second recipe I have created (someday I will make the mango brownies again and write about them here.)

1 chocolate cookie crust (I used an Oreo premade crust, but probably should have bought oreoes and made a crust, as it was a little small to hold all the filling.)

Stir together in a small bowl:
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
2 T melted butter
(it will seem like this doesn't want to combine, but just keep stirring)

2 eggs, separated (save the whites for merginue or another use)

Beat yolks with until light and fluffy:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
(it will seem like this isn't working, just keep going.)

Heat 3 cups milk in large saucepan on stove until almost boiling. (Surface will look shimmery and form a skin,  but don't let it come to a boil.) Slowly add 1/2 c hot milk to egg yolks and sugar.  (This is important--you want to heat up the yolks without cooking them.) Then add yolk mixture to milk in pan.  Whisk together and add 6T cornstarch.  Heat over low heat until starts to thicken.  Then turn up heat and simmer until very thick (it will start to look like pudding.) Remove from heat and add 1 t vanilla and peanut mixture and mix well.  Take a large piece of plastic wrap and press it on to the top of the pudding before placing pan in fridge to cool.  This takes several hours.  If you are in a hurry, put it in the freezer.  When COMPLETELY cool (which is where I messed up on the chocolate pie, because it was warm and made the crust soggy), spread into chocolate pie crust, cover and refrigerate.

You can use the 2 egg whites to make meringue as directed in the Emeril Chocolate Meringue recipe, but my husband opted to not have it that way. Instead, we had a can of whipped topping we squirted on instead. Again my husband liked this better than he thought he would, but I don't know we will have it again any time soon--so maybe one of you will try it instead!