Recipe Swap - Marinated London Broil

Grilling was the theme for the latest life board (aka, not the cooking board) recipe swap. SP loves London broil but I've never been a fan of just grilling it because I feel like it needs more flavor. Enter this delicious marinade.


I marinated the London broil overnight and the smell that wafted out of the bag when I opened it up the next evening was intoxicating. I thinly sliced the steak and made a sandwich for lunch the next day. Delicious.

Marinated London Broil
Recipe from Harriet

1 London Broil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1-1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2/3 cup olive oil

Mix all the ingredients in a large Ziploc bag. Refrigerate overnight. Use paper towels to wipe off the excess marinade before grilling. The marinade can be boiled and used as a dipping sauce.

Catching Up

I've been horrible about updating this blog lately. Ever since having Baby Girl I've lost my groove in the kitchen. Being a working mom with a child who goes to bed at 7pm every night, I don't have much time for cooking. Or desire, to be honest. Over the past few months I've been very sporadic about even photographing meals, let alone blogging. I've decided to try to get back into it, though, so here's a look at what we've eaten recently.

A cheesesteak hoagie:


Breaded chicken, rice pilaf, green beans and sliced fresh tomato with basil:


Takeout shrimp scampi over spaghetti (insanely delicious):


Panfried chicken with boxed scalloped potatoes and tomato and avocado salad:


Steak dinner with corn fritters, loaded baked potato salad and sliced tomatoes:


These corn fritters are SO amazing:

I made up my own recipe for loaded baked potato salad, which included bacon, scallions and cheddar cheese:

The next night I used leftover corn fritters as a bed for ham and fried eggs:

This recipe for cheesy chicken with mushrooms was simple and delicious:

The cheese-stuffed tomatoes were good, but not cheesy enough:

Grilling

On one of many gorgeous days we had in April we decided to grill some steaks. My supermarket was having a deal on fresh mozzarella so I bought a few tomatoes, some basil and the mozzarella for caprese salad:


SP cooked the steaks perfectly, nice and charred on the outside and rare in the middle:


I don't eat a ton of red meat but there is something so satisfying about cutting into a well-cooked steak and eating that first juicy bite.

Grilled Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Caesar Salad

The weather was downright warm yesterday so SP decided to break out the grill. He picked up a few sirloin steaks that we cooked on a very hot charcoal grill simply seasoned with salt and pepper:


They got a nice char on the outside but were perfectly rare on the inside. I also made mashed potatoes with scallions and grated cheddar cheese. We're growing tired of our usual veggies, so SP suggested Caesar salad:


I had to combine two recipes for the dressing because we were out of Dijon mustard. I tossed the dressing with chopped romaine lettuce and croutons.

Caesar Salad Dressing

1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons anchovy paste (or 2 anchovy filets)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1/2 cup mayo
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Combine lemon juice, anchovy paste, cheese, mayo, garlic, white wine vinegar and Worcestershie sauce in blender. Blend until smooth and then drizzle in oil while blender is on. Season with salt and pepper.

Grilled Steak Dinner

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately, so we wanted to have a nice summery meal. I got some beets at the farmers market by my office so I made another beet, goat cheese and arugula salad:


I also got some corn, cherry tomatoes and cilantro at the market for my grilled corn salad:


I realized I didn't have any red onion so I had to sub shallot. It wasn't quite the same, but it still worked well. We bought some sirloin steaks at the Amish butcher. SP got the grill nice and hot and cooked the steaks perfectly:


Just look at that char. Gorgeous. I seasoned the steaks simply with salt and pepper and finished them with a little sea salt once they came off the grill. Here's my plate:


We also had baked potatoes with sour cream and fresh chives. I made a rosemary butter to melt over the steaks:


It was a fantastic dinner. I love the flavor the grill imparts to anything you put on it.

Fourth of July

We had a quiet Fourth of July this year, which is pretty typical of most years. My parents are always in Maine this time of year, my mother-in-law was at another son's house, no one we knew was throwing a party...even our neighbors are out of town. We did a little shopping, rode our bikes around the neighborhood and then went to the farmer's market in town to get ingredients for dinner.

We started with a mozzarella, tomato and basil platter:


I wish I could say this was a tomato from my garden, but mine aren't nearly ripe enough yet. But it was grown locally and was very flavorful, especially with the milky, creamy mozzarella and the basil (which was from my garden). While I was getting the platter assembled and microwaving the baked potatoes, SP was grilling up some steaks we got from the Amish butcher:


The steaks are hormone-free and very flavorful, and the same price (if not cheaper) then what we saw at the grocery store. I served the steaks with a rosemary butter and chopped fresh chives for our baked potatoes.

Happy Fourth of July!!

Steak, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli

I told myself I wasn't going to cook this week. I just didn't want the stress of having to grocery shop, plan meals, worry about SP starving while I got dinner ready, etc. There's just too much else going on. Usually SP would take over in the kitchen, but his work schedule gets him home pretty late as it is, so we just decided take out was the way to go. Then I got sick. Then he started feeling sick. And by Thursday we just wanted to relax at home. I got out of work at a decent time so I stopped at the store on the way home and picked up two sirloin steaks, 2 huge baked potatoes and 2 heads of broccoli crowns.


This was a very simple, yet incredibly satisfying meal. And it took no time at all. I scrubbed the potatoes and threw them in the microwave for about 25 minutes. Done. The broccoli I just trimmed into large florets and steamed, then tossed with butter, salt and pepper. Done. While SP got the grill going I seasoned the steaks with salt and pepper and made a rosemary butter. I also snipped some chives for our baked potatoes. Dinner was ready in 30 minutes and we even sat outside to enjoy the nice break from the heat wave we've been having.

I just have to say, the chives on the baked potato were outstanding. We both commented on how incredible the flavor was. Something so simple and yet it was really tasty. Thanks for sharing the chives with me, Mom!

And a word about the steaks - the portion pictured above is about a third of one steak. I bought two steaks (totalling 3 pounds) so we'd have plenty for lunches the next day. And the kicker - the sirloin steak was on sale for $2.99/pound, so this entire meal cost less than $15. Score!

Christmas Eve

Since we do a lot of running around on Christmas Day, SP and I like to spend a quiet evening at home on Christmas Eve. We like to have some kind of seafood for dinner and this year was no exception. I fried up some calamari rings and served it with some of the leftover marinara from Sunday's pizza:


I tossed the rings in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and fried them in hot vegetable oil. Unfortunately I forgot the lessons of last year and crowded the pan, which meant the calamari didn't get that nice golden brown color. They were still good though, especially tossed with the red pepper flakes and chopped parsley.

SP mentioned a recipe from his childhood for Steak Diane and asked me to make that for Christmas Eve. The recipe calls for filet mignon, but after searching three supermarkets we gave up on finding any (it's a rather popular cut of meat for this season). SP bought a few pieces of sirloin and I made the dish using Emeril's recipe:


SP also asked for baked potatoes, which we had with butter and sour cream, and I rounded out the meal with creamed spinach made with frozen chopped spinach, heavy cream, salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.

Steak Fajitas

SP had a craving for fajitas so he picked up a flank steak at the wholesale club and grilled it simply with salt and pepper.


We had all the usual fixings - sour cream, cheddar cheese, slow-cooked onions and peppers and homemade salsa - but unfortunately the avocados didn't look good at the store so we didn't have guacamole.

Dinner at C & T's

Last night we went to CC & TC's house for dinner. The food was incredibly yummy and we had a great time. The other T at the party brought his famous tomato bruschetta:


... that was so amazingly good I ate at least 5 pieces. The thing I liked the most was that the tomatoes were pureed instead of in chunks. I hate biting into a piece of bruschetta and having all the tomatoes fall off the bread. In keeping with the Hawaiian luau theme, H brought a mango, avocado salsa:


... that was sweet and flavorful. We couldn't stop eating it and decided it would be great served on grilled fish or chicken.

T had leftover mozzarella from the bruschetta so he threw together a quick mozzarella, tomato and basil salad drizzled with 18-year-old balsamic vinegar and a splash of olive oil:


While we noshed on the appetizers we helped TC finish skewering the meat and vegetables:


She had chicken, shrimp and flank steak that we skewered with pineapple, red onion, mushrooms, green and red peppers and yellow and green squash. Then she drizzled everything with an island marinade that was sweet and spicy and oh-so-good.

TC rounded out the rest of the meal with a salad:


... made with lettuce, strawberries, blue cheese and toasted almonds. The sweetness of the strawberries mixed with the crunch of the almonds and the tang of the blue cheese was excellent.

She also made a tasty pasta salad with avocado, tomato, fennel, roasted corn and pine nuts:


... as well as some jasmine rice to sop up all the good juices from the skewers:


Some of the skewers hot off the grill:


My plate with two shrimp and one chicken skewer, rice, pasta salad and regular salad:


And for dessert:


... grilled peaches and pineapple over toasted angel food cake with a drizzle of red wine sauce. Decadent and tasty, the perfect ending to the meal. Thanks TC and CC for a wonderful night of good food, good friends and good music!

Steak and Salad

With the heat index in the mid-90s today we decided to keep dinner light and simple. SP wanted to marinate a London broil for the grill and he managed to find a really amazing marinade on the Food Network Web site.


We had a bounty of vegetables from my parent's co-op box so I thought a salad would be a great side for the steak. I cut up some scallions, broccoli, red cabbage, grape tomatoes and avocado and tossed it with a variety of lettuces. I dressed my salad with more of that chipotle ranch dressing. I wanted to make my own dressing but SP wanted to use blue cheese and I didn't want to make dressing just for myself.

SP Does Meat and Potatoes

Tonight SP fired up the grill and cooked a big ol' piece of sirloin and some corn. We also had Yukon gold mashed potatoes. For the corn I made a cilantro mayo, which tasted really fresh and vibrant:


I'm way too tired these days to plate my food well, but here's a shot of the perfectly grilled meat - pink on the inside and charred on the outside:


And the fluffy, buttery mashed potatoes: