Fajitas

This is my all-time favorite recipe for fajitas.  The marinade makes a really flavorful meat.  SO tasty!!

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup lime juice
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mesquite liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Flank steak

Reserve for Later:
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
1 dash salt
1 dash black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil 

1 large Spanish onion, sliced thin 
1/2 green pepper, sliced thin 
1/2 red pepper, sliced thin 
1/2 yellow pepper, sliced thin

Combine the lime juice, water, oil, garlic, soy sauce, salt, liquid smoke, peppers, and steak in a ziploc bag, cover, and refrigerate overnight.  Discard leftover marinade.  Grill meat over medium flame 4-5 minutes on each side. Cut meat into thin strips.  Set aside and keep warm.

Combine the 2 Tbls. water, soy sauce, lime juice, salt, pepper and olive oil.
set aside.  Cook onion and peppers in oil until crisp tender.  Remove from heat.  Pour reserved mixture over onions and peppers.  Combine meat, onions, and peppers.  Serve with warm tortilla, guacamole, sour cream. 

Italian Beef Tenderloin

This is very flavorful and almost melts in your mouth. The cut of meat is expensive, but it is worth it! I did make this in a crock pot with a regular rump roast. You still get the flavor and it does make a yummy roast. Although, I do recommend the tenderloin the most.
Ingredients:
Beef tenderloin roast (4-5 lbs.)
2 TBSP. olive oil
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. minced garlic

Gravy:
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 TBSP. butter
1/4 cup water
1 TBSP. corn starch
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. tomato paste
1 can beef broth
2 cups portabella mushrooms, sliced

Directions: Take the first set of ingredients and combine all the spices in a bowl. Take the olive oil and spread over the roast. Then coat the roast with the spices. Brown until a crisp outer coating on all sides. Then place in a roasting pan on a rack and roast it at Bake 425 for 35-40 minutes, rotating occasionally. Then remove from the oven, cover with tinfoil and let sit for 20 minutes before slicing.

Gravy: Saute the onion and mushrooms in the 2 TBSP. butter, mix the corn starch in the 1/4 cup cold water and add to the onion/mushroom mixture. Add the can of beef broth and the tomato paste and mustard. Bring to a boil and then simmer until thickened. Serve over the roast.

Slow cooked Pork Ribs

I made some ribs for dinner tonight. Yum, were they ever good! The kids ate them all up and wanted more! I really thought the sauce was good. I left out the cayenne pepper, as my kids don't like it spicy. They sure tasted good with garlic, smashed red potatoes. I was just missing the bloomin' onion! I did have to tweak the recipe a bit to make it work with my work schedule. I actually cooked them most the way the night before, then put it in the fridge overnight and finished up the next day. They were great. Perfect way to make ribs in the winter when you don't want to go outside and use the grill! Brown the ribs and then season them with a mixture of: 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. onion powder, 1/2 tsp. garlic salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper (This is enough for one rack of ribs). Bake in the oven, covered in tinfoil at bake 275 for 3 hours. Then I put it in the fridge overnight and finished the next day. But you can just dump the sauce over it and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.

Sauce:
2 medium onions, chopped
1 TBSP. minced garlic
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup water
1 cup spicy ketchup
3 tablespoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Liquid Smoke
2 teaspoons ground mustard
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional (I didn't use it)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Saute the onions and garlic in the butter until soft. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Pour over ribs and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Serve.

Grilled Flank Steak

This is a really yummy recipe for grilled flank steak. Marinate it overnight for best flavor. It cooks up really fast. You basically just have sear it on both sides. You want it to have a slight pink line in the middle (this one could of come off the grill a bit sooner, but it was still good). Then you cut it on a pretty sharp angle. It's got really great flavor.

Cut the mean 1/4 inch deep cross grain, 1" apart and marinate. Sear on grill both sides, serve a little pink.

Marinade Ingredients:
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP. red wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp. pepper

As your grilling, lightly sprinkle on some kosher salt, if you like. I think the soy sauce gives it enough salt flavor, but I'm careful with salt.

Shiskabobs and Grilled Veggies

I'm not really great at taking pictures of the food. I promise you...it tastes better than it looks! This recipe for the marinade for shiskabobs I got from my sister-in-law Denise. We love it so much though, so it's a regular around here. It sure tasted yummy tonight! I usually use top sirloin, but I have used more expensive cuts as well. With as long as it marinates, I think top sirloin is great! Tonight I bought some zuchinni, summer squash, asparagus, sweetpotatoes, and butternut squash and grilled them. They were delicious! My favorites were the asparagus and the sweet potatoes, but all the vegetables tasted delicious. Marinade Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
10 TBSP. cider vinegar
4 tsp. onion powder
5 tsp. celery salt
3 tsp. garlic salt
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt (I prefer kosher)
5 tsp. oregano leaves
2 1/2 tsp. pepper
5 TBSP. prepared mustard
5 small bay leaves

Bring all the ingredients to a boil, stirring well and pour 1/2 mixture over your cut up steak and refrigerate overnight (I usually just do the morning of). The remaining mixture pour over chopped vegetables (onions, peppers, mushrooms). Place on skewers before grilling and grill.

Grilled Vegetables:
Sliced Vegetables (sweet potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, asparagus)
2 TBSP. olive oil
2 TBSP. McCormick Vegetable seasoning (Perfect Pinch)?

Slice the vegetables long and thin. Put in a ziploc bag and toss to coat. Grill.