Marinated Grilled Steak

This picture really doesn't do this any good ... but, trust me this was fantastic!

MARINATED GRILLED STEAK

What you need:

Steak (I used around 5.5 lbs. top sirloin)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg. fajita seasoning
1 pkg. McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning
1 pkg. Italian dressing mix
1 can Sprite
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

How you do it:

Trim steak of any fat you don't want. Slice steak into strips about 1/2-inch thick. Be sure to cut cross-grain ... this tenderizes the meat so your teeth don't have to. In a gallon-size Ziploc bag, mix together garlic, and seasoning packets. Pour in Sprite and Worcestershire sauce. Shake to blend together. Add steak strips. Seal bag removing air as best as you can. Massage the steak for about 30 seconds. Place in fridge for at least six hours. Remove bag and massage steak every hour if possible. Heat grill and place steak on grill at low heat. Grill for about 3-5 minutes each side.

Grilled Potatoes & Crepes

Okay, so I know those two types of food really don't sound good together ... so thankfully, I didn't make them at the same time! The first thing I want to put on here is some grilled red potatoes.

Before I prepared my potatoes I lined my grill with foil, and then turned it on to heat it to medium-high. First I cut my red potatoes into roughly 1-inch cubes. Then, I put them in a ziploc bag and poured about 1/4 cup of Kraft Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette (YUM!) and shook that around. Once those got coated well enough, and my grill was ready, I poured them onto the foil.
Just a few tips that I discovered while I was grilling the potatoes. DON'T keep opening the grill. I was also grilling some corn, so I was opening the grill around every three minutes or so to turn my corn. But, it took my potatoes much longer to cook because I was letting the heat out every time I opened the lid. DO turn the potatoes occasionally to prevent sticking to the foil, and burning. You want them to look grilled, not charred. There is a chart for grilling vegetables in the summer Kraft Food & Family magazine that says red potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes will only take around 20 minutes to cook. I cooked mine for around 20-30 minutes and they still weren't very tender. Still yummy, though. So, plan on a little extra time if you do potatoes.

(BTW, on this plate I have Country Salisbury Steaks with my potatoes and corn. They were pretty good. Basically like little meatloaf patties (made with stuffing mix instead of bread crumbs), baked then covered with a semi-barbecue sauce.)

Now, onto the crepes. I really wanted to share a recipe with you because I was out last week, and since I didn't really use a recipe for the potatoes, I thought I'd add this one.

Before we left for our trip we had to get rid of some milk and eggs, plus I had some leftover whipped cream from the chocolate pie we ate the week before; so, I made crepes one morning for breakfast. Not the most nutritional breakfast because my children won't eat them with fruit in them, but crepes are super tasty when you add any number of ingredients to their middles. I'm sure you've seen crepes with ham and cheese, turkey, raspberries and cream cheese, etc. Every Friday after Thanksgiving, as early as I can remember, my mom would make crepes and we'd roll up the left-over turkey in them. Sometimes even add the stuffing. Then, we'd pour gravy over the top ... and that was our dinner. (Maybe I'll show you those after Thanksgiving this year.) SO YUMMY! Alas, my husband isn't as thrilled with those crepes; he likes his crepes to be sweet. So, let's get started!
CREPES

1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 eggs

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add milk and remaining ingredients. Blend in blender to get smooth texture. Pour scant 1/3-cupfuls into lightly buttered skillet while turning pan to coat bottom. Fill and serve. Filling suggestions: sugar (my children's favorite), berries and fruit, cream, cream cheese, lunch meat, cheese.

My mom had a crepe maker, like this one that she used all the time while I was growing up. It was super easy to use. Basically, you pour the crepe batter into a pie plate (or a dipping dish, like the one that comes with this pan), then turn the crepe maker upside down and dip the top of it into the batter, then turn it right side up and it cooks really quickly -- no turning necessary. This kind of pan yields super thin crepes.

But, if you've ever eaten crepes at a restaurant like "Magic Pan Crepe Stand," or "European Connection," or "Village Inn" you know that the crepes you get there are kind of thick, yet not as thick as pancakes. Those are the kind of crepes that we can make at home with a standard skillet. So, first you pour the batter into the skillet, like so:

And after that, your crepe should look like this:

Now, here's the tricky part. You have to flip the crepe to fully cook the other side. The tricky part about it is making sure you turn it at the right time. I find that when the crepe's edges start to turn away from the sides of the pan that I can slide my spatula around the edges of the crepe, then lift it up and flip it over. This takes getting used to and knowing your pan really well. The first time I made crepes in my stainless steel pan I ruined the first few before I got used to it. (I'd been making them in a non-stick pan before.) So, after you flip the crepe, here's what it will look like:

Then, you turn the side that looks the best down on the plate and put your filling on the less-asthetically-pleasing side. Then, you can roll, or fold the crepe.

**Oh, one more hint: I usually make a double batch because I like to snack on them throughout the day when I make them. But, you can make a double batch and freeze the leftovers for up to three weeks. Just layer a sheet of wax paper (or parchment paper) between each crepe, and then wrap them in wax paper and foil before placing them in the freezer.

Marinated Grilled Chicken

MARINATED GRILLED CHICKEN

8-9 chicken breasts, thawed (I always get the frozen, boneless, skinless at Costco)
3 parts Sprite
1 part Worcestershire sauce
2 pkgs. fajita seasoning mix (I only used one mix of each and my husband said that there could have been more seasoning, so I suggest using 1½ - 2pkgs)
2 pkgs. Italian dressing mix

Shake, or stir, everything together except chicken. Pour over chicken, and either place in large Ziploc bag, or in a COVERED dish. Then place the chicken in the fridge for at least 1 hour to marinade. The longer, the better.


This is very important: always, always, ALWAYS cover and place your marinated meat in the fridge. It prevents bacteria from growing on the meat. I've been to someone's house in which they had the meat marinating uncovered, ON THE COUNTER! Needless to say, I didn't eat any of it, and neither did anyone in my family. It's just not sanitary, or safe!

Anyway, I'm off my soap box now.

Now, I skewered some of my chicken and some of it I didn't. It's your preference. But, if you're going to cut the chicken and skewer it, do that before placing it in the marinade. It's just not as messy.

Preheat the grill to medium high, then place the chicken on the grill. Grill them for about 4-5 minutes each side, for breasts, and just watch the skewers, turning them as needed until they are browned to your liking (I prefer mine almost black, but that's me!).

We also grilled corn on the cob. So easy! Shuck the husks off the corn, then wrap them in foil. Place them on the preheated grill for 15-20 minutes. I would suggest drawing a line, or a little smiley face or a picture of some sort on the foil so you know how far you've turned them to make sure all the corn is cooked. We had some that on one side the corn wasn't cooked. But, they were so yummy!