Laura's Grilled Flank Steak

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
3/8 Cup Veg Oil
1 1/2 Tbs Oriental Sesame Oil
5 Garlic Cloves minced
3 Tbs minced Ginger
6 Green Onions White and Green parts trimmed and minced
1 (2-21/2 lb) Flank steak
Salt
Fresh ground pepper

Process first 6 ingredients in a blender for 1-2 minutes
Reserve 1/3 of marinade for basting
Rub Steak with salt and pepper
Combine steak and Marinade in large zip lock bag for 1-2 days
Remove steak from marinade and discard marinade
Grill steak 4-5 inches above hot coals for 5 minutes each side for rare - or to your liking
Basting occasionally with reserved marinade - Steak may also be broiled

TIP - always bring meat to room temp before grilling to reduce cooking time and ensure more even cooking.

This was very simple and taste. I love prepping food the night before so that when I get home from work dinner is effortless and delish! I am not very good at choosing meat so I admit I took quite a while searching out with Steak to buy and honestly I don't remember what I picked and will have the same look of confusion next time i am in the Meat section of the grocery store. I added a baked potato and a summer salad that my sisters MIL made while I was in NY. Tomato, Cucumber and Onion drizzled with Oil and Vinegar salt and pepper. I still need to work on my proportions because hers def tasted better than mine but i'll keep at it.

Missin My Kitchen

This summer has thrown me thru a loop. With me changing job locations and a husband who likes to globe trot - we lost all semblance of normalcy and routine. I wont lie it took a much bigger toll on me that I expected and the last 2 months have been pretty tough.

 Mentally I have been counting down to September when I expected things to slow down. It has been my excuse for every thing. When will I start to eat healthy? In September. When will I make it back to church? In September. When will I keep my house clean? In September. When will I start working out? In September. Well I've got 2 weeks and a lot to do so I'm attempting a just start.

I spent last week with my family in New York and then we spent the weekend in MD with the Hub's family celebrating the BEE-U-Tee-Ful wedding of his brother! After a nightmare of a Southwest flight we made it home at 1am. Thankfully I was off today and took advantage of the day to get my Sh*t together. DR appointment rescheduled - check, Bills paid - check, Vet price quotes for neuter and shots - check, Mountains of dirty clothes washed and folded - check. but the biggest thing to tackle - grocery shopping.

It all started with a "little" List

That turned into this

That finally enabled me to bring back MENU MONDAY for 2 weeks! And the double bonus - I will tackle 5 family recipes! Tomorrow marks 10 months in and I still have a lot of cooking and baking to complete or else I may request an extension to complete this experiment!

Woo hoo this excites me! So here is whats planned for this week.

Monday

Chicken Pot Pie - by Aunt Jeanne

Cheesy Rice & Beans - by Aunt Jeanne

Tuesday

Taco Tuesday - @ Tijuana Flats

Wednesday 

Flank Steak - by the Newest MRS. Fij (as of Saturday to be exact)

Baked Potato

Tomato Salad

Thursday

Ham

Scalped Potatoes - again by the new MRS

Friday

Grilled Chicken & Veggie Skewers

Grilled corn on the cob

Stay tuned for more recipes, reviews and menus!

Aunt Jeanne's Cheesy Rice and Beans

1 Cup uncooked Brown rice
1 Can drained Red beans (or half and half red & Black)
3 Tbs Margarine
1 Cup chopped onions (red/green peppers optional)
1/2 Cup chopped Celery
16oz can chopped tomato
2 Tsp chili powder
1/2 Tsp salt
2 Cups shredded cheddar of jack cheese


Cook rice
Saute onions, peppers and celery in margarine
stir in tomatoes, chili powder and salt
In a casserole dis layer mixture, rice and cheese
repeat and end with cheese

Bake at 350 45 mins

Aunt Jeanne's Chicken Pot Pie

2 pie Crusts
3 Cups cooked cubed Chicken
1 Can All Veggies drained
1 Cup Chicken broth
1 Cup milk
4 Tbs butter
4 heaping Tbs flour

Cook and thicken with flour. Pour into uncooked pie crust
Bake at 425 for 25-30 mins

A Chance to give back!

This is Ever - My Coasta Rician son - A child we sponser through World Vision.

How cute is he? When I searched through the pictures of kids up for sponsorship his eyes called out to me and I melted. *sigh*  He totally stole my heart!By sponsering him through World Vision the Hubby and I are helping provide him with clean water, food, and an education while at the same time supporting a dear friend.


I've know this great gal for over 6 years - we've seen a lot together and supported each other in every way. She is an inspiration to me. As long as I have known her she has been running.Not only does she run for health and fitness she also runs marathons for causes. Right now she is running with Word Vision in the ING race. For more details please check out her blog here  for more info and consider sponsoring a child yourself!

Tattoo Me

I admit I am a blog STALKER! Whats that? Some one who reads the blogs of strangers - in an attempt to reform my ways I've decided to read these publicly and admit to by habits and hopefully get to know these woment so that I can make a friend or two and  live a life of freedom . . . extreme? maybe a litte :)

I was reading this blog about the writers tattoo and knew I had to link up and share my story and thought it'd be a good step in my coming out of the blog stalker closet!

Growing up tattoos where so taboo! Accepted by some and loathed by others. I felt surrounded by those that condemned and looked down on others with tattoos, but I ALWAYS wanted one. I talked about it a lot (a way to get my parents used to the idea) My mom was the most against it. 18 came and went, though of legal age I didn't get one because I knew how upset my mother would be. I continued to express my desire to get one but made it clear with out her permission I wouldn't do it. Years continued to pass and then one day out of the blue she said it wouldn't bother her if I got a tattoo . . . what? excuse me? come again? Here I was 21 -  and when she told me I was allowed to get one and I jumped on it!

It was a while ago so I don't remember how log it took for her to tell me and for me to sit in that tattoo chair but it was not that long. My sister went with me and I was dead set I was going to get a dove with an olive branch. Once I got there and looked through the artist books I saw a flower I fell in love with and instantly changed my mind. I got that small flower and LOVED it. Went home to show it off to my Mom and Dad.

All was good after that but I got the bug! Its true what they say tattoos are addicting. I knew I would eventually want another one but didn't know what. My Dad like to tell me that the flower was missing some thing. It needed a leaf or a stem or SOMETHING. Well I took his advice to heart and added a little some thing. Not knowing what I wanted I let the artist draw free hand a design of flowers and stars.

My Dad says I took his words out of context and added a little more than he had in mind! But I instantly LOVED the entire design! A year later I added the treble Clef as a shout out to my love of music. 

My original intention was to do a knee to ankle sleeve but my artist is back in my home town of NY and I don't trust artist I down know (due to a botched shooting star on my hip done by an unknown artist) In addition to the price! This is an expensive addiction!

I will say that I get compliments ALL the time! I really think its elegant and expressive of ME so people who may not be a fan of tattoo's are won over!

Boom goes the Dynamite

I feel like this summer has been on fast forward. Its moving faster than Id like. Its been full of fun times and moments of separation from the hubs. Hes been traveling a lot which i may or may not be using as an excuse not to grocery shop or cook . . . shoot! Its true. Planning it out of the window and meals taste better when some one else does the cooking after a long day of work.

July 4th brought my nephew into town so days off have been spent running around with a 10 year old and making trips to Sarasota to spend time with him and my parents.

In the middle of this fun craziness . . . boom goes the dynamite and my computer DIED! I'm not sure what it is but it will not turn on. In his spare time the MR will take a look at it but there haven't been to many spare moments in the past few weeks. If he cant fix it we'll have to do some computer shopping as life sans computer is not an option for me!

I just came in from an afternoon at Siesta Key, and I may or may not be a little red! I thought I'd take a moment while soaking up the AC to explain my absence and give you a heads up regarding my lack of summer posts . . . while they may be few and far between for the next month of so I am not going any where so please continue to check back!