Grilling Steaks

Summertime in Wisconsin is when my grill really gets a workout. I am almost embarrassed to say my first gas tank on my grill lasted two years before fizzling out--with burgers on the grill! Maybe I just got lucky and got a super filled one? I really do grill a lot, but when it's just two people (or sometimes one) you don't need a ton of gas. And I have a Kwik Trip really close for exchanges, so those burgers never went to waste--the new tank was on before they could even cool down.

July 4th is a grilling day across this great nation and I partake every year. Obviously July 4th has a much bigger meaning than that, but if grilling out in our backyards definitely says freedom to me. Thank you to all our service folks--past, present, and future-- for this day of celebration. There is always a get-together somewhere and if I'm not "manning" the grill myself, I'm bringing something delicious to grill at someone else's event.

The Wisconsin Whisk group sent out an invite in June to do a BBQ blog hop and I was assigned grilled meat. So many recipes went through my head.

This year, we are fortunate to have two family's providing their grills to us on the holiday weekend. We are spending the 3rd with my guys family in the Appleton area. The adults are all getting steaks and the kiddos get hot dogs (they don't appreciate good meat yet!). On the 4th, we are spending time with my parents and not sure what will be grilled yet, but it will be something awesome.

Last weekend I had my folks over for an impromptu grill out. We marinated some steaks and thawed some 'dogs for the girls. Though steaks don't always need a marinade, when you don't spend top dollar, you can sometimes enhance a steak's flavor with a few key seasonings.

I have become a huge fan of vinegar and read a few years ago that it helps break down meat proteins to make them less tough. I don't want to take away from the grilled meat flavor too much so I keep my marinades simple and only on for a short length of time.

For our steaks, I made a simple marinade from Red Wine Vinegar infused with garlic, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, EVOO, salt, and pepper. See below for measurements for two small steaks.

I only let the steaks marinate for two hours and then brought them back to room temp before grilling so they would cook evenly. I am still mastering steaks on my gas grill as it has warm and hot spots. I am very cautious with overcooking, so I use a meat thermometer to check internal temp. And I always remember that food continues to cook even after removed from the heat. LET IT REST!

My parents brought over some thick petite fillets and though they only marinaded for a half hour, my parents still tasted the added flavor and were impressed. It added just enough extra to the meat without taking away from the quality that we bought.

On the side we had boiled corn on the cob, shrimp pasta salad, fresh watermelon, and peanut butter frosted chocolate cupcakes for dessert. This was a meal that scream cookout to my fiance and I. We were so happy with the turnout of everything. And yes in Wisconsin, watermelon and corn cobs are ready for the season, so eat up! Happy Independence Day Everyone!

Easy Steak Marinade (for 2 steaks)

1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup soy sauce
slightly < 1//8 red wine vinegar (I used a garlic infused)
1 Tbsp. EVOO
dash of salt
dash of pepper

Put all in a Ziploc bag with the steaks (we selected think filets, but it worked well with fat cuts too - about 1 lb meat total). Seal and turn end over end to get the marinade all over the steaks. Place in fridge and flip bag after 1 hour. Marinate 2 hours max. Grill to your liking and enjoy with your favorite side dish recipes.



See all the other participating Wisconsin Whisk bloggers' recipes at the link below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Grilling in Wisconsin

The weather was just too wonderful last week to not take more advantage of being able to grill out. I searched through my Pinterest posts and found Greek Kabobs that sounded amazing and Pinot Noir Burgers. I had almost everything in the house for both of these and set to work.


First up the Greek Kabobs. I thawed out some chicken breasts that I had in the freezer, sliced them in to thin pieces and then threw them in a Ziploc bag with the marinade. I didn't have Greek Seasoning, but I had almost everything that comprises it and made it myself. I omitted the marjoram. I let the chicken marinate while I made the avocado tzatziki sauce. I also soaked the skewers at this time to help prevent them from burning so quickly on the grill.

The sauce came together really easily and my only substitution was sour cream for Greek yogurt because I didn't have any in the house. While I let the chicken marinate a little longer, I made my potato packets. Using my mandolin, I chopped up potatoes and carrots and sprinkled them with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add other spices if you would like.  Spray the aluminum foil with cooking spray and then add a dab of butter to the top of the pile.

 

Then seal it up tightly so the steam doesn't escape. This went on the grill before the chicken because it was going to take a bit longer.

 I threw the packets on the grill and skewered up the marinated chicken.

The directions said to only have them on the grill for 4 minutes per side, but I found that it took a lot longer to reach a safe consumption temp for me. Maybe their grill was hotter than mine. But when they were done, they smelled amazing. Notice the charring on the skewers - even with the water, they still burned.

Then it was time to unwrap the potatoes and serve up dinner. Everything was great. The chicken came off the skewer nicely and the tzatziki was nice and refreshing. The Greek flavors really came through the meal. And as always, the potato packet was delicious and filling.

Next up were the Pinot Noir Burgers. I didn't have Pinot Noir in the house, but I had a bottle of New Age red that I substituted. I sauteed the mushrooms and onions in some of the wine and then set those on the side.

The burgers were a little moist because of the added wine, so we formed them and then set them in the fridge to firm up a bit before grilling them. I would suggest next time to really mash the burger into a ball as they are still very moist and crumbly on the grill. None fell apart and I have always heard that over-mixing the meat can make a tough burger.

With the burger, I also grilled up some pineapple and more potato packets.

Then it was time to assemble. I had Swiss cheese that we put on the bottom bun, topped by theburger and then the mushrooms and onions over the top. We did add a little Miracle Whip to the top bun for added flavor.

All said and done, the burgers were cooked medium well and had really great flavor. The pineapple was a great treat and the potato packets are always a great addition.

I will keep this on my repertoire as another way to make a grilled burger. I made some great ones for a Packer party in Fall for my friends and I think this ranks right up there with them.

Grilling Time

Last week Friday was a beautiful start to Spring. The temperatures reached into the 60s by mid-day and the sun was shining. Unfortunately the weather didn't look like it was going to stay for long and Wisconsin was going to be back into the 40s the next day.

So.....being the hostess that I love being, I texted my friend group and invited them over for my first grill out of the year. How I host a grill out is that everyone brings their own meat to grill and a side to share. I handle the grilling and supply a side myself, and then we eat, drink and talk about life. It sounded like I was going to have a great turnout and the Badgers were also playing that night in the NCAA Tournament and although I don't have cable, the bar nearby did, so we planned to walk there after dinner. 

I did a test run earlier that week with my grill. I hadn't been able to use it all winter because of a massive snowdrift on my patio. So when that finally melted, I opened up the gas on the grill, turned the knob and on the second try, it started right up. I planned to test the grill on marinated chicken breasts - thanks Sendik's. And for the side, I sliced up some veggies I had in the house, added some seasonings and grilled those as well.

The grill did it's job and cooked up the chicken perfectly. Last year, I bought a vegetable grill pan and it is my favorite piece of grilling gear. It is a metal pan and has small holes in it to release the moisture from the veggies but not have the veggies fall through.

Once everything was grilled up, I packaged it in my 9 X 13 pan with a lid and headed to my guy's place.  Have dinner, will deliver!

He was so surprised with what I brought for dinner. The pan kept the food warm and steamy so it didn't drive out on my short drive. Everything was delicious and we had happy bellies at the end.


Here's my veggie recipe:
Use any veggies you like that are great to grill - potatoes, asparagus, peppers, zuchinni, onion, carrots.
If you are using potatoes and carrots, they tend to take a little longer to grill than other veggies. I helped them out by steaming them in the microwave for a few minutes before grilling them.

Chop everything into bite-size pieces. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Add some Montreal steak seasoning and garlic powder. (I didn't have onion to grill up so I added a dash of onion powder as well). Add a dash of salt and pepper, toss the veggies around to coat and you are ready to grill them. I would suggest stirring the veggies around on the grill every 3 minutes or so to prevent pieces from burning. The EVOO helps prevent sticking but if you don't want to add the oil, spray both the veggies and the pan with cooking spray first.

When the veggies are done, transfer them to a bowl and add a Tbsp of butter to them. (You can skip this step).

Healthy Living Week 4

This week was a lot better for me. Though I did have one quite indulgent meal, I really was very well behaved for the rest of the week. I really watched my portion sizes and made sure that I knew exactly what I was putting in my body.

Friday night, my guy and I attempted to check out Tubby's outside of Whitewater. We pulled into the lot and already realized we were going to be waiting. We got inside and it was very crowded and we just decided to go somewhere else as we were starving. 

He suggested the Duck Inn and not being familiar with the area, I agreed. He used to be a bus boy back in the day, so I figured he knew what he was talking about. The place is a really cute old supper club style place with a very warm and inviting atmosphere. I'll do a full review next week, but we did enjoy ourselves.

Relish trays scream supper club in Wisconsin! Veggies with house made buttermilk ranch and two types of cold press cheeses for the cracker and breadstick basket. I sampled but didn't indulge.

Cashew Crusted Duck and T-Bone steak - Both were DEEEEE-lisious. Highly recommend ordering either. Full review to come. I only ate one piece of duck and that was plenty after filling up on the salad.

Saturday was Grill Day for me - I was so excited to get the grill and so thankful for my handy guy to put it together with a little help from the directions interpreter. Seriously Brinkman, I understand you provided multiple languages, but one of them written clearly would have sufficed.

Side note: Make sure the grill is going to fit in the vehicle before purchase. We had to take it out of the box to fit it in his Passat, which I would call an average size car. How to people buy larger things without owning a truck?

Anyways, She (I will have to name my grill soon -suggestions?) lit up just fine and grilled up some awesome bacon wrapped fillets, cheddar brats and pineapple. See the pineapple chunk under the grate - first fail by the operator of the tongs (yep that was me!)

Grilled veggies also accompanied the meal and I tried to fill up on those. They were spectacular. I am so excited to make many more meals on the grill.

Monday, I tried to copycat the Pairdd  meal. The salad turned out fantastic and my guy liked it too - he was skeptical at first but I got him to eat more than I thought he would. The salmon I made on the grill and I overcooked it just a little bit. It was still really tasty, but I think the Pairdd salmon was of higher quality and I will take that into account the next time I cook on the grill.

Do you like my new plate to display food on? That is compliments of my mother and my trip to IKEA on Sunday after my cousin's bridal shower. I think it makes my food stand out much better than my burgundy plates.

And now I'm back on my flat bread kick. This was an asparagus, onion, kale, spinach, pub cheese and mozzarella flat bread. I was trying really hard to get the flavor from the duck confit flat bread at Bernie's. This was my closest attempt yet, but still not quite there. And I didn't get the middle of the crust to crisp, even on "holy aluminum foil" Regardless, the flavors worked really well and I like the combo of kale and spinach a lot.

Yesterday I checked out my neighborhood and bit and found this nice trail to walk to get to Pick N Save.

When I got home, I was starving and realized a flat bread was again in my future after going down the frozen pizza aisle at the store and seeing some yummy DiGiorno crispy thin crust pesto pizzas. I had some pesto in my fridge, so I put a thin, very thin layer of pesto on the crust. Then I loaded it up with tomatoes, onion, spinach, mushrooms, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. I put the flat bread right on the rack this time and guess what....success! A deliciously crispy, crunchy flatbread in just 7 minutes!

So now that I have found the walking path and have found my love for veggies again (I haven't had meat in two days and I don't miss it!) I'm thinking week 5 is going to show some great progress. I just have to not eat the whole flatbread (whoops!). Probably would help if I only cook half the crust at a time.

So cheers to a new month being here already and warmer weather is coming, it just has to right? Let's keep up the good work together and Happy Eating!

Fall Tailgate Burger

Last month, I joined the BlogPal program and was paired with Amanda from Michiana (Michigan/Indiana border). We have been learning about each other and reading the other's blog to learn more about the person. Then this week we are writing on a common topic and share this with our followers.

We selected "Fall" as our topic and as a food lover myself, I have a few recipes to share with you and Amanda will be sharing some great Fall makeup tips that I will share with you when her post is live.

Being from Wisconsin and an avid Packers fan, I look for any chance to light the grill and cookout. Amanda grew up in Canada and she is a hockey fan. I bet she knows just as much on Hockey as I do on Football, so we will have to trade playbooks to help each other understand the games.

This Sunday, the weather was looking great and I invited my friends over for a football viewing party on the patio. I set up a tent to block the TV from the sun (that never showed) and a few sprinkles. 

My boyfriend made us burgers the weekend before that were so juicy and delicious, I asked for his recipe to make them for my tailgate.

I estimated 12 people coming and bought about 4 pounds of meat. I added all the ingredients of spices, onion, egg, etc. and got my hands dirty to hand mix it.

The main ingredients - but I added a few more to really make them my own

I pulled out my mom's scale and measured approximately 4 oz of meat for each burger.

My grandma used to have this fancy polish burger press, but the hinge snapped last year and so I have used two medium plates and wax paper to press the perfect burger.

I then let the pressed burgers sit in the oven for a few hours to marinate a bit more and then they were ready for the grill.

With all the action going on with the game, I forgot to take a final photo. We are avid Packer fans - even the 4-legged ones and so keeping my eyes on the game while watching the burgers meant no time for a picture.

He was giving the innocent puppy look all day to my mom!

My friends all brought a dish or two to pass and we had quite the feast. This would be one of my more successful Packer parties and the addition of watching the game outside really added to the affect. Let's hope for some more beautiful Sundays so this tradition can continue.


Tailgate Burgers
4# ground beef
1/2 purple onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. Worchestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp. A-1 Steak Sauce
1 Tbsp. McCormick Steak house onion burger blend
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp. garlic salt
1/2 Tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. Penzey's Turkish blend
1/4 cup (or less) bread crumbs
2 eggs

Add all into a large bowl, and with clean hands, gently mix together until evenly blended. Do not over mix or mix too aggressively.

Divide into 4 oz. meatballs and then press between two plates to form burger patties.  Let rest for 1 - 2 hours in the fridge. Bring out 1/2 hour before grilling to bring up to room temperature.

Heat grill and place patties over the heat and grill for 5 minutes per side or until cooked to your level of done (I like medium well). Add cheese in the last minute for a great cheese burger.

Move It Monday: 10k Training Begins

July starts today and we are officially half way thru 2013! I can hardly believe it.

Wisconsin was blessed with one of the most beautiful weekends of the year and I took full advantage.

View from my backyard on Friday evening.

Friday my grandma came over and Dad served up his amazing fish fry. We fry it outside so the house doesn't smell all fishy and the mess it kept outdoors. The fish was breaded in a cornmeal mix and the fries were lightly seasoned with Lawry's. We heated up the grill just to keep everything warm while more was frying.

Saturday, I walked the Summerfest grounds from end to end and only had to stop moving around 10 pm at Imagine Dragons. As you can read from here and here and here, no one was moving on the grounds! I also couldn't hear the band at all (straight back from the stage) and ended up making my way over to another side stage to actually hear music and move around. Didn't stay long enough to hear this one, (and I wouldn't have heard it anyways) but it sounds great and hope they come back to the BMO or Marcus Stage next year :)

Today, I spent some time out on the patio getting a little sun, and then decided to cook up a Skirt Steak from the #MKEFoodies picnic from last summer. It was from Red Meat Market and I highly recommend checking out their cuts. It got lost in the deep freeze (that I inventoried last weekend) and I'm glad I found it. I used this marinade on the skirt steak and to ribeyes and it was absolutely wonderful over a bed of greens. Seriously, try this marinade. So simple, yet sooooo good.

The grilled veggies were awesome as well. Used a little Penzey's Salad Elegant, EVOO and grill power to flavor up the potatoes.

 

Balsamic Vinegar, EVOO, salt and pepper on the zucchini. 

 

EVOO and Salad Elegant on the mushroom skewers. 

 

Finished product!

My parents went for a cruise yesterday and stopped at this Winery in Milton and of course they brought some home. The Pinot Noir was nice and mellow and perfect with the steak.

And then the real fun began....I started my 10k training for the Monster Quarter Marathon Run in Whitnall Park in October. I am not a fan of the app I started using as I can't see my distance and see how I'm doing. It's the 10k For Pink Free.

I warmed up for 5 minutes and then alternated 1 minute of running and 1.5 minutes of brisk walking for 20 minutes, and then a 5 minute cool down. I wish I could see my pace and how far I actually ran. Any suggestions are welcome for better apps to use!

I felt great on the whole run but let me tell you....Red Wing Blackbirds are vicious!!!! I was attacked twice on my route. The bird actually pulled my hair! Turning around and seeing the bird divebombing your head makes the bird seem like this

Suggestions on how to keep the birds from attacking my head? Maybe wear a light in my hair or aluminum foil? I know foil scares the birds from building nests on my parents garage lights. According to this video, they like the bouncing hair - maybe I need to wear a hat?

So now that I ended June on such a good note, I hope to continue this into July. I was hoping to be at a much lower weight and be a bit stronger by now, but well....I guess I let it slide. I hope to stay on track this time and have a fellow blogger that is going to help me stay accountable.