A Manly Meal

Happy Thursday! Who is ready for the weekend? I didn’t work on Monday, and my office closes at 2:00 tomorrow for Memorial Day weekend, but I have never been so ready for some time off.

Yesterday was a tough day at work, a tough day in general, and I didn’t have the most pleasant evening either. Hmph. I went to get a much needed cut and color at Rock Paper Scissors, one of the great perks in the Healthworks Blogger Bash swag bag last week. I am still in awe over the amazingness of those bags.

I tend to only review things that I love on the blog to keep it positive, so I will just say that based on my hair cut and color experience last night, I will be sprinting back to my hair men at Tips. To me it is worth it for the level of comfort and more importantly, hair cut and color experience that they offer. If you have specific questions please feel free to email me, and I will leave it at that.

SO back to the long holiday weekend! As you can tell by a few of my recent posts, I am all ready for summer. Grilling is one of those things that makes summer delicious and gives it that “easy like Sunday morning” feeling on a busy weeknight. Personally I go for the grilled veggies, especially zucchini and peppers dusted with a bit of black pepper and good olive oil. I can make an entire meal of grilled veggies!

My husband has made huge strides in learning about food and nutrition since I met him, fresh off the boat from Ireland. He started dating me when I was a strict vegetarian, and over the past 7 years, he has developed quite the appreciation for vegetables. Our diet is vegetarian about 5 days a week.

I do know that he enjoys meat though, so once in awhile, and especially when he is working a zillion hours a week, I like to make a delicious and different meal. I thought this post was timely as people will be barbequing this weekend, and this marinade is delicious!

I started with a few simple ingredients: honey, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic, and some grass fed beef.

I actually do the marinade/sauce in 2 separate parts. The actual marinating process involves coating the meat in ground black pepper and balsamic, then rubbing a generous portion of fresh ginger into it. I use a spoon so I don’t have to touch it. Ew!

I let the beef sit in this mixture for at least an hour. I hear that it makes the beef extra tender, so marinating it longer is even better. In the meantime, I finely chop the garlic and mix it with more balsamic vinegar and about a teaspoon of honey. Like most of my cooking, I eyeball this and taste the sauce to make sure every flavor is well represented. Ideally you would grill the meat, but last night I cooked it by searing it in a pan then slowly cooking it over a low flame. I also simmered the balsamic/honey/garlic mixture on very low so that it reduced a little. Once the beef was done, I poured the sauce over it.

In case you were wondering, I leave the garlic and honey out because both tend to burn quickly, and we don’t want that!

Since I had so much ginger grated, I also tossed it with some broccoli, olive oil, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes, then roasted it for about 8 minutes at 400.

Altogether, the hubs loved it, and it was a balanced enough meal for me. He eats red meat maybe once a month, so I wanted it to be delicious!

Another favorite grilling marinade for us is yogurt marinated chicken. Greek yogurt, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, and black pepper make an awesome pre-grilling marinade, and I usually make a separate batch with cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions to serve as a little tzatziki for post-grilling.

What will you be eating this Memorial Day weekend? Do you have any beloved marinade or other BBQ recipes?

Have you or your significant other/roommate had to change up your eating habits after moving in together?