It is really hard to believe that August is already here, though summer is not over for sure! We were lucky enough to spend not one, but two days at the lake, and it was a perfect hoorah before school starts back on Thursday.
We grilled up the steaks on Saturday - I must say that the marinade is a true winner! That was the recipe I posted the other day, and if/when I learn how to do links I will go back through one day so I can click on that word marinade and it will take you directly to the post where the recipe is! We also grilled peaches again, and with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of brown sugar, they were just delicious!
Saturday's weather was iffy, but Sunday was GORGEOUS! We got a pretty good head start and went up to our friend's boat that they had very graciously allowed us to use for the day. This time, we also decided to rent a speed boat and do a little tubing and exploring and though it was quite expensive, it was incredibly fun!
It was hubby, me, my daughter and 2 of her friends, and we spent the first 4 hours speeding around Lanier. With my recent tailbone injury of some sort (still not sure of how it is bruised; could be too much working sitting down!), there were some times of grimacing when we would hit a big wave. When we found a relatively quiet cove, we let the tubing again. The first few runs were the girls - 2 at a time and the squeals of laughter and looks of horror on their faces when the boat took a sharp turn was priceless.
When we were down to less than a half hour of rental on the boat, I decided to be brave and took a turn. Obviously, hubby knew to drive a little slower, though the first 10 seconds or so of the video we took, I am screaming "faster!" My goal was simple - tube for about 5 minutes, then use the stop signal that I was done. No way was I going to be thrown off! I achieved my goal and got back on the boat proud and smiling.
We got back to the docked boat and enjoyed lounging on the upper deck, floating in the water, doing flips and tricks off the tube (yep, even me) and just enjoying the gorgeous day. Finally, it was time to head home and I knew the pork tenderloin had been marinading since Friday so it was ready for some grilling! I showed the marinaded pic the other day; here is the final delicious tenderloin after grilling. The secret is definitely lower heat, longer cooking, and making sure to give each of the 4 sides a turn.
The other sides were easy - roasted red potatoes and my "cheat" Steamfresh broccoli and cauliflower. For the roasted potatoes, all I did was put them on a lightly sprayed pan skin side down. I did a light sprinkling of olive oil over them all, and then sprinkled herbs/spices. I think I used rosemary, salt and pepper. I do love fresh veggies, but in a pinch, frozen ones are very close in nutrition and taste. Recipe for the pork marinade below and picture of the full meal as well! Enjoy!
Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white wine
4 small green onions
3 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (Yes - I really did use fresh! And the easiest way to peel is with a spoon!)
Add the green onions and garlic to the soy sauce and wine. Add the pepper and ginger and mix well. Remove any excess fat from the pork tenderloin. I used a fork to pierce the pork, and then covered it with the marinade, storing it overnight and flipping it every once in awhile.
Allow the pork to warm to room temperature about 45 minutes before grilling. Use medium heat and grill it evenly, flipping on each side to ensure this. The internal temperature needs to be 145 to 150 degrees fahrenheit, so you will want a meat thermometer. You do NOT want pink pork! Cut it into slices and voila. When the weather cools, I will share a delicious pork tenderloin recipe that is stuffed with diced apples, white bread, etc.
So you get gypped out of pictures of food I am preparing for tonight because we are having pizza for dinner. Yep, sadly that is 3 times in the past week, and I don't even love pizza. But Monday was the going away party for our friends so we ordered pizza for a pool party for the kids. Wednesday was our weekly Buckhead Pizza tradition to play trivia. And yes, tonight, it will be pizza again - and not even homemade pizza though I did get some inspiration from some recipes I saw.
Back to my point...we are going to the lake with some friends of ours tomorrow and they have this awesome grill so everyone basically brings what they want to grill and some side dishes and appies and we will hang out. When I stumbled upon the new blog yesterday, I found another great recipe - a simple (but tried and true as per the writer) recipe, and I was ready to take it on!
Balsamic Marinate (we are using Flat Iron Steak)
Borrowed from the link above, and her blog shows that it was a recipe she modified from Martha Stewart. She has a fancy link to get you to that place, but I am still new, so sorry 'bout your luck :)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tbsp dried rosemary
Coarse salt and ground pepper (thank goodness it doesn't say kosher; still need to look that up!)
1 pound skirt steak (I used flat iron)
1. Trim the steak of excess pieces of fat.
2. Place steak in shallow container, stab it all over with a fork and add all of the ingredients and shake...which makes me think shake, shake, shake...shake, shake, shake...shake your booty...shake your booty. Okay - I digress.
3. Martha says you can marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes; my new blogger "friend" has my approach - to throw it all together in 5 minutes or less the night before and marinate it overnight.
4. My blogger gal broiled it; however, I am looking to grill it. For broiling, it says 3 minutes per side to get medium rare, and grilling on medium, I will prob do an extra minute or two per side.
5. Interesting tip she gave - once it is finished, you take it out (or off) and cover it with tinfoil. She PROMISES it will stay blazing hot. Then let it rest for 5 minutes so that you don't have a mess and that the meat is juicier. I just LOVE learning all this new information!
Will save the marinade recipe for the pork loin I will be grilling on Sunday until either later tonight or Saturday...or maybe even Sunday depending on how the weather holds out. I am hoping for a picture perfect lake day, but the forecast is sketchy.
Alrighty - ciao for now...
