DINNER TIME! Mexican Style Rib Eye Steak

Sometimes, we'll go to a restaurant and have a great meal...a great meal that I'd like to replicate at home. This week's recipe is one of those.

Rudy's is a Mexican restaurant near our home in Monrovia, California. On the menu, under "Carne Asada," is this one...what comes out is basically a rib eye steak served with rice and beans.

Here is my version...

INGREDIENTS

4 10- oz choice (or better), 1 inch thick rib eye steaks
1 bunch Mexican green onions (can substitute regular green onions if needed)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons melted butter
1-2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Put the steaks in a plastic bowl, platter, large dish, etc.

Sprinkle Worcestershire sauce on both sides .

Brush melted butter onto both sides.

Sprink Kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper on both sides.

On a hot grill, with burning charcoal on one half only,  place the onions over the hot coals for three minutes on each side. Then, put the onions on the other side of the grill (indirect heat). Put the steak over the coals for three minute per side.

Move steaks to indirect heat side of grill. Place one onion on top of each steak. Cook covered (with lid on) 6-7 minutes per side for medium rare.

Place on platter, cover with foil for a 10 minute rest when done.

We like to serve with rice and beans, plus a grille onion you can slice up and eat with the steak, and a little hot salsa sprinkled over the top.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

CHEAP EATS: Restaurant Specials to Save You Some Lettuce

We all love a good deal. We love 'em even better when we're on a limited income and have to watch our cash flow like a hawk. One thing we've noticed is the date and time sensitive specials restaurants will run from time-to-time.

Dining out is an expensive proposition, so these deals really come in handy sometimes...here's a few that we've notice.

The 5th Day at Philly's Best. Philly's Best is a local Southern California chain that specialized in cheesesteak sandwiches. Yeah, they're not Geno's or Pat's, but they're still pretty good.

On any date that ends in a "5," you can get any sandwich on their menu for $5.55. That means Tim and I can get their cheesesteak sandwich, which is easily enough for both of us, for almost two dollars off. Other sandwiches that are normally $8.49 (such as the Buffalo chicken sandwich) are also only $5.55.

At Popeye's Louisiana Chicken, you can pick up two pieces of chicken for around two bucks on Tuesddays (two on Tuesday). Delicious, too.

Church's Chicken, not to be outdone, will give you a thigh, two drumsticks, and a biscuit for $2.99 but this is available pretty much all the time.

Carl's Jr. has a sliders happy hour from 2-5pm each day where the little burgers are available for a buck each.

If you're a fan of the drive-in at Sonic, Tuesday nights after 5pm are Family Night with half-price cheeseburgers.

You can also get half-price drinks and slushes plus 99 cent corn dogs every day from 2-4pm during their happy hour.

Of course, there's always the buck fifty hot dog and soda at the Costco food court everyday but, if you're trying to go healthy, their $4.99 acai bowl is hard to beat.

Finally, we need some desert, so show up any 31st day of the month at Baskin Robbins to get their delicious ice cream for only $1.50 a scoop.

Happy (and cheap) eating!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

DINNER TIME! Baked Pork Chops

This week, I'm pulling out some pork chops from our freezer. Hmm..fry them? Barbecue? I think I'll bake them, sort of like a home made 'shake 'n bake.'

They're frozen and I want to make them for dinner so I have a quick way to prepare them and defrost the the same time. I'm making some brine, which I'll put in the ziploc bag the chops are in to make them tasty, tendy, juicy, and thawed at the same time.

For the brine, I put half a liter of water into a sauce pan. Two heaping tablespoons of Kosher salt, a teaspoon each of marjoram, terragon, and sage go into the water, which I bring to a boil. When it does boil, I stir it vigorously, let boil for another minute and then remove from heat.

Let that sit for 10 minutes before adding into the bag with the chops. Let that marinate for 4-6 hours.

I have some leftover roasted potatoes from last week's chicken dinner. There's also a zucchini in the fridge that I can use for the side.

I coat a baking pan with olive oil.  The chops go into a plastic bowl where I pour some half and half on them. I sprinkle with black pepper and then bread crumbs. Turn them over and do the same thing.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes. Then remove from oven.

Remove the pork chops and put the potatoes on the bottom of the pan (if you're using uncooked potatoes, put them in at the beginning - see last week's recipe on how to prepare them). Put the chops back in on top of the potatoes with the cooked side down.

Dice up the zucchini.

Fill in the spaces in between the chops with the zucchini. Sprinkle some Kosher salt on them. 

Drizzle a little quality olive oil on the zucchini.

Put back in the oven for 25 minutes.

At the end of 25 minutes, increase temperature to 475 and cook for 15 more minutes for browning. After this, you're ready to serve.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

DINNER TIME! Lemon Garlic Chicken and Potatoes

We have a lot of chicken thighs frozen in our freezer. Letty had some leftover lemon garlic marinade. Taylor made for a quick, easy, and delicious dinner.

First, I better give you the marinade. I used leftover but use the juice of a lemon, 6 garlic cloves minced, a tablespoon of olive oil, a sprinkle of Kosher salt and pepper.  Use this as a rub on your chicken and, when you cook it, save the drippings...that's how we ended up with leftover marinade.

Take three thighs, put in a ziploc bag with the marinade (fresh or leftover...only difference is that the leftover also has chicken stock), and let sit in the fridge for 6 hours.

Dice up some yellow potatoes.

Put in a ziploc bag, sprinkle in about a quarter teaspoon of Kosher salt, a few sprinkles of black pepper, and a teaspoon of olive oil. Shake well in sealed bag.

Smear olive oil on a baking pan, put the potatoes in the bottom of the pan.

Put the thighs on top of the potatoes, skin side up. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

I'm also cooking a little broccoli for the side. Prepare the same way as the potatoes and wrap in foil with a little opening at the top.

Put the baking dish with the potatoes and chicken in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes. Turn chicken, put back in oven for another 30 minutes. Put the broccoli in the oven at this time, also.

At the end of the second 30 minutes, turn the chicken skin side up again. Increase heat to 475 and cook for another 15 minutes to crisp the skin.

It should look like the picture above when done.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved