Three Marinades for your summer barbecue

~ SL

Having a great marinade takes the guesswork out of grilling meats and vegetables.  Mix, marinate and you’re ready to roll with maximum flavor and minimal effort.  These three marinades can be used on a variety of meats, seafood and even veggies.  They’re so versatile and that’s of course, always one of my goals when developing recipes.  If you’ve been paying attention to my previous posts, you’ll have most of the ingredients from 55 ingredients you should always have on hand, to make these marinades.

rosemary garlic marinade on pork tenderloin
Try this rosemary garlic marinade on pork tenderloin.

Marinades: The Do’s and don’ts

Before I get into the recipes, let’s go over a few marinating do’s and don’ts.

DO marinate meats for at least one hour and up to twenty-four hours for maximum flavor.

DON’T marinate meats in highly acidic marinades (like lemon herb) for more than four hours.  If you see that the meat is starting to turn white (on a chicken breast) for example, you are chemically cooking your meat and it will result in a tougher final product.

DO freeze meats in marinades with lower acidity. (Like this teriyaki one!)

DON’T reuse a marinade that has been in contact with raw meat, on cooked meat.  Cross-contamination = people could get sick = you do not want this to happen!

*You can boil it if you’d like to reuse it, but I like to just set some aside from the get-go or double the recipe to avoid possible cross-contamination altogether.

DO try using salad dressings (like 5 salad dressings you should make) as a marinade.  Just cut down the amount of oil in the recipes by half.

DO marinate using a plastic ziptop bag to maximize contact between the meat and the marinade.  Give it a shake now and then to combine the ingredients and ensure whatever you are marinating has been fully coated.

Teriyaki

This is seriously THE BEST teriyaki marinade you will ever try.  My partner always laughs at me because I’ll say that something is THE BEST and later on, something better will come along, and I’ll upgrade it to “THE BEST” status.  For now, this teriyaki marinade is the THE BEST.  It’s based on my mom’s recipe that she’s been using for as long as I can remember.  Did I mention that it’s the best?  Try it on chicken, beef, salmon or portobellos.  I also love it on grilled pineapple slices for a teriyaki chicken burger.

Print

Teriyaki marinade

Keyword marinade, teriyaki
Prep Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a bowl and stir until combined.  

  2. Pour marinade over meat or veggies for a minimum of one hour.  For best results, marinate meats for 12-24 hours. 

Recipe Notes

Make a double batch and use half as a basting sauce.  

Lemon herb

This one uses the zest and the juice from lemons and fresh garlic.  You can switch out the herbs and spices in the recipe to explore different cuisines.  For Greek, use oregano.  For Italian, use basil.  For Moroccan, try cumin.  I also love dill in everything, so try that too if you’re a fan.  Try this one on chicken, white fish, shrimp or pork.

Print

Lemon herb marinade

Keyword garlic, herb, lemon, marinade
Prep Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 lemon zested and juiced
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/4 cup vinegar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp herb of your choice (oregano, basil, cumin) see details in post

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a bowl or glass jar and stir or shake to combine. 

  2. Marinate meat, seafood or veggies for 30 minutes to one hour. 

Recipe Notes

Due to the high acidity of this marinade, only marinate meats for 30 minutes to one hour. 

Rosemary garlic

Rosemary and garlic is one of my favorite flavour combos.  It’s pairs so well together on potatoes, roasted nuts for salads, in a roast, in a rustic bread, why not in a marinade?  This one is delicious on pork tenderloin but would also be great with beef or bone-in chicken pieces.

Print

Rosemary garlic marinade

Try this on pork or beef. 

Course Main Course
Keyword garlic, marinade, rosemary
Prep Time 5 minutes
Marinating time 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl or glass jar and stir or shake to combine. 

  2. Marinate meats for one hour, to a maximum of four hours in a resealable plastic bag.  

  3. Move meat in bag occasionally to ensure complete coverage. 

  4. Discard remaining marinade

How will you use these marinades? Share your meals on Instagram using #tblfood.

How to be a guest at your own party

~ SL ~ 4 Comments

(or that time I talked my friend out of having a DIY grilled cheese bar at her son’s first birthday party)

Once upon a time, my friend, a mother of two boys, was running ideas by me for her second son’s first birthday party.  She was expecting 77 guests (43 adults and 30 kids). It was October, two weeks shy of Halloween.  She ordered a bouncy castle, organized mini pumpkin painting and a DIY grilled cheese bar. Continue reading →

How to pack a summer deck bin to save time

~ SL

If you have small kids, you know that getting outside to play in the summer heat is quite the task.  By the time you’ve finished sun-screening, putting shoes on and finding hats and sunglasses, half an hour has gone by.  My kids love playing outside and we eat most of our meals outside too, weather permitting, so I keep a bin on the deck with supplies we usually need, to avoid having to run in and out of the house all day.

deck bin contents
Keeping a bin on your deck makes heading outside with the kids quick and easy. (Some items not shown.)

Continue reading →

Four boozable virgin summer cocktails

~ SL

Summer is here and there’s nothing I love more than an ice-cold cocktail on the deck, while basking in the sun.  And by basking in the sun, I mean parenting my four kids.  Some days are long, and it feels like five o’clock is so far away so why not get a head start with a virgin cocktail. If you want to (or need to) you can booze it up when five o’clock hits, if you like to play by the rules. Continue reading →

5 games to entertain your kids while you make dinner

~ SL

After speaking with other parents, it’s obvious that every parent has their “thing” that they like to do with their kids.  For some parents, it’s outings to a play place or the park, for others, it’s sports and running around and for me, it’s coloring and puzzles.  I cringe when the girls ask to play Barbies or when they want to play house and I have to be the mom.  Again.  It doesn’t matter which activity you choose, your kids just want you to play with them.  They want you to be along for the ride, interacting with them and paying attention to what they’re doing. Continue reading →

Freezer-friendly Slow Cooker Green Turkey Chili

~ SL

Make-ahead and freezer-friendly

As I mentioned in Five things you could make for supper every week, soups are an easy weeknight meal, especially if you can make them in the slow cooker.   I love this green chili (which I qualify as a soup) because it`s make-ahead, it uses mostly pantry ingredients from my list of  55 Ingredients to have on hand at all times, and Simple Slow Cooker Vegetable Broth, it`s a great summer soup AND you can freeze the leftovers for lunches or another meal. Continue reading →

Simple Slow Cooker Vegetable Broth

Link ~ ~ SL ~ 2 Comments

It’s Sunday and something I usually do on Sunday is make a slow cooker vegetable broth. We usually make soup for supper at least once a week, as I suggested in Five things you could make for supper every week so this recipe really goes a long way for us.  It’s incredibly easy to make and economical, compared to buying vegetable broth so it’s really a win-win. Plus, you probably have better things to do on a Sunday than to hover over the stove-top so, toss everything in the slow cooker and carry on with your day. Continue reading →

Five things you could gift to new moms

Link ~ ~ SL ~ 2 Comments

I initially intended to have this post coincide with Mother’s Day, in the spirit of giving gifts to moms, but it appears as though my own gift of “taking the day off” has caught up to me and now it’s Tuesday.  Tuesnight actually.

I titled the post “new moms”, and by that, I mean, first-time moms or any mom who has just had a newborn.  When we had each of our kids, those first few weeks with a newborn were the most exhausting as we adjusted, then readjusted (times three) to having a newborn in the house.  People stopped in to visit and drop off gifts of all kinds.  When it was our first baby, clothes, books, baby items were the typical gifts, but as each new little human joined our family, the gifts became less about stuff and more about service, which I fully appreciated, in my newfound quest to live a more minimalist life. Continue reading →