Thursday, April 28, 2011

BBQ Pork Steak

I don't use a lot of pork when I cook, but this recipe is a knockout!  I found this recipe online and tweaked it a little bit.  It makes a fabulous pork chop or steak strait out of the oven.  I haven't tried this marinated pork on the grill yet, it may be too sweet, but I will try it this summer and let you know.   There aren't any veggies or starches in with this dish, so you'll have to do a little extra planning on steaming some vegetables and warming up some rice or rolls. 



Ingredients:

2 1/2- 3 lbs pork sirloin steaks or bone-in chops      6.32
1/4 C low sodium soy sauce                                            .50
1/4 C vegetable oil                                                            .20
1/2 C ketchup                                                                    .20
1/4 C brown sugar                                                            .10
juice from 1 lemon                                                             .48
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce                                          .20
1 medium onion (or half of a large onion)                      .50

Directions:

Open the pork steaks or chops and divide evenly between three 8x8 pans.  You may need to cut the pork steaks into smaller portions before laying the pan.  Try not to overlap the pork or it will not cook evenly.
Slice the onion thinly into rings and lay them on top of the pork steaks.


Then mix together the soy sauce, vegetable oil, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and brown sugar in a small mixing bowl with a whisk.

This recipe makes about 1 1/3 C marinade.  Spoon this sauce evenly over the pork steaks in the pans.
Cover each pan with foil.  Label two pans and place into freezer.  To cook the freezer meals you need to thaw in the fridge for two days, then bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.  Then put one pan in the oven for dinner.  This one is at room temperature so you can bake it at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. 
These are the two pans that I froze.

 Not including side dishes I made three BBQ pork steak dinners for $2.83.  If you're in a hurry try to heat some frozen veggies in the microwave and steam some rice.   Here is my pork after 40 minutes in the oven.
We ate ours for dinner with red skinned mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli and green beans.  Mmmmm!  It was like Sunday dinner on Thursday!
I hope you give this a try!  I will attempt to grill with this marinade when the weather warms up and I will let you know if it worked well, or if it burned up from the brown sugar.

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza

Mexican Lasagna

   This is a fun layered recipe.  I use flour tortillas in this dish to divide the layers, but you could use corn tortillas or even crushed tortilla chips.  The colors in this dish are bright and cheerful!  It tastes like tacos that you eat with a fork, but with very little prep time.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef                                 5.82
2 pkg taco seasoning                            1.08 
2 16 oz medium chunky salsa                6.96
1 can black beans drained                      .66
1 1/2 C frozen corn                                .75
1/2 C chopped cilantro                           .40
12  8 inch flour tortillas                          2.25
12 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded  3.75

Directions:

Brown the ground beef in a large pan, then drain off any fat.  Return the ground beef back to the large pan over medium heat.  Add in the drained beans, salsa, and corn.  Sprinkle in the packages of taco seasoning and stir well.  Cook for about 5 minutes to let the sauce thicken with the liquid from the salsa.  Turn off heat.  Stir in the chopped cilantro. 
Colorful huh?  Yum!  Then take the 12 flour tortillas and slice them in half.

Now take out 3 8x8 inch pans and start your layers.  (this goes much faster than traditional lasagna!)  Put 1/2 cup of the taco meat in the bottom of each pan to prevent sticking.

Then place two halves of a tortilla in the pan with the curved edges facing in!

Now take two more halves and cover the other edges.

Now you have a great base to add 1 cup of the meat mixture.  Then sprinkle with 2 Tbsp of the shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Add one more layer of tortillas and one more cup of meat mixture.  Top with 2-4 Tbsp of sharp cheddar cheese.  Once all three pans are layered then top with foil.  Label two pans and place them in the freezer for a later date.

Then bake the third pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  The frozen pans will need to be thawed in the fridge for two days, then bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  This is how mine looked fresh from the oven.

Then we slice it up into squares and serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Yum!  This was colorful and fun.  We really enjoyed this for dinner.  I made three 8x8" pans of Mexican Lasagna for $7.22 each. 

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza