Quick Steak Dinner - Celebrating 1 year in the new house!!

June 12 - one year into living on the homestead. still not sure what to call it but we know a sign will soon say "Established June 12, 2013"

After having been married for 9 years and being blessed with 3 children there are certain things you just do a certain way. You have to figure these things out or you get lost in the mayhem. We have found our way to do a yummy steak dinner! We like to do this for a weekend dinner or to celebrate something special, like 1 year in our new house!

We figure this dinner costs around $12 for all of us.  Or you can go to a steak house for the whole family and spend $40-$50 easy. Even if you go to a cheap place like a family buffet where their is steak you still pay around $30.

Grilling is so nice because we split the jobs and are not walking into each other in the kitchen, although on certain days that is enjoyable. :)

Prep is so easy for this Steak and Potato dinner.

Steak Marinade:
a 1" chunk of fresh ginger, minced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, chopped
Worcestershire sauce, just squirt a bunch in there
Olive oil, a couple glubs
a couple drops of hot sauce (or more if you want)
Italian dressing, around 1/8th of a cup (or just omit it, I just had a bit left in the bottle so I threw it in)
Salt and Pepper

Today I started a little after 4 p.m. and thankfully I had most of everything prepped before finding the horror of parenthood: my 2 year old standing in her own poop on her bedroom carpet, which then took me a good 20-30 minutes to clean up. Aren't you glad I didn't add those Pictures?

I also didn't get any shots of the chopping. oh well, that's boring anyway.

Salt and pepper the steak after you turn it in the marinate a couple time. I recommend letting it marinate on the counter for a bit. So you start dinner around 4:30, perhaps hubby gets home to grill around 5-5:30, that works. Send it out with him to grill it. If you don't want to grill sear it in a super hot pan then turn the heat down to simmer on low and cook slowly until it is to your preferred doneness.

Somewhere, someone once thought "If I cut the potato in half perhaps it would take half the time to bake it." Wow, they were so smart. Unless you really need to have that whole potato feel this is a great way to cut back on energy whether your oven is electric or propane or natural gas or some strange alternative energy.

Quick Baked Potato 

or you can call it "Half Baked Potato" LOL

Oven to 425 degrees

Wash however many potatoes you want

Cut them in half

Coat in oil and however much salt you want 

(less oil is best, careful in the hot oven with that oil and please use a cookie sheet with edges.)

30 minutes or whenever your feel like it.. turn them over and get them crispy if you want.

Then get that broccoli in the steamer (or just throw it in a pan with a little water in it.)

Butter and salt after they are steamed

Then serve it all up with whatever sauces you want. 

My hubby lovingly ranched my taters right after this pic. 

Don't forget the iced tea

Pitcher

2 big iced tea bags

Hot water

sweetener of choice

Ice

Put tea bags in pitcher

fill with super hot tap water

add sweetener

Stir

Let sit to steep

When ready to serve

fill glass with ice

Pour tea over ice

And be grateful with such a vast array a variety in the world God has given us to enjoy!