Quick Marinated Steak

The baby is about 4 1/2 months old now and she is beginning to transition into sleeping most of the night and being awake most of the day, which means I'm exhausted on a daily basis now. So the meals I'm preparing for dinner, if I must prepare while my husband is not home to watch the baby, are getting cheaper and easier. After reaching my goal in the grocery store last weekend to spend less than $140, I am cooking lots of cheap meals this week. Tonight's is a chuck mock-fillet steak.

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds cheap steak
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp A1 sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp garlic pepper
dash of ground mustard, if available

Drop all ingredients into a 1-gallon storage/Ziploc bag, close the top and mix together well. Reopen bag and put steaks in, then seal bag tightly with very little air and shake around/massage sauce into meat. Let sit in refrigerator marinating for 2 or more hours. Broil on high 4-5 minutes on each side, depending on your preference for doneness.

I had about 1.3 pounds of steak (2 steaks) so mine will serve 2 people, but this would be enough sauce for 3 steaks. Double the amounts to make 6 steaks. Serve with potatoes and peas or another green vegetable.

Marinated Pan-Fried Steaks with Acorn Squash

The baby is doing well with watching me and sucking on a toy when I strap her into the high chair in the kitchen with me. I'm making my first attempt at making my own baby food today with the only suitable thing I had left in the house, since I'm not going grocery shopping til tomorrow: carrots. 4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks, and 1/4 cup of water in my small (4 quart) Crock Pot. I need to buy a lot more canning jars if I'm going to make this a regular venture.
Anyway I figured since I was already in the kitchen that I would start on dinner. I had a 2.3-pound package of Top Blade Steaks (5 steaks) which my husband thought would be pretty good fried rather than broiled. So I decided to make a marinade and let the steaks soak in a bag until I cook them up tonight.

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds Top Blade Steaks
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. garlic pepper

Pour the sauces and spices into a one gallon storage bag, then close the bag and shake it up well. Reopen bag and drop steaks in, then seal the bag tightly and swish back and forth to mix and coat all the steaks in the sauce. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before cooking.

Fry on medium heat about 6-7 minutes on each side, or longer if you like them well done. Serve with vegetables and egg noodles or potatoes. Takes about 5 minutes to prepare and serves as many people as steaks you have.

For the squash, I took one medium/large size acorn squash (green and orange or yellow doesn't matter as they both taste the same), cut it in half and cut a bit off either end so each half would stand up with the center hole side up. Clean the seeds out of the hole in the center and set each half on a baking sheet.

Filling (amount for each half):

1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 pat butter
salt and pepper

Put all filling ingredients into each half of squash. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour. Serves two. VERY tasty side dish!