Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

This is such a simple and delicious recipe and perfect for showing off your grilling skills without possessing any of those skills! It’s all in the marinade, and luckily, making the marinade just means dumping all the ingredients into a large bowl and stirring it.  It’s also great because flank steak is such a cheap steak, so you can grill this all the time!

I made the marinade the night before and placed the flank steaks in the marinade overnight.  There was so much flavor!  I even reheated some left over steak in the microwave the next day, and it was still super tender and flavorful.  So, here’s how to make it…

Marinade Recipe for Flank Steak

For 3 lbs of flank steak (usually two large pieces of flank steak that feeds at least 4 people):

• 1 cup coconut oil (or substitute with other oils)
• 2/3 cup soy sauce (or liquid aminos for a great gluten-free alternative)
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• juice from 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons of mustard
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger (I used a cheese grater)
• 1 tablespoon of paprika
• 1 tablespoon of dried chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder (it’s not spicy so feel free to add more chili powder if you like it really spicy)

How to Marinade Flank Steak

I sliced the 2 large flank steaks into halves so that it would be more manageable for marinating and cooking.  I placed each of the 4 pieces of steak into a ziplock (sandwich) bag and poured some marinade into the bag.  I carefully sealed the 4 ziplock bags and placed them into another plastic bag before putting them into the fridge overnight (I really didn’t want anything to leak into my fridge).

How to Grill Flank Steak

This part will vary a bit depending on the type of grill you’re using, how thick your piece of steak is, and how rare or cooked you like your steak.  My apartment building has a nice gas grill on the roof, so I try to keep the grill temperature around 300-350F with the lid down.  I like my steaks medium so I generally use tongs to see how soft the meat is getting.  When the meat starts to feel less like the softness of raw meat and more firm, then it’s pretty much ready for me.  This usually takes around 15 minutes.  If you like your steaks rare, then cook it for less time, and if you like it well done, then keep it on the grill with the temperature under 350F for longer.

Cutting and Serving Flank Steak

Remember to cut against the grain (i.e. not parallel to the strings of meat fiber) if you’re slicing it up.

Or you can serve the steak whole with some grilled vegetables.  The next photo shows approximately a 0.4 lb flank steak with some grilled asparagus.  So, the marinade makes 8 pieces of steak that size.

Grilling Away

It’s almost summer again – despite the grey skies in New York today.  Consequently, it’s time to fire up the grill.  I’ve been out of town a lot over the past two weeks, so my fridge was sadly empty.  Luckily for me, however, my freezer is still well stocked.  I pulled out a packet of Aidells Chicken & Apple sausages and two Amylu chicken burgers and fired up the grill.  

I bought both of these from Costco, and the 5 sausages and 2 burgers were plenty for both the bf and me.  In total, each meal (2.5 sausages and 1 burger) was 600 calories, 40g fat, 9g carbs, and 54g protein.

This is definitely a super easy dinner, and I even get to enjoy a few last rays of sunlight breaking through the muddy skies after spending a whole day inside!  Perhaps summer is arriving at long last?

Low Carb Cruise Photos

Just returned from having a great time on the low carb cruise.  Highlights included finally meeting Jimmy Moore, who is simply one of the nicest, friendliest guys I have ever had the pleasure of meeting!  (He’s also a talented karaoke singer as well as a whiz at the poker table!) I also heard from an impressive panel of speakers and made friends with a fantastic group of people (low carb, paleo, and generally health conscious people). Plus, there was lots of sun and fun.

It was great not having to cook for a whole week but still being able to eat healthily.  So, here are some of the foods I got to try on the ship and off the ship…

1.  Jamaican Jerk Chicken

And here’s the finished product…

I had this at the Pork Pit in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

2.  Tender Roasted Prime Rib of Beef

This was from the dinner menu on the ship.

3.  Chateaubriand

Again from the dinner menu on the ship.  Chateaubriand is a thick cut of beef from the tenderloin.  According to Wikipedia, it was created by a French chef named Chateaubriand, who worked with Napoleon and Louis XVIII.

4.  Mexican Fish Tacos (Minus the Tortilla)

Luckily the fish was so tender and flavorful, I wasn’t even tempted to each the tortilla.  This was at a quiet little restaurant in Cozumel, Mexico, called La Candela.

5.  Spicy Mexican Salsa

This was also from La Candela in Cozumel, Mexico.  The salsa was made from various peppers, garlic, and other spices.  It was delicious.

6.  100% Dark Chocolate

We toured a small, family-run chocolate factory and learned about the entire chocolate-making process.  Then we got to make some chocolate as well.  Unlike most chocolates you buy in stores, the cacao beans used to make their chocolate were fermented.  This gave them a great non-bitter flavor and made them taste good even with zero sugar!  Unfortunately, they didn’t sell 100% chocolates, but when we told the owner we really wanted 100% chocolate with no-added sugar, he made 2 bars especially for us while we waited!  Sadly, they don’t ship to the US yet.

Vanilla Pound Cake: Grain Free and Sugar Free

I absolutely love all of Carolyn’s creations on All Day I Dream About Food.  She has some amazingly delicious recipes and some even more amazing photos of her creations!  If you’re hungry for desserts, then you should definitely check out her site – it will make your mouth water. 

When I told Carolyn that I was grain-free (gluten-free) and low-carb, she suggested trying her almond crusted butter cake.  Her recipe uses almond extract and is sweetened using erythritol, a sugar alcohol, and stevia.  You can find that recipe here.  I modified her recipe so that it wouldn’t contain any sugar alcohols (I also made it vanilla flavored).  Instead, I’ve sweetened it with liquid sucralose (which contains fewer carbs than Splenda but is essentially the liquid version of Splenda). 

 

This was a huge hit at a recent dinner party with a bunch of non-low-carbers!  The little bit of protein powder in the recipe makes the texture soft and smooth – just like regular cake!  Enjoy with a good cup of tea in the afternoon.