Marinated cheese: serve with triscuits, etc
1/2 lb cheese squares **I buy the precut cheese cubes
1/4 c olive oil
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder and onion powder
1/2 tsp oregano
ground pepper
salt
place in single layer, pour and distribute oil
marinate overnite
Let come to room temp before serving, remove from marinade and serve with toothpicks

Marinade for Flank steak and veggie medley

1/2 C. soy sauce
1/2 C. Saki or dry sherry
1/4 C. dark brown sugar
3 T. minced ginger
1 T. Balsamic vinegar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 lb. Flank steak

Combine first 6 ingredients in zip-lock bag. Add steak and marinade overnight. Let stand at room temp at least one hour before cooking. Remove steak from marinade (reserve marinade). Cook steak in skillet or on grill about 4 min. per side. Remove to cutting board and let rest 5 min. (tent with foil to keep warm)

Veggies:

1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2" lengths
2 red peppers, cut 1" wide strips
1 1/2 lb. crimini mushrooms, sliced thick
4 green onions cut in 1" lengths
2 tsp. cornstarch mixed with water
2 T. oil

Cook asparagus in large pot boiling, salted water 2 - 3 min. depending on thickness. Drain and run under cold water. Heat oil in heavy skillet over med. high heat. Add red pepper and saute' 3 min. Add mushrooms and saute' 5 min. Add green onions and asparagus and saute' until veggies are tender....about 2 min. Transfer to platter and tent to keep warm. Heat reserved marinade, add cornstarch slurry. Slice steak and place over veggies, pour marinade over all and serve 6 servings (salt and pepper to taste)

Michael Smiths Homemade Ketchup

Ingredients

1 can chopped tomatoes (28 oz)
1 can tomato paste (small)
1 large chopped onion
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 spoonfuls nutmeg (heaping)
2 pinches ground allspice
2 bay leaves (or 3)
a sprinkle or two of salt and pepper

Directions

Pour everything into a sauce pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Continue cooking until the mixture reduces by half, about 45 minutes. Puree until smooth with an immersion blender or in a stand blender or food processor.

I like to marinate chicken in Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette. Gives a great flavor, and lovley color. When you marinate in a plastic bag (as most recommend these days), you only need a small amount of marinade.

A great marinade tip? If you like marinated foods, but don't always have the time to wait hours? Get a VacuVin instant marinator--it's an inexpensive, easy-to-use, easy-to-clean gizmo that can duplicate hours of actual marinating in just seconds. That means, you can come home from a long day of work, and still enjoy a great marinated steak or chicken breast in a reasonable amount of time.

Also, remember the importance of safety when marinating. The current food safety guidelines recommend that any marinade that has touched raw meat be tossed and NEVER used to baste the meat or as the basis for a sauce. Used to be, it was said that marinades could be used for sauces if they were boiled hard for 10-15 minutes, but even that is not considered safe currently. Marinades can be a great flavor enhancer--just use them safely.

I don't marinade much. Like my meat to taste like meat. So this is my contribution for the week--two that I use for pork.

Pork Roast Marinade

1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. oil
2 Tbsp. molasses
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. dry mustard
4 cloves garlic, minced

Mix well with whisk. Place meat and marinade in a plastic bag and chill 8 hours, turning occasionally. Roast pork per your favorite recipe or grill it.

Nita's pork roast is not only delicious, but makes a beautiful presentation on the table. The meat is very tender and that sauce--!!! Thanks Nita--It's on the menu for later this week.

Nita's Pork Roast Marinade

1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. sherry
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp dry mustard
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 - 4 to 5 lb. pork tenderloin

Blend first 6 ingredients together. Pour over meat in a plastic bag; set in a deep bowl. Marinate in closed bag 2-3 hours at room temperature or overnight in refrigerator. Occasionally flip the bag over to distribute the marinade. (Save marinade to baste roast with.)

Place meat on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast, uncovered at 325 degrees for 2-1/2 to 3 hours or until meat thermometer reaches 170. Base with marinade during last hour. Serve with cherry sauce. Serves 10-12.

Cherry Sauce:

1 - 10 oz. jar cherry preserves
2 Tbsp. sherry
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Place all ingredients in a sauce pan and heat until preserves are melted. Serve over meat. Nita doubles the sauce since every puts it on their meat and rice.

Hawaiian Chicken Fajita Marinade

Combine 1 can of pina colada cocktail mix with a half can of water, and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Pierce four skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I know a lot of people don't do this, but it makes a big difference in the flavor), and marinate for four hours - no more, no less.

This is one I use for fish a lot but also can be used for other meats and seafood.

Citrus marinade
1/4 cup orange juice
Juice of 1 lemon or lime
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Mix in glass bowl then pour into ziplock baggie add fish or meat and zip into bag coat well with marinade and leave in fridge for 30 mins or so before grilling or cooking.

This one has the marinade and the recipe for the shrimp.

Spicy Buffalo Grilled Shrimp
Can be made into kabobs also
3Tbs Hooters wing sauce (hot)
1Tbs Vinegar white
1Tbs Frenchs mustard
1tsp jar type minced Garlic
1 sprig finely chopped fresh parsley
1Tbs wishbone carb options olive oil vinaigrette dressing
A sprinkle of lemon pepper (to taste)
1lb fresh peeled and deviened shrimp (nice big ones)
1carton fresh mushrooms cleaned
*Optional ingredients if making kabobs
Chunks of zucchini, onion, yellow squash, small whole tomatoes (cherry)
Or veggies of your choice.

Mix the first 7 ingredients in a big zip lock bag. Mix it up well. Add the shrimp and coat well in the bag. Put in fridge for 1/2 hour. Then add mushrooms and other veggies to the bag and mix up well. Put in fridge for additional 15 mins or so.
If doing kabobs skewer ingredients out of the bag
If grilling only shrimp and mushrooms put in grilling basket or some type of grilling pan.
Put on grill and baste occasionally with remaining marinade.
Cook until shrimp are pink and done and veggies are tender. About 20-25 minutes depending on size of shrimp. If doing kabobs turn during cooking. Basket cooking stir or shake during cooking.

This can be done in a large wok style no stick pan on the stovetop also if grilling is not an option. Just saute and cook till shrimp are done and veggies are tender. Or put the kabobs on a broiler pan in the oven set at 350 turning during cooking till done.

Serve over a plate of fresh baby spinach leaves with a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles. (If desired)
Serves about 4 or 2 real hungry Cajuns!

my last one

Caribbean Jerk Marinade

Ingredients
1 Tbsp minced onions
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds and veins removed *
1 Tbsp allspice
1/2 Tbsp ground cloves
1/2 - 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 Tbsp ginger
1/4 - 1/2 c light brown sugar (taste to decide sweetness)
1/4 c lime juice
1/4 c white vinegar
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 c soy sauce
minced garlic to taste (3 garlic cloves)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 c oil ( I use coconut oil)

Directions
Put everything into a blender and blend it on high for a couple of minutes to mix well.
In a zip lock bag, add meat and marinade; coat meat well and marinate overnight.
Heat grill, remove meat from marinade and place on hot grill. Brush meat with some of the marinade while cooking. Discard any leftover marinade that the meat was in.
You can just use a small amount of the marinade for less meat and put the unused marinade in a jar in the fridge it keeps well.
You can also cook the meat on a griddler, or in a skillet with a little oil. I like to slice up an onion and put it in the skillet if I do it this way the onions turn out wonderful in that marinade.

* You can omit the jalapeno pepper if you prefer a less spicy version. Or you can add a few shakes of a hot sauce or Tabasco to get the amount of heat you like.

Walnutcreek, I have a question about your fish marinade. If you marinated for 24 hours wouldn't you have ceviche? I've never had ceviche, but I know it's fish "cooked" by the acid in citrus juice. Just curious--sometimes I'm tempted to try ceviche, but I wouldn't want the reason for my demise to be food poisoning!

This is what we use when we grill shrimp and crabs. Shrimp are cut down the back, shell left on, vein removed. Crab bodies are cleaned, washed and broken in half.

Italian dressing
Chopped garlic
Tony Chachere' creole seasoning.

Simple but good. Recipe from a restaurant that was destroyed in a hurricane. My husband's friend owned it and gave him the recipe. People flocked there to eat the barbecued crab....bet they had no idea how simple they were to make.

Patti43, you asked: "Walnutcreek, I have a question about your fish marinade. If you marinated for 24 hours wouldn't you have ceviche? I've never had ceviche, but I know it's fish "cooked" by the acid in citrus juice. Just curious--sometimes I'm tempted to try ceviche, but I wouldn't want the reason for my demise to be food poisoning!"

I have never had ceviche, so looked at some recipes on the internet. To my mind, all of the ones I looked at had much much more citrus juice(s), as well as other ingredients. So, I don't think the fish marinade I posted would result in a ceviche - can't recommend trying it for a ceviche.

This recipe is very similar to the one Raven posted above.
It gives chicken a wonderful flavor.

Mojo Marinade for Chicken

1 1/2 lbs chicken breast
3 oranges, juiced, 1 zested
3 limes, juiced, 1 zested
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp fresh black pepper
1 tbsp kosher salt

Here is one I have used for Cornish hens for years. We usually have it for 4th of July with Mushroom and Chorizo Quesadillas, Grilled Corn on the Cob, Melon Ball Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette, and Fresh Fruit Popcycles. It all goes so well together.

Honey-Lime Game Hens

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh lime juice*
3 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs honey
2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp finely chopped lime zest
1 tsp paprika
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2-3 Cornish game hens, halved, backbone removed

Whisk together all ingredients except the game hens in a mixing bowl and transfer to large resealable plastic bag. Add the halved game hens and turn the bag to distribute the marinade. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours, turning occasionally. Remove the game hens and discard the marinade. Grill over indirect heat, bone side down, until the juices run clear and the meat is no longer pink at the bone, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the grill and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 4 to 6.

*I have used both fresh and bottled, and I could not truly tell any difference in the taste of the Cornish hen.

This post was edited by walnutcreek on Wed, Feb 6, 13 at 16:32

All Purpose Marinade

3 cups Dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Onion powder
1/2 cup Soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together. Marinate the meat (beef, pork, chicken, or game) for 3 to 6 hours, then use the marinade as a basting sauce as the meat cooks on the grill.

Source: Justin Wilson's "Outdoor Cooking With Inside Help"

Here is another recipe my sister sent to me. It is sooooo good.

Cuban Garlic Sauce

1/2 cup olive oil
8-10 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
2/3 cups sour orange juice or substitute 1/3 cup lime juice plus 1/3 cup fresh orange juice.
1/3 cup water
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the chopped garlic and onions cooking until a pale golden brown. Stir in the citrus juice(s), water, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil and boil for 4-5 minutes. Add more salt or pepper, if necessary.

Remove from heat and let cool. After it has cooked, add cilantro and mix well. The sauce can be refrigerated and may be kept for several weeks.

Can be used on chicken, pork, beef, fish, and salads, and the longer the marinade the better. Marinate chicken for at least three days, then grill. Marinate pieces of pork shoulder for six days, then cook in a slow cooker on low until done.

We love tomatoes prepared this way. I don't remember where the recipe came from.

Killer Marinated Tomatoes

6 large tomatoes, cut into wedges (or equal amount of halved cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes)
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3 scallions, sliced

Whisk everything but the tomato wedges together in a bowl. Add the tomatoes and stir to coat. Marinate at room temperature for at least 2 hours; stirring every now and then.

Notes: The marinade leftover in the bottom of the bowl is too yummy to throw away - sop it up with big chunks of yummy bread, or use it to make rice or quinoa.