Grilled Leg of Lamb

  I love that we now have access to Australian lamb through Costco. Like I have mentioned before, Australian lamb is basically grass fed. Though lately I hear 15% of their lamb is being finished off with grain and this is not good, it is still so much better for you than our feed-lot beef.

My oven broke this past week, and so I was on the lookout for ways to cook my boneless leg of lamb. Hunting about on the internet, I came across this recipe. I didn't marinate it overnight, but I did marinate it all day. Plus, I don't really like mustard in my marinades, so I left this out. I also used a legal SCD wine. When grilling the lamb, I turned on 2 of the burners and left the third one off. I cooked the lamb on the off burner side. It turned out beautifully; and so juicy! This was a keeper.Oh! Grill up some asparagus when in season and your meal is complete. I just sprinkle my asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper them, and add a bit of garlic granules...grill to desired doneness. Easy!

  Ingredients

• 1 well-trimmed 6-pound boneless leg of lamb, butterflied to even 2-inch thickness
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled, divided
• 1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• Fresh rosemary sprigs and fresh Italian parsley sprigs 

1. Open lamb like book on work surface. Using tip of small knife, make 1/2-inch-deep slits all over lamb. Thinly slice 4 garlic cloves. Insert garlic slices into slits in lamb. Combine remaining 4 garlic cloves, mustard, olive oil, white wine, rosemary, and lemon juice in processor. Blend until coarse puree forms. Spread underside of lamb with half of puree. Place lamb, seasoned side down, in 15 x 10 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread remaining puree over top of lamb. Cover lamb with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
2. Let lamb stand at room temperature 2 hours. Coat grill rack with nonstick spray and prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Sprinkle lamb generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Grill lamb to desired doneness, about 17 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer lamb to cutting board; let rest 10 to 20 minutes.
3. Thinly slice lamb against grain. Overlap slices on platter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh herb sprigs.

Juice Glorious Juice

Spent the day deep in fruit and vegetables. My kitchen looked so neat in the morning and it was quickly chaos with all the chopping but I love the benefits juicing can provide. It is best, I suppose, to juice each day, all nice and fresh, I just don't have the time. So when I have gathered the ingredients, and they are so abundant at this time of year, I juice away making all kinds of varieties. They are then poured into glass jars and labeled and placed in the freezer for daily use. I particularly love the tall pint 1/2 jars and I top them with the reusable white plastic canning lid. The jars and lids can often be found at Walmart or online at Amazon. White lids here.
These jars fit perfectly in the door of my freezer, the labels can be seen clearly, and they can be grabbed quickly. You can either place in the fridge for the next day, or these jars can be taken with you and drunk slowly as it melts throughout the day. 

A wonderful book I use for recipe ideas:  piece

Classic Green Lemonade
2 stalks celery
1 small cucumber
1 apple, cored and seeded
1-inch piece ginger, peeled
3 leaves Swiss chard or kale
1/2 lemon

1. Wash and prep all ingredients.
2. Juice all ingredients.
3. I actually strain through my nut bag to get out all chunks which might get through the juicer. I love just juice. 

Soothing Green
4 leaves Swiss chard
1 cucumber
3 to 4 tablespoons mint leaves, tightly packed
3 cups honeydew melon cubes

1. Wash and prep all ingredients.
2. Juice all ingredients.



Green Me Up
2 small stalks of celery
1 cup pineapple cubes
1 Bosc pear, cored and seeded
2 leaves Swiss chard
2 leaves kale
1/4 cup parsley, leaves and stems, tightly packed
1 cucumber

Sweet & Sour Green
1 small cucumber
3 stalks celery
1 cup spinach, tightly packed
1 cup pineapple cubes
1 naval orange, peeled

Sweet Greens
2 1/2 cups watermelon cubes
2 cups spinach, packed
1 cucumber
1/4 lime

Root Power
1 small beet
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and seeded
4 medium carrots
1/2 daikon radish
1 cucumber
1-inch piece ginger, peeled

Immune Boost
4 large carrots
2 navel oranges, peeled
1/2-inch piece turmeric root
pinch of cayenne pepper

Blueberry lemon-aid
2 small cucumbers
1 cup blueberries
2 Granny Smith apples
1/4 lemon, peeled
3 tablespoons mint leaves, tightly packed

So, that is just an example of a few recipes. This book is packed with hundreds more recipes, lots of information on various products, lots of information on buying a juicer...great book all around to have on the cooking-juicing shelf.

Grilled Flank Steak Kabobs

Warmer weather has set in here in the Deep South. That means the meats can get on the grill and taste so much better than oven cooking.

Flank steak is one of those meats that you look at in the grocery store and wonder what you can do with it. Well here is one recipe that is rather easy (grilling meats usually is) and juicy and tasty. Sometimes this cut of meat can be tough, even when you marinade it, but along with the marinade this recipe has you slicing the meat thin, which I believe helped. So now, when Whole Food has some grass-fed flank steak for sale, I will buy up a few slabs to keep on hand for this recipe. It doesn't hurt that this cut is usually at a lesser cost than the london broils, or rib-eyes!

1 1/2 pounds beef flank steaks
1 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cups minced shallots (I used onions because I never seem to have shallots on hand)
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoons of snipped fresh rosemary (grow those herbs people!)

1. Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4-inch slices. Place meat in a 1-gallon resealable plastic bag set in a shallow dish.
2. For marinade, in a small bowl combine red wine, olive oil, shallots, garlic and rosemary. Pour marinade over the meat in the bag. Seal the bag and turn to coat meat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours, turning occasionally.
3. On metal skewers, or soaked (30 minutes) wooden ones, thread the meat accordion style. Place the steak kabobs on a grill rack directly over medium heat. Cover and grill for 8-9 minutes, turning kabobs halfway through grilling. 

Serve with your choice of vegetables. I served mine over some spaghetti squash. But some grilled carrots or grilled asparagus would be nice too.