Grillin weather isn't over yet!

I was a little sad when the weather was perfect and beautiful the week that I was stuck on the couch due to my wisdom teeth. Luckily, after a week of cold, it picked back up and decided to be nice again.  This happened just in time for Eric and I to purchase a ton of steaks from Omaha Steaks with the gift card he got from the Kellogg wedding :) Our freezer is now full of filets, pork chops, and hot dogs.  With the weather being so nice, we generally like to make sure we use the opportunity to do non-winter things.  For me a couple of nights ago, that meant grilling! Plus, I'm finally able to eat more things and steak always sounds good.

I didn't want to eat just plain steak so I decided to marinade these.  For the marinade, I used

brown sugar

garlic

balsamic vinegar

rosemary

salt 

pepper

Sorry for the lack of pictures with this post.  I was running around all crazy this day so I didn't really focus on pics that much. 

Anyway, so I mixed these ingredients together and then poured them in a zip lock bag with the steaks.  They marinaded in the fridge for about 6 hours.  

About 30 minutes before cooking time, I removed the steaks from the fridge and let them sit to room temperature.  While these were sitting, I started on the sides.  I decided to make mushrooms and creamed spinach.  

For the mushrooms, I used:

onions

mushrooms

marsala

salt

pepper

butter

worcestershire

Originally, I was going to use white wine instead of marsala but marsala sounded better so it became a last minute substitution.  

To start, I melted the butter and cooked the onions for a few minutes.  Then, I added all the remaining ingredients and let them cook for about 30 minutes to soften and for the sauce to cook down. 

While the mushrooms were cooking, I made the creamed spinach.  I decided to use frozen spinach instead of fresh just b/c it's cheaper and I don't have to deal with washing all the dirt out.  I just put the spinach in a pot and let it defrost.  Then I added some half and half, salt, and nutmeg.  This cooked down until it was "creamed"

So somewhere halfway through the mushrooms, I put the steaks on the grill.  I let them cook to about medium rare and then took them off and let them sit on a plate for about 10-15 minutes while everything else was finishing.  I also decided to make a side salad with homemade dressing using balsamic vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper.  Finally, dinner was done.  This one was pretty painless and easy to make. 

The salad contained avocados, tomato, fresh mozzarella, farmhouse cheddar, cucumber, arugula, spring mix

Pretty good dinner overall.  I'm glad I didn't include potatoes or a starchy side b/c this ended up being a really good amount of food.  It wasn't too filling but at the same time not leaving me hungry.  The marinade was really good with the steak and paired well with the marsala mushrooms.  The steaks were really tender, I'm sure partially due to the marinade.  The salad was a good light and crisp starter to the meal.  

Hopefully the weather stays nice out b/c we have at least 10 more steaks to make! Maybe we'll attempt the cast iron/oven method once it gets cold.