Steak Fajitas

You’ll need:

• 1.5lb thin cut steak (sirloin works well)
• salt and pepper to taste
• garlic powder
• oil for frying
• tortillas

What to do:

1. Fry on medium-high (6-6.5) with a tiny bit of oil in a large pan stirring constantly for 4 minutes
2. Enjoy

Quacamole Salad

Shout out to sous chef MarcPaperScissor for the guacamole salad.

• fresh lettuce
• avocado
• onions
• tomatoes
• green and yellow peppers
• cucumbers

1. Chop everything
2. Mash it up in a big bowl
3. Refrigerate for an hour for best result

MMM! EASY!

Cost: ~$12

Serving size: 3-4

Spicy Italian Sausage

You’ll need:

• 1.5 lbs Italian sausage
• whole wheat penne pasta
• jar of your favorite tomato sauce
• cherry tomatoes
• green pepper
• onion
• salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

Get out a large pot, a large pan, and a medium pan. You are going to want to have all three going at the same time to get the timing right.

1. Chop the onion and pepper and fry with a little oil on low until onions are translucent 
2. Boil water with a little salt and olive oil in and add the pasta
3. Fry the sausages in a pan on medium heat (5), turning frequently for about 9-10 minutes
4. When the pasta is ready, pour in the onions and peppers and top with cherry tomatoes and sauce
5. Cut up the sausage into chunks
6. Enjoy

Cost: ~$15

Serving size: 5

Baked Chicken

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We’re so glad you could attend. Come inside, come inside.

Rob’s Gotta Eat is BACK!

My new theme this semester is SIMPLICITY. Which translates to as INEXPENSIVE as possible.

You’d be surprised how just a little salt and pepper can go a long way.

Boy Rood and Michaella came over to join us for this one, however she is a vegetarian. So while she had her grilled cheese, we  chowed down on some breasts.

Serving Size: 4 Men

Total Prep/Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

• Chicken Breasts
  
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Cayenne Pepper
• Montreal Chicken Seasoning
  
• Dried Minced Onions

Marinate meat for as long as possible. Place them on a baking sheet (sprayed with non stick) and into the oven preheated to 420 degrees. Cook for about 15-20 minutes depending on size of breasts. Serve with corn and baked beans.

SIMPLE.

Total Cost per Person: $ 3

Top Round

These bad boys were chilling in my freezer for far too long, they must be cooked.

Marinated the heavy slabs  of meat and some veggies in my own special little blend of simple ingredients and it came out great, a real hit!

Rob’s Gotta Eat Original

Serving Size: 3 Men

Total Prep/Cook time: 25 min

Ingredients

• 2 FAT top round steaks
• Worcestershire sauce
• lime juice
• dried minced onions
• garlic salt
• onions and peppers
  

Marinate the goods in the stuff for as long as you can.  Fire up the grill to 325 degrees and cook everything for about 6-7 minutes on each side (depending on thickness)

For the fries, just slice you potatoes about 1/6 of an inch thick and place them on a greased baking sheet. Use what ever spices you like here really. I go with garlic salt, a little blackened seasoning (for a kick), maybe a little crushed black pepper. Put them in the oven on 400 degrees for about 9 minutes and then flip them and top with a little brown sugar. Pop them back in for about 5 more minutes, keeping an eye on them. PRIME TIME!

Average Cost per Person:~$3-4

NY Strip AGAIN!

DRY SPICE RUB! OH BABY! This is a Rob’s Gotta Eat original.

Publix had these nice NY strips. I simply couldn’t resist!

Serving Size: 3 Men

Total Prep/Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients

• 3 NY strip steaks
  
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
  
• 1 tbsp blackened seasoning
  • salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, onion and garlic powder, black pepper, oregano, thyme
    
• 1 tbsp John Henry Texas Rob
  • sugar, salt, brown sugar, paprika, smoke flavor, garlic and onion powder, lemon oil
    
• 2-3 tbsp McCormick Spicy Montreal Steak Rub

Mix the ingredients and pour them over the steak. Rub it in thoroughly with your fingers on all sides. Fire up the grill to 325 degrees and cook for about 4-5 minutes each side, depending on thickness. Easy!

Served with corn and grilled onions and peppers.

Average Cost per Person:~$3-4

Buttery Garlic Porterhouse Steaks

ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT! Finally, I know. Sorry if any of you missed me for a few days.  I had a test this week and last weekend was Halloween. A lot of fun to be had, but then it was time to get down to business.  I purchased the Smokin’ Notes for my micro economics test which was today (Wednesday).  I got an A…..minus, but I suppose its nothing to frown about.  I think what gave me the brain power to succeed was this fine porterhouse steak that I had for lunch with some onions and peppers. First time I have had steak for lunch all semester.  What’s more, I rode my bike to campus a few hours before the test and camped out up on the top floor of the Reitz Union and got some good practice in.

This is really simple. Just put butter and minced garlic down in the pan on low heat and then once the butter melted turned it up to medium. Put the onions, peppers, and steak in. Add a little Worcestershire sauce on top and you got it made.

 

Average Cost per Person:~$3

 

Loaded Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

Speedy post, so I can catch up.

I’ll give you a little more info here cause I know it looks interesting.

Ingredients:

• 90/10!!!!! Ground Sirloin (on SALE!)
• chorizo, chopped
  
• red onion, chopped
• green pepper, chopped
• ricotta cheese, fresh grated
• bread crumbs
• onion(and/or)garlic powder
• McCormick hamburger spice mix
• baby swiss
• bacon
• toasted onion rolls
• sweet potatoes
  

Average Cost per Person:~$4-5

Cheese Steak with Sweet Potato Fries

Speedy post, so I can catch up.

Philly Cheese Steaks and Sweet Potato Fries!

Average Cost per Person:~$4

Rob’s Rub

DRY SPICE RUB! OH BABY! This is a Rob’s Gotta Eat original.

After passing our soccer referee certification test and receiving our patches, Dan and I hit the gym to strengthen our pectoralis major.  Jah-el returned from down south and organized a soccer game for 9pm.  We played around for a bit, kicked some balls, and then went home to clean up before dinner.  I had 2 FAT steaks defrosted, but not marinated.  Perfect time for a dry rub!

Serving Size: 2 Men

Total Prep/Cook time: 25 min

Ingredients

• 2 THICK top sirloin steak
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
  
• 1 tbsp blackened seasoning
  • salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, onion and garlic powder, black pepper, oregano, thyme
    
• 1 tbsp John Henry Texas Rob
  • sugar, salt, brown sugar, paprika, smoke flavor, garlic and onion powder, lemon oil
    
• 2-3 tbsp McCormick Spicy Montreal Steak Rub

Pound down the meat to tenderize. Mix the ingredients and pour them over the steak. Rub it in thoroughly with your fingers on all sides. Fire up the grill to 350 degrees and cook for about 9-10 minutes each side, depending on thickness. Easy!

Served with corn, broccoli with cheese, and a croissant.

Average Cost per Person:~$4-5

Pecan Crusted Chicken Nuggets

This morning Dan and I, had to go back for YET ANOTHER session of soccer referee training.  This time we were on the field practicing mechanics. When we got home, we took a quick break for lunch and the went to the gym to work on our lattisimus.

Thinking about all the chicken in my fridge and what I could do with it, I decided upon pecans.  It seemed like a really good idea to make nuggets rather than breast halves. That way there was greater tasty coating to  chicken ratio. (Very similar to my other dish: Parmesan Chicken).  It ended up taking a long time to dredge all the chicken. Mostly due to the fact that I didn’t make enough pecan mixture to start. (The potential for something was there with the ingredients) Overall, it’s not my greatest, but you live you learn.

This one is a Rob’s Gotta Eat original…sorta.

Serving Size: 5 Men

Total Prep/Cook time: 45 min

Ingredients

• 5 FAT boneless breasts, cut into nuggets
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 1/4 cup milk
  
• At least 1/2 cup of pecans, chopped
  
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3-4 tbsp white sugar
  
• touch of cinnamon

Whisk the ingredients and set aside. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients. Now, we have another two pan operation to do here! Get two large pans going on medium heat (5-6). Dredge your nuggets through the wet then dry ingredients and place them in the pan. (In the picture you can see my line up) Cook for about 6-7 minutes each side. ( The goal here is to cook the chicken without burning the pecans. I wasn’t too successful in this aspect. )

Served with croissants.

Average Cost per Person:~$3

Lemon Garlic Pork Shoulder

On Friday evening, Dan and I had to go back for another session of soccer referee training.  When we got home we were starving….thank goodness we went to Sam’s Club today.  We picked up 4 pounds of steak (top sirloin),  7 pounds of chicken (boneless breasts), and 7 pounds of pork (assorted chops). STOCKED UP!

This one is a Rob’s Gotta Eat original.

Serving Size: 4 Men

Total Prep/Cook time: 30 min

Ingredients

• 4 pork shoulders
• 2 tbsp butter
  
• 2 white onions, chopped
  
• 2 green peppers, chopped
  
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp sugar
  
• 1-2 tsp minced garlic
  
• touch of cinnamon
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Whisk the ingredients and pour them over the pork. Let marinate for 2+ hours (the longer the better). Now, we have another two pan operation to do here! Get two large pans going on medium heat (5-6). Put down one tablespoon of butter in each pan and swirl it around to coat the pan. Place the veggies in one and the pork in the other.  Salt and pepper the pork and veggies (I also added some garlic salt). Let the pork cook for about 8-9 minutes each side, until you see that color that you like. Around that time, everything should be ready.

Served with green beans.

Average Cost per Person:~$3-4

Half-Jerk Full-Rob

GOYA Can Fortress

*under construction*

I know, I know…Chicken three nights in a row.  However, I think I changed it up enough each night.

I went to campus today around 11:30am to meet up with Tara to get some more studying in before my physics exam (3pm).  I ate Pollo Tropical for lunch (1/4 chicken + 2 sides……still starving).  I proceeded to go to the lawn behind Reitz union and laid around in the shade for a while.  After my fair share of people watching and jamming on the Ipod, I went to the test and smoked it.  I feel good, I feel confident.

My brother was also involved in a production at the Digital Worlds Institute.  UF’s only hip-hop theater group, Signs of Life, performed and were phenomenal! I recorded a video of it, if anyone is interested just let me know.

Ingredients

• 4 FAT boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1X3 pieces
• 1/4 cup orange juice ( I used Simply Orange w/ Mango! )
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 2-3 tbsp lime juice
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 white onion, chopped
  
• 1 package baby bella mushrooms
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  

Combine ingredients in a bowl and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Place the chicken pieces and ingredients in separate marinating dishes. Pour a good portion of the marinade over everything. Refrigerate for 2+ hours (the longer the better). Set two large pans on medium heat (5-6). Put your chicken in one and everything else in the other (pour excess marinade into pans).  Allow chicken to cook for about 6-7 minutes each side. Add a little salt and pepper to the veggies and mix around while they cook, keeping it covered.

Served with the good stuff and extra juices poured on top

Average Cost per Person:~$2

Orange Honey Garlic Chicken

Dinner for 6 tonight!  Dan and I had a lot of chicken and so we had a feast.  This one is really easy, and fairly quick.

After rolling out of bed around 11ish, I went to club house with Zack and Dan to play a little billiards.  We then had a power house back work out and proceeded to hit the candy apple making station set up by Estates’ office staff.  MMM……kinda.

Ingredients

• 3.33lbs boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup orange juice ( I used Simply Orange w/ Mango! )
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 5 tbsp honey
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp dried chopped onion
  
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 bag of Japanese style veggies
• 2 cups long grain rice

Combine everything in a bowl, whisking as you add the honey to help blend the ingredients. Cut chicken into 2X2 pieces and pour the marinade over them.  Refrigerate for 2+ hours (the longer the better). Grill on 325 degrees for about 5 minutes each side.

Served on a bed of rice and veggies.

Average Cost per Person:~$2

Buttery Garlic Porterhouse Steak

GAME DAY!  Woke up and went to the gym with Dan to enhance the three heads of our deltoids. Harry, Dan, Jaime, and I then went to campus to revel in the pandemonium.  We met up with Rood and went back to his place to watch the game and kick back.  At half time, we went to the Reggae Cafe for lunch…..Jerk Chicken Sandwich. MMMMMMMM!

I was already tired after the long day and starting to get hungry again.  It didn’t take much to make these and they tasted great in under 15 minutes.

Tomorrow, I swear that I’ll study for physics.

Ingredients

• 3 porterhouse steaks, sliced thin (about .6 lb per)
  
• 2 tsp minced garlic
  
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper
  

Get a large pan on the burner on medium heat.  Melt the butter in the pan and add the good stuff. Cook the steaks for about 4 minutes each side, swirl the steaks around to get that nice color. Pour remaining garlic butter over the steaks..

Served with edamame.

Average Cost per Person:~$5

Parmesan Chicken

Now I know what you are thinking.  “It’s chicken parmesan, not parmesan chicken.”  Look this is a little different then what you might expect.  I wanted to increase the tasty breading to chicken ratio, so I cut the chicken in to small pieces and coated them all in deliciousness.

Also, tonight being a Tuesday, we had a great night soccer game at broward rinks.  I was sore as could be afterward because today was also legs and core day at the gym.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless chicken, cut into 2X2 pieces
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 stick of butter
  
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 bowl of your choice tomato sauce
  

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a small mixing bowl melt the butter and mix it with the garlic. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients well.  After cutting the chicken into little pieces, dip them in the butter garlic and then the bread crumb mixture. Arrange them on a 2 baking sheets (sprayed with nonstick). Cook them in the oven for about 11-12 minutes.

Served with tomato sauce and juice packs.

Average Cost per Person:~$2-3

Mandarin Teriaki Chicken

Sitting on the couch today with Dan, recovering from our workout, thinking of what I could do for dinner tonight.  Durante chimes in and says he has defrosted chicken in the fridge…..as do I.  During our recent trip to sam’s I bought cans of mandarin oranges in light syrup.  So I cut the chicken into tenders and marinate them in the light syrup from the mandarin oranges and some teriaki sauce with pineapple.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless chicken, cut into tenders
• teriaki sauce with pineapple
• 1 can mandarin oranges
• 1/2 a pack of linguine
• 2 carrots, chopped into cubes
  
• handful of pine nuts

Get three burners going on the stove top, 1) place a pot with about 2 quarts of water on a back burner and bring to a boil; 2) place a small pan with the pine nuts on low heat, flipping nuts around to brown both sides. 3) sprays some non-stick on a third larger pan and put your chicken in.

Add salt and a dash of garlic powder to the water. Once it is boiling, put the heat down to about 6 and throw in the linguine, stirring occasionally.

Once the pine nuts are browned and crunchy, place them aside to cool.

After the chicken has been cooking for about 4 minutes flip the pieces and dump the marinade and carrots into the pan and stir around. Allow to cook for about 5-6 more minutes until chicken is finger licking good.

Served on a bed of linguine, with toasted pine nuts, mandarin orange slices, carrots, and extra terikai sauce.

Average Cost per Person:~$3

Homemade Jerky

Zack did most of the work on this one.
Marinated thin cut tip serloin in signature steak sauce.
Cut into strips and leave in toaster oven at 160 degrees for 3+ hours.

Cinammon Steak with Apple Butter Drizzle

If I could go back and do it again (and I will), I would change it up a bit, but it was great.

Ingredients:

Steak Rub

• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp oregano leaves
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Apple Butter Sauce

• 1/4 cup apple butter
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Started off by dry rubbing the steaks with that concoction listed and refrigerated it for 2 hours. After that, fired up the grill to 350 degrees and grilled for about 6-7 minutes each side.

For the sauce, I combined the ingredients in a small sauce pan and brought to a boil, until the apple butter liquefied at which point i put a lid on it and set to warm.

Served along side green beans and corn.

Average cost PER PERSON:~$4

Sweet Mesquite Pecan Encrusted Chicken

This one is really easy.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, halved
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
  
• 1/2 cup pecans, crushed fine
• Sweet mesquite marinade
• honey

Marinated the breasts for a few hours in some mighty fine sweet mesquite (with hint of apple). Then, combined the pecans and bread crumbs in a dish and coated the breasts on both sides. Proceeded to put the breasts on a shallow baking sheet (sprayed with non-stick stuff) and put in the oven on 425 for about 15 minutes.

Served along side cheesy mashed potatoes and edamame.

Average cost PER PERSON:~$4

Another Friday Another Cheese Steak

Ingredients:

• 1.75 lbs of thin sirloin tip cut into strips
• loaf of french bread
• half of an onion
• half of a green pepper
• 1 pack of baby bella mushrooms
• smoked provolone
• LGS
• cracked pepper
• crushed onion flakes
• Lawry’s Signature steak marinade

Marinaded steak in the last two ingredients listed for half the day. Next, put out two big pans, one for veggies and one for the meat. Canola oil in each on medium heat and then cut and cheesed the bread and put them in the oven on low heat to get the cheese a little gooey.  Basically, I just put a little meat and veggies on the sandwich, drop a little more provolone on top of it all and pop it back in the oven for a few minutes and there you have it.

Average cost PER PERSON:~$4-5

Philly Cheese Steak Phridays

Philly Cheese Steak!

Every Friday is from this point on Philly Cheese Steak Phridays.
Thin cut tip sirloin. Sautéed onions and green peppers. On toasted French bread with melted provolone.

Average meal cost per person: ~$4-5