Mojo Grilling Marinade

Summer is nearing its end, but there’s still plenty of time for grilling! This is a great recipe I found on All Recipes and works well with chicken or pork. What I love most about it is the great citrus flavor it lends to the meat. We all liked this, but Timmy was especially in love with this one. He didn't even bother with a fork and knife or plate; he just kept getting the meat and chowing it down.

So, let’s get cooking!

Mince the garlic and onion.

In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Megan was my “whisker” when we made this and she’s really good at it. ;)

Place the meat in a gallon freezer bag or marinating container and pour in the marinade. I used pork chops for this.







Let marinate for a couple hours or, even better, overnight.

Grill until desired doneness and they’re done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Mojo Grilling Marinade

6 cloves garlic
½ c minced onion
1 c orange juice
1/2 c lime juice
½  tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp lemon pepper
½  tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Tobasco sauce
1 c oil

Kansas City BBQ Sauce

Summer is still here for a while, and what better way to enjoy it than with a new barbecue recipe? This one comes from the Food Network Kitchen and since I’ve heard of Kansas City style BBQ but never tried it, I was very interested. I’m so glad I did, and I know you will be also.

The original recipe called for a tiny amount of allspice, which I didn’t have, and “English-style dried mustard.” I did have dried mustard but it has vanished from my cupboard, so I substituted prepared yellow mustard. I also nixed the bay leaf and cut down on the water to make it a little thicker.

So, let’s get cooking!

Peel and mince the garlic. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil a bit. Add the garlic, tomato paste, chili powder, paprika, crushed red pepper, and ground cloves. Stir together and cook about 3 minutes or so, until paste is a dark color.

Next, add the ketchup, water, apple cider vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. Mix together well, bring to a boil, and turn heat down to simmer gently for 30 minutes.

I used chicken leg quarters for this, so I cut them apart and removed excess fat. This would be excellent with pork, as well.

Now you grill the meat, basting with the sauce as needed. You can obviously also do this in the oven, which is what I did the night I made these. For pieces other than legs, turn them upside down. Baste sauce on each piece of meat liberally. Bake in a preheated 400° oven for 25 minutes.

Remove the baking dish or sheet pan from the oven. Turn all pieces of meat over, and baste liberally with the BBQ sauce. Back in the oven it goes for another 30 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. You can also put them under the broiler for 5 or 10 minutes afterwards for that grilled look and taste.

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Kansas City Barbecue Sauce

6 cloves garlic
2 Tbl oil
1 Tbl chili powder
1 Tbl paprika
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 c ketchup
1/2 c water
1/2 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 c molasses
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1 Tbi soy sauce
1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbl prepared yellow mustard
(or 2 tsp dried mustard)

Easy Quick Spaghetti Sauce

This here is the spaghetti sauce I make all the time for my family. I don’t know if I can say it’s “my original,” because I simply use what’s in most spaghetti sauces. The only thing that really varies is, sometimes I don’t have any meat for it, which is fine by me, and if I have meat, I may use hamburg (too expensive now!), ground turkey, sausage, and even pepperoni or kielbasa, or any combination of those. The pepperoni or kielbasa are my favorites in spaghetti sauce. I *love* them They add a special zip to the sauce.

Even being simple, basic, or whatever you’d like to call it, my family and friends who have had it love it, and it’s so easy and quick, I hope you like it too! Make it ahead, make it and freeze it for future meals (I do this!), make it for supper tonight if you have about 1 ½ hours or less. Just make it! ;)

So, let’s get cooking!

Okay, if you’re using sausage, start that cooking in a skillet now, while you work on the other ingredients. If you use hamburg, ground turkey, or pepperoni, you can go to the next step first. When the sausage is done (use a cover to expedite the cooking process), cool on a plate.

Prep the veggies: Dice the green pepper, Vidalia onion, and carrots. Mince the cloves of garlic.

In a large skillet or saucepan, use a couple tablespoons of oil to sauté the veggies you just cut, until tender and translucent. If you’re using hamburg or ground turkey, skip the oil and brown it now with the veggies. If using the pepperoni (one of those wonderful big sticks of it!), you’ll add it later.

Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste, stirring well to thoroughly blend in (the tomato paste). Bring to a boil and then cover and turn down the heat to simmer. You’ll want this to simmer for an hour now. If using pepperoni, add it now after cutting into 4” lengths.

The sausage will hopefully be cool enough to handle now. Simply slice and add. You can slice it into ¼ inch rounds, or cut those rounds in half, or slice the sausage lengthwise, slice again, and cut (so it’s like circles quartered). I like that last option because it spreads it further.

Add the cut sausage and the spices and sugar. Sugar cuts the acid of the tomatoes.

Cook for a total simmer time of an hour. You can cook it more if you’d like, but you need at least one hour of simmering to make it taste good. This recipe works great in the crock pot, too.

Serve over the pasta of your choice. Enjoy! ~TMMF

My Megan helping. :) 

Easy Quick Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb Italian sausage, or hamburg,
   or ground turkey, or pepperoni
1 Vidalia onion
1 green bell pepper
2 carrots
4-6 cloves garlic
3 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2 Tbl sugar
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
3/4 tsp black pepper




*Note: Last month I had been having a special give-away to celebrate two years here at TMMF, However, during that week I got very sick and couldn't even post. So, I am running it again! If you'd like to receive this special The Magic Meal Fairy mug for your own, all you need to do is like the Facebook page (here) *and* share the post on this page for this recipe or the post for Sloppy Joe Casserole 2, or Spinach Mac & Cheese Soup. The give-away will run from 2/13/15 to Thursday, 2/19/15. The winner will be chosen on Friday, 2/20/15 and announced that day and notified. A picture of the mug is below: