My Marinade

  I do not mean to confuse anyone by having a title about a marinade and then a picture of a salad.  Originally, I thought I'd post about my Greek salad.  But as I started thinking a little deeper, I realized just about anyone can make a salad.  This fella consists of a crisp bed of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, chickpeas, kalamata olives, feta cheese, and my homemade tzatziki sauce.  The tzatziki sauce consists of 1 cup fat free Greek yogurt, one half chopped and seeded cucumber, 1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill, and 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder.  That is all easy to explain, but the real star of the show is my chicken and my lovely standby marinade.

My marinades always consist of the same base- olive oil, citrus juice, crushed garlic, salt, and pepper.  That's it.  Plain and simple.  I switch out different citrus flavors and add spices depending on if I am making more of a Mexican or Tex-Mex, Mediterranean, Italian, etc.  But all in all, it consists of the same base and works for me every time with any kind of meat or as a basting liquid to brush over grilled veggies. 

My Simple Marinade

(for 1-2 pounds of meat)

1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of one lemon or lime
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whisk all ingredients together until combine.  Place meat in a large Ziplock bag and pour the marinade over the meat.  Let the meat marinade for at least 1-2 hours or overnight.  If you are planning on grilling your meat, make sure to shake off the extra drips of marinade before placing the meat on the grill so you do not have a massive flame.

Do not fear the olive oil.  Olive oil is your friend and will make your meat nice, tender, and juicy. I also do not suggest swapping the olive oil for any other kind of oil because it adds depth and flavor.  Put away the sodium induced marinade packets.  Use this marinade and you will be happy:)