Steak Marinade

1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
3 Tbsp dried basil
1 1/2 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp minced garlic

Combine all ingredients. Pour marinade over meat. Cover, and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Cook meat as desired.


Note: until I use it up, I substituted 4-5 Tbsp of a spice mix that I have for all the powdered spices in the list above. It's a close enough match and worked fine the first time.


Source: Allrecipes

Mushroom Lentil Barley Soup

Ingredients:
1 cup dry lentils
½ cup uncooked pearly barley
1 quart beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
14 oz can of diced tomatoes 
8 oz. Baby Bella Mushrooms quartered
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1 medium yellow onion chopped
1 tbsp mustard
4 garlic cloves minced
Bay leaves
1-2 teaspoons ground fresh black pepper
Salt to taste
One medium potato chopped

Directions:

In a slow cooker, mix all ingredients. cover, and cook 4 to 6 hours on High or 10 to 12 hours on Low. Remove bay leaves before serving.

(Recipe called for ¾ cup each of the barley and lentils. I guess it’s ok as long as it adds up to 1.5 cups. This would be a fine recipe with just barley)

French Press Coffee

Some notes:
2 Tbsp beans for each 8 oz of water,
Set burr grinder to 8 for french press (2 for auto drip)

And the process (from here)

Preheat the glass and plunger by pouring hot water inside the pitcher and plunge once to warm everything up. Discard the rinse water.
Add ground coffee.
Pour hot water (30 seconds off the boil or about 205 degrees F) into the French press, saturating all of your grounds, and pouring to the halfway mark. Start your timer for 4 minutes.
After 1 minute, stir the “bloom” (or top layer) and pour the rest of the water evenly to the top and affix the press pot lid.
After 4 minutes, plunge and serve. Any coffee not served immediately goes in a thermos so it doesn't sit in the used grounds.