Teriyaki Beef & Grilled Vegetables (and Grilled Peaches with Honey, too!)

This weekend we had the best time at our friend's home for their first annual Camp'n'Q! We were to camp overnight, but as we'd had a rough week -- we decided to forgo the camping and enjoy the BBQ anyway! Sitting around a pool, surrounded by old-growth trees, watching the stars come out... the only way it gets better is moving over to the dancing firepit and toasting marshmallows for S'mores --a few of the kids had NEVER had them before!!!

TERIYAKI BEEF ZEL'S STYLE

• Kikkoman Soy Sauce (mild - less sodium;strong - regular soy)
  
• Sugar (to taste)
• 4 # Beef, thinly sliced (favorite cuts = filet mignon; tri tip; London broil; etc)
• 6 to 8 Fresh Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced
• Fresh Ginger, peeled & thinly sliced (size 3 fingers - use more or less garlic/ginger to taste.)

Layer beef, garlic, ginger in plastic bag/dish. Cover with soy sauce and add sugar to taste. Close plastic bag/cover dish and let marinate for 4-6 hours (light marinate) or over night (strong marinate). Turn bag/dish each hour or two for light or 2-4 for strong taste. Love - Zel --Original version courtesy of Zelma Malone, Sacramento, CA – July 2007.

My version includes: crushed red pepper flakes, minced ginger (when fresh ginger is not available), minced lemongrass. As a shortcut, we use Carne Asada meat – thinly sliced beef, usually found easily in grocery meat cases out West. It takes about 3 or 4 minutes total to cook on a hot grill.

For our friends' 1st Annual Camp’n’Q in Loomis, here is my recipe: 1.5# Carne Asada meat, ¼ cup sugar, ½ cup Kikkoman reduced-sodium soy sauce, 4 garlic cloves sliced thin, ¼ tsp red pepper flakes, 1 to 2 TBSP minced ginger, 1 to 2 tsp minced lemon grass. We also drizzle olive oil and our favorite seasoning (Geasoning = to be available soon!) on vegetables. This time we used thick bell pepper slices (about 8 slices per seeded pepper) and trimmed green onions. Start them a tad earlier as they take just a few more minutes to cook. (Mushrooms, zuchinni, yellow squash, eggplant, tomatoes and par-boiled artichokes all work well, too -- but all have different cooking times!)

For dessert we had Grilled Peaches with Honey. Wash and dry peaches (1 large for 2 people or 2 large for sharing!) Cut around the middle of the peach starting at the stem end, gently twist halves apart and remove the pit inside. Drizzle with olive oil and they are ready to grill.

(Prep them before you leave home: after drizzling with olive oil, put the cut sides together and wrap in foil to prevent browning.) Enjoy! --TC, Sept 12, 2009.

• http://www.kikkomanusa.com/_pages/consumer/prod_fam.asp?loc=101&pfid=8 Kikkoman Soy Sauces (they now have organic soy sauce)
• http://www.gourmetgarden.com/us/contents/view/store-locator Gourmet Garden Herb Blends (sold in tubes in the refrigerated produce section of many stores... keep fresh for up to 3 months!) --> for a store in your area look at above link