Flank Steak Fajitas

Among other things, this year we are focused on reducing our food waste. It has taken a long time, but I have finally learned that our family simply does not eat "leftovers." Not even Thanksgiving turkey. We have the best intentions of doing so, but time and again, I empty out the food storage containers into the trash. Why is this? For starters, who really wants to eat the same meal back to back? Plus, many foods--especially meat--can be ruined by reheating. I can think of a couple recipes I make using ground beef in which the flavors are enhanced by time. But on the whole, reheating meat is just not something I recommend. As a result, I am taking charge of our waste reduction by carefully planning ahead. If it's a meal that can freeze and reheat, such as soup or lasagna, I will make enough to feed us twice. Immediately after dinner the remainder goes straight into the freezer. If the meal isn't freezer-worthy, then we are trying to prepare only what we will eat that evening. This sounds simple, but it can be quite challenging based on the varying appetites of five.

That prelude was to announce that although I thawed one pound of flank steak for my country fried steak, I had the sense to only use half of it. Pounding the meat out thin made it go farther, and country fried steak was not something we needed for leftovers.

So, there I was the next afternoon perusing my refrigerator to figure out what to pair with the remaining flank steak. Voila. I had bothered to save the remaining "chimichurri with roasted tomatoes" sauce a la the Giada de Laurentiis Pot Roast recipe. How good would that taste as a marinade for the flank steak? I was thinking yummy. So, the flank steak went into the spicy parsley sauce for an hour. It could have marinated longer, but as usual I was pressed for time. In the meantime we preheated the grill and sliced up whatever peppers and onions we had available. We settled on 1 onion, 1 green pepper & 1 jalapeno. As I always do, I consulted recipes online as I was cooking up our dinner. I found inspiration in Sunny Anderson's Flank Steak Fajitas. She uses a traditional chimichurri sauce with the addition of cilantro. What particularly moved me was her "drunken peppers" accompaniment. I willingly sauteed my few onions and peppers in olive oil, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and then poured about 1/3 cup of lager beer on top. The cooked peppers steeped in the beer (covered) while my husband grilled the steak. Our steak needed just 3-4 minutes per side over medium-high heat (400F internal grill temp). Remember to let the meat rest! After 10 minutes we sliced it thinly across the grain and served it in hot flour tortillas with a little pepper-jack cheese and, of course, the drunken peppers. Delish. And the best part: no leftovers.