Balsamic and Basil Marinated Steak with Red Pepper Pesto + 2 Weeks of Dinners

We've eaten our fair share of steak for dinner over the past few months (you can see our first two months of dinner recipes here and here), but this one is most definitely our family favorite. It's super easy and the kids love helping make the pesto from garden ingredients (the pesto is incredibly delicious on a whole variety of breakfast dishes as well). If you're looking for a new way to grill this last month of summer, I'd give this one a go.

We're headed out on vacation soon, so I wanted to share our recent dinners before we split. Our clean eating is likely to be suspended for a bit, but we'll be back with another month of dinners soon. Enjoy!

Balsamic and Basil Marinated Steak
with Red Pepper Pesto

(slightly adapted from Planks, Love and Guacamole)

Ingredients
Steak Marinade
- 1 lb steak
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp onion powder

Red Pepper Pesto
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, packed
- 1/2 cup roasted red peppers
- 1/4 pistachios
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 large clove garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions
1. Marinate steak in a gallon-sized plastic bag overnight or a minimum of 4 hours.
2. Add all pesto ingredients to food processor and pulse until combined into a pesto texture.
3. Grill steak to desired temperature and top with pesto prior to serving.

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2 Weeks of Dinner

Day 1 (M) -- Butternut Squash and Prosciutto Pasta with Lemon Garlic and Sage and roasted brussels sprouts.
Day 2 (T) -- tailgating at soccer game! Bunless burgers, fruit, and veggies.
Day 3 (W) -- Hawaiian Turkey Burgers, Roasted New Potatoes with Garlic, and leftover brussels sprouts.
Day 4 (Th) -- Roasted Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Rice Wraps (I LOVED these and also love making sandwich wraps with collard leaves as well) and leftovers.
Day 5 (F) -- Balsamic and Basil Marinated Steak with Red Pepper Pesto, leftover butternut squash and potatoes.
Day 6 (Sat) -- dinner out (steak and veggies).
Day 7 (Sun) -- Roasted Pork Loin with Grapes, and Apple, Pecan, Bacon + Butternut Squash Hash (this continues to be the only pork dish Joel will eat).

Day 8 (M) -- dinner out -- sort of. I ate only part of my strawberry salad with chicken before Cam had an adverse reaction to some medicine and puked into my hands and then all over me. At the restaurant. A lot.
Day 9 (T) -- Lemon Chicken with Olives, and Honey Balsamic Roasted Veggies (I used parsnips and red onion because it was what we had -- still delish).
Day 10 (W) -- leftovers.
Day 11 (Th) -- Balsamic Marinated London Broil, Maple Roasted Butternut Squash (can you tell we had a lot of squash left!?).
Day 12 (F) -- Italian Baked Eggs (sans cheese and bread), sausage, and a green salad.
Day 13 (Sat) -- out (delicious, and most definitely not Paleo, BBQ)
Day 14 (Sun) -- Sweet Potato Chili (a big fam favorite) and watermelon.