Santa Maria Grilled Sirloin

Most of us don't get gold medals for the work that we do on a daily basis.  I will go as far as to say that moms know this truth better than most.  The mundane, routine tasks that mothers perform every single day to keep her children healthy and her home functional, often go unnoticed and unappreciated.  The endless loads of laundry,  the countless number of meals and snacks that she prepares and the piles of dishes that she washes are just the tip of the iceberg.  I don't say all of these things because I'm looking for some sort of recognition - I simply want to encourage the mom's out there who are in the depths of parenting at this moment.  You ARE appreciated. 

Repeating any task over and over again can make it seem ordinary and routine.  Try and remember the very first time that you had to change a diaper on your newborn baby.  I imagine that it was a challenge at first and it took time before you successfully mastered the skill.  And just when you thought you had mastered the skill of diaper changing, you were forced to change your baby on an airplane or even on a subway train.  And just when you felt like you got the knack of diaper changing away from home - your baby started to crawl and you had to learn the skill of diapering a  baby while on the move.  It seems weird to talk about diaper changing on my FOOD blog but it perfectly describes how doing anything over and over again can make it routine but adding a new challenge to that ordinary task can make it exciting again.  

The same principles apply to my cooking techniques.  Cooking an egg every day for breakfast can get really boring but figuring out a new way to cooking it or new ingredients to add to it, makes it more challenging and more exciting.  Stirring  some green chilies or black beans into my scrambled eggs in the morning makes breakfast way more interesting than eating a plain old hard boiled egg. 

There are a lot of things that I have to do every day that really are routine and boring.  Even though there's nothing special or rewarding about straightening my comforter and fluffing my pillows, it's something that I feel is important to do everyday.  So I straighten and tighten and fluff and plump to make my bed look neat and tidy.  There are plenty of things that I do everyday that I would consider mundane but cooking does not have to be one of those things.  My kitchen is the place where I get to be creative and challenged and free to break out of the routine of the day.  I love to experiment with new ingredients, recipes and techniques because it makes the daily task of preparing dinner - exciting.  

Spice up your dinner routine with this recipe for Santa Maria Grilled Sirloin.  

Santa Maria Grilled Sirloin
4 Tablespoons paprika
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon white pepper
1 Tablespoon celery salt
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon oregano
1 Tablespoon pepper
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground mustard
2-3 pound sirloin roast
2 cups hickory wood chips
2 Tablespoons canola oil
​

Combine first 11 ingredients.  

Rub over steak, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight. 

Remove steak from refrigerator, 1 hour prior to grilling.  Soak wood in water.

Unwrap roast and brush with oil.  

Grill 1-1 1/2 hours over low heat until meat reaches 140.  

Let rest 10 minutes. 

Slice.

I love the versatility of a sirloin roast.  I served this roast with vegetables, rolls and baked potatoes on the first night and then I served it with tortillas as fajita meat the second night.  I also served it to Ben on top of lettuce as a gourmet steak salad for lunch.  I got a lot of milage out of this one roast - this is my kind of recipe.  

​Ciao!

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