Mock Teriyaki Sauce

I use this super easy sauce as a marinade for salmon or chicken. It has a nice balance of salty and sweet. It's also good on pasta (just cut up some carrots, cabbage, or peppers to go with it).

2-3 Tbs Soy sauce
2-3 Tbs real maple syrup
1 clove garlic minced

Preparation:

Mix equal parts soy sauce and maple syrup in a bowl until combined. Adjust the proportions to suit your taste, adding a little more soy sauce for a saltier/savory marinade, or a little more maple syrup for a sweeter marinade. Add minced garlic, mix well. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

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For the starving artists:

You can obtain most of the ingredients for free from fast food or take out places. You'll still need to shell out 50¢ to $1.00 for a bulb of garlic though (unless you have a friend willing to share a clove or two with you). 

Soy Sauce: Packets of soy sauce are readily available at Chinese restaurants, or if your grocery store has a sushi section, you can usually grab a packet or two of complimentary soy sauce there.  

Maple Syrup: Almost any restaurant, fast food or otherwise, will carry small containers of syrup. Often times you can ask the counter person or waiter/waitress for a couple of plain syrups to go (mind you, this will be the corn syrup version of maple syrup - so if you're trying to be somewhat health conscious, you'll want to save your pennies for the real stuff).

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