Oh I love BBQ!!!

The past week or so has been crazy!! It has been mid 20's....and it is only March!!! I am so glad it is going to cool off tomorrow and for the next week (and hopefully longer). I am not ready for the heat yet!

But...I do love that with the heat, BBQ season comes back in full swing! My husband (with me doing the prep work of course) made a killer dinner Sunday night!

I marinated pork loin chops in balsamic vinegar, oil, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings. Alongside our chops, we had grilled veggies and Roasted cauliflower Au Gratin. It was amazing!!! A great way to end a pretty awesome weekend :)

Cedar Plank Salmon with Dill Sauce

Tonight we had salmon on a cedar plank. This recipe comes from Canadian Living. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, however we ran out of propane sooo I had to turn to the oven…which I didn’t want to do in this heat!! However it turned out great!

Ingredients:

Salmon:

-          1 cedar plank

-          2 salmon fillets (about 1 lb)

-          2 tbsp oil

-          ½ tsp grated lemon zest

-          2 tbsp lemon juice

-          1 tbsp chopped green onions (or chives)

       -          2 tsp Dijon mustard (I used honey Dijon, it worked just as well)

-          1 pinch each salt and pepper

Dill Sauce:

-          ½ cup sour cream

-          2 tbsp finely chopped cucumbers

-          1 tbsp fresh chopped dill (or ½ tsp dried)

-          2 tsp minced green onion (or chives)

Directions:

1. Prepare cedar plank by soaking in water for at least 30 minutes and place salmon fillets on top.
2. In a small bowl, whisk remaining Salmon ingredients together and brush onto fillets.
3. Place plank on grill over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes (or until fish flakes easily when tested). Occasionally brush with remaining lemon mixture. 
4. Meanwhile, combine Dill Sauce ingredients in a small bow. Serve salmon with dill sauce.

**Tip: If like me you run out of propane…you can place plank in a preheated 425^oF oven for about 15 minutes!!!!



With Dill Sauce



Beer Can Chicken...YUM!!

Tonight I made a "Beer Can Chicken" and it was amazing!! If you have never made one before you should really give it a try!! The chicken is so moist, it is absolutely delicious :)

You need the little contraption for it to work! You can get them from Canadian Tire or Walmart - I am sure anywhere that sells BBQ accessories will have them. My holder has a bowl on the bottom to collect all the grease, and therefore stops the BBQ from catching on fire!



Before



Directions:

1. Preheat the BBQ on high

2. Put a half can of beer in the holder (I used Molson M, but you can use whatever you want)

3. Rinse a roasting chicken off and put on the holder

4. Sprinkle with Seasoning salt and Montreal Steak Spice

5. Put the chicken on one side of BBQ - Turn this side to medium/low and keep the other side on medium

6. Cook for 1.5 - 2 hours (or until internal temperature is around 82*C)

7. Turn BBQ off and allow chicken to cool for 15 minutes

 8. Serve and Enjoy!



YUMMMMY :)



BBQ Dinner - Wings and Potatoes :)

 These last two nights have been really warm!! As you know we don't have A/C. Luckily our house has been pretty good so far (around 23/24*C), however the last two nights have been much warmer (well only by 2 degrees, but it feels a lot worse!). So of course I turned to the trusty grill!!

BBQ Chicken Wings

I have never made chicken wings on the grill before but these turned out really good, and were really easy!! (Minus the burn on my finger from the sauce). I am pretty much giving directions rather than a recipe!

1. Rinse the wings under cold water and dry them on paper towel

2. Put the wings in a bowl (with a lid) and add sauce - Honey garlic sauce, BBQ sauce and hot sauce (but you can pretty much do whatever you want!)

3. Allow wings to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes or so

4. Meanwhile heat grill to medium

5. Put wings on the grill for approximately 15 minutes while turning frequently - you can also brush wings with the remaining sauce from the bowl, however I did not do that.

**Note: This is where I burnt my finger!! BE CAREFUL TURNING THE WINGS!!!!! **



OUCH!!!

Sliced Potatoes

The potatoes are also really easy! I put them on the grill about 45 minutes prior to the wings. I used a mandoline to slice potatoes thin. Put on tinfoil with seasoning and add 2 tbsp butter. I usually slice up onions as well, but I didn't feel like it tonight! Wrap potatoes in tinfoil (I use two sheets - wrap once, then wrap again with the folded parts on the opposite side). With the grill on high, put the potatoes on the top rack. Flip after 30 minutes.
**Note: When you are ready to cook wings, remember to turn the grill to medium!!!

Of course I finished my meal off with a little bowl of fresh strawberries (and a little sugar!!). What a perfect HOT night meal :)

BBQ Ribs

For Mother’s Day we had my mom over for dinner on Saturday night. I decided to make BBQ ribs, grilled veggies and Greek salad. For dessert we had fruit with chocolate fondue. Let me tell you, this meal was incredible!!!!

I found the recipe for the ribs on Canadian Living, the recipe says to slow cook the ribs, which would also be great, but I really wanted to BBQ.

Ingredients:

- 2 racks of ribs

- 4 tsp Cajun Seasoning

- Salt and Pepper

- 1 cup Ketchup

- ¼ cup wine vinegar

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1.       Cut ribs into individual servings (I usually cut each rack in half)

2.       Season ribs with Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper and allow the ribs to sit for 20 minutes

3.       Meanwhile, in a medium bowl mix ketchup, vinegar, sugar and Worcestershire sauce

4.       BBQ on medium low heat for approximately an hour, turning ever 10 minutes. After you turn the ribs the first time, brush with BBQ sauce and continue doing this until ribs are cooked.

**Note: If you prefer to slow cook the ribs, make a double batch of BBQ sauce. Broil seasoned ribs until browned (5 minutes on each side) and transfer to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Spring is here!!! Shish Kabobs :)

This past weekend was BEAUTIFUL!! It was a perfect weekend to pull out the BBQ. My husband wanted to make shish kabobs. I love making them! It is one of those meals that we can do together, and we can make them to our liking. I bought a few stainless sticks that we can reuse and put on the BBQ. If you will be making lots of kabobs you can easily buy the wooden disposable ones.

Our kabobs usually consist of bite size pieces of:

- Steak

- Chicken

- Mushrooms

- Peppers

- Onion

Like I said before you can put pretty much ANYTHING on them. You can easily make them all meat, OR vegetarian!! We season them with spices and cook on medium heat for approximately 15 minutes, turning once. However BBQ’s differ! So you will have to watch your kabobs!! Ours turned out great! I typically use BBQ sauce for dipping!!