Country Ribs and Apples!

I had a nice weekend watching Isabella while Stacy went to a Pampered Chef retreat. We played lots and went shopping and we grilled. When we were in the meat aisle buying pork, I saw some pork country ribs for a really good price. So I bought them and grilled them for dinner.
   While Isabella took her nap Saturday, I prepped everything. I salted and peppered the ribs on all sides and put them back in the fridge. I cut up cabbage and onions and put them in a foil packet with salt, pepper, olive oil, and minced garlic. For dessert, I cored some apples and put them in foil. I poured lemon juice on and in the apples to prevent browning. Inside the apples I stuffed brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, more brown sugar, coconut, and poured caramel flavored syrup on the apples. Then I tightly wrapped up the apples in the foil.
  When it was closer to dinner time, we went out and lit the grill. When it was hot, I turned the center burner off and the other two to medium. The apples went in the middle and the cabbage on one of the outside burners. After a bit, we put the ribs on. I grilled the ribs for about 5 minutes per side. When the last side was on the grill, I started basting the ribs with sauce. I then turned them a few times and basted them with sauce to cook it in a little. The sauce I used was Kenai Premier Old Alaska Style Spicy BBQ Sauce. This was one of the sauces that we bought at the Alaska State Fair about a month ago. It had a very nice flavor. The cabbage was on the grill for about half an hour and I rotated it several times. I had the apples on for almost an hour. I also heated up some leftover cheese bread from the night before in foil. I had it on the grill for about 5 minutes and it was nicely warmed up.

Locally made BBQ sauce!

Yummy pork ribs!

Meat, veggies and bread!

Apples turned to sauce!

Apple in foil!

Everything turned out great. The apples were a little like applesauce though. I might have grilled them a little too long. They tasted really good anyways. Sunday, Stacy wasn't feeling well and so I made the stuffed peppers she was going to make. Here is the the recipe. I used vegetable broth instead of the chicken broth. I thought they were good.
I have two weddings to go to this weekend, so we will see about grilling this weekend. I hope everybody has a good week. Happy grilling!
Matt

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Smoke-roasted Turkey breast!

We had a nice weekend of staying home and getting things done around the house. It was very windy and rainy most of the weekend, so I only grilled once. I smoked a boneless turkey breast. The turkey was already brined and seasoned with herbs. All I had to do was open the package and put it on the grill. I used the charcoal side of my grill and put a layer of charcoal on one side. Then I heated some more charcoal in my chimney starter and poured the glowing ones over the unlit ones. Next, I made a foil pouch and put some oak wood pellets that had herbs mixed inside the pellets in the pouch. I found the pellets on clearance a few weeks ago and wanted to try them. The turkey went on the grill away from the coals.
   Under the turkey, I put a pan of vegetables to roast. I cut up carrots, onion, and potatoes and put them in the pan. I drizzled the veggies with olive oil, salt and peppered them and poured some blackberry wine we had in the fridge over everything. The turkey smoked for a little over 2 hours until it was 5 degrees from being fully 170 degrees. I took it off, tented it with foil and let it rest to finish cooking to 170.  I put the veggies directly over the heat to finish cooking, but it was taking too long. When you have a hungry toddler, sometimes you have to speed things up. I removed the veggies from the grill and put them in a 450 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Yes that turkey is done, the pink on the edges is the smoke ring.

Mmm, turkey!

  The turkey came out flavorful and juicy. It had a nice smokiness to it. Isabella ate all of hers and has continued to eat it, which means she really likes it. The veggies had a nice smoky flavor and you also could taste the wine. It was a nice combination. Yes I gave my toddler wine, but the alcohol was evaporated in the cooking process. 
  For Sunday dinner, I made a goulash. I started out by sauteing carrots, peppers, broccoli, and zucchini in my cast iron dutch oven. I salted, peppered the veggies and added some Italian seasoning. Next, I added 2 cans of diced tomatoes, half a jar of leftover pasta sauce and some cooked elbow noodles. I mixed it all up and let it simmer for a little bit and grated some parmesean cheese in. We all liked it. Stacy even ate all her zucchini which is a feat for her since she normally isn't big on zucchini's texture. 
  I am not sure what this weekends cooking/grilling adventure will be. I will be watching Isabella most of the weekend while Stacy has Pampered Chef training and fun all weekend. Have a great week and happy grilling.
Matt

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Smoke-Roasted Pears!

I had a pretty good weekend. I worked late on Friday and we got the wind damaged plane fixed. They made 9 flights over the weekend and were very happy with our hard work. Saturday we ran errands and harvested the rest of our vegetables in our garden. We had a few more zucchinis, a summer squash, some carrots and lots of green tomatoes. We are ripening the tomatoes in the house and I will let you know how that goes.
  Sunday, we went over to the in-laws house and had a nice lunch of deep fried cod. For dinner, I grilled smoked sausage and mini sweet peppers. I also smoke roasted pears using a Steven Raichlen recipe that I modified slightly to our tastes.  I still cut part of the tops off, scooped out the seeds, and squeezed lemon juice in the cavity. Next, I mixed 4 oz of cream cheese (since I was only using 3 pears), the full amount of brown sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and vanilla extract. I stuffed the pears and put them on foil rings that I made by rolling foil up and coiling into rings. I put apple wood in my smoker box and grilled the pears on indirect medium heat for 45 minutes or so.

Here is dinner cooking. The center burner is off and the 2 outside burners are on medium

Here is the yummy goodness of the inside!

   We loved the pears! They had an incredible flavor. We had planned on only giving Isabella half of one, but she kept wanting more and ate a whole pear! This is definitely a keeper recipe. It was kind of like a pear pie. I'll hopefully be smoke roasting more fruit this fall.
    I had a discount code for 25 percent off anything on the Char-Boil website and so I ordered myself a new grill tool.  I ordered the Char-Boil Infusion cooker. Watch the video and see how cool this thing looks. I should have it in a few weeks and will be letting you all know how it works.
  I'd like to let you guys know that I sometimes post links to websites and recipes. I usually hide them within my posts. These links show up as blue words. Just click on the words and it will take you to the website. I just wanted to make sure that everybody knows about this feature so they can get everything out of my blog.
  I hope everybody has a good week. Happy grilling!
Matt

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BBQ'D Pork Chops!

I had another busy week this week and wasn't able to blog till tonight. Wednesday, the wind was blowing pretty good and the power kept going on an off. Thursday and Friday, I was busy with work. One of our company's airplanes got damaged in the wind and we were working hard to fix it.
     Last Friday, the 31st, I had the day off from work and we went to the Alaska State Fair. Isabella enjoyed seeing all the animals. They had an exhibit that had a baby bear, monkeys, lion cubs and other animals. We got to sit and watch as a guy showed the animals to us and told us about them. Isabella kept saying "bear, grrr." It was cute. We bought a couple bottles of locally made bbq sauce that were spicy, but not in a hot sauce type way. I look forward to grilling with them. I'll tell you more about them after we use them.

Here is the bear!

   Saturday, we went to a local farm and picked veggies. We got Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, snow peas, and rhubarb. When we went home and Isabella was napping we preserved the veggies. We blanched the broccoli and froze it on cookie sheets for a few hours before dividing it up into freezer bags. The rhubarb was cut up and froze in 4 cup increments. We also froze the cabbage. We put the potatoes and carrots in a dark tote and put in a cool place. It was nice to be able to get fresh veggies to be able to have through out most of the winter. 

    For dinner Saturday, I made barbecued pork chops. I salt and peppered the pork, then grilled it with applewood chips in my smoker box. When the pork was cooked on one side, I glazed them with bbq sauce. We had 3 open jars of sauce in the fridge that only had a little left in them. I added a little water to each jar, shook them with the lids on and poured them into a bowl. I then mixed the sauces together and that's what I used to brush on the pork. I brushed both sides with sauce and grilled for a few minutes longer. We all liked the pork, even Isabella who doesn't eat her meat very well. 

MMM, pork chops!

Old cover.

I bought myself a new grill cover a few weeks ago. My old one was starting to rip and was faded after 2 years of use. I finally put it on the grill last weekend.

New cover

I hope everybody has a good week. Happy grilling!

Matt

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Fresh Veggies!

This week was a short work week for me. I worked Monday through Wednesday. Today Isabella had a followup to her allergy testing. We can now reintroduce peanut and chicken back to her diet. She is still allergic to beef though. Now onto this last weekends grill adventures and slight misadventures. 

    Saturday for snack I cut a couple brownies in half and filled them with marshmallow creme. Then I quickly grilled them on each side till warm. They came out good.

Brownie smore!

 For dinner, I grilled Yukon gold potatoes, turkey breast and a fruit concoction for dessert. I grilled the potatoes wrapped in foil. The skins were rubbed in olive oil and salted. They cooked for about 40 minutes on the grill at medium heat. I filleted the turkey breast and rubbed it with Pampered Chef Smokey Applewood Rub, salt and pepper. I grilled it with applewood chips in my smoker box. It was done in about 15 minutes on medium heat.

For dessert, I cooked up some fruit together. I grilled some peach slices for a few minutes before putting them in a pan with melted butter, cut up strawberries, bananas, and frozen blueberries. I added brown sugar, oatmeal, vanilla and orange extract. The whole thing then cooked down on the grill for a while. 

Warning: Don't cook this recipe in a cast iron skillet like I did. It tasted very good and had a nice smokey flavor, but it stuck super bad to my pan. I think it needed more butter to lube the pan and to be cooked less time. Next time, I will cook it in a foil pan and for less time. I scrubbed my pan multiple times and I think I lost some of my great seasoning on my pan that I have built up since I got the pan for Christmas.  

Fruit concoction

Sunday, I made a fairly simple dinner. I grilled some bruschetta, and fresh veggies. Stacy made homemade mozzarella sticks. To make the bruschetta I buttered both sides of the bread, and topped it with sliced turkey and cheese. I grilled it till the cheese was melted and the bread was toasty. 

I kept the veggies super simple. I cut up fresh zucchini, carrots, and onions from our garden. I also added some mini sweet peppers. I tossed the veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper. I grilled the veggies on my Pampered Chef BBQ Roasting pan. I had applewood chips in the smoker box. I grilled them for about 25 minutes stirring occasionally. They tasted really good. It was nice to use fresh ingredients that we had grown.

We will have more fresh veggies this weekend. We still have carrots, zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes growing. We also are going to go to a local farm and pick some veggies. It is nice to support local farms and businesses when we can. I hope everybody has a good rest of their week. Happy grilling!

Matt

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Macaroni Salad!

I had another busy week at work last week. Over the weekend, I only grilled once, but cooked meals a couple other times. Saturday morning, I made a dutch baby for breakfast. We topped it with sliced sugared strawberries. We really enjoy dutch babies and Isabella likes watching them in the oven. On a side note, I miss eating strawberries that have taste. Most of the ones we get in the store here don't have a taste. I was hoping to grow some this year, but the critters and bugs are eating them before they are ready.

Isabella watching the dutch baby

She was watching and dancing

Isabella had her strawberry outfit on

For Sunday lunch, we made pulled pork nachos. We topped the chips with bbq pulled pork, cheese, and thawed frozen southwestern corn mix. Then we broiled it on low for a bit till the meat was warm and the cheese melted.
Sunday dinner, I grilled hamburgers and fries. In the hamburgers, I put bread crumbs, olive oil, green onions, chopped sweet pepper, Pampered chef Smoky BBQ rub, garlic, fresh grated parmesean cheese and salt and pepper. I formed them into patties in the morning and froze them till it was time to grill them. I grilled them over medium heat. I still had some bad flareups and had to move them to a safe zone on my grill temporarily. A lot of people spray their flareups down with water, but that is stupid. Flare ups on a grill are caused by burning grease and water makes grease fires worse. So the best way to deal with a flare up is to move the meat to a cooler part of the grill till the fire subsides. I wasn't prepared for the first flareup. I tried to flip the burgers with the cover still on my spatula and melted the cover slightly.
   I also grilled sweet potato and russet potato fries in the Pampered Chef BBQ Roasting Pan. I enjoy grilling fries this way. As a side dish, we also had macaroni salad. I made the salad in the morning and let the flavors meld all day. We cooked the noodles Saturday night and let them cool in the fridge all night. In the morning, I added all the other ingredients. I added light mayo, light miracle whip,  green onions, grated carrots, cut up roasted red pepper, dill relish, and salt and pepper. The roasted red peppers were peppers that I had roasted on the bbq months ago and froze. I roasted the whole peppers till the skin was charred. Then you scrape off most of the black and the seeds and I had put it in a freezer bag. When I used it in the mac salad, I took the frozen peppers out of the bag and sliced a few pieces off and diced it. The peppers thawed nicely in the salad. We really liked the mac salad. The peppers were a nice touch.
  I hope everybody has a nice week. Enjoy the last bit of summer we have. The leaves are starting to turn here in Alaska. Happy grilling!
Matt

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Anniversary Weekend!

   Last weekend Stacy and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. Stacy's parents watched Isabella for a few hours while we went out to lunch. We also picked up dinner for later. After Isabella was in bed, we heated up our Chinese food and watched The Big Year. It was a very good movie and I highly recommend it.
   Sunday for dinner, I grilled thin boneless pork loin chops, zucchini, potatoes, cabbage and onions, and sweet peppers. I seasoned the pork with salt and pepper on both sides. Then I rubbed it with Pampered Chef Smoky Applewood rub. I set the grill to medium low. I grilled it for about 5 minutes or less per side , since it was so thin. The potatoes were grilled whole with a little salt on the skins for about 25 minutes. The zucchini was the first zucchini from our garden. I cut it several times lengthwise and salted and peppered it before I rubbed it with Pampered Chef Chili Lime Rub. I grilled it for a few minutes per side. I could finally taste the rub. I have used it on several things in the past and hadn't been able to taste it as well as I did on the  zucchini.  It was pretty good. The sweet peppers were cut in half and grilled for a few minutes per side.

  The cabbage and onions were grilled in a foil packet. I doubled up the foil and put sliced cabbage and sliced onions in the foil. I put minced garlic on top, drizzled olive oil on it and salted and peppered everything. I put the foil packets on the colder part of my grill for about 15 to 20 minutes. When I opened the packets, they were perfectly steamed. This was a nice way to make cabbage and onions without heating up the whole house.

All the grilled veggies!

Foil cooked cabbage and onions

We had a great dinner and a weekend. I hope everybody has a great rest of your week. 

Matt

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