Summer fun

       This is a quick non BBQ, but still outdoor related post. This is another post I wanted to get done this summer. We had a busy summer and had fun outside. We found a play grill on sale for our daughter. She loved playing with it and grilled lots of pretend food for us. 

       We also bought a fire pit. We had several fires in it. Each time we cooked dinner with it. We roasted hot dogs one time. Isabella loved that part. Another time, I cooked hobo stew in the coals. I put pork cutlets, onion, carrots, and potatoes with a little seasoning in foil packets. They cooked for about an hour. We ate them on the porch. Here are few pictures of our times. 

Hamburger or hot dog?

How's the food coming?

Taste Test

Got to wash my hands! There is a pretend sink on the other side.

Roasting hot dogs over the fire

   I hope you enjoyed the peek at some of our summer fun. Now that winter is almost here do you have plans started for next summer? Have a good week and happy grillin'.

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French Toast and Sausage On the Grill

     I hope everybody is doing well. This is a post that was supposed to be done this summer. Due to a heavy work schedule it didn't and I just found the pictures the other day. I whipped up a big batch of French toast for dinner one night when my mom was visiting from Oregon.  We also had blueberry birch syrup flavored sausages from a local butcher.  Making french toast on the grill is one of my new favorite ways to do it. I did a previous post about it where I did it directly on the grates. That was a little messy though. You can see that post here.

        This time I put my griddle on the grill and used that. My griddle is a Lodge cast iron double sided griddle. It works great on the grill or the stove. You can get your own from Amazon here. I made the egg mixture ahead of time. Everybody has their own favorite recipe for French toast, so just use your own recipe. Then when it was time for dinner, I preheated my griddle on medium heat. Working in batches, I dipped the bread then let it sit to drip and soak on a wire rack for a minute. I took them out to the grill and put them on the heated griddle. After a few minutes and the lid closed, I flipped them over. I alternated between lid open and closed to regulate the heat. If it was cold out, I would have kept the lid closed almost the whole time.  While the toast was grilling, I direct grilled the sausages.  The French toast and sausages were really good. The sausages had an incredible flavor. 

MMmm, looking good!

closeup!

    French toast is not the only breakfast food you can do on the grill. With the right tools almost any breakfast food could be done on the grill. What is your favorite breakfast food to do on the grill? Have a great week and happy grillin'.

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Mexican Lasagna

This is a non BBQ recipe post. The other night I made what we are calling "Mexican lasagna." It came out really good and so I decided to share it with you. It was even good reheated a few nights later. Sorry the pictures are lame, I forgot to take a picture till it was almost gone. I came up with the recipe off the top of my head and some of the measurements may not be exact but are approximates. Feel free to substitute ground beef for the ground turkey. We have a beef allergy in our house, so ground turkey is our go to substitute. 

Mexican Lasagna

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

6 flour tortillas (We used whole wheat)

1 can refried beans

1 large can diced green chilies

1 pound ground turkey

8 ounces sour cream

1 cup salsa (divided)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon taco seasoning

1 to 2 cups shredded cheese (depends on how much cheese you want)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cook ground turkey and add 1 teaspoon of taco seasoning to meat.
3. In a 13x9 pan add 1/2 cup of salsa and spread to cover the bottom.
4. Place 2 of the tortillas on the salsa.
5. Mix the refried beans, green chilies (drain the chilies if you don't want as much heat), and 1 Tablespoon taco seasoning. Add the mix to the pan and spread to coat the tortillas.
6. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top.
7. Layer in 2 more tortillas.
8. Next mix sour cream with cooked turkey meat and taco seasoning. Spread the mixture on top of the last layer.
9. Top with 2 more tortillas, then the rest of the salsa and a nice coat of shredded cheese.
10. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes until it is bubbling and the cheese is nicely browned.
11. Remove from oven and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. It will firm up a little.
12. Refrigerate any leftovers in the pan. To reheat, place in the oven covered with foil for about 20 until warmed through.

MMM, Yummy! 

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did. Please pin it to Pinterest or share on Facebook. I also made it so you can just print the recipe. Just click where it says printable recipe here. Have a great week and happy grillin'.

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Stuffed Smoked Pork Loin

    I hope everybody is doing well. I possibly have an extended time off from work. So, I am going to try and get caught up on all the blogs I have been meaning to get out. I have multiple recipes to post. I am also going to be trying a few new things to make recipes easier. I think you will notice the picture clarity is better too. I got a new phone over the summer that has a way better camera than my previous one. As always feel free to comment and share my blog with others. The recipe today is one that came out really good. I had been wanting to make a stuffed pork loin for a while and I finally made one not that long ago. 

 Smoked Stuffed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

Pork loin

apple cider

salt and pepper

garlic powder

sweet onion

garlic cloves

apple

carrot

apple cider vinegar (or more apple cider/ apple juice)  for spritzing

1.  Trim any silver skin from pork loin and butterfly loin.
2. Inject pork loin with a mixture of apple cider, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Save any leftover injection.
3. Salt and pepper the inside of the pork loin.
4. Stuff inside with sliced onion and cut garlic cloves.
5. Tie the loin together with butchers string.
6. Rub outside of loin with olive oil and salt and pepper.
7. Put loin in a metal or foil pan.
8. Add sliced carrots, onion, and diced apple to the pan around the loin.
9. Drizzle olive oil and leftover injection on the veggies.
10. Tent with foil and poke a few holes in the top of the foil to vent it.   
11. Smoke the pork at 300 degrees indirect heat until it reaches 165 internal temp. It took about an hour and a half for mine to reach temp. I used alder with a little apple wood as my wood. I also had a few hickory briquettes mixed in.
12. Spritz meat and veggies a few times with apple cider vinegar or apple juice.
13. Remove the meat from the pan and let rest.
14. Spread the veggies out in the pan and roast over direct heat for an extra 15 minutes.
15. Remove the string and slice the pork before serving.

Pork on the grill

Nice view of pork cooking

Veggies all done.

Pork up close after slicing

The pork was super moist and very flavorful. The veggies had an incredible smokey flavor to them. We really enjoyed it. Have a good week and happy grillin'. 

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