Fun Burgers

Let's face it, burgers can be boring. In the past I have tried ways to make burgers more fun...and the burgers I have made are usually fairly successful. However, tonight I did not want to make an extra trip to the grocery store for any special ingredients. So in an effort to make the burgers fun I looked through Juniors cookie cutters. The star quickly caught my eye due to ideal size for a burger.

After combining a pound of ground beef with a third a pound of sausage I shaped them into stars. A small amount of salt and pepper just before placing on the grill made these burgers taste great. After our crazy week we needed an easy dinner and the star burgers proved to be that.

I noticed some other fun shapes that I am sure I will use sometime soon!

Chicken Kabobs

Tonight my wife had her staff and their and families over for the end of their staff retreat to start the new academic year. This cook out was planned over two weeks ago...not realizing we would have an offer on our house and be making an offer on another house. Did I forget to mention that our new house is in a different school district and I am trying to get junior registered and enrolled the day before school starts? And, the home inspector for the new house wants me to meet him there to "show me some things." The phone call I just took was from our realtor with a list of 'to do's' from the inspection of our house.

Nevertheless, the grilling went on! A dozen adults and three kids (counting mine) crowed into our small house while the Mrs. and I dreamed of our large new house.

Kabobs look good on the grill and on the plate. However, they are not much fun to cook. Meats and vegetables cook at different speeds so I typically cook the kabob until the chicken is ready and worry less about overcooking a mushroom or under cooking an onion. Tonight, I used a simple marinade on the chicken. So simple, in fact, that I really couldn't taste it. A generous cup of lime juice, salt, and pepper.

Once the food was 'speared' I brushed extra virgin olive oil on the kabobs. As you can see from the shot I had to use both charcoal and gas to grill the 30 kabobs in a timely manner. This weekend I am craving some red meat!

Busy Times

Wow! Hard to believe that it has been so long since I updated my blog. I have been grilling some since May 15th (my last post) but life has been busy. June, as always, has me on the road much of the month and it will be a rare June that I am able to grill out.

Also, our house has been on the market since March and in an effort to keep it clean we really have not gone to the effort to grill out. We finally are under contract and have an offer on a home that has a great patio for future grilling efforts. I am excited about the possibilities there.

Finally, I have also started an executive EdD degree that took me away from home for three nights in late July. My class schedule will include two nights a month away from home...at least for the next two years or so.

Later this week I understand I am grilling kabobs for my wife's' staff retreat.... I will make an effort to post those pictures!

Teriyaki burgers

I can't claim credit for this recipe. Found it after searching for 'unique burgers'. Called the aloha burger here. One new thing I did to try to make uniform burger sizes. To achieve this I used one of my children's circular cookie cutters. It was fairly successful and I will certainly be using that cookie cutter again in the future! I may even have to use some of the 'more fun' shapes to see if the kids will be more eager to eat a burger.

The recipe was unclear on how to cook the pineapple so I decided to use the top rack while the burgers cooked. While the cheese was melting I also put the buns on the top rack too!

This was what the burgers looked like just before they were removed from the grill. Through the hole in the Swiss cheese you can see the pineapple ring. I dressed the burgers with just a little bit of mayonnaise. The burgers were a delicious mix of sweet and salty. I will certainly be trying these again in the future.

Electricity restored

Saturday afternoon we saw via facebook that several of our neighbors were celebrating the return of electricity. The morning started well with junior's t-ball game. Moments before the game started I was asked to call the names of the batters for the game. Of course, my daughter wanted to help.

Now I am searching the internet for a nice kabob recipe for Wednesday night. Eight adults and about that many kids are coming to our house. Hopeful to have more than kabobs on the grill. To be determined if my wife will allow me to cook another cake on the grill. :)

Weather

On Wednesday night areas of north Alabama were hit with strong storms including some tornadoes. My neighborhood survived damage however, we lost power Wednesday morning and have been told it could be a week before power is restored.

My in-laws graciously allowed me to bring the contents of my deep freezer over to their house. It will be challenging to grill this week if the blackouts continue. We did have plans to grill kabobs on Wednesday...stay tuned to see if that happens.

Leftover Barbecue

My travels take me all over north Alabama to small towns where I try to visit local barbecue restaurants. There is one place in Winfield, AL that has fairly good barbecue. Car Lots Barbecue, who does not have a website, is located on main street and is a great location for me to meet with families considering college.

One of their unique barbecue dishes is a stack of french fries covered in barbecue. With plenty of leftovers from my smoked butt this was a great and different meal.

Smoked Boston Butt

On a recent weekend I decided to smoke a Boston butt. For those that are wondering, a Boston Butt is the upper portion of a pork shoulder. I had friends who had cooked all night. Deciding that I had no desire to pull an 'all-nighter' I decided to smoke the butt all day!


The starting product at 9:00 am. The pork (need to use a word other than 'butt') was rubbed with:

4 teaspoons Kosher salt

2 teaspoons Brown Sugar

2 teaspoons paprika

.5 teaspoons pepper

.5 teaspoons garlic powder

.5 teaspoons dry mustard

I wrapped the pork in foil and, like my rib recipe, poured a cup of apple juice/shot of apple cider vinegar. Around 4:00 pm., after adding lump coal four times, I opened the foil to check on the process. I also added a few ears of corn. In my opinion, smoked corn was not as good as grilled corn. I cooked this corn in the husks for twenty minutes then removed cooked directly on the grates for another fifteen.

This is what the pork looked like at 5:00 pm. The pork as very tender and was falling apart as I removed it from the grill. The pork made several great meals....check the blog in a day or two for other uses for the pork.

Chicken and Twice Baked Potatoes

Grilled chicken breasts are often on sale and there are many ways to prepare them. Though I hate to admit it, Italian dressing by itself makes a fairly good marinade. These breasts were soaked for about an hour and cooked for about twenty five minutes.

The potatoes were the more interesting side. I nuked two potatoes for about five minutes then wrapped them in foil with an olive oil rub to cook. (Olive oil to attempt to crisp the skin a bit more.) After about twenty minutes on the grill I removed them and let them cool.

Once cool, I cut the two potatoes in half and used a spoon to scoop out the insides. The insides were placed in a bowl and combined with:

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup sour cream

4 slices of bacon (One for each half)

1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Once these 'guts' were combined I put them back into the scooped out potato halves and placed them on the grill with a foil bottom for an additional 15 minutes. Delicious!

Complete Meal on the Grill

This weekend I decided to cook an entire meal on the grill. It turned out good! For the main dish I made burgers. I used a generous sprinkling of a season salt. Though I have plenty left over, this is what I mixed.

6 tbs salt

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp celery seed

For the side dish I made a grilled potato salad. I had a rub (maybe too spicy) and a dressing to go over the cooked potatoes.

I cooked and crumbled (inside) five pieces of bacon and dumped the six diced red potatoes into the bacon grease. I then added the spices:

2 tbs Kosher salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp celery seeds

Potatoes were cooked in a throw-away tin on the top rack of the grill. They cooked for about 45 minutes. They were the first thing placed on the grill!

The dressing, something I often mix for dipping sausage, was a mix of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and Worshestershire sauce. For this recipe it was a total of about 1/2 cup. Dressing was added once potatoes were removed from the grill.

For the dessert I grilled individual angel food cakes. In the top picture you can see the small cake tins. Since it was my first attempt to bake on the grill I used a box cake mix. I used Crisco in each of the tins and filled them each about half-way. Cake cooked on the grill about 45 minutes. I also pureed a bag of thawed mixed berries with some lemon and lime juices to top the cake. Cake turned out light with a slight smoky taste. Cake on the grill may become a regular thing now!

Cedar Plank Hot wings

In an effort to try something different I decided to grill some wings on cedar planks. Another significant change from my previous wing grilling experiences is that I removed the skin. Typically the skin does not grill very well and can make the chicken a little slimy.

In the middle is a French bread pack.

Wings were marinaded for a couple of hours in Moores Hot Sauce. The grilling process on the planks too longer than I anticipated. I cooked them for about thirty minutes turning them once. For the final few minutes I did remove them from the planks to dry out a little more. Once removed from the planks more hot sauce was added.

Surf and Turf

Shrimp and steak go so well together and it is fun to cook both. Shrimp seem to cook so quickly that you must pay close attention or they will be too tough.

Steaks were done with one of my typical rubs. For two steaks I used:

1 Tbs Kosher Salt

2 tsp pepper

1 tsp red pepper

1 tsp chili powder

Like most of my steaks, I used extra virgin olive oil on the steak prior to applying the rub.

Shrimp were also simple:

Olive Oil

1 Tbs Lemon Juice

salt and pepper to taste

Toss them in the mixture for a couple of minutes on each side.

Smoker

For Christmas I was given a smoker. Shamefully, I have to admit I have only used it once and that was on New Years Eve. I purchased a Boston Butt from the butcher earlier this week so I will certainly be using it again soon.

When I cooked for New Years I smoked a butt on the top rack and about eight burgers on the lower. The butt was excellent and the burgers were good too. However, I look forward to more experiences with the smoker as I learn how to use it.

Chicken Sandwiches

This weekend, with in-laws in town, I grilled some Greek chicken breasts. I used a bottle of liquid Greek seasoning and marinaded them in that for two hours. The breasts were large so they probably could have used an additional hour in the marinade. However, we were hungry and the grill was ready. I grilled them for about twenty minutes and used Cavenders seasoning prior to removing them from the grill.

I did not take pictures then but did have enough left over for mid-week sandwiches. One large breast, with additional Cavenders, was enough for two delicious sandwiches. With a big glass of sweet tea, it was a perfect lunch. Makes me think that I always need to cook extra!

Dessert on the Grill

The grill is a great place to cook dessert. One the most important things before you cook dessert is to make sure your grill is clean. Nothing can ruin a nice dessert like drippings from the main course or crust from the previous days grilling experience.

I have tried fruit with mixed results so tonight I simply grilled flout tortillas with a butter and brown sugar paste. I added the mixture several times in the five minutes the tortillas were on the grill. Once the tortillas were crispy I removed them and served them with a nice scoop of ice cream.

Next time I plan to place an empty tin can on the grill and drape the tortilla over it. I am hopeful it will create a 'bowl'.

T-Bones with Mustard Sauce

On the theme of trying something different here was one attempt. Most of my grilling experiences tend to deal with simple rubs. However, I do like to try new things and this turned out well. T-bones were marinaded in mustard sauce (below) for about two hours and grilled for six minutes on each side. Reserve marinade was poured on top for the final minute before the steaks were pulled from the grill.

Mustard Sauce

3/4 cup of yellow mustard

1/4 cup of honey

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of ketchup

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

**Feel free to add more honey if you want a sweeter sauce. I think you could easily add another 1/2 cup with no problems.

Blue Cheese Steaks

Blue cheese is a favorite at our house. A filet with a nice salad and potatoe au gratin it made for a perfect meal. Steaks were lightly oiled (of course) and rubbed with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Cooked steaks on direct heat for about fived minutes on each side.

Updates Coming

Though it has been a long time since I posted I still have been grilling. September and October are typically busy travel months for me but I did fire up the grill many weekends. I have faithfully taken pictures of my grilling experiences but that is where my faithfulness ends. I will attempt, over the next few days, to post what I can remember from those pictures.