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Grilled Sausage Skewers

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There’s no doubt about it, summer took a long time to get here. Officially it’s still Spring, I know, but when you’ve had 8 months of winter you just want to say summer over and over again. So I say welcome summer, it’s been awhile, we hope you stay until December.

Grilling through the winter months is fairly easy for us – unless we hit -20 and our barbecue refuses to cooperate. When warmer weather hits barbecuing is almost a daily event. Sausage is always a reliable guest when you decide to grill so for

Grilled Sausage Skewers
Grilled Sausage Skewers

this recipe we opted to grill our sausage about 75% of the way through. Remove it from the grill, place onto a plate and cover with aluminum foil to cool down. After all the other prep work is done it’s time to skewer and grill.

Grilled Sausage Skewers
Grilled Sausage Skewers

Any kind of sausage will do and of course pick your favourite vegetables or go out of your comfort zone and try something new. The kids admittedly were not thrilled with the ribbon zucchini, however the adults loved it as it retained some of its crunch. I told the kids there would be more zucchini in their life so they should probably suck it up. You can imagine how they responded of course since they are tweens.

You won’t believe how easy this is. Let’s get started.

 

Grilled Sausage Skewers
Grilled Sausage Skewers

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Grilled Sausage Skewers
Author: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 5 uncooked sausage links
  • 2 small zucchini
  • 1 small red onion, peeled
  • 1 tbsp za'atar spice
  • Olive oil
  • white wine vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • skewers
Instructions
  1. Soak eight wooden skewers in water for 15-30 minutes.
  2. Preheat your grill to medium high.
  3. Cut ends off zucchini. Using a vegetable peeler carefully slice lengthwise until you have several zucchini ribbons. Lay onto paper towel lined baking sheet and salt each piece well. Set aside letting them sit for at least 30 - 60m minutes turning occasionally. Wipe off excess water and salt.
  4. Brush grill with olive oil, and then grill the sausages until partially cooked, about 7 minutes, rotating while cooking. Remove from heat, tent and set aside to cool.
  5. Slice onion in half lengthwise and into four wedges. Cut the wedges in half crosswise if the onion is large and into smaller chunks roughly the same size as the other pieces going onto your skewer.
  6. Slice the cooled sausage into chunks about the same size as some of our skewered vegetables for even cooking.
  7. Meanwhile whisk together olive oil, white wine vinegar, za'atar spice and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
  8. Alternate sausage with zucchini and onion on your skewers. Brush with your olive oil mixture and grill, turning every couple of minutes. Do this for another 7-10 minutes, brushing with olive oil until all used, to ensure your sausages are cooked through.
  9. Remove from grill and serve.

 

Smokey BBQ Beef on a Bun

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BBQ Beef on a Bun makes you think summer doesn’t it?! It really does for us as we serve up this recipe every summer and get the whole neighborhood smelling our smoked, grilled beef.

This is another one of those recipes I’ve been making for over 20 years and never documented. It’s like your mom or grandma makes something and it’s so ingrained in their brain, they make it without even thinking about it. I’ve got so many of those recipes ingrained in my brain, it’s terrifying.

It was 2003 and I started a new job with a company in the South of Calgary. This rather large company would throw an employee and friends Stampede Barbecue every July. I was in charge of organizing this shindig and ensuring there was enough food and beverages to go around for hundreds of people. The company had a commercial BBQ and every year they barbecued these beef roasts after marinating them all night. I watched, I learned, I oversaw the cooking and this is where my inspiration to make my own beef on a bun came from.

Beef Roast on the BBQ
Beef Roast on the BBQ

This roast serves quite a crowd. We recently had our end of Summer BBQ with 33 adults and kids. We cooked up extra hot dogs for the kids and even after several of the men went back for thirds, but we still ended up with close to half of our roast leftover. Which was great for leftover dishes in the days to follow.

If you have less to feed, buy a smaller roast. And plan for some delicious leftover dishes. We we had beef on a bun twice throughout the week, Beef Pot Pie, beef quesadillas and Beef Soup before I was done with the beef and tossed the rest in the freezer until next time.

You need to prepare this bad boy the day before to let it marinate giving you added flavour. Buy the extra large ziplock bags – the ones for your kids sports stuff and make sure you have wood chips and a smoker, or extra heavy duty tin foil. Watch it become a family favourite.

 

Beef ready for the bun
Beef ready for the bun

 

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Smokey BBQ Beef on a Bun
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 10-15lb Top Sirloin Beef Roast
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 3 tbsp spice rub for beef (your favourite)
  • 1 cup BBQ sauce + more for later (your favourite)
  • 1 very large seal-able plastic bag
  • 24 burger style buns
  • Apple or mesquite wood chips (we use both mixed together)
  • BBQ smoke box or heavy duty tin foil
  • water
  • beef broth
Instructions
  1. The day before: Place your roast on a large baking sheet.
  2. With a small pairing knife gently stab the meat several times all around the entire roast making slits. Not viciously but just enough to add slits allowing the spice and BBQ sauce to permeate the meat while it marinates.
  3. Sprinkle on garlic powder and spice mix rubbing it all over the meat, even in the slits you made.
  4. Place meat in larger than normal plastic bag. Pour in the BBQ sauce moving the roast around to ensure it is entirely coated. Seal up bag and place in refrigerator for a minimum of 12 hours.
  5. The day of the BBQ: Remove beef from bag one hour before cooking and place in large roasting pan. Let sit on counter until ready to BBQ. Put your wood chips in a large bowl of water and let them soak for 30 minutes up to 60 minutes.
  6. Get your smoke box ready by filling with wet wood chips. It's OK if you do not have a smoke box, simply place wood chips on a large piece of tin foil, loosely close it up and poke some holes to allow smoke to escape.
  7. Preheat your BBQ to around 250F. Once ready keep your burner on at one end of your grill, and leave the other side off. Arrange the smoke box over the flame and close lid to let it start smoking. Once you see smoke place your roasting pan with roast on the burner that is turned off. Add ½ cup water to pan and close lid.
  8. Check the wood chips and your roast every 30 - 60 minutes and replenish as needed. This cooking method is low and slow and will take approximately 4-6 hours depending on the size of your roast. Add more water to keep some liquid at the bottom of the roasting pan and baste your roast with the liquid each time you check it.
  9. The meat is done when the inside temperature reaches ~160 degrees. When you check the wood. Remove from grill, tent with tin foil, and let sit. Once cooled we use a meat slicer to slice into very thin pieces, placing back into the roasting pan with juice, some additional warmed beef broth and more BBQ sauce. Cutting and shaving it thin with a sharp knife also works.
  10. Mix together and serve with buns.

 

Sweet Red Chili Glazed Chicken with Salad

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Summer days can be hot, and there is honestly no desire in this house to cook a big meal. Instead we love real simple meals. Like grilling up some meat and having a nice flavourful salad with it.

This meal was inspired by expiring sweet red chili sauce in our fridge (ha ha!) and the fact we love grilled corn and asparagus. The Cilantro dressing is the perfect dressing for this meal and one I could literally drink up or put on everything. I will make it again and again.

This meal may seem labour intensive but it’s really not. First thing get your lettuce cleaned and corn/asparagus ready for the grill and BBQ them. Grill chicken next. While it’s cooling a bit get your dressing ready. Finally finish off the chicken and assemble. The first time I made this dish I admittedly kept two of the chicken thighs out of the glaze as I thought the kids would like it. Boy was I wrong. They devoured all the glazed chicken and LOVED it!

Sweet-Chili-Chicken-v2

Here’s how we did it.

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Sweet Red Chili Glazed Chicken with Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: lunch, dinner
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • 6 skinless boneless chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp Chinese five spice powder
  • 2 tbsp sweet red chili sauce
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp soy sauce
  • olive oil
  • *********
  • 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bigger pieces
  • 4 large radishes, sliced thin
  • 2 tbsp. parsley, rough chop
  • 2 cobs of corn, husked
  • 10 spears of asparagus, bottoms removed
  • ***********
  • ½ cup cilantro
  • 1 tbsp tamari
  • 1 tbsp + ½ tsp fish sauce
  • ½ jalapeno seeds included
  • 2 limes
  • 2 cloves garlic peeled
  • 2 tsp ginger, fresh
  • 2 green onions
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • **********
  • sesame oil
  • parchment or wax paper
  • black sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
  1. On a sheet of parchment or wax paper mix together your chicken, Chinese five spice powder and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Put a second piece on top and whack (I use a rolling pin) to flatten chicken on thicker areas. Keep it around ½-3/4 inches thick. Set aside.
  2. On a place add your corn. Pour a little olive over top and pinch of salt and pepper. Roll corn on plate to cover corn with oil. Put right on grill and cook over medium high heat for approximately 10 minutes turning every 2 minutes or until a nice char starts to form. Once the corn cooled cut corn kernels off and discard cob. Set aside.
  3. Take your asparagus and roll on the plate the corn was on to scoop up leftover oil, salt and pepper. Add a little more if needed. Place on grill crosswise (so they don't fall through grate) and grill for 5-10 minutes depending on thickness of asparagus. Brown spots are good but don't let them char. Set aside.
  4. On grill over medium high heat cook chicken thighs for about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
  5. To make the dressing add cilantro, tamari, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, fish sauce, ¼ of jalapeno to start, juice of two limes, garlic cloves, ginger, green onions, sesame oil, 2 tbsp olive oil into a blender or cup. Whiz until smooth. Taste. If not spicy add the rest of the jalapeno pepper and a small pinch of salt and pepper.
  6. In a frypan over medium high heat mix together sweet red chili sauce, 1 tsp soy sauce and ½ tsp fish sauce. Add chicken to warm up and turn to cover with glaze. Remove to cutting board to slice thin or serve whole.
  7. Add lettuce to serving platter, sprinkle on the corn, asparagus, radishes and parsley. Add your chopped chicken (or serve it on the side). We topped it with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds. Serve dressing on the side or pour over chicken.

 

Grilled Beef Satay

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Beef Satay is the perfect, light summer meal. Use your favourite marinade or try this one the next time you make these. They literally melt in your mouth. Make sure you cut your beef thin and let it marinade for at least an hour or more depending the cut of beef you use.

If you are using a cheaper cut of steak like I did (inside round), ensure you have acid in your marinade to tenderize the steak and let marinate for longer than an hour if you can. With this meal I par-boiled some baby potatoes, let them cool, skewered them and added olive oil, salt and pepper. A few minutes on the grill finished them off.

This is an easy and tasty meal to get your Summer Grilling on!

Grilled Beef Satay
Grilled Beef Satay

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Grilled Beef Satay
Author: 
Recipe type: Lunch, dinner
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1-2 lbs Inside Round Steak
  • ¼ cup sherry
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 1 garlic scape rough chopped and pressed a few times to soften
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • ½ tsp sambal oelek
  • 20 bamboo skewers, soaked in water
Instructions
  1. Mix together sherry, soy sauce, garlic scape, sesame oil, oyster sauce and sambal oelek. Pour into a clear plastic zip up bag and set aside.
  2. Cut your steak into thin slices. Add to marinade. Squish all together, close bag and place in fridge to marinate at least one hour or longer. Let your bamboo skewers soak during this time.
  3. Remove from marinade and thread beef onto skewers.
  4. On a preheated grill over medium-high, grill the satay skewers for 2-3 minutes per side or until done.
  5. These skewers are so flavourful they do not need any dip or sauce. Enjoy!

 

Grilled Bread & Tomato Salad

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Sunny days make me want to get outside and eat all the things and plant or harvest my garden and eat fresh grown tomatoes. Right? We’ve had an unusually warm start to 2016 which is great for us Calgarians but not so great for the farmers and producers who rely on the moisture to plant their seeds.

I am slightly addicted to bread so anything that involved bread makes me happy. Having to make up something for a BBQ I decided on a bread, tomato, parsley salad. Simple but delicious. I picked up some roasted garlic bread, gave it some lovely brown char marks and tossed it with the tomatoes. Don’t dress your salad or even add the bread until you are ready to serve it or the bread gets soggy. And serve it immediately for as it sits the bread soaks up the tomato and dressing goodness and it becomes soggy. A little added chunky salami or even cooked chicken would make this the perfect meal in one.

Since I’m using garlic bread I opted not to add garlic to my oil. This dish is beautiful served alongside grilled steak or chicken.

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Grilled Bread and Tomato Salad
Recipe type: Wanda Baker
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 4-5 slices of day old bread, cut about 1 inch think
  • 2 tbsp + ¼ cup olive oil
  • 5 large ripe beefsteak tomatoes
  • ¼ cup red onion or scallions, minced
  • ½ cup feta, crumbled
  • 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Pour 2 tbsp of olive oil into a small bowl and with a pastry brush drizzle and dot it over your bread. Grill over medium high heat for 1-2 minutes or until pale golden. Tear into pieces, or cut into cubes. Set aside.
  2. For the dressing, whisk together ¼ cup olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
  3. Chop tomatoes into large pieces and add to a large bowl. Toss in onion, feta, parsley, basil, and bread.
  4. Pour dressing on salad and season well with salt and pepper.
  5. Allow salad to sit for 30 minutes for flavours to blend.

 

 

Grilled Garlic Chicken

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Since about mid January we’ve had mild weather here in Calgary. It’s very unusual for this time of the year as we typically have tons of snow on the ground. I kid you not. In my world we would have 2-3 months of cold winter and snow with the rest of the year sunny and green.

With warm weather comes serious spring fever. Last weekend we did yard work and cleaned up the yard in preparation for planting and Spring. My rhubarb is popping up and I’m ready to start seeding the lawn and eager to start planting. The kids have already advised they will each be having their own pepper and tomatoe(s) plants again this year. Sun and warmth feels so good. With this warmer weather we find we want to grill all the time. Fish and soy sauce are always on hand here and since we are die hard grillers (we will grill in any weather unless it hits -20), it’s not the first time we fired up the BBQ this year. We served up this chicken with our Green Rice.

I prep the food, my husband tends the grill. We make a good team. The longer this chicken can marinate, the more flavour you get.

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Grilled Garlic Chicken
Serves: 4
 
The flavours in this chicken shine when allowed to marinate up to four hours or overnight. If you do not have the time, give the chicken at least 30 minutes to get cozy with the marinade.
Ingredients
  • 6 bone in/skin on chicken thighs
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro
  • 2 tbsp garlic
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp water
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Loosen the skin on your chicken thighs with your hand keeping skin intact. Put into plastic storage bag & set aside.
  2. In a small food processor or blender, combine cilantro, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper. Puree until you have a smooth liquidy paste.
  3. Pour marinade into storage bag with chicken and smooshie the bag to combine. Close and store in refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
  4. When ready to cook ,preheat your grill to medium high. Cook thighs over high heat until brown then move over to indirect heat and continue to cook 20-25 minutes or until cooked through (juices run clear).
  5. Remove to plate and set aside to rest.

 

Grilled Garlic Chicken
Grilled Garlic Chicken

Crispy Molasses Coleslaw

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We had an International German student living with us for almost a year. She had a few food allergies and one of them was carrots. So I got used to cooking without carrots. Although the allergy was mainly to raw carrots, I just stopped using them so as to not “forget”. With my coleslaw’s I always experiment. Sometimes I’d add apple or pear, other times it’s nuts or seeds. But the basics of my coleslaw are always the same; cabbage, onions, cilantro with a mayo/sour cream/vinegar dressing.

As I was making the dressing to go with our Beef on a Bun, I asked my father in laws girlfriend/partner what she thought about me adding molasses into my dressing. She wasn’t sure at first so I pulled a little out & mixed in some molasses. Let her try it to get her opinion and Bam she liked it. I know some people add sugar to their dressings, so the molasses could add the sweet factor. And since I’m more of a salty person to begin with I needed feedback and second opinions. It was well received that evening by everyone. And so the Crispy Molasses Coleslaw recipe was born.

This recipe feeds a crowd so if you are cooking for a smaller family you may want to half it. And yes I put cilantro in my slaw. You can always replace it with flat leaf parsley.

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Crispy Summer Molasses Coleslaw
Author: 
Recipe type: salad, dinner, lunch
Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 1 small-med size head napa cabbage, shredded
  • 2 cups red cabbage, sliced thin or shredded
  • 4 green onions, sliced thin
  • 1 cup of cilantro, rough chop
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 cups dressing
  • 1-2 tsp black sesame seeds
Instructions
  1. Mix first four ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Add dressing stirring to combine. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
  3. Let sit for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
  4. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds before serving.
Notes
In a bowl whisk together ½ cup sour cream or plain greek yogurt, 1½ cup mayonnaise, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp prepared mustard, 2 tsp Crosby's Molasses, 1 tsp old bay seasoning, 1 tsp cumin, and a good pinch of salt & pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed (ie add more salt).

 

Crispy Molasses Coleslaw
Crispy Molasses Coleslaw

Blueberry Turkey Burgers

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Carrying on with our blueberry theme for National Blueberry Month (July), I had planned to whip up some blueberry turkey burgers for dinner since I had lots of BC Blueberries in my fridge. It’s not a new to me idea as I’ve tried turkey/chicken sausage with blueberries before, and last year at the BC Blueberry Launch we made up some blueberry turkey sliders.

Since I had the Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Sauce ready to go, I tossed in about 1 tbsp of this sauce into my burger. We also topped the burgers with the sauce, some havarti cheese and prepared to chow down and a relatively healthy burger. It was the ideal dinner to have on the deck.

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Blueberry Turkey Burgers
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch, camping, burgers
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • ½ cup sliced blueberries
  • 2 green onions, sliced thin
  • 1 tbsp blueberry bbq sauce
  • salt & pepper
  • Havarti cheese
  • fixings (lettuce, pickles, tomatoes)
  • mayonnaise
  • buns
  • canola oil
Instructions
  1. Gently mix all ingredients together including a pinch of salt & pepper.
  2. Form into 4 equal patties. Sprinkle each with salt & pepper and a drizzle of oil.
  3. Over medium high heat grill the burgers until golden brown about 3-5 minutes.
  4. Flip over the burgers. Cook until turkey is cooked throughout, about 5 minutes on the second side.
  5. Spread a little mayonnaise on your bun, add your burger, cheese and another dollop of blueberry BBQ sauce.

 

 

Blueberry Turkey Burgers
Blueberry Turkey Burgers

 

Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Sauce

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Inspired by BC Blueberries, a bottle of bourbon I was recently given, a bottle of Guy Fieri Bourbon/Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce, and a Crosby Molasses contest, I decided to try and create a Blueberry BBQ Sauce. With molasses. I’ve never made a BBQ sauce with molasses before but I know it’s been done. The bourbon was honestly an afterthought but it works. In fact I have received 4 thumbs up from the in-laws on this BBQ Sauce. Yahoo!

If you don’t like bourbon, leave the bourbon out. The first night we had it we slathered it on a pork tenderloin. Next we mixed it into turkey burgers (with blueberries) and used it as a sauce for the top.

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Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Sauce
Recipe type: BBQ sauce,
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • ⅓ cup red onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • ¼ cup bourbon
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup Crosby's Molasses
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar + 1 tsp
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp prepared mustard
  • 1 tsp chipotles in adobo
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • ¼ cup water
  • salt & pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes.
  2. Stir in garlic cooking for an additional minute. Pour in bourbon and cook off for 1 minute.
  3. Reduce the heat to low. Add the ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, chipotle, blueberries, water and a pinch of salt & pepper.
  4. Simmer 30 minutes.
  5. Taste after simmering and adjust salt & pepper as needed.

 

Blueberry BBQ Sauce
Blueberry BBQ Sauce

 

 

Campfire Baked Brie

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This campfire baked brie is simply delicious. I’m not your average camper where food is concerned. Yes I love smokies, hot dogs, marshmallows, tin foil suppers, and the like. But I like to experiment. Push the limits and see what I can create. Anyone who camps with me knows there will be some tasty bites to try at least once during our trip. Some times the recipes fail, like this past camping trip….I tried a recipe and it burned to a crisp! Win some lose some. One failure, 3 successes. Pretty good odds in my book!

Pick up the largest brie you can find…trust me it goes fast. Bring along your favourite toppers (olives-tapenade , berry compote, sundried tomatoes, fresh fruit, pulled pork, nuts, etc.). Score the top of the brie, add your toppers, wrap in foil and grill carefully for about 10 minutes, turning once. While cooking grill up some sliced baguette or french bread. Winner Winner this could be your dinner. Dinner for one. Or to share. Either way it’s delicious.

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Campfire Baked Brie
Author: 
Recipe type: appetizer, dinner, lunch, breakfast
 
Ingredients
  • 1 large round of brie
  • ½ cup of your favourite toppers
  • olive oil
  • aluminum foil
  • baguette and/or french bread, sliced
Instructions
  1. Place brie on aluminum foil sheet. Score top a couple of times.
  2. Pour toppers on top and spread around.
  3. Wrap foil around brie to seal.
  4. Place in coals in fire for 10 minutes, turning once at 5 minutes.
  5. Drizzle olive oil on your bread slices and grill a couple minutes per side. Set aside.
  6. Remove brie from coals, open packet, drizzle with oil and serve with bread.

 

Campfire Baked Brie
Campfire Baked Brie

Grilled Citrus Chicken

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My kid watches me in the kitchen and has been doing so since she was little. She’s 9, almost 10 going on 14. She’s a true Leo as she was so stubborn during her birth, that after 64 hours of labour, she ended up being escorted out of my belly via emergency C-section. She brings this stubbornness into the kitchen when she bakes. Always wanting to race ahead, and do things her way without reading instructions properly or sitting back to listen & learn. I do love this about her, but it can be challenging.

A couple weeks ago I gave my kids a chicken challenge. Cook any kind of (simple) chicken dish you wanted for supper. Think about it, go through recipe books, or make up a recipe. Hailey’s first idea was to make up a watermelon marinade for the chicken. Since we don’t care for grilled watermelon, and watermelon logged chicken didn’t seem to appeal, I talked her out of it (maybe a mistake?). I could have googled ideas, but I wanted this to be hers. So I suggested she think up something different. She decided on this citrus chicken. Created it entirely on her own. I directed her to the fresh herbs, she smelled & tasted and decided which she wanted to add to the marinade. She loves grilled halloom cheese (from Superstore) and knew she wanted grilled this cheese as part of her meal (she calls it the squeaky cheese), with the grilled chicken placed on top. And her favourite Tabbouleh Salad. I helped with suggesting grilled lemon or lime on top. Her dad did all the grilling.

For the first time we worked together in the kitchen (I helped with the chopping) without any battles. It was flawless and so much fun to watch her follow her vision. And she did an amazing job. While it may not happen again anytime soon, this mom is super proud.

To assemble plate place a little salad on bottom of plate in a circle. Add a slice of grilled halloom cheese. Top with a piece of grilled chicken and if using, grilled lemons or limes.

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Grilled Citrus Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 8-10 boneless/skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 orange
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 lime
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 2 tbsp fresh mint & fresh oregano, chopped
  • 1 pckge Halloom Cheese
  • Additional lemons or limes for grilling
Instructions
  1. Zest the orange, lemon and lime until you get about 1 tsp of each.
  2. After zesting, juice each fruit pouring all juice and zest into Ziploc bag.
  3. Add oil, a pinch of both salt and pepper, mint, oregano and chicken.
  4. Marinate for 1-2 hours in refrigerator.
  5. Preheat BBQ to medium high. Slice halloom cheese lengthwise into 8 pieces.
  6. Grill for about 2-3 minutes or until golden. Carefully flip (some cheese may stick to grill) and grill other side for an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove & set aside.
  7. Grill chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.
  8. Assemble plates as suggested above
Notes
Slice extra lemons or limes and place right on preheated grill. Grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until you get a nice char.

 

Grilled Citrus Chicken
Grilled Citrus Chicken

 

 

Planning dinner & making a list
Planning dinner & making a list

 

Teriyaki Pork Burger

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Since we are shying away from beef more and more lately due to the more than 18% price increase, we are buying more pork. And chicken. But those items are getting more expensive to. And the cashiers in the stores are noticing less people buying meat. Guess we will all become vegetarians. But before then we will enjoy these Teriyaki Pork Burgers!

Fresh ginger in this burger makes it taste even more delicious. Use your favourite store bought teriyaki sauce (or home made). Sometimes easy reigns supreme when you have busy activity nights and just need to feed the kids and head out the door stat. These burgers are awesome to whip up, mold into patties, freeze and take camping. Or serve to a crowd.

Toast your buns and add your favourite burger toppers. We served our burgers with some Salsa Baked Beans.

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Teriyaki Pork Burgers
Author: 
Recipe type: lunch, dinner, BBQ, camping
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 1.5 lbs ground pork
  • 1 large scallion or 2 small, chopped thin
  • ½ tsp ginger, grated
  • ½ tsp dried mustard
  • 2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • buns
  • condiments & burger toppers
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized bowl add pork, scallions, fresh ginger, mustard, teriyaki sauce and a pinch of salt & pepper to taste.
  2. Lightly mix to combine and form into 8 patties or 6 x ¼ lb patties.
  3. Grill over medium heat until completely cooked through.
  4. Build your burger with your favourite condiments and burger toppers.

 

Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken

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My 3rd and final entry into the Great Cream Challenge 2014 was this really tasty Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken. For those that don’t know, this cross Canada recipe challenge pairs 3 Canadian Food Bloggers against each other in a special monthly cooking challenge. At the beginning of the year you pick three challenges (one per month) to participate in using real cream, and then start recipe testing until you find a winner.

One of the themes I picked was Grilling, perhaps cause the rest looked easy?! (honestly no idea why I choose grilling lol) When it came time to create and submit the recipe, I panicked for a few minutes thinking about how to use real cream on the grill. But once I settled down, I was able to brain storm and realize there are many options when it comes to grilling with cream.

And so enters a stuffed chicken breast (with cream cheese, cream and other goodies), wrapped in bacon, slapped on the grill and finished with a sage cream sauce. It was very good and of course you can use anything you like to stuff the chicken breast. I used what I could find in my fridge/pantry.

Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken

I enjoyed being part of the challenge, and got to know several of the food bloggers better through this friendly competition. Here is how I made the Grilled Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken.

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Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1 bunch asparagus
  • 2 tbsp butter, softened, divided
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • Cooking spray
  • 4 oz Canadian Cream Cheese, softened
  • 1 tbsp 35% cream
  • 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes (not in oil), finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp artichoke hearts (canned), finely chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh sage, chopped
  • 3 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, pounded to ¼” thickness
  • 6-10 thin slices of bacon
  • Wooden toothpicks
  • Sage Cream Sauce:
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • ¾ cup chicken stock, room temperature
  • ½ cup 35% cream
  • Salt & pepper
  • ½ tsp fresh sage, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Canadian Parmesan , grated
Instructions
  1. Trim asparagus ends. In microwave melt 1 tbsp of butter. Toss asparagus with butter and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Spray grill pan with cooking spray and add asparagus. Grill over medium high heat for 5 minutes or until desired tenderness. Remove from grill and set aside.
  2. With electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, remaining butter and cream until blended and smooth. Chop two of your grilled asparagus stalks into thin slices. Add to bowl along with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and sage. Mix well.
  3. Lay out chicken breasts. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Take approximately 2 tablespoons of your cream cheese mixture and spread over each piece of chicken.
  4. Carefully roll up each chicken breast. Wrap each chicken breast with two pieces of bacon. If your breasts are large use three pieces of bacon. Secure bacon and ends of chicken roll ups with toothpicks.
  5. Grill over medium high heat, turning frequently until bacon is browned, approximately 5-6 minutes. Continue to grill over indirect heat for another 10 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Remove to platter and let sit for 10 minutes.
  6. Slice and serve with remaining grilled asparagus and sage cream sauce.
Notes
Sage Cream Sauce: In a saucepan over medium heat melt butter. Whisk in flour and let cook for two minutes. Slowly whisk in a little of the chicken stock. As it thickens pour in the rest of the chicken stock stirring as you go. Whisk in your cream until sauce is smooth. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and pepper.
Remove from heat and toss in sage and Parmesan cheese. Stir until cheese has melted and serve immediately over chicken on or on the side.

 

 

Sweet & Spicy Grilled Salmon

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We returned from several days of camping, and like most campers we didn’t eat as healthy as we would have preferred to. But it’s camping and we always try to keep a balance. Good with the bad. With that theory we we had marinated grilled pork chops one night and grilled Greek grilled chicken in pitas with a Greek salad another night. It’s that balance thing. The remaining nights, well, junky type food or other not so good for you eats.

After these trips I always crave healthy food. And this time upon returning home I was craving salmon. We ran out of aluminum foil and didn’t have any cedar planks so we needed to improvise. The cast iron pan came out and we were off to the races. Usually when we grill salmon it’s either on a cedar plank or on a piece of foil.

I didn’t use much chile powder in this recipe as I wanted the minions to eat it. You could taste the chile powder but there was just a hint of it. Definitely add more if you want more chile flavour, although it might deter from the taste of the salmon.

We whipped this up rather quickly and were eating in 30 minutes. Served it with this delightful grilled corn & arugula salad, with the addition of radishes from our garden.

Loved this meal and I think you might to.

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Sweet & Spicy Grilled Salmon
Author: 
Recipe type: Lunch, dinner, brunch
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1-2 lbs salmon fillet
  • ½ of a lime zest
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • ½ tsp Ancho chili powder
  • salt & pepper
  • cooking spray
  • olive oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat your grill and your cast iron pan.
  2. In a bowl mix together lime zest, juice, honey and chili powder. This is your marinade - set aside.
  3. Season salmon with salt and pepper.
  4. Pour and swirl around 1 tbsp of olive oil into hot cast iron pan.
  5. Place salmon in pan flesh side down. Sear for 1-2 minutes or until starting to get a nice brown.
  6. Spray skin with cooking oil. Flip salmon over to skin side down.
  7. Baste with marinade and do so at least 1-2 more times while salmon is cooking.
  8. Close lid and cook salmon 6-10 minutes or until skin flakes easily with a fork.
  9. Remover from pan and serve.

 

Honey Ginger Chicken

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Chicken recipes are always enjoyed in our house. The kids loved this honey ginger chicken I made the other night, enhanced with garlic, oyster sauce and fish sauce. A sweet and savory combination that required no marinating. Brushing the sauce on during cooking did the trick. And since we busy parents don’t always have time to marinate meat before we cook it, it’s the perfect quick meal to make after a busy day.

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Honey Ginger Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp grated ginger, fresh
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ⅓ cup oyster sauce
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ tsp hot sauce
  • pinch of salt & pepper
  • 10 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Instructions
  1. Preheat grill to medium high.
  2. Mix ginger through hot sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
  3. Lay chicken thighs out on a platter or tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle on a little of the honey ginger sauce.
  4. Over medium high heat grill chicken for about 10-15 minutes turning at least once. Baste regularly with honey ginger sauce.
  5. Remove from grill and let rest. Serve immediately.

 

 

 

Cheese Stuffed Burger

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Who doesn’t love a stuffed burger? This simple Cheese Stuffed Burger is a great way to change up burger night with the family. Or friends.

Tried making a version of a stuffed burger last year, following a luscious and tasty outing to Naina’s Kitchen here in Calgary. My burger was nothing to write home about about but Naina’s stuffed burger was the talk of the town. So much so they won the first ever YYC Burger Week, 2013.

The great thing about making a stuffed burger is, well, you can stuff it with anything. A little sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, pesto, any kind of cheese, sundried tomato and olive tapenade, almost anything goes!

As YYC Burger Week 2014 is fast approaching I was bound and determined to make a stuffed burger, again. This time it worked and it worked well. Don’t you find that happens sometimes. You make a recipe and it’s OK. Make it again another time and it just bedazzles.

In this family of four my girl doesn’t like hot dogs or burgers. I know it’s a sin. But she does like quinoa salad and tabbouleh salad so that’s a fair trade in my books. When I was growing up I was forced to eat the food I didn’t like. Tragic. Fortunately it didn’t affect my love for all kinds of food. Now grown up with kids of my own, we don’t follow those same ridiculous rules I grew up with. But we do make amendments. Our kids are required to try one bite of food at each meal, and this night was no different. So she did. And she liked the burger, or so she said. But still wouldn’t eat it. Fair enough, here’s your bowl of tabbouleh salad kid, save some for me.

We had a day or two last week where the weather was decent enough to fire up the grill and slap on some meat. So we called it Burger Night. Or the return of the Bakers Burger Blast. So many burgers, so little time. These burgers tasted so good I think we will be having them again this weekend. Although the weather forecast is dreadfully cold (-39 with the wind chill), and as such, all grilling will happen indoors, on our grill pan.

Boom Shaka Laka…here’s how you make your very own delicious stuffed burger.

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Cheese Stuffed Burger
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch, burger, entree, main
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1.5 - 2 lbs ground beef (80 lean/20 fat)
  • ½ - ¾ cup cubed (1 inch) old cheddar cheese, or more
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Take some burger, flatten it and form it into a flat patty. You will need to form two thin patties for each burger.
  2. In the center of 4 patties, place 2-3 cheese cubes. You may get a 5th or 6th burger depending on how big you make them.
  3. Take a second thin patty and place on top. Gently push/pinch together all the edges surrounding the patty to seal the burger.
  4. Over medium heat on the BBQ, grill burger for about 15 minutes, flipping once or twice as you go. Once cooked remove from heat, cover with foil and let sit to rest for a few minutes.
  5. Get your bun ready and add your favourite condiments. Make my slaw (recipe below) or top with your favourite burger toppings.
Notes
To make the slaw combine: ¼ cup sliced cabbage, ½ seeded & chopped jalapeno, ½ cup sliced red onion, 3 julienned radishes, 1 julienned green apple. For vinaigrette whisk together 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp lemon, 1 tsp dijon mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour over slaw and stir to combine.

 

Chili Lime No Tequila Chicken

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This recipe is simple with simple flavours. I created it while doing the wild rose d-tox. It was satisfying, tasty and filling. You could easily add half a cup of tequila to the recipe for some added flavour and even toss in some chopped jalapenos. But it’s not necessary.

Chicken kabobs can be made in the winter, by broiling them. The one thing about broiling meat in the oven, is there will always be smoke when you open your oven door. But they cook quickly. Fortunately when I made them I was able to open the windows as we were having a Chinook here in Calgary. As always grilling them while camping or on the deck is just as tasty.

The first time I made these kabobs I used one chicken breast. It made two kabobs which gave me two meals. The second time I prepared 2 chicken breasts and ended up with four kabobs or four meals. This recipe is for 2 chicken breasts. You could easily substitute turkey breast. I’d say it’s a keeper since the minions were picking the chicken off my plate hence prompting me to make more the second time around.

Serve it on a salad, on top of  grains or brown rice.

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Chili Lime No Tequila Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, Lunch,
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless cut into cubes
  • 1½ cup zucchini, sliced into thicker chunks
  • ½ red onion, cut into chunks
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • Juice from ½ lime
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • salt & pepper
  • skewers
Instructions
  1. In a plastic ziplock style bag, add your olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, chili powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Squishy bag to combine flavours.
  2. Drop in your chicken, zucchini and red onion. Give bag a shake and set aside for 30 minutes.
  3. If using bamboo/wooden skewers soak for a minimum of 30 minutes before cooking.
  4. Turn oven on to Broil.
  5. Alternating chicken, zucchini and red onion, start building your kabob.
  6. Place on parchment or foil lined rimmed baking sheet and place in oven. Make sure your oven rack is as high as it can go. Broil for 5 minutes. Turn kabobs over and broil another 5 minutes. You are now ready to eat.

 

Dilly Pork Burger

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A hint of dill in our Pork Koftas not only flavours the meat but provides a delicious taste experience. So much so I decided to scale the recipe down a bit and turn it into a regular burger. How about that, a food blogger changing up one of her own recipes to create something new!

The kids and the hubs really liked this burger. I ate mine in a lettuce leaf topped with a Jicama & Green Apple Slaw. They ate theirs on buns. Husband went back for seconds. I wish I had his metabolism and appetite. This was even better the next day for lunch. Will post Jicama & Green Apple Salad soon.

 

Dilly Pork Burger in Lettuce Cup
Dilly Pork Burger in Lettuce Cup

 

We doubled the pork in this recipe so we would have leftovers the next day. Normally for our small party of 4 we use 1 pound of burger and still end up with leftovers since we make our burgers smaller. Maybe that’s why husband can down two of them at one sitting without thinking twice and then contemplate a third.

In any case add your regular fixings to your burger on a bun. You could even mix in a little dill with mayo for an added dill-elicious treat. Or change it up by adding a salsa or slaw and eating it in a lettuce leaf (do this if on Wild Rose D-Tox). Either way it’s a keeper!

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Dilly Pork Burger
Author: 
Recipe type: Burgers, dinner, lunch, grilled burgers, bbq
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs ground pork
  • ⅓ cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 2 tbsp coriander
  • 1 tbsp ginger
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Toss everything into a bowl including a pinch of salt and pepper.
  2. Lightly mix to combine.
  3. On a heated, oiled grill, drop your burgers and cook for approximately 5 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of the burger) or until desired doneness.
  4. Grab some buns, lettuce leafs and add on your favourite fixin's. Enjoy!

 

Chicken, Apple & Halloom Skewers

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It was about a year and a half ago I first discovered Halloom cheese in one of our local stores. I was curious, and as such the cheese came home with me. This became the beginning of a beautiful love affair. Since then we’ve enjoyed the salty, yet mild grilled halloom cheese on skewers with fruit or meat, in salads, as a desert with a balsamic drizzle, as an appetizer/on a canape or on a baguette in a sammy. So many ways to eat this delicious cheese, but it must be grilled first to fully enjoy the cheese in it’s entirety. The smokey but light flavour adds impact to whatever you serve it with.

For the past couple of weeks Ambrosia apples have been everywhere in the stores and so I picked some up. I had been throwing the idea around of grilling up some skewers for lunch on my indoor grill/panini pan but kept putting it off as the amount of smoke that comes from the grill pan is almost to much to handle at times, especially in the winter months. Finally a warm day came along which meant windows open and grill pan pulled out for lunch time fun.

I placed some chicken, halloom and ambrosia apple pieces, in no particular order, on small skewers. They needed a quick marinade so I poured some Maille Old Style Mustard into a bowl, added a few other ingredients and whisked it all together. This became the marinade and dip when all was said and done.

Quick and easy, it was the perfect lunch for the minions and leftovers were served up and devoured for dinner.

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Chicken, Apple & Halloom Skewers
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, Lunch, snack, appetizer, game day
 
Ingredients
  • 2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 2 ambrosia apples, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 package halloom cheese, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp Maille Old Style Mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • ½ tsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp greek yogurt
  • salt and pepper
  • skewers
Instructions
  1. If using bamboo or wood skewers, soak in water for 30 minutes before assembling.
  2. Preheat grill or grill pan to medium heat
  3. In a bowl mix together apple cider vinegar, mustard, honey, oil, greek yogurt and a pinch of salt and pepper. Separate mixture into two bowls. This is your dip/marinade. Set aside.
  4. Alternate your apple, chicken and halloom cheese on the skewer. Don't put too many pieces on the skewers. 4 - 6 is good measure to start for longer skewers, 2-4 for shorter ones. Once all skewers are prepared, brush on some of the reserved marinade from one of the bowls you set aside. Save the other bowl for a dipping sauce for later.
  5. Grill skewers about 10 minutes, turning regularly. Chicken is done when there is no more pink inside. If you are not sure, check for doneness by cutting open a piece of the cooked chicken.
  6. Serve with reserved bowl of dipping sauce.
  7. Makes about 16-20 smaller kabobs.

 

Ginger Beef Burger

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We are definitely not fair weather BBQ people. How can you be living in Canada where winter comes 6 months a year! Hubs and I both grew up in small Northern Canadian Towns, and as such you learn early that most winter weather is acceptable to BBQ, unless it’s blizzarding and/or below -10. At this point it becomes challenging to manage the heat as the BBQ starts to get grumpy.

The night I created these burgers we were drinking a ginger beer. I decided to pour some into the burger mixture along with some fresh ginger. I tossed a few other things in from the fridge and a ginger burger was born. We devoured these burgers that evening and to quickly to document or photograph.

Enter round two of ginger beef burger. Started with the same base by adding ginger beer and fresh ginger to the burger, but went a different route and tossed in a few other items I had sitting around. The flavour was even better. I’m sure if I aimed for a round three the burger would be outstanding, but I’m going to stop here because it was pretty darn good and sometimes you just need to quit while you are ahead.

Because I am having a love affair with caramelized onions, I had to top my burger with a slice of cheese, little mayo, some lettuce, my Caramelized Onion with Ginger mixture and some Quick Pickle Cucumbers. I found keeping the condiments simple, allows the subtle flavour of the burger to shine.

And yes in case you are wondering the bun in my burger photo is upside down. Why be ordinary? I wanted to shake it up a bit and help stop the burger from sliding. Don’t laugh, it worked!

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Ginger Beef Burger
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, Grilling, Lunch, BBQ,
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1.5 lbs beef burger
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated/minced
  • ⅓ cup ginger beer
  • 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp green onion, sliced
  • salt and pepper
  • burger buns
  • your favourite condiments
  • cheese slices
Instructions
  1. Combine burger through green onion in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper and mix lightly.
  2. Form your burgers. You should get about six good size burgers.
  3. Grill over medium heat until completely cooked through.
  4. If you like, toast your buns, cut side down, until lightly browned.
  5. While still on the grill top your burger with your favourite cheese and grill until cheese starts to ooze a little.
  6. Place burger on bun and add your favourite condiments.

 

Beer Butt Bird

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Beer Butt Bird, Beer Can Chicken or even Drunken Chicken is one of our favourite things to BBQ during the summer. You do not need to spend money on a beer butt chicken holder, the can and proper positioning of legs on the grill will do the trick. Too many gadgets make for too much clutter. At least that’s my motto!

Recently I heard about brining the chicken the night before you grill it. We’ve brined a turkey before so why not a chicken. Made perfect sense to me. There is a lot of debate between Celebrity Chefs on to brine or not to brine. I say do what you want. I’ve found brining imparts flavour into the bird and makes it come out incredibly moist and juicy. But it is an extra step. We brine our beer butt chickens on a regular basis now.

I took a couple photographs of the bird on the grill while it was still cooking. They ended up being too close and as such I can not post the “better” photos. Note to self to zoom out next time. When it was done it was completely browned and looking delicious. We’ll be making it again soon, I’m sure. Better photos next time.

We really like using an IPA beer with our chicken but have also played around with other types of beer. The type of beer you use really does enhance the taste of the bird. If you are not a beer drinker you can try ginger-ale, 7 up or even coca cola.

In all our variations of beer butt bird, we’ve used a fresh poultry herb blend purchased from the store instead of individual thyme and rosemary, we’ve set up our smoker box with some wood chips and allowed the bird to smoke while cooking (no pun intended). Tossed in some orange or lemon peel into the brine. And even rubbed the bird with a buttered spice blend before cooking. Many ways to make this delicious meal and the leftovers always taste better the next day.

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Beer Butt Bird
Author: 
Recipe type: Entree, Main, BBQ, Lunch,
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs)
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly smashed
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 2 cans IPA beer
  • Ziplock bag
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Place garlic, thyme, rosemary and pour 1 can of beer into a large ziplock bag. Add the bird and seal. Give a shake and put in refrigerator overnight.
  2. The next day get your grill preheating. Remove bird from ziplock bag at least half an hour before grilling. Open beer, drink a little (or pour out), slide bird on beer can pushing all the way down and season outside with salt and pepper.
  3. Place on grill and let cook with lid down approximately 2 hours depending on your BBQ and size of your bird. Your meat thermometer should also register an internal temperature of 165F.
  4. Remove from grill and carefully (with oven mitts or help) remove bird from can. Let rest 10-15 minutes before carving.

 

Honeyed Chili Chicken Wings

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Nice thing about chicken wings, is they are the perfect traveling companion. Simply trim and prepare the wings, toss into a ziplock bag or plastic container with a marinade and have chicken will travel. Take them camping, out to a BBQ or to a tailgate party. How you cook them depends on your options. Grilled, baked or deep fried, they are equally delicious and the ultimate finger lickin good food.

It’s been awhile since I made chicken wings. I’ve been tossing some flavour combinations around in my head for wings for quite some time and finally decided to bite the bullet and get clucking….er cracking. One thing I do not enjoy is eating fatty wings. Being one who used to enjoy a wing night or two back in the day (before kids) I have had my share of fatty wings (epic fail). Wings need to be crispy. End of story.

Any wing going into a marinade should be given ample time in the marinade. Get your wings ready either the night before or the morning of and let them swim in the sauce all day/night. There are so many delicious flavour combinations to choose from and/or create, this is one of many we enjoy or at least it got a 3/4 thumbs up in in our family.

Our family loves wings (kids prefer the basic salt & pepper) and Rob, my husband probably loves them the most. So the night I made these wings I made a huge batch (doubled the recipe). I did not make a dipping sauce for the wings as they really are flavourful enough and can hold their own.

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Honeyed Chili Chicken Wings
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, Snack, BBQ, Tailgate,
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 24 chicken wings
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • ¼ cup rice vinegar
  • ½ cup honey
  • pinch of salt & pepper
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a ziplock bag or plastic container. Shake it up to combine flavours and let marinate over night, rotating once or twice.
  2. Preheat oven to 425F.
  3. Remove chicken wings from marinade.
  4. Place wings on foil or parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with some of the leftover marinade. Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Flip wings over, rotate pans, and brush with more of the marinade. Bake in oven for another 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
If you prefer BBQ to baked, place wings on preheated grill over medium high heat and grill approximately 5 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through. Baste at least once with leftover marinade.

 

Minted Salmon

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Maybe it was because we haven’t had salmon in a couple months. Maybe it was because we were hungry. Maybe it was an easy meal to BBQ on a hot summer day. Whatever the reason, we devoured the salmon the night we made this dish.

When shopping for salmon, I try to buy a large boneless full fillet, usually steelhead trout, one of the many river fish I grew up eating. This size ensures we get a couple meals out of it, like dinner and lunch the next day. I also tend to cut the fish into two fillets, sometimes three, experimenting with one section and keeping the latter piece(s) simple for the minions who prefer simple salmon flavours. Although my daughter has to eat hers with pesto. We love to eat our salmon with some variation of a teriyaki sauce and so when I made this dish, I rummaged through the refrigerator for soy sauce and whatever else I could find to toss in. The mint admittedly was an after thought

Salmon is a heart healthy fish and rich in omega-3s. When you buy salmon make sure it’s fresh and you know where it came from. I would not recommend buying farmed fish as it tends to be lower in omega 3s, are more prone to disease which is controlled by antibiotics, and tend to contain more contaminants.

This dish can be grilled on foil or a cedar plank or even broiled in the oven. One additional sprinkle of mint and it was on the table. Quick, easy and affordable.

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Minty Salmon
Recipe type: Dinner, Entree, Lunch,
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped thin
  • 2 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp soya sauce
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tsp fresh ginger
  • 900 grams salmon fillet or 1 full fillet, boned & scaled
Instructions
  1. Cut salmon into 2 fillets. Set aside.
  2. Combine mint through ginger into a ziplock bag and squishy a bit to combine flavours. Add salmon to marinade, close bag and let sit on counter for 20-30 minutes.
  3. Place salmon skin side down on piece of tinfoil on grill. Cover grill and allow to cook for up to 10 minutes per inch (measure on thickest part of salmon). Once it starts to flake easily it's ready to eat.

 

Coriander Pork Tenderloin

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It’s starting to feel Fallish in the evenings as the temperature drops during the night and a blanket of morning dew covers the ground early in the morning. I’ve sadly seen a few leaves on the ground signalling the trees are also feeling Autumn is in the air. But it’s only August….she shouts to nobody in particular.

Here in Calgary we get on average, 4-6 months of cold winter. Canadians love to BBQ so our family tends to BBQ all winter long (or as much as we can handle). With back to school also around the corner it’s time to start preparing and ramping up for easy week day meals as they need to be on the table quickly and us out the door even quicker.

Tender, lean and juicy pork tenderloin is the perfect meal to accommodate a busy night. Whether you grill it, roast it, cut it up and saute it or let it slow cook in the crockpot, you are bound to have a delicious meal. This recipe is a family favourite.

Disclosure – I am one of 10 food blogger winners in the Canadian Pork on the BBQ: Put Pork on Your Fork Contest with Pork Marketing Canada and the Food Bloggers of Canada. I have received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own.

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Coriander Pork Tenderloin
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, Main, Entree, BBQ,
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp coriander
  • 1-2 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 2 pork tenderloins
Instructions
  1. Preheat the grill.
  2. Combine all ingredients (except pork) in a ziplock bag. Remove a couple tbsp of the marinade and set aside for basting later. Place pork in bag and squishy it to get marinade working on the pork. Close and let sit approximately 30 minutes. If time allows, let it marinate for longer in the refrigerator (like all day).
  3. When your BBQ is ready remove pork from marinade and pat dry. Grill pork over med heat for 30 minutes or until internal temp reads 160F. Baste a couple of times during cooking.
  4. Remove to platter or board and cover with foil. Let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
You do not need salt in this recipe as the soy sauce tends to be salty enough.