Grilled Veggie Pasta Salad

Grilled Veggie Pasta Salad
(Courtesy of Cooks Illustrated)

Ingredients:
1 bunch (about 1-1 1/2 pounds) of asparagus, tough ends trimmed
3 large red bell peppers (I used red and orange)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to toss with vegetables
1/4 cup fresh squeeze lemon juice from 2 lemons
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1 pound short, bite sized pasta
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Grill peppers and asparagus on grill until lightly charred and tender. Cool to room temperature (They could also be roasted if you'd prefer that)



2. Chop the veggies up and toss with oil, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Bring water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and salt to boiling water. Cook until pasta is al dente and drain.
4. While pasta is cooking make dressing. Whisk lemon juice, zest, 3/4 tsp salt, garlic and ground black pepper to taste in a bowl. Whisk in 3/4 cup oil in a slow, steady stream until smooth.
5. While pasta is hot toss with veggies, chives, basil, parmesan cheese and dressing and mix thoroughly. Cool to room temperature. Adjust seasonings and serve.

(Can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for 1 day; return to room temperature before serving.)

Orange Chipotle Grilled Chicken Breasts

Grilled Chicken Breasts
(Courtesy of Cooks Illustrated)

Ingredients:
4 bone-in chicken breasts
1/3 cup salt
Cold water
1 recipe for the glaze (see below)

1. Dissolve salt in 2 quarts cold water in a large container. Add chicken, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. When finished, rinse chicken under cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Season chicken with pepper.

2. Turn all burners to high heat with the lid down until very hot. Cook chicken until the thickest part of the breast reads 150 degrees on a thermometer.

3. Brush both sides of the chicken with the glaze. Continue to cook until browned and the thermometer reads 160 in the thickest part of the breast. Transfer chicken to a plate and cover with foil. Let rest 5 minutes. Serve. Pass remaining glaze separately.

Orange-Chipotle Glaze
(Also courtesy of Cooks Illustrated)

(I would at least double this batch, I barely had enough to brush on the chicken once while cooking and none leftover to brush on afterward.)

Ingredients:
1 tsp orange zest
2/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, from 2 oranges
1 small shallot, minced (about 1 Tbsp)
1-2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, minced (1-2 Tbsp) - I used 1 chile
2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
1 Tbsp light molasses (I just had regular molasses in my pantry so that's what I used)
3/4 tsp cornstarch
Salt

Combine zest, juice, shallot, chile and thyme in a small saucepan, then whisk in molasses and cornstarch. Simmer mixture over medium heat until thickened (about 5 minutes). Season with salt. Reserve half the glaze for serving and use the other half for brushing on chicken while grilling. (Again, I would at least double this recipe if you are going to reserve some for serving, I didn't have enough in the end.)

Orange Garlic Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Orange Garlic Grilled Pork Tenderloin
(Courtesy of Cooks Illustrated)

Pork:
2 pork tenderloins, silver skin trimmed off
3 Tbsp kosher salt (or 1 1/2 Tbsp table salt)
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups water (hot)
2 cups water (cold)

In a medium bowl, dissolve the salt and sugar in the hot water. Stir in the cold water to cool the mixture to room temperature. Add the tenderloins and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until fully seasoned (about an hour). While the tenderloin is in the brine, make the wet rub.

Orange Garlic Wet Rub

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp grated orange zest from 1 large orange
2 large cloves garlic, minced (about 1 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp orange marmalade
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl.

10-15 minutes before the pork is ready, turn all burners on a gas grill to high, close lid and let the grill get nice and hot. Will take about 10-15 minutes.

When the tenderloin is fully seasoned, remove from the brine, rinse well and dry with paper towels. Rub tenderloin with wet rub. Cook with grill lid closed until well browned on three sides (about 3 1/2 minutes per side) then cook on the final side until well browned and the internal temp. is 145-150 degrees in the thickest part of the meat. Pull the pork off the grill and let rest under a tin foil tent for 5 minutes. Slice and serve

Italian Brine Grilled Chicken

Italian Brine Grilled Chicken Breast

Ingredients:

Chicken breast
Cold water
Salt
Italian seasoning
Pepper

Fill a bowl with cold water and add a decent amount of salt. Add about a palmful of Italian seasoning. Add chicken and let sit in the fridge for about an hour. When you are ready, preheat your grill for 10 minutes until nice and hot.

Pull chicken out of brine and dry off with paper towels. Season both sides with pepper and a little extra Italian seasoning if it all came off when you dried the chicken. Grill until the chicken is juicy and fully cooked. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving (this will continue to cook the chicken, so don't over cook on the grill).

Grilled Flank Steak with a Garlic-Chile Marinade

At school Thursday I was working on a flank steak for the line and for a lunch we are catering and I found two recipes. The first was a garlic, shallot, rosemary marinade and the second was the garlic chile marinade. John chose for me to do the garlic chile. After I finished prepping it for the marinade I had decided that I wanted to make it at home as well and try it out before Monday. I bought one of the marinading steaks and brought it home to try for dinner. It smelled really good and I think it turned out well. Martin liked it and Ethan even ate some, and he's not a big red meat eater.

Grilled Flank Steak with Garlic-Chile Marinade (From cooksillustrated.com)

Ingredients
For Marinade:
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 Tbsp)
2 medium scallions, minced (about 2 Tbsp) (I used a yellow onion instead)
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, minced (about 1 Tbsp - just save the rest of the can for something else)
1 medium jalapeno chile, seeded and ribs removed, minced

**Note: The ribs in a jalapeno are the hottest part. If you remove the ribs and the seeds it will cut back the heat significantly)

For the Steak:
1 flank steak (about 2 pounds) patted dry with paper towels
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper

1. Puree all marinade ingredients in blender until smooth.
2. Using a dinner fork, prick steak about 20 times on each side. Rub both sides of steak evenly with salt and the with the paste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.


3. Preheat your grill
4. Using paper towels, wipe paste off steak. Season both sides with pepper. Grill steak directly on grill until well browned 4-6 minutes. Using tongs, flip steak; grill until second side is well browned, 3-4 minutes. Cook until the internal temperature is 125 degrees. It will continue to cook as it rests. You do not want to over cook a flank steak! It is a meat that needs to be cooked rare or medium rare.



5. Cover steak with foil and let rest at least 15 minutes to let the juice redistribute.
6. Using a sharp chef's knife or a carving knife, slice steak about 1/4" thick against the grain and on a bias. Serve immediately.



Below is a drawing, it will show where you need to cut your meat to make it so it doesn't end up super tough and chewy. The grains on a flank steak all run the same direction so we need to cut against the grain and on a bias to give the slices a bigger surface area.

Grilled corn with herb butter

Summer gardens bring lots of corn on the cob! Boiling it gets a little old after a while, so here is a fun way to change it up a bit. Grilled corn on the cob with an herb butter. I tried two different herb butters, both were very good.

After making the corn, I had some leftover herb butter. I melted it in a frying pan and sauteed some summer squash in it.



Grilled corn with herb butter

Ingredients:
Corn on the cob
Herb butter (See recipes below)

Peel husks down far enough to remove the corn silks. Soak in water for 15 minutes. This keeps the husks from catching on fire while they are grilling. Once they have soaked rub the butter all over the cob and pull the husks back up. Grill on Medium heat for 10 or so minutes, checking to make sure they aren't burning.

Herb Butter #1

Ingredients:
Butter, room temperature (Amount will depend on how many ears of corn you are making. I have been making about 5 or 6 small ears and using about 1/2 stick or less.
Fresh Herbs:
Basil
Flat leaf Italian parsley
Sage
Lime Thyme
Salt and Pepper

(Would be really good with some fresh garlic in it as well!)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well.

Parmesan Herb Butter #2

Ingredients:
Butter, room temperature (Amount will depend on how many ears of corn you are making. I have been making about 5 or 6 small ears and using about 1/2 stick or less.
Fresh Herbs:
Flat Leaf Italian Parsley
Sage
Lime Thyme
Oregano
Salt and Pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

(Would be really good with some fresh garlic in it as well!)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well.



Ethan loved the grilled corn on the cob!

Blue cheese burgers with parmesan herb potato wedges

Blue cheese burgers

Ingredients:
3 pounds ground beef
8 ounces blue cheese
Tonys
Salt and pepper
1 egg

Combine everything in a bowl and form into patties. I made large patties about 3/4"-1" thick and it made about 10 patties. If you want to make them smaller it will stretch a lot further.
Grill on low until cooked how you like them.





Parmesan herb potato wedges

Ingredients:
Potatoes, cut into wedges
McCormick parmesan and herb seasoning blend
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Toss in Ziploc bag until well coated. Put on oiled cookie sheet. Make sure no potatoes are overlapping. Bake at 425, 20 minutes on one side and then flip the potatoes over and cook another 20 minutes on the other side. They will be brown and crispy.

More chicken

I know, I know..here's yet another grilled chicken. I only know how to cook meat a couple ways, and grilling is my favorite. Plus, it keeps my house cooler in the summer to cook outside.


Spicy grilled chicken:

Chicken legs/thighs
Salt and pepper
Season salt
Mrs. Dash southwest chipotle seasoning
Olive oil

Toss chicken in a ziplock bag with olive oil to coat. It will help the seasonings stick to the chicken. Add salt and pepper and a good amount of both season salt and mrs. dash to coat. Grill on low until juicy.



Spinach, asparagus and romaine Italian grilled salad:

Romaine hearts
Fresh spinach
Asparagus
Italian dressing (I like to make mine fresh)

Cut romaine hearts in half and pour a good Italian dressing on one side. Grill on low until the edges start to get black but the inside is warm but still crunchy. Throw spinach and asparagus on a grill pan inside (or outside if you can figure out a way) and dump a little Italian dressing and salt and pepper. Cook until spinach starts to wilt and asparagus is tender. Cut asparagus into chunks, cut romaine hearts into chunks and toss. If it needs a little more dressing, salt or pepper add to taste.

Yum!

Garlic Herb Chicken

Here is yet another take on ... grilled chicken.

Garlic Herb Chicken:

Chicken legs and thighs (or whichever your prefer)
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Powder
Italian Seasoning

Drizzle oil over chicken just enough to coat it so seasoning will stick. Salt and pepper all the way around the chicken. Coat well with garlic powder and italian seasoning. Grill on low until juicy.




Spicy Fries:

Potatoes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Tonys
Chili powder
Garlic pepper
Lemon pepper

Cut potatoes into fries. Toss in oil and seasonings. Bake at 425, 20 minutes on one side and then flip the potatoes over and cook another 20 minutes on the other side. They will be brown and crispy.


Broccoli and Carrots: (Also cauliflower, but I didn't have any)

Broccoli
Carrots
Cauliflower
Salt and pepper
Butter

Steam veggies until tender. Put 1-2 tablespoons butter over veggies and cut with fork and knife until mixed well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Super fast ribs and garlic asparagus

If you haven't noticed, I use the same combination of seasonings on everything. I found the combination that I liked and just use it on everything. This is no exception.

I have honestly never made ribs before so I decided to take on the feat. The problem was I had very very limited time to make these...by limited I mean ... about an hour, hour and a half tops. I'm too ashamed to admit why I had so little time, it makes me a horrible wife and mom. Anyway, I guess people usually spend hours and hours on ribs because they season and smoke them, etc...mine are simply and fast ribs.


Kelsie's super fast ribs:

Ingredients:
Rack of beef ribs
Salt and pepper
Durkee roasted garlic and herb seasoning
Grill seasoning (steak seasoning)
Tony's
French's buffalo wings seasoning mix
Garlic pepper
Lemon pepper
Olive oil
BBQ sauce (I used cattlemans, that's what I have right now)

Rub both sides liberally with seasonings and oil. (Only use about half of the french's seasoning packet). Once the seasonings are rubbed in well, cover with bbq sauce and rub that in as well.

Ribs with seasonings and sauce ready for oven:




Bake ribs in an 400 degree oven for 20 or so minutes so they can absorb the flavors of the seasoning. Once they come out of the oven, throw on a preheated grill with a low flame. Grill with the lid open. Grill until ribs are cooked medium.




Once the ribs are cooked, let them rest for 10 or so minutes so the juices can redistribute. Cut the ribs.

Here is the finished product:





Garlic oil asparagus (One of my all time favorites!):

Ingredients:
Asparagus
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh garlic

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While waiting for the water, trim the tough ends off the asparagus. When water is boiling, salt the water and throw asparagus in for just a couple of minutes. You want them to still have a bite. No one likes mushy asparagus. Drain well.

While asparagus is draining, coat the bottom of the pan with oil (you can use the same one, no need to dirty a second). Add a few cloves of sliced (I don't like mine minced in this recipe) fresh garlic. Cook the garlic on low to infuse the oil with the garlic flavor for just a minute or so. Don't overcook the garlic!! If you overcook it on accident, start over. Wash the pan out and everything, it's strong when overcooked and not in a good way. When the oil has been infused with the garlic throw the asparagus in the pan and coat well. Salt and pepper to taste.

BBQ Chicken

This is very similar to my grilled chicken, but everybody needs some BBQ chicken. So here's one of my versions.


Kelsie's BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken legs and thighs
Your favorite bbq sauce (I use cattlemens for now)
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil
Grill seasoning
Tony's
Garlic pepper
Lemon pepper
French's buffalo wings seasoning mix (including the oven bag)
Honey


Put chicken in a ziplock bag or large bowl and add all seasonings and about half the packet of French's buffalo wings seasoning and mix. Add oil lots of bbq sauce and a little bit of honey for sweetness.




Chicken covered in sauce:




Put chicken in buffalo wings oven bag and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes so that the chicken can absorb the flavors. If you have time, cook the chicken at 350 for an hour or so or until the chicken is fully cooked. (It will be faster on the grill this way). 20 minutes or so is enough to absorb the flavors though if you don't have time.
When you pull the chicken out of the oven, grill on a low flame grill or open flame. Keep basting with the juice the chicken was cooking in.
Don't overcook! Let the chicken still be juicy.


Chicken right out of the oven, getting ready to be put on the grill:




When you pull the chicken out of the oven, grill on a low flame grill or open flame. Keep basting with the juice the chicken was cooking in.
Don't overcook! Let the chicken still be juicy.


Fresh off the grill:




Also, as a reminder always let meat sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting or eating!! This lets the juices redistribute and keeps the meat juicy. If you cut it while it's really hot, only the first bite will be juicy the rest will be dry.

Grilled chicken

I cook a lot of chicken at my house and a lot of it is very very similar. I just add a little extra or a little less of one thing each time. Tonight I added honey and cayenne pepper. I also made a piece of salmon. To go with the chicken or salmon, I steamed some broccoli florets and made pepper jack mashed potatoes. Yum!


Grilled chicken: (Just a tiny bit different than my savory flame grilled chicken)

Chicken legs and thighs
Salt and pepper
Lemon pepper
Garlic pepper
Tony's
Chili powder
Grill (Steak) seasoning
Honey
Cayenne pepper
Olive oil

Put legs and thighs in ziploc bag. Pour in some olive oil, salt, fresh cracked pepper, lots of garlic pepper, chili powder, tony's and a little bit of lemon pepper. Toss until well coated. Coat with honey and a good sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Grill on low heat so you don't burn the chicken. It will burn a little bit due to the honey caramelizing.


Along with chicken, I make a lot of broccoli at my house. Broccoli is Martin's favorite vegetable and if he's willing to eat it, I'll keep making it. Ethan also really likes steamed broccoli so if he'll keep eating it, I'll make him as much as he wants.

Steamed Broccoli:

Broccoli
Salt and Pepper
Butter

Fill a pot with about 1/2 inch of water. Add broccoli and coat well with salt. Steam until veggies are still crunchy but not raw. (I don't like mushy steamed veggies). Drain water. Add about a tablespoon (or less) of butter and salt and pepper. Toss to coat.


Pepper jack mashed potatoes:

Potatoes washed and cubed. (I leave the peel on, it's good for you!)
Butter
Sour cream
salt and pepper
Tonys
Lots of pepper jack cheese

Boil potatoes until tender and drain. I like to mix mine in my kitchen aide mixer. Add to mixing bowl and add butter, lots of salt and pepper and Tony's. Add a few spoonfuls of sour cream and a few handfuls of pepper jack cheese. Mix well.



Baked Salmon:

Salmon fillet
Salt and pepper
Garlic pepper
Lemon pepper
Tony's
Grill (Steak) seasoning
Chili powder

Season one side of the salmon with all the seasonings and wrap in tin foil. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes depending on how thick your Salmon steak is.

Pepper jack Mushroom Burgers

Who doesn't love a great hamburger? I love hamburgers and mine are just veggie burgers. Tonight for dinner we had a picnic, but when it started raining we had to move it to the house instead of at the park. Dallan (Ber's boyfriend) was in charge of hamburgers so I helped him make different hamburgers than just the normal old plain meat kind. These patties are nice because they have all your favorite toppings inside so you don't have to add them on after it's cooked.

Pepper jack Mushroom Burgers:

Hamburger
Fresh mushrooms
Pepper jack cheese
1 egg
Fresh garlic
Tony's
Grill (steak) seasoning
Salt and pepper
half an onion

In a frying pan, saute your mushrooms in a mixture of olive oil and butter. Don't salt the mushrooms until they are almost finished. Salt draws out the water and if they are too wet it will take forever to brown them. When they are just about finished to your liking salt and pepper them.

In a separate bowl add hamburger. Grate in half an onion. This gives flavor and keeps the meat moist without having huge chunks of onion for someone to bite into. Add about a palm full or a little more of grill seasoning, lots of Tony's, salt and pepper, fresh garlic (as much or as little as you would like, minced or grated into the meat) and an egg. Mix well (your hands work the best! Your hands are the best kitchen tools you have). When the mushrooms are finished chop them up into smaller pieces and add to meat. Add lots of cheese (several handfuls depending on how many burgers you are making).

Mix well. Form a small patty about the size of a quarter and cook in a frying pan to test out your seasonings. If they are right and you don't need to add anything else, form into patties and grill!

I grill mine on low so that they don't burn.

I also make huge patches of this mix and form them into patties and freeze them. That way anytime Martin wants a good hamburger I can just pull it out of the freezer already made.

(If you are going to make large batches of these, I would invest in a hamburger press. That way the patties are all about the same size and will cook in the same amount of time.)

Formed uncooked patty



We had lots of people, so we had a lot of burgers. Yum!



This picture does not do these burgers justice, but it's all I have.


I had a southwest black bean patty, yum! One of these days I'm going to attempt my own recipe at those. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Grilled chicken with potato wedges

Dinner tonight was one of my versions of grilled chicken with potato wedges.

Savory flame grilled chicken:

Chicken legs and thighs
Salt and pepper
Lemon pepper
Garlic pepper
Tony's
Chili powder
Olive oil

Put legs and thighs in ziploc bag. Pour in some olive oil, salt, fresh cracked pepper, lots of garlic pepper, chili powder, tony's and a little bit of lemon pepper. Toss until well coated. Let sit for 10 minutes to overnight. Grill on open flame!






Garlic pepper potato wedges:

Potatoes
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Garlic Pepper
Tony's

Cut potatoes into wedges and put in ziploc bag. Coat with oil. Add salt and LOTS of pepper. Add lots of garlic pepper and a little bit of tony's.
Bake at 425, 20 minutes on one side and then flip the potatoes over and cook another 20 minutes on the other side. They will be brown and crispy.

Grilled Italian Salad

As a vegetarian, I've eaten my fair share of vegetables. Some people focus more on the meats they eat than on their vegetables and their vegetables are very very bland. I focus a lot on vegetables because who wants to eat bland vegetables for 8 years? Not me. Anyway, this is one of my favorite salads. It has also become quite a favorite in my household as well so I make it quite often.

Kelsie's awesomely amazing grilled Italian salad.




Ingredients:
Romaine hearts
Kosher salt
Fresh cracked pepper
Olive oil
Homemade Italian dressing (or a really really good store bought)

Take as many romaine hearts as you want and cut them in half. Drizzle olive oil over the inside and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Then drizzle with homemade Italian dressing. Put on grill and leave there until warm all the way through and until the lettuce has char marks on it. (over cooking it doesn't taste bad, but I like mine better crunchy). When the lettuce is done on both sides cut into pieces and toss with more dressing to taste. Yum!