Pork and Sweet Pepper Kebabs

One word I can never spell right:  ”kebabs” – I always want to make it “keBOBS.”  Moving on…this dinner recipe from the most recent Cooking Light magazine is not only delicious and easy but it’s easy on the wallet, too. You probably have everything on hand except the pork tenderloin and bell peppers.  Or you may have it all tucked away in your fridge.  I’m sure you could substitute in any protein (beef or chicken) but I really loved the pork since it’s not something I eat and/or cook every week.

The pork was cut into 1-inch pieces about an an hour before I wanted to eat and marinated in a super delicious soy-based mixture.  Other ingredients:  lemon juice, ketchup, brown sugar, crushed red pepper and lots of garlic.  When I was ready to eat – we simply arranged the pork on skewers and threaded the veggies on separate skewers.  I used regular ole bell peppers – taste the same – and I added in some red onion that I needed to use.  I kept it simple with the veggies, just a sprinkling of salt.

kebabs

The pork was cooked perfectly (way to go, Big Guy!) and was perfectly paired with the grilled veggies on top of rice.  The rice soaked up the flavor of the pork – the bites with rice were my favorite.

Simple, healthy and delicious.  Can’t beat that!

Charred BLT Salad

I think Spring is finally here!  This weekend was unbelievably gorgeous.  Unfortunately I spent a good part of my Saturday in a mall, frantically searching for a white dress.  However, I found a dress and was able to get home in time to enjoy the 70 degree afternoon with Big Guy on the back deck with a glass of champagne.

this is the life.

Once the sun started to set, I got to work on dinner.  We kept it simple with Charred BLT Salads.  I knew we had to welcome Spring by firing up the grill but I also wanted to keep it light (19 days!  but who’s counting?).  This recipe is so simple and you can play around with the ingredients to make it work for you.

I got to work on the salad toppings while Big Guy got BQ ready to grill romaine.  I crisped some pancetta on the stove and then removed and allowed to drain on a paper towel.  I think cooked grape tomatoes (halved) in the pancetta drippings to make sure the salad was full of flavor.

To grill the romaine, simple dress with EVOO, salt and pepper and throw on the grill until it begins to wilt and earns it’s grill marks.  I would suggest cutting the romaine in half (lengthwise) before grilling – I step that I didn’t do until after cooked.

To complete the salad, top the romaine with the crisped pancetta (or bacon or prosciutto), tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles and green onions.

BLT-inspired

How did  you welcome Spring this past weekend?

Friday Favorites, Spring Edition.

I am so ready for Spring I can’t stand it.  I’m over these cold mornings and wind that slices through you like a knife.  Be gone!  I heard crickets the other evening and it made me smile.  Since Spring will officially be here next week, what better way to welcome it than a Spring Edition of Friday Favorites.  No more cords, no more Frye boots.  I want my sundresses and Jack Rogers.

Favorite Cover-Up:  Is this not fantastic?  Such a classic look but totally not boring.  I could see myself wearing this on the honeymoon (not to rub it in) while grabbing lunch poolside.

Favorite Use of Hard Boiled Eggs:  I still dye Easter eggs.  Big Guy dyes them now, too.  It’s a tradition.  But what to do with all the leftover eggs.  I usually make egg salad but this year, I think I’m making this twist on the deviled egg.

Favorite Cocktail:  This reminds me of my favorite sangria at Cantina 18 in Raleigh.  I want a pitcher of this Sour Apple and Pear Sangria on my back deck on the first day of 80 degree weather.

Favorite Sandal:  I love this strappy sandal.  You could pair it with white jeans (ohhhh, white jeans!) or a fun dress for date night.  Adore.

Favorite Spring Bag:  This sunny striped Michael Kors bag screams spring.  I would rock it all season long.

Favorite Side Item:  I love Spring time because that means I don’t have to cook inside on the weekends.  You can take it outside.  (I must note, we grill year round, but in the Spring it’s more fun because I can annoy Big Guy and sit on the deck with a cocktail while he’s grilling.)  Take your veggies outside and throw them on the grill!

Favorite Workout:  Walking in around those strappy sandals above means you gotta keep those legs lookin’ lean.  I plan on trying out this leg strengthening workout Saturday AM.

Favorite Thing (no matter the season):  Champs!!!!

Happy, happy weekend!!!!!

Tequila Lime Flank Steak Salad with Copycat Chipotle Corn Salsa

I’ve always said “salads aren’t boring” and this salad only further proves that statement.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that on Sunday I was putting a recipe to the test that involved limes.  Lots of limes.  Well now I’m here to tell you that the tequila lime marinade for the flank steak is worth making twice.  I was working on picking out a marinade for the flank steak that Big Guy will be grilling up next weekend for a party we’re helping to host for one of our favorite couples, Kristen and Adam (heeeey, KP!).  Well, this will be the marinade we use.  No need to try any others.  It’s easy and doesn’t have a long ingredient list which is awesome when you’re cooking for 40 people.

We threw our tequila lime flank steak on a salad along with a healthy helping of Copycat Chipotle Corn Salsa.  This salsa will also be making an appearance at the par-tay.

Y’all – this stuff is insanely delicious.  Forget needing a chip, I could eat this stuff straight from a spoon (or fork).

On top of my not-boring salad:  flank steak (cooked to perfection by Big Guy), avocado, grilled bell peppers, corn salsa and drizzle of the chile lime vinaigrette.  (For the dressing, I used red pepper rice vinegar instead of the red pepper oil – why?  Because it’s cheaper.  Just keepin’ it real, y’all.)

I can’t get over how good this salad was.  So many textures.  So many flavors.  A little heat – but not too much.  Tons of freshness from the corn salsa and the creamy avocado.  I’m sure that cheese, black beans and chips would be an awesome addition but I didn’t miss ‘em.

Smoked Gouda

It all started with a “pin.”  Oh, and a craving for a burger.  A real burger.  No turkey burgers or bean burgers would solve this craving.

Instead of going the easy route to make Smoked Gouda and Bacon Burgers with Barbecue Sauce we made it a Saturday afternoon activity (the burgers were eaten on Sunday – so this was a weekend event).  Who buys smoked gouda?  (Well, I do actually.)  Big Guy wanted to tackle smoking his own.  Why not?  The weather was gorgeous (hello, 70s) so I was able to enjoy a cocktail on the deck while Smokey Robinson was doing his thing.

 

The toughest part was not being able t0 try the cheese on Saturday!  Big Guy used a “cold” smoke method.  Other than that, I have no idea how the cheese doesn’t melt.

 

The cheese, once cooled, was placed in the fridge to rest over night.

Now to the burgers…these are incredible.  We used an 80/20 sirloin (this wasn’t a weeknight meal, for sure) and simply seasoned the meat with salt and pepper.  Trust me – the flavor comes from all the toppings.

While Big Guy cooked the bacon on BQ, I made the onions.  The onion is sauteed in a little EVOO and then simmers in a combination of beef broth and hot sauce (Frank’s).  Onion perfection!

 

The above plate is Big Guy’s (I didn’t use a bun).  Piled high on the burger, you have bacon, home smoked gouda, that is then topped with the onions and barbecue sauce.  Seriously?  Yes, seriously.

I went light on the gouda because it had some real smoke to it.  On the side, Ree’s Crash Hot Potatoes.  Those potatoes are the best ever.  I dipped mine in ketchup for the ultimate potato experience.

This burger hit the spot.  And I must say, it’s cool to say you (by you, I mean Big Guy) smoked your own gouda.

Kicked-Up Saturday

It’s rare that Big Guy and I get a couple days to do whatever we want.  This weekend was one of those rare weekends and it was fantastic.  We headed out to an event Friday night and had the best time.  Then on Saturday we kept it low-key.  We headed to the “big city” of Wilson to go to the “fancy” Harris Teeter so I could do our grocery shopping for the week.  And then it was  back home for a day full of football and delicious eats.

I hinted Friday that we’d be having a kicked-up spinach dip for “appy” hour and we did.

p.s. Is there any better smell than onions cooking in bacon fat?  I think not.

 

I must note that I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, yellow bell pepper instead of green and red and a few extra cloves of garlic.  I also used Gruyere instead of blue cheese.

 

Now that is Saturday perfection.  For “appy” hour, I enjoyed my first pumpkin beer of the season.  Unfortunately it’s not gluten-free but since I’m not allergic to gluten one beer won’t kill me.  It was fantastic.  Cinnamon-sugared rim and all.

For dinner I had planned on making shrimp and chorizo bites.  Unfortunately the chorizo we purchased was Mexican chorizo (I’m guessing the Spanish chorizo is different).  Instead of being able to slice the chorizo and skewer it, we had to patty up the chorizo.  I cooked it in my cast iron skillet and then sauteed the shrimp in some of the chorizo fat.  Uhh, best idea ever.

With the shrimp and chorizo, we enjoyed grilled veggies.

Such a wonderful Saturday.

Another Whirlwind Weekend

Our weekends are simply jam-packed this fall.  This past weekend we headed to Raleigh for the “debut” of Big Guy’s sisters (debutante) and then woke up bright dark and early (4:30am) to head to Columbia to see ECU get spanked my USC.  Despite losing, we had an absolute blast with my brothers.  Here’s a peak at our whirlwind weekend:

 

 

For dinner last night, we went with burgers.  Green Chili Turkey Burgers with a green beans from the garden and sweet potato fries.  These burgers were insane!  Super flavorful and moist.  Instead of ground chicken I used turkey because that’s all our local store had (small town!).  Make these burgers!  I don’t care if summer is almost over (I refuse to admit it’s coming to an end).

Needed: Date night and wine

After being away the last half of the week, all I wanted on Friday was date night and a glass of wine.

I walked in the door and was greeted by these lovely “just-because” flowers and…

a case of New Age.  Obviously one is missing from the box because it was being chilled so that I could be granted that above wish…a glass of wine.

Date night was off to a good start!  Big Guy was in charge of dinner…so I don’t really have recipes for you – but I can tell you that is was a fantastic dinner.  And the biggest shocker – no ribeyes were involved.

How great is that presentation?  And I had nothing to do with it.  I have no clue where he found this idea – but I kinda love it.  Grapes, goat cheese and crushed walnuts.  Three ingredients that when combined in this way are incredible.

And for dinner…kabobs!

The colorful beef kabobs were served over a mint and basil basmati rice.  For the beef, he used seasoned beef tips from The Meat House (nNp – I think he read your comment!).  And for the colorful veggies – squash, zucchini, red onion, bell peppers and mushrooms.  They smelled incredible – I wish this picture was a scratch ‘n sniff.

The kabobs and rice were served with an avocado cream which was simply avocado, Greek yogurt, garlic and a few other spices.  It was quite refreshing.  A perfect bite was a piece of the tender beef along with a red onion and a dollop of the the avocado cream.

Date night perfection.  Just what I needed.

Cookout for Two

It was supposed to rain all day Saturday.  But it didn’t.  The weather man was WRONG.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  I was able to get an hour or so of sun and we ate lunch outside at the club.  And then we had a cookout – just the two of us.  Big Guy got the hankering for ribs on Friday – so he picked some up at The Meat House in Raleigh and gave them a good rub down with a dry rub he had picked up, too.  He threw those suckers on the smoker and he worked his magic.  They later got a nice steam on BQ along with a slathering of sweet, finger-licking good  sauce.  Ribs are one of my favorite foods.  Watch out – things get a little messy.

As an appetizer, I made a hot corn dip I’ve been drooling over for months.  Literally, months.  Hot + Cheesy Caramelized Corn Dip.  I halved the recipe since it was just the two of us (we did not need to eat 8 plus servings – though we probably could have).  Big Guy ended up cooking the bacon on the grill so I added a small pat of butter to a hot skillet before cooking the corn (from our  garden!).  The only other changes I made were that I used fat-free Greek yogurt (because that’s what I had) and I used mozzarella instead of cheddar (because once again, I had mozzarella in the fridge).  I could not wait to dip into this crack stuff.

 

Big Guy did not want to wait for me to take a picture.  Served with gluten-free bagel chips and tostadas broken into pieces for dipping.

 

Thank goodness there was an hour or so between the appetizer and the ribs – I had a few more dips than necessary.  Actually, it was very necessary.

 

The ribs were totally worth the wait!  Finger-licking-good!!!  Served with a salad so that I’d feel semi-healthy.

Such a summer meal.  Thank goodness the weather man was wrong.

 

BQ Addiction

BQ isn’t lacking from attention these days.  I think Big Guy got to use the grill every day this past weekend…Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  They were both in heaven.  I had every intention of catching some rays on Saturday but the sun had different plans.  Plans of hanging out behind rain clouds and watching a tornado touch down near our house.  Needless to say, I didn’t put on the bathing suit over the weekend (I will this weekend, oh yes I will).  But we were able to whip up some delicious food and clear out some of the DVR.  So I can’t complain too much.

On Saturday we channeled Bobby Flay and had our own barbecue BQ addiction.

For an appetizer – Mustard Aioli Grilled Potatoes with Herbs.  To make the mustard aioli a little lighter – I used 1/4 cup mayo and 1/4 cup Greek yogurt.  Oh, and instead of chives, I used green onion.  These were addicting!!!!!!!

 

 

And then it was dinner-time.  Grilled Lamb Sausage with Goat Cheese and Herbs.  The vinaigrette was awesome – I used champagne vinegar instead of sherry vinegar.  And I didn’t use as much EVOO as the recipe called for.

 

Big Guy was obsessed with the potatoes.  I think he wanted more on Sunday to go with his sammie….