8.02.2011

Throw it on the BBQ!

This past weekend, the husband and I had several friends over—along with my mom and step-dad who stayed with us for several days—to imbibe in a few adult beverages and some seriously delicious food. There's no better way to cook up a dinner during summertime then on the grill. Though I'll be the first to admit it's definitely not always as easy as it looks, and gourmet grilled food is a learned skill. It's something I definitely intend to touch on in future posts, especially as fall arrives and we find ourselves in front of the fire more often.

But for this event we kept things simple and created a super mouthwatering menu, thanks to the help of some generous contributors, that was perfect for that barefoot blue jean night (a la Jake Owen's new tune)!

First, I had to break up any impending danger between my friend, Lisa, and her husband...


....just kiddin' girl. She and her husband are a seriously sweet couple. All was right in their world by photo #2! ;)


Then my husband and I took a break to whip us up some Crown and Cokes...


...before crowding our bar top with a bevy of food-laden dishes that made our stomachs growl. Yum!


My own personal highlights? Grilled chicken with onions and green bell peppers, slathered in a bit of olive oil just before they go on the fire and sprinkled generously with HEB's Chicken Fajita seasoning.  A tip I learned from a cooking class: don't turn your meat until it no longer sticks to the grill grate. It's easy to rip up the chicken if you're forcing it up and over before the bars have left their pretty little grill marks and the meat is "released" from the surface. If it unsticks easily, it's ready to flip!


My mom and I are also big on this new twist for watermelon that I discovered through a magazine a few months ago: watermelon sprinkled with feta cheese and freshly chopped mint. It's really good, I promise! It may sound odd at first, but give it a try and I bet 80% of you will love it. The feta's slightly salty taste is the perfect companion for juicy bites of melon and I have so much mint growing in my backyard it was a cinch to add a fresh flavor by chopping up a few leaves.


We also made mashed garlic potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon and sugar and creamed cheese corn. My step-dad whipped up super delicious dinner rolls from scratch that afternoon before dinner, and Lisa brought over an addictive pasta salad with tomatoes and basil and some homemade pound cake with sliced strawberries.

No one went home hungry!

Got some good grilling recipes or ideas to share? Load 'em up in the comments section and your dish could be featured in an upcoming food post on Texas Tales!




1 comment:

  1. It was delicous! I nearly had that watermelon salad finished off before I left this morning! LD was eating more of the grilled chicken at 3 am!

    ReplyDelete

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