Spontaneous Mediterranean Meal

I had a whole bunch of veggies from our CSA and didn't really have a meal already planned. I started searching the internet and came across a lamb kabob and couscous recipe via Williams-Sanoma and just improvised. I didn't have lamb, but chicken. I had the red onion and squash but didn't ironically have red pepper (I always have red pepper) and of course I buy couscous in bulk because it is my go to summer side dish staple. Here is what I came up with...
1. I roasted the broccoli with olive oil, salt & pepper and a little garlic powder in a baking dish on the BBQ.
2. On the cast iron grill plate I did the squash and red pepper, that had olive oil, salt & pepper, and some cumin.
3. Skewered the chicken tenders and seasoned with olive oil, salt& pepper, and cumin.
4. Traditional couscous recipe: chicken stock, pinch of salt, olive oil, garlic powder, cumin, parsley.

It was extremely delicious, I find that chicken tenders are perfect for kabobs if not for anything else other than ease of use. And yes it was all a little one note (cumin, salt and pepper olive oil to be specific) which critics might laugh at, but for a family dinner at home it was simply delicious and just the right amount of spices for everyone to enjoy. We will have it again.

Roasted Broccoli... on the BBQ?

As I was telling everyone on FB yesterday I had a religious experience with my broccoli last night, I had received a huge head of broccoli in my CSA last week and I needed/wanted to use it; however I don't have AC in my house. For those of you wondering why that should matter I have to get creative in my cooking during the summer so as not to heat up my house. I basically use things like my microwave (I also used to use an electric kettle often as well, but that now has a permanent home in my camper), toaster oven, and BBQ like they are going out of style. Think of it this way, anything you do in an oven can basically be done on your BBQ (just use baking sheets or grill pans for the small stuff). The toaster oven also works for smaller things and takes way less energy and heat to cook what you are doing. And my go to side dish for the summer is couscous, which is easily done in the microwave vs. burner on the stove!

Anyway as I was staring at this head of broccoli, I was stumped! Because how do we all cook broccoli? We steam the crap out of it! Well, my house was already 77 degrees and it was mid 80's outside I didn't want the thermometer to keep going up. So I thought in my head, you can roast it can't you? So I pulled out my i phone and checked my How to Cook Everything App (which if you have a smart phone, love to cook, and don't have this app what are you thinking? GET IT! Worth every penny! I check it all the time just for quick reference! You can of course by the big ol' tome too but still...) any surprisingly there wasn't anything in that app for roasted broccoli besides a gratin which I didn't want to do. However I have been cooking out of the recent cook book from Ina Garten Back to Basics, and low and behold she totally had a recipe in there for roasted broccoli - probably why it came to my mind in the first place, since I have been perusing it so much. Anyway I modified the recipe a tid to suit my needs and family's taste buds and voila (insert church choir hymns and all that) it was freaking amazing! I couldn't stop moaning my appreciation as I was eating it. I will have to tell my CSA provider today how it changed my life, seriously, I can't see eating broccoli a different way ever again!

Roasted Broccoli (on the BBQ)
(serves 4) or 3 greedy people!-like my family
1 good sized head of broccoli
Olive Oil to coat
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Garlic Powder
**Need a baking sheet or grill pan for BBQ
1. Leave the broccoli florets good sized so they don't burn on the grill, coat in olive oil (2-4 tbsp depending on the amount of broccoli) you want it to look like it has a slight glaze on it but not drenched, I usually do this on a cookie sheet/baking sheet.
2. Few pinches of salt (I always use Kosher salt, if you haven't switched yet what are you waiting for?) and fresh ground pepper all over each one. Then about 1 tsp of garlic powder again sprinkled evenly over each floret. Then toss with your hands to make sure it is all well coated.
3. Put on grill pan, or straight into BBQ with cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally.
NOTE: they will get a little dark/burnt looking and crunchy, this gives it a sweet nutty flavor, trust me!

Served with microwaved couscous, and grilled steak with cilantro/lime compound butter. 

Lunch Time, & Breakfast for Dinner

I had a mini-tub of whipped sun dried tomato cream cheese from Noah's Bagels and it was just sitting in my fridge and I wanted to use it before it went bad. I was thinking pasta sounded pretty good. So I boiled up some noodles added a little bit of sauce from a jar, and a couple tablespoons of this cream cheese. Has anyone tried this? So creamy and tasty, you must try it for an easy pasta dish for lunch or dinner. Some extra Parmesan cheese and ta-da!

I didn't really want to cook anything last night so I thought... hmmm... what can I whip up fairly fast? I made the decision to go with breakfast for dinner. This brings me back to nights from my childhood when my dad had a late credit union board meeting and Mom and I were on our lonesome, mom always made it seem like we were getting away with something by having breakfast for dinner. My dad always helped too by seeming so upset that he missed out because he had to be at a meeting.

Now is there anyone else out there that likes bacon but doesn't particularly like the smell that lingers in the house? Well I am not going to take credit for this one, my mom decided to do this one morning when we were at their house and I thought it was pure genius. You know how I am always talking about using my BBQ for most anything I can, but have you ever thought about cooking bacon on it? Yes, you read it right, bacon on the grill. I am sure you are saying, wait wouldn't that start a grease fire or something? Well this is how you avoid that: you line a cookie sheet (one with a lip) with tin foil for easy clean up. I like to put in a cooling rack so that the bacon isn't sitting in it's own grease, and then line up your bacon on the cooling rack and place in the BBQ. You don't even need to turn it, just watch it for your desired doneness (I like mine extra crispy but not burnt). And when you are finished, carefully bring the bacon inside, but the best part... that lingering bacon smell stays outside! Genius, pure, genius!

For the eggs I used fresh parsley, leeks (cooked in a touch of olive oil before I added the eggs to soften, and I used these because I have a bunch to use from my CSA bag) garlic powder, and salt & pepper to taste. They also had a sprinkling of mozzarella after they were fully cooked, delish! These pancakes were made with my pre-mixed pancake mix, see the recipe by clicking here.

**Side note yes those are those horrendous sausages that we all know and love, they were bought for a camp out and didn't get used... no excuses...but this is in super fine print so you get how I feel about it! HA HA HA!

Miss Molly's Family Birthday BBQ

I cannot and will not take full credit for the family birthday BBQ my husband, bless him, was fantastic and helpful. And the menu was taken from my favorite website http://relishrelish.com/ish.com/ (my menu planning site) and since I am fairly brilliant at prioritizing and planning ( I mean come on, I am a teacher that is what I do!) it went off I think without a hitch, I wasn't stressed out, and we were able to get it all in and people back on the road in four hours! We started on Saturday, and thankfully we have our cleaning lady Carla and the house was in good shape so that wasn't something that we had to spend a lot of time on. Brian did work on the backyard quite a bit even though it was a downpour all day and we weren't really out there at all. I marinated the BBQ chicken (in homemade BBQ sauce) the day before, shucked the corn, made some chunks of ice with slices of lemon and lime frozen in it, and started the beans in the crock pot right before going to bed.
I woke up on Sunday morning fairly early, took a shower and all that jazz then proceeded on anything else that needed to be done. I had to do the dishes a few times, and Brian vacuumed for me. I made lemonade in my cute glass jug, and pre-baked the pizza crust. My parents arrived early to help if needed. It was great because they brought Molly a play table for her playroom and she was set for the rest of the day practically, they were able to distract her a bit and I finished some things up (made my mom and dad a blended coffee drink) eventually we were able to pry Molly away from her pretend kitchen and new table and my mom helped me make the California White Pizza (this was delicious... I changed the recipe a bit, but I have to say it was so good!) it had a garlic butter and parsley base, sliced black olives, artichoke hearts, and a 6 Italian Cheese blend on top. So good! This was my veggie stand in for the vegetarian in the family. The corn was cut in half next, and boiled with a little bit of milk (this is something my mother in-law does and I have started doing it myself, I don't know why it is done, I don't question it, I just like that the corn tastes more flavorful and softer some how) Brian got the BBQ started for the chicken and I got the pizza in the oven in time for everyone else to arrive.

By the time it was all ready Molly was hungry! She had a drumstick (she ate it all the way to the bone seriously!) she had a slice of watermelon (thank you auntie Jenn and Uncle Jim) she had two mini-slices of pizza some beans, a second try at a drumstick (that one only had a few bites out of it) We then took a break from eating for presents, Molly got some really great presents!

Then to finish the day she had her cupcakes! She had a shy moment when everyone was singing her Happy Birthday, and it took her a bit to figure out how to "blow" out the candles but eventually she managed it. We also had a bit of ice cream to go with the cupcakes. The cupcakes gave her her second wind, but all in all it was a great day for Miss Molly. She ended up going to bed at 5:00pm, she was a tuckered out little girl!