We didn't start out last week with the intention of going on a barbeque spree. It just happened that way. You see, we don't have air conditioning. This isn't much of a problem, as we live in New Hampshire. Our house is surrounded by trees, we have a lot of windows, which allow for a nice cross-breeze, and it's really only hot enough a couple days a year which doesn't warrant owning and running one. Plus, I don't believe in air conditioning and try to use it only when necessary. I think it messes with my internal thermostat. Yeah, I'm weird. Anyway, the last thing we want to do this time of year is run the oven. Even if we had air conditioning, we wouldn't want a 350 degree oven heating our house up. Instead, we get our money's worth from our gas barbeque. It's big and fancy because my grill master husband wouldn't have it any other way. Here is our week in dinners:
Monday:
We roasted a whole chicken. Mounted on a soda can filled with water. We only had bottled beer, so we made do. I was a little disturbed by how it was sitting up and staring at me, so I quickly shut the lid after taking the first photo. But it sure was delicious. I rubbed it with salt, pepper and a smoky Moroccan spice blend. I'm always worried about barbequed chicken being dry, but this was amazing.
Tuesday:
More chicken! We're not big beef or pork eaters (and I actually avoid them), so we eat
a lot of chicken. Mario even reheated some leftover waffle fries for Jared. There is nothing this man won't barbeque.
For dessert? Blueberry cobbler. . .on the barbeque! Mario and Jared love going blueberry picking at a local pick-your-own place, so we have bags and bags of frozen blueberries in our basement just waiting for a recipe.
It was arguably the best cobbler I've ever had. It was amazing. . .and not an oven in sight. From beginning to end, he made it on the barbeque. My husband is a genius.
Wednesday:
Okay, so this isn't my actual turkey burger. But we had turkey burgers and they looked a lot like this. I forgot to take a picture because I still hadn't caught on to the fact that we were knee deep in a barbeque bonanza. I'm not very astute. A blogger should just take pictures of everything under the assumption that they may be useful in a future post. Oh, well. Just imagine that I made this delicious burger...except I like my toppings on the top.
Thursday:
Leftovers! Mario was out of town, so Jared and I dug around in the fridge for dinner. You would think we'd tire of chicken. . .
Friday:
We may have saved the best for last. That's right, barbequed pizza. It was awesome. This was my son's pizza. He has a dairy allergy, so it is sans cheese. He has actually grown to love it this way, and has no interest in trying cheese alternatives. Whole wheat crust, fresh basil from our farm share, Trader Joe's pepperoni, and black olives. Deeelish.
Our pizza was a hodge podge of ingredients. I tend to like it that way. I think of it as grocery store stream-of-consciousness pizza. I just grab what sounds good and we load it on. It always turns out delicious.
Garlic herb crust, fresh basil, black olives, peppadew peppers, fresh chicken Italian sausage from Whole Foods, freshly grated parmesan, and chunks of goat cheese. I'm just realizing that Mario must have snuck in some of Jared's pepperoni when I wasn't looking. My husband said it may have been the best pizza he'd ever had. He says that every time.
It was a great dinner. Pretty simple, too. We just preheated the pizza stone on the barbeque and transferred it using a peel.
Our barbeque bonanza had come to an end, but its memory will live on in our hearts. And our bellies. We have a lot of leftovers. This isn't the end of this post, however. Before I finish up, I wanted to take a moment to talk about my smokin' husband. Get it? It's a reference to his barbeque skills
and his good looks. I am so clever.
 |
| Hard at work multitasking the grill. . . |
 |
| You like? Yeah, baby, daddy brings home the bacon and the pizza pie. |
This guy is awesome in so many ways. . .one of which is his cooking skills. He can cook. He also thinks outside the box. After our wedding rehearsal, we had a barbeque on the beach with all our friends. My in-laws didn't have a grill at their beach house, so Mario spent the day before making one. Yes, I said he
made it. He used a large metal barrel, cut it in half, welded on a handle, legs, vent and hinges, and fit it with a grate. It was a fully functioning charcoal grill. It was big enough to cook meat for everyone and six years later it is still the official beach house barbeque.
Let's all take a moment and appreciate his ingenuity. I may have hit the man lotto. But sometimes I forget when he's snoring or peeing with the door open. Barbeque sauce runs through that man's veins.
So what are your favorite barbeque recipes? Share?
Posted with Blogsy