Summer has come to an end:(

It’s so sad that summer has come to an end.  The smell of BBQ in your neighborhood, BBQ parties on your patio/backyard or even the hibachi on the beach.  Come on now…you really think BBQ really needs to be over.  NOT AT ALL.  I am on a mission to find a way to BBQ this winter.  Thinking of getting a top to protect my BBQ in the winter or even place my baby in the garage.  SUMMER ALL YEAR ROUND

So, on the last day of summer, I had my best friends come by for a last BBQ feast with lots of beer and lots of food.  I ended up doing my famous stuffed mushrooms with crab and Jalapeno cheese.  That was appetizers…for the main course, I created a burger bar.  Very yummy and easy to put together.

You can buy store made burgers or make your own.  I bought store made – PC of course.  They have amazing sirloin burgers…anyways, place them out 30 minutes before cooking and drizzle a bit of Worcestershire sauce on them.

For the bar, I made the following:

Chipotle mayonnaise – I took chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, made a paste out of 2 peppers, mixed it with mayonnaise and added a pinch of black pepper.

Sauté onions and mushrooms – chop 1 onion, thinly sliced and 10-12 medium sized mushrooms, salt/peppers and garlic.  Sauté in olive oil and add a good coating of soya sauce.

Homemade relish – Finely chop half of a red onion, green pepper, yellow pepper and green onions.  Add sliced or chopped avocado, pickled jalapeno peppers – chopped, and the juice from the jalapeno pepper.

Jalapeno havarti cheese and blue cheese if you want

BACON!!!

And there you go.  You have a great bar to work with, and your guest will LOVE IT!!  Oh, and make sure the beer is ICE COLD!!!

A MANS BEST FRIEND….NEXT TO A DOG….STEAK!!!!

I have always been looking for a good butcher, but was never really able to find one.  I FINALLY FOUND ONE.  You will be shocked when you hear this….COSTCO.  They have really good meat/cuts and at a decent price.  Sometimes they are really thick cuts, but that is ok, and they have everything….well almost everything.

So I decided to buy strip loin steak.  Brought it home and slapped some butter, Worcestershire, salt and pepper, let it marinate for 30 mins, and placed it on the BBQ on high heat for 5-7 minutes a side for a nice medium steak.  It was heaven.  You can serve it with a pasta salad or some potato salad ,and you are good to go.

If you enjoy wine, steak goes well with a nice Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot

PIZZA ON THE BBQ – VEGGIE STYLES

This one is for my vegetarians.  I have not forgotten about you.  I decided to make some pizza over the weekend, and just used my imagination.  Basically used what I had in the fridge and put it on the pizza dough.

RECIPE COMING SOON!!!