Grillmistress: Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken

So.
Remember in January when I Spatchcocked a chicken and roasted it in the oven?  Well, at that time, I bought a couple of whole chickens and froze them for later.
Later finally arrived when we were cleaning out the freezer for the move.
While I was looking for something to do with a whole chicken, I came across this recipe with an interesting marinade that would use the pastes provided to me from Garden Gourmet.  A win all the way around as I tried to clean out my freezer and prepare for the move.
Now I need to buy another whole chicken so I can do this again.
I present to you now from Martha Stewart Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken:

Secret Recipe Club: Bacon Wrapped Pesto Stuffed Chicken Drumsticks

So.
It's time again for the Secret Recipe Club!  What's that, you ask?  Well, it's a group of bloggers who are all assigned each other's blogs.  We hunt for recipes on said blog, and then all reveal what we made and who had who at the same time.  Fun, right?
I always enjoy getting my blog assignment and planning what I shall make each month.  This month, I had the pleasure of perusing Cindy's blog over at Hun...What's for Dinner?  Cindy is a stay-at-home mom with 2 kids and a passion for baking.  She and I don't live all that far apart, either!  I've also spent a little time on her blog in the past when I've linked up my menu planning with her on a Sunday.
There were so many interesting things to look at, I had a hard time choosing what to make!  I started looking at desserts (again!), and then realized that in the last little bit I've made an awful lot of bread/sweets/carbs for SRC.  I wanted to branch out.  So I started looking at mains, and this just spoke to me.
I have a love/hate relationship with my BBQ.  I love it for its fast and easy food prep, and that there are less dishes by my sink but more in my dishwasher at the end of the night.  I hate that I seem to burn chicken when I attempt to cook anything but boneless, skinless breasts or skewers.  But after reading about these drumsticks, I had to try again.
J wasn't convinced - he's not a fan of things that are burnt off the grill; and between the chicken skin, dripping pesto and bacon, I was sure to have flare ups, but I decided to soldier on because the promise of bacon and pesto in one dish just sounded too good not to try.
I mean bacon, pesto, chicken...how could that be bad?
I present to you now from Hun...What's for Dinner?  Bacon Wrapped Pesto Stuffed Chicken Drumsticks:

Grillmistress: Cheeseburger Kebabs

So.

We had a big pool party last weekend for some of my friends from when I was in Youth Group.  Yep, I've known a good number of the people who were here since I was 4.  We ate way too much, swam away the afternoon and caught up.  J and I host this once a year, and it's always so much fun.  One of the biggest deals this year was that we went out and bought a new tank of propane.

When my mom came in June, we set up to BBQ, got halfway through cooking the steak, and ran out of propane.  We then neglected to buy more for a month.  I know.  Have indoor grill, be lazy.  But with 25 people and a freezer full of burgers and hot dogs, the Foreman was not going to cut it and we got a new tank.  

What this means is that we're back to grilling in the great outdoors when the weather is good.  Just as well.  I found these little beauties on Pinterest or Twitter, and decided that I needed to try them myself.  It was a good need.  These are great.

I present to you now from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen Cheeseburger Kebabs:

#HotSummerEats: Grilled Ginger-Marinated Pork Tenderloin

So.

It's the end of #HotSummerEats.  Huge thanks to Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla for putting together another spectacular event!  I have been so happy to participate, even though this time around I haven't been as active as I'd like (thank you very much, school that doesn't end until the end of June).  It's been great to think about summer foods and try out new-to-me products.  If you'd like to try them too, make sure you've entered the Giveaway!!
As a parting shot, I decided to grill again.  J isn't big on pork, but will tolerate pork tenderloin.  His favourite grilling method for it is the garlic-balsamic marinade I've made in the past, so he was a little disappointed when I informed him that I would be making a new and different marinade for the tenderloin that I was defrosting.
I continued in this recipe with the tubes of herb paste from Gourmet Gardens.  I've already finished the garlic and the ginger.  They're fantastic for cooking in general.  I'm now spoiled. But back to this marinade.
This is different than what I've made in the past, but the leftovers make spectacular pork fried rice, which is my go to with leftover pork tenderloin.  The ginger is a nice addition, and garlic never hurts.  I don't think J was disappointed with the finished product, even if it wasn't what he was expecting.
I present to you now an adaptation from the November 2003 issue of Gourmet, Grilled Ginger-Marinated Pork Tenderloin:

Bride of Magazine Challenge: Garlic Marinated Chicken

So.
I started making this marinade in the summer because it was part of the Bride of Magazine Challenge.  I continued to make it because it's delicious.
I haven't spent as much time in front of the grill as I might have liked to this summer, but the things that we have had have been good.  I didn't even manage to get out our skewers or the vegetable grilling basket.  With things like burgers on the menu, neither of those get much use.
What I like about grilling is that the cleanup is quick.  Being able to put meat in marinade and leave it for a bit while I prep everything else is also nice.  This recipe is actually a part of a larger recipe which I haven't made - the potatoes and vegetables sound good, but I just haven't done it.  The marinade though?  Delicious.
I present to you now from the July/August 2006 issue of Everyday Food, Garlic Marinated Chicken:

Bride of Magazine Challenge: Tandoori-Style Chicken Burgers

So.
I'm a little sad as I write this.  Today is Reveal Day for my group over at the Secret Recipe Club.  I opted out for this month, thinking I would be away in July and not around to make and blog a recipe.  By the time I realized I was wrong, the sign up was closed and I was signing up for September's reveal.  So, next month we'll return to cooking yummy things from new and different blogs.  In the meantime, I still am making new things.
Of the 8 things I listed that I want to make from the July/August 2006 issue of Everyday Food, I have now made 3 things, and the 2 months that I have before I fall behind are half over.  One of the articles in this issue was burgers - and not just beef, but turkey and chicken and pork.  With the success of the Cheddar Horseradish burgers of a few weeks ago, I had high hopes for these.  I'm not sure J was quite so sure.
J came into the kitchen while I was sitting at a TV tray that I had appropriated for using my meat grinder and asked what I was doing.  When I explained, he didn't look too sure about what we were doing for dinner.  But he likes tzatziki and my homemade pitas, so it was really all about whether or not he would like the chicken.  When they were done grilling, they smelled amazing.  After the first one, I was told I could make these again.  I'd call that a win.
I present to you now from the July/August 2006 issue of Everyday Food Tandoori-Style Chicken Burgers:

Bride of Magazine Challenge: Cheddar Horseradish Burgers

So.
In theory, it's summer here.  The thermometer will tell you differently, but from time to time it's warm enough to go out and take a dip in the pool.  In the two years that we have lived in this house, we've had two of the craziest summers ever for owning a pool.  Last year, we went to New York City for our vacation.  We were gone for a week.  That was the week in July when it was 100.  And we were walking around NYC.  We came home the day the weather broke and jumped in the pool that afternoon.  Then it became unseasonably cold and damp for our kitchen renovation and instead of spending it in the pool I spent it sitting on the couch.  This year, we have once again had cooler than normal temperatures with days of 80+ weather.  The pool is beautiful in the middle of the backyard, but not really warm enough for swimming unless we're willing to run the heater most of the time and I'm way too cheap for that.  The weatherman is promising that things are about to improve.  Just in time for us to go to Seattle for vacation.  But between now and departure, we are supposed to have some more "normal" days in which to get in the water and swim.
One of the things that we like to do on weekends when it is promising is invite people over to swim and BBQ.  We usually just do burgers on the grill, and usually boxed ones at that for ease.  While looking through the July/August 2006 of Everyday Food, however, I found an article on a few different burgers that looked promising.  While not all are things that turn our cranks (turkey burgers were quickly nixed), these sounded delicious.  The day I made them, however, it rained again and I ended up using the Foreman instead of the backyard grill.  Next time.  And J has made me promised that there will be a next time.
From the July/August 2006 issue of Everyday Food, I present to you now Cheddar-Horseradish Burgers:

Weeknight Dinner: Greek Marinated Chicken

So.
J and I both like the flavours used in Greek cooking.  Lemon, garlic, oregano, ouzo...saganaki...baklava.
While cruising Pinterest one night, I found this pin.  Not shockingly, I thought it looked delicious.  I was equally not shocked when I clicked through and discovered that it was from Budget Bytes.  How could it not be good?
With chicken drumsticks on sale at the grocery store, how could we not try this?  I present to you now Budget Bytes' Greek Marinated Chicken:

Grilled Steak and Potato Salad

So.
I love making dinner salads.  You know, the ones where you sit down and you can pretend that you're being healthy as the plate has a base of greens.  Actually, there are a couple of salads in Looneyspoons that are that healthy, I just haven't made them yet; other than the fajita salad, which is excellent.
On my way home from Quebec, I wanted a couple of magazines to zone out with on the bus.  While most people would buy People, or US, or something like that, I opted for Canadian Living and Chatelaine.  Frankly, Chatelaine was a bust.  I didn't find the articles appealing nor the recipes worth it.  The Canadian Living, however, was another story.
My mother has had a subscription to Canadian Living for a long time.  I haven't made a lot of their recipes, but those I have made are usually pretty good.  When I saw this salad, I thought it sounded delicious too.
I was right.  And it was perfect for a warm summer night.  Frankly, it would be good on a cool summer night too.  I present to you now from the June 2013 issue of Canadian Living the Grilled Steak and Potato Salad:

Grilling the Odd: Margherita Pizza

So.
I spent time before the reno pinning recipes I thought would be makeable during the reno - crockpot ideas and lots of grilling ideas.  Somehow, despite my planning we still spent most of the first week eating out because it's easy.
The second week, I made a plan to hopefully stem the tide of money going out of my bank account into restaurant coffers.  Sunday night, I made dinner at home.  That's night one.
I have discovered that my deep freeze is a good height to use as a prep table.  I have also discovered that my basement is a lousy place in which to take pictures.  We're looking forward to having counters again.  But all that aside, this went together quickly and there were minimal trips up and down the stairs before dinner.
J liked this enough that he'll let me make it again with some different toppings.  We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.  I present to you now About a Mom's Grilled Margherita Pizza:

Grillmistress: New Toy!

So.
J and I got invited to a Customer Appreciation sale at one of the local appliance stores.  Really, We spent a pile of money with them last year on a new washer and dryer for the new house, so they invited us to come and spend more money. 
We obliged, and bought BBQ accessories.  Now we have a reason to grill.  Not that we needed a reason before, but still.  I have yet to take the grill wok for vegetables out of the box, but I opened this bad boy up today:

It's a 3 in 1 rack for grilling roasts, ribs and kebabs.  I think we discovered the problem with it today being a little large for the grill, but the double metal skewers are awesome.
I present to you now in honour of the 2-4 weekend how we christened the skewers:

Dinner with Friends: Garlic Balsamic Grilled Pork Tenderloin

So.
I'm cleaning out my freezer to prepare for moving.  This isn't a bad thing.  I should probably try and get to the bottom of my freezer once a year.  We've been here 3, and it's never been defrosted.  Yikes.  Now that I have a bit of a timeline about when the freezer needs to be in moving condition, I should probably do something about that.
To that end, we did an inventory of meat that we have stockpiled when it's been on sale for a special occasion.  Double yikes.  There's a prime rib roast, lots of Italian Sausage (I think I was preparing for asparagus season), and 3 pork tenderloins.  Plus the myriad of other things that I randomly buy because they're a good deal and we'll eat them eventually.  The time has come.
So we've decided that to empty the freezer we need to have more company, seeing as many of the cuts of meat I stockpile appear to be for company.  I'm not cooking a prime rib for the 2 of us when it's not a major holiday!  To that end, we've started inviting people in to help us eat all of the interesting things that I find at the store and have saved for "later".  You're welcome, if you live close to us.
Over the next few posts, you will find recipes from our last evening of having people in.  We had a great time, laughed a lot, got soaked running for the patio chair cushions that were soaked in the sudden downpour during dessert, and ate a fantastic meal.  Since it was the same day as our last open house, everything was prepared in advance.  I love that kind of cooking!
I present to you now our new favourite way to cook pork tenderloin:

Grillmistress: Foil Potatoes

So.
J believes that there should be starch with most meals.  He has this bizarre love/hate relationship with carbs that I totally don't get.  He might not want pizza at dinner because there are "too many carbs", but then will add 3 packets of sugar to a cup of coffee.  Although it's kind of the pot calling the kettle black...I just know I don't need the number of refined carbs that I eat in sugar or flour form.
Ahem.  But, he expects either potatoes, rice, or pasta as a side when I make dinner at home.  Here's what we like to do with potatoes in the summer when we're grilling.  I present to you now Sarah's foil packet potatoes:

So, it's Winter...RIGHT???

We are experiencing unusual weather this week.  Not that I'm complaining.  I am always happy to pull out my sandals.  Let us celebrate the lovely, lovely weather with a couple of pictures, shall we?
Look what I uncovered today!

Yep, we went to the butcher, and it's now Grilling Season. 

Let the fun begin.