Hello my loyal readers. I do believe I have ruined our summer by investing in a new BBQ. It was hot, hot, hot here. Then I finally go get a new BBQ and bammo, totally cold here. Kind of unusual for this area in June. Not that I'm complaining, well...okay...maybe I am just a little bit. But seriously it's bloody cold here. I want warmth when I grill. Despite the weather I was just way too excited to get out there and hit the grill. Yet somehow I forgot to grab a new propane tank so I had to make a plan to go pick one up. I was also waiting for hubby to find the time to put the BBQ together. I figure if I have to grill he has to put it together and occasionally start it for me. I do about 90% of the BBQ-ing here. My hubby is not a fan. He gets distracted easily and wanders off. I'm usually alerted by the huge wafts of smoke blowing by the window. So I made him hand over the oven mitts and do most of it myself. He had it put together last night so I ran to Costco today and picked up a propane tank and some planks while Kiana played soccer. Hubby hooked up the tank when I got home today. So I put on some warmer clothes and braved the chill to take the grill for a test run. First meal just had to be steaks of course. I mean that's just common sense. It should be a law or something. They should just include them with your new BBQ as a bonus I think. But considering they don't even include propane tanks with them any more I guess my expectations are a bit high.
So for the first use it went well. I made steaks and potatoes. Pretty easy. Normally I would marinate the beef but I did this sort of last minute so I just threw it on. It turned out wonderfully. I am quite pleased with the performance of the grill and my BBQ skills are still intact. I suppose it's like riding a bike. Not that I plan on doing that any time soon. Baby steps I say. One new thing at a time. I hope you try this meal out for yourselves. I ate way too much. So hard to stop when things are this yummy. Luckily we ran out so I had to stop. I suppose that would be a good dieting trick. Only buy small amounts so you won't eat too much. Feel free to try that out. Let me know how it works, I'll be at Costco overbuying more steak.
So here's the new grill!
Okay so now prepare yourselves....this is the old grill. It's nasty so don't say I didn't warn ya.
I told ya, I warned ya. Look away from the screen so you're not traumatized any further. It's hideous I know. I think we used it once last year. We've needed a new BBQ for a couple years. And as you can see we REALLY REALLY needed a new one. This one should be condemned. I'm surprised we didn't have the fire department knocking on our door giving us a citation for this mess. Can you call a BBQ a hot mess? I think this qualifies.
Alrighty-roo, so now on to the recipes. I just had to show you the before and after though. So hopefully you forgive me for prolonging the food. Please enjoy. Come back often, feel free to comment and I hope you enjoy the blog. I certainly enjoy doing it.
BBQ Steaks:
Ingredients:
5 boneless rib eye steaks (you could use whatever cut you like, these were on special so I used them)
¼ barbecue sauce (I used Kraft original)
Salt to taste
Garlic powder (or salt) to taste
Directions:
Turn BBQ on ahead of time and let it get quite hot. Then turn it down to a medium heat.
Put steaks on bottom grate and sear each side for about 2 to 3 minutes. You just want to get some grill marks on them.
Then turn down the heat to low or use indirect heat. I left 1 of 4 burners turned on. The other 3 were turned off. Then move the steaks to the top away from the burner that is on. Brush with BBQ sauce.
Cook on each side slowly until no pink is seen and juices run clear. Our steaks were quite thin so it only took maybe 10-15 minutes each side. (I used this time to cook the potatoes) Make sure you put BBQ sauce, salt and garlic powder on each side and brush all over.
Once they are almost looking done take them and put them down on the bottom and turn heat back to medium. Cook each side for about 2 minutes.
Take off BBQ and you can tent foil over. Let stand for a few minutes before serving. They keep cooking after and the juices will redistribute.
Remove foil and serve.
Peppery Potatoes:
Ingredients:
2 large russet potatoes, cubed (about twice the size of what you'd do for home fries)
¼ cup red pepper, diced
¼ cup green pepper, diced
¼ cup orange pepper, diced
¼ cup sweet onion, diced
1 shallot, diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Garlic powder to taste
¼ to ½ cup olive oil to keep moist and keep it from sticking. Start with a little as you can always add more.
Directions:
Cut up your potatoes into cubes. Place in a smallish casserole dish. (I used a loaf pan)
Cut up peppers and onion, add to pan.
Cut up shallots and add. Garlic press your garlic cloves and add.
Add olive oil over top. Then add your spices.
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