Dinner on a Stick

Hello!  I am embarrassed to say that I have been back from my beach vacation for a week and am just now getting around to blogging!  So sorry to abandon you like that.  But to make up for it I have some great recipes!

While at the beach, each couple took turns cooking dinner.  As you may know, Ben and I like to make everything more complicated, so we had a themed meal - Dinner on a Stick.  Sounds fancy, I know.  We served everything from appetizers to dessert on sticks - four courses in all.  So I'll start with the appetizer and work my way through the meal.  Enjoy!

Antipasto on a Stick
Ingredients
1 package sliced salami
1 can large black olives
Italian dressing
1 package cheese stuffed tortellinis
toothpicks

Cook tortellinis as directed.  Transfer to a bowl with ice water to stop cooking.  Pat dry and put in a medium bowl with salami and olives.  Pour 1/3 cup Italian dressing over the ingredients, stir.  Begin assembling Antipastos on the toothpicks.

Salad on a Stick
Ingredients
1 head of iceberg lettuce
carrots, sliced
cherry tomoatoes
cucumber, sliced
salad dressing of your choice
Skewers

Cut iceberg lettuce into chunks.  Assemble carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes on skewers.  Drizzle dressing before serving.

BBQ Chicken on a Stick
Ingredients
package of boneless skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt
pepper
Garlic salt
BBQ sauce of your choice
Skewers

Cut the chicken breasts into chunks.  Season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt.  Assemble on the skewers.  Grill it over charcoal for 15 minutes.  Towards the end, brush BBQ sauce over the chicken.

Zucchini on a Stick
4 zucchini, sliced
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
Skewers

Slice the zucchini.  Assemble on skewers.  Drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Grill for 5 minutes.

Popsicles
Peaches and cream
2 cups non-fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup mashed peaches
1/2 cup skim milk
sprinkle of sugar
wooden stir sticks (found in Wal-Mart's craft section)

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.  Pour into ice trays.  Freeze for 3 hours and then place wooden sticks in each tray.

Strawberry Orange Popsicle
1 pound fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup orange juice
sprinkle of sugar
wooden stir sticks

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.  Pour into ice trays.  Freeze for 3 hours and then place wooden sticks in each tray.

 This meal was a lot of fun and the Popsicle got great reviews, so I will definitely be making those again!

Cheeseburgers

Everyone should know how to prepare and grill cheeseburgers.  It's the American way!  If you're one of the many people whose cheeseburgers always shrink to half of their size or if you can't seem to find the right seasonings, maybe this post can help you.

The key to making cheeseburgers the correct size is to pat them out as much as possible before grilling.  This doesn't mean that you need to make your hamburger patty resemble a pancake.  It just means that since the burger shrinks when it's on the grill you have make it a little bigger than you usually would.

As far as seasonings go, I use the following:
Worchestershire sauce
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning

Once you have the hamburger patties made sprinkle the seasonings on both sides.  I usually do a couple of shakes of each (I know, I'm so precise).  I used less than half of the Italian seasoning for 5 cheeseburgers, so be careful with that stuff because a little goes a long way.  Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side and you're done!

Duck and Mushroom Soup

I know what y'all are thinking, "Duck soup? In June? Have you lost your mind?".  And my answer to that is no I have not, however, Ben HAS!  Last Sunday Ben decided, months and months after hunting season, that he needed to use those ducks for something.  And what does he decide to make on a day where the temp is 95 degrees and climbing?  SOUP!  So while I'm posting about making soup in mid-June, just file this recipe away until a cold winter weekend in December.

The dish is one of Arkansas' own - of which I am very proud!  Watch the video below for complete instructions and ingredients.

The soup was delicious and I can't wait to have some this winter!

Cornflake Chicken

The Parmesan chicken I made last week was such a hit that I was going to make it again, but when I got home I found that we had no bread crumbs.  Because I wasn't about to get back out and buy some at the store I thought I was going to have to improvise on dinner.  So I looked in the pantry and saw that we had cornflakes.  I have always heard that using cornflakes for chicken is pretty good, but I was never brave enough to try it (putting cereal on my chicken weirded me out a little).  But I thought, well why not?  So I found a new recipe and gave it a shot.  It was amazing!

Ingredients
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups crushed cornflakes
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons Lawry's
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a cooling rack and place it on a cookie sheet. Rinse and trim fat from chicken.  Pat dry with a towel.  Place cornflakes in a gallon size bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into crumbs. In a medium size bowl, mix cornflake crumbs, garlic powder, Lawry's, and salt and pepper.  Generously coat chicken with sour cream.  One piece at a time, place the chicken into cornflake bowl and coat well.  Place on rack.  Repeat with other chicken breasts.  Bake for 45 minutes and broil for 3-4 minutes.

The sour cream is amazing (but when is sour cream not amazing?).  It not only holds the cornflakes in place, but it keeps the chicken moist.  I'm really starting to like these coated chicken recipes.  If anyone else has any good ones and wants to share, send them my way!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  It's supposed to rain here all weekend.  BOOOO.  But I have my eye on a pie that might be making an appearance next week!

this recipe is adapted from here.

Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken

This is a great weeknight meal that doesn't take more than 45 minutes!  To make it crispier, I placed a wire rack on a cookie sheet and baked the chicken on top of that.  The spaghetti is optional, but I would recommend some sort of sauce for it, either red or white.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons Lowry's
2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash (or something similar)
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a wire rack and place on a cookie sheet (see above comment).  In a bowl, mix the olive oil and minced garlic.  In a larger bowl, mix bread crumbs, Lowry's, Mrs. Dash, pepper, 2 types of Parmesan and basil.  Dip each chicken breast in the olive oil first, then in the bread crumb mixture.  Make sure you coat the chicken breasts evenly with the crumbs.  Place on the wire rack and bake for 30 minutes.  Keep the oven rack in the middle of the oven and broil the chicken for 4 minutes (make sure that it does not burn).

*this recipe is adapted from here.

Salmon with Cheesy Potatoes and Zucchini

The weather has been amazing around here lately which means it's time to break out the grill!  Ben usually does the grilling, but I do the prepping (which counts for something, right?).  Plus I think even if I wanted to grill Ben would have a hard time letting me take over :)

Last week we had a red wine and soy sauce glazed salmon with cheesy potatoes and grilled zucchini.  It was the perfect meal!  It was totally a "hey, it's nice outside, we should grill" kind of meal, which meant we were running around in Kroger like chickens with our heads cut off.  But what's new?

Ingredients (link to recipe)
4 salmon fillets
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
6 tablespoons pineapple juice
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons pepper

In a large ziplock bag combine brown sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, and pepper.  Place salmon fillets in the bag and coat well with marinade.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Drain marinade into a small bowl.  Place on grill skin side down.  With a brush, coat the salmon with the marinade occasionally while grilling.  For thick salmon, you will need to grill it for about 15 minutes, other wise about 12 minutes.

We got the cheesy mashed potato recipe from this website called allthingscheese.com.  If you love cheese this website is for you!

Ingredients
6 medium potatoes
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Wash and peel potatoes.  Cut into large chunks and add to a large sauce pan full of water.  Bring water to boil.  Cook over medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes or until tender.  Drain water and return potatoes back to the sauce pan.  Add evaporated milk.  With an electric mixer, mash the potatoes.  Add butter, cheese, salt and pepper.  Garnish with shredded cheese, green onions, and bacon bits.

Ingredients
6 zucchinis
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper

Wash and cut the zucchinis.  Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle kosher salt and pepper.  Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side. (So easy!)

Fancy French Fries

Well, I lied.  It's not so much that the French fries are fancy, but the way they are presented.  You know, there are whole books written about how to present food attractively and I live by the motto "it's all about the presentation."

Southern Living had this idea featured under "Appetizers", but we served them as part of the dinner, because French fries go much better with BBQ ribs and chicken than they would as an appetizer.  The French fries are called Salt-and-Pepper Oven Fries but they really they are Ore Ida "fast food" fries sprinkled with pepper and Kosher salt and served with a Lemon-Garlic Mayo dipping sauce.

Ingredients for the sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup mayo
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Combine minced garlic and lemon juice in a bowl.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Add the mayo and parsley.  Stir well.  Add salt and pepper.

I served the French fries and dipping sauce in some small ice cream sundae bowls.  They were the perfect size!

St. Patrick's Day is on Wednesday and if you don't have much time to prepare something extravagant, here's an easy dessert.  It's not green, but if you love chocolate and mint, you'll love this.

You need one package of brownie mix, a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and peppermint extract.  Prepare the brownie mix as directed.  At the end, mix in one teaspoon of peppermint extract and the chocolate chips.  Bake in a 9x13 or 7x11 pan and serve!  The subtle mint flavor is so good you'll never want to make normal brownies again!

Potatoes on the Side

Well, I'm back.  Not completely healed, but ready to blog (read: I still keep a bandaid on my finger 24/7 and do not use my middle finger to type).

I made these potatoes two weeks ago, or so.  They were a nice change of pace from the usual roasted seasoned potatoes and mashed potatoes.  Not only that, but I think they make for a nice presentation.  I found the recipe on Dinners for a Year and Beyond.  If you are ever in a dinner funk go to this blog for some inspiration!

Ingredients
5 potatoes (serves 5 people)
1 stick of butter, melted
1 cup of seasoned bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and scrub the potatoes really well.  Cut a small slice out of the bottom of the potato so it won't roll around.  Cut 1/4 inch vertical slices, but make sure you don't cut all the way through the potato.  Tear a sheet of foil for each potato.  Place the potato on the foil and sprinkle with salt a pepper.  Then pour butter and the bread crumbs over the top.  My suggestion: try to open up some of the slits and pour butter and bread crumbs in the potato and not just over the top.  Wrap in foil and bake for 45 minutes, then open the foil and continue baking for 15 minutes.

Thank you to my readers and friends who have been concerned about my finger.  I still don't like to look at it and may or may not have permanently altered my finger print on that finger by slicing and dicing it.  (Isn't that lovely to think about? I think not.)

Lemon and Rosemary Salmon, Asparagus, and Scallops

If you have a little extra time on a week night and are up for cooking or want to impress your friends with a delicious salmon dish on the weekend, you must try this one!

The salmon recipe is from Southern Living and it will not disappoint.

Ingredients:
4 (6 oz.) salmon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (smells so good)
3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried or fresh rosemary (having your own plant comes in handy)
cooking spray

Sprinkle salt (I used sea salt) and pepper evenly over the salmon fillets. Place fillets, lemon rind, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, rosemary, and 1 tablespoon oil in a gallon sized bag. Turn to coat and let chill for 30 minutes. Remove fillets from marinade and discard extra marinade. Place fillets skin side down on a greased broiling pan.  Broil fish 5 1/2 inches from heat for 10-12 minutes.  Whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon oil.  Drizzle over salmon before serving.

Also served with this meal was brown rice, asparagus, and scallops.

The asparagus was prepared easily.  Put the asparagus in a skillet on medium heat.  Sprinkle sea salt, pepper, and add 2 pads of butter.  Let this cook, turning the asparagus occasionally.  I let the asparagus cook for about 10 minutes.  For the last 3 minutes, I covered the skillet with a lid to steam the asparagus just a little bit.  Right before I served the asparagus, I sprinkled a little shredded Parmesan cheese on top!

When cooking the brown rice, I used half water and half chicken broth, to give it a little more flavor.  If you want to be adventurous, use only chicken broth, no water!

Baked Scallops
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 pounds bay scallops, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour melted butter into a 2 quart oval casserole dish, Distribute butter and scallops evenly inside the dish. Combine the bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, parsley, minced garlic and Parmesan cheese.   Sprinkle mixture over the scallops.  Bake in oven until scallops are firm, about 20 minutes. recipe.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

We enjoyed these cheesy chicken enchiladas over the weekend.  The picture is not the best, but let's be honest, nothing really looks great in a casserole dish.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 oz. diced green chiles
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cups of chicken (we used rotisserie)
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 package of large tortillas (10, I think)
1/2 cup of milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 2 large baking dishes.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chiles, cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside. To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.
3. Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish.
4. In a small bowl combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly. 

recipe adapted from here.

100th Post! Sushi!

My 100th post!  I can't believe it!  For this special post, I have a special meal - Sushi!  I have never tried to make sushi before and had always wanted to learn.  Luckily my sister, who's home from college, has recently learned how.  Last night we tried our hand at it and it turned out really well!

We set up three sushi making stations.  Our ingredients were avocado, crab, cucumber, cream cheese, shrimp, and carrots.  The good thing about sushi is that you can add whatever ingredients you want.

We were surprised to find that Wal-Mart had a nice selection of sushi making items, like the sticky rice and seaweed wraps.  The wooden spoons and bamboo mats were purchased at Whole Foods.

The recipe for how to make sticky rice is easy.  Combine 1 1/2 cups of Botan's Calrose rice and 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and let the rice sit, still covered, for 10 additional minutes. DO NOT lift the lid or stir the rice.  While the rice is sitting, in a small sauce pan, combine 1/3 cup of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Stir on medium heat until dissolved and remove from heat.  When the rice is finished, transfer it to a large bowl and with a wooden spoon, gradually stir in vinegar mixture.  Now the rice is ready to be made into sushi!

This website is a great tutorial for learning how to roll sushi.  Make sure you have a bowl of water close by, because you'll need to get your fingers wet to work with the sticky rice.

Layer the ingredients in the middle of the seaweed, making sure not to layer it too high.

After rolling the sushi, take a wet knife and slice the roll in half first, then slice each half in thirds.

Here is my sister's finished product!

Here's Ben's sushi roll.  So professional!

 

And just for fun, we made egg drop soup (yea yea, I know egg drop soup is Chinese and sushi is Japanese, so what?).

Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth
2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste

Bring 4 cups chicken broth to boil.  Add salt and pepper. Slowly add the eggs to the broth in a steady stream.  To make shreds, stir the eggs rapidly clockwise for one minute.  To make ribbons, gently stir eggs clockwise.

Thanks for sticking around to read my 100th post!  I'm so happy to have made it to this day!

Salmon with Roasted Broccoli and Seasoned Potatoes

Fancy cooking on a Wednesday night?  What has gotten into us, you say?  Nothing really.  Just wanted something different.  Don't be jealous.  You can do it, too!  Here are the recipes Ben and I used to make this yummy meal:

Balsamic-Glazed Salmon
6 (5oz). salmon fillets
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine
4 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a broiling pan.  Arrange salmon on the pan and sprinkle salt and pepper on each fillet.  Set aside. Pour a little olive oil into a small sauce pan over medium heat. Cook garlic until soft, 3 minutes or so.  Add white wine, honey, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper.  Simmer 3 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Brush fillets with balsamic glaze.  Bake for 10-14 minutes.  Brush with remaining glaze before serving.  Recipe.

Oven Roasted Broccoli
1 pound broccoli, rinsed and trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 gloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
large handful of shredded cheddar

Pre-heat oven to 425. Cut broccoli into bite sized pieces. Cut stalk into slices.  In a mixing bowl, add broccoli, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Mix and set aside.  Spread bread crumbs on a 13x9 pan and place in oven for 5 minutes or until toasted.  Remove bread crumbs from oven and add them to the bowl with broccoli mixture.  Lightly toss.  Return mixture to pan and place in oven until broccoli is tender - 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and toss with cheese.  Alton Brown's recipe.

Seasoned and Roasted Potatoes
7 medium gold potatoes
seasoned salt
onion powder
chopped garlic
olive oil

Clean and cut potatoes into cubes.  Add to 13x9 dish. Pour olive oil over potatoes.  Stir to make sure potatoes are well-coated.  Sprinkle seasoned salt, onion powder (somewhat generously).  Stir and sprinkle again.  Add chopped garlic and stir.  Place in oven on 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Poke with a fork to make sure they are soft (but not too soft).  Remove from oven and serve.

Have questions?  Just ask!

Pork Tenderloin with Mustard BBQ Sauce

Ben has yet again amazed us with his culinary skills, particularly in the pork tenderloin category. Like I said in my pumpkin carving post, October is a busy month for my family. Not only are there tons of birthdays in October, but some of them even fall on the same day! For example, my uncle and I share a birthday, as well as my mom and my sister (it's just crazy!). Ok, on to the real reason I am typing this post: THE FOOD. This meal was prepared for my mom's and sister's birthdays. We had Brussels sprouts (I literally would not try Brussels sprouts until I was 23...sad I know, but I love them!), rosemary potatoes, and pork tenderloin. yummy!

As always with the glazes and sauces Ben makes, the mustard BBQ sauce was a mixture of various things - honey, mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce (he never really knows how much of each he uses, but it always works out). To make the sauce, put 1/3 cup of brown sugar in a sauce pan on medium heat with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, little bit of honey, and a few dashes of Worcestershire cause, stir until dissolved (if you need to add more wet ingredients, that's fine). Add a cup of mustard to the mixture and stir. If you're not a big mustard person, I would say it's safe not to use tons of it and it would still taste good.

Ben marinaded the tenderloins in mustard for a couple of hours, but you can marinade it over night if you wish. He grilled the pork for 30 minutes total. After initially cooking the tenderloin all the way around, he started applying the BBQ sauce with a brush at 2-3 minute increments.

I chopped 3/4 a package of bacon, put it in a skillet, and cooked it for a few minutes, then removed the bacon and added the Brussels sprouts to the grease. Add a couple of tablespoons of butter and salt and pepper to taste, then slightly steam the sprouts at the end by placing a lid on the skillet for several minutes (remember to stir occasionally). About half way through cooking the Brussels sprouts, I added the bacon and let it finish cooking.

If you have any questions about this meal or anything else on the blog, e-mail me at jstansbakery@gmail.com.

Peanut-Broccoli Stir-Fry Dinner

I have been wanting to try this stir-fry meal from Southern Living's one-dish dinners and when trying to figure out what to prepare for dinner last night I remembered this dish.

I won't say it was the easiest, fastest meal to prepare, but it also wasn't the hardest. What was the most difficult was having to manage multiple things at one time. For example, the brown rice was cooking while the chicken was cooking and then I needed to wash and cut the vegetables and make the sauce. It's just a lot going on all at once, but it came together nicely.

The recipe calls for vegetable broth and this proved to be troublesome because Kroger does not carry vegetable broth (or if they do it was hidden). Luckily there is a Fresh Market close by that carries it. The recipe only calls for broccoli and carrots, but snow peas are delicious so we added those. With stir-fry, you can pretty much add any vegetables you like, the more the better. The recipe also used tofu, but we like chicken, so that is what we used.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Orange Salad

Oh my goodness, this meal was so good! Ben might be the best griller I know. He always does a great grilled pork tenderloin, whether it's bacon-wrapped or has an orange juice-honey-butter glaze. However, this particular night we had pork with orange salad, steamed broccoli, and homemade cornbread.

Ben got the recipe from Food Network. Well, he actually stumbled upon it when we were trying to figure out what to cook on Labor Day. The original recipe did not call for a glaze, but Ben is a big fan of them and he usually makes them up on his own.

The orange juice-honey-butter glaze is Ben's secret recipe and because I'm a nice person, I'm going to share it with you, but shhhh don't tell him. The glaze is essential to keeping the pork moist and makes the outside taste delish. Combine freshly squeezed orange juice from 2 oranges, 3 tablespoons of butter, and 3-4 tablespoons of honey - but as I'm typing this Ben is telling me that it doesn't matter how much of each, just eyeball it. Abbie, if you're reading this I'm trying to get exact measurements for you because I know how much you like to have them :)

Back to the pork. Ben grilled the pork for 30 minutes total. After initially cooking the tenderloin all the way around, he started applying the glaze with a brush at 2-3 minute increments.

The recipe calls for an orange salad to eat with the pork. This salad complements Ben's glaze quite nicely. The salad is oranges, parsley, red onions, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. Very fresh.

This was my first time to make homemade cornbread (shocking, I know). But let me tell you, I will never be going back to the box mix (sorry Jiffy). Ben was also kind enough to tell me that Jiffy cornbread is "Northern" cornbread - uses sugar - whereas Southern cornbread does not. Well I can't make Northern cornbread being from the South and living in the South!

I hope everyone is so excited about the brownies that will be in my next post. But until then, I'll leave you with a hint about them: if you're a fan of football (not just Razorback football) then these will be a must-have for your next tailgate!

Grilled Pizzas

I feel like I should rename this the Ben and Jennifer cooking blog, because lately Ben has been cooking more than me! One of his most recent meals was grilled pizzas, grilled lettuce and homemade pita chips with hummus.

He got the pizza recipe from Men's Health. Here's the link. We made cheese only pizzas (for me) and cheese and onions pizzas (for those that like onions), both topped with fresh basil leaves. (Tip: do not put the basil on before putting the pizzas on the grill. Grilled basil tastes very different from fresh basil...and not in a good way.)

To make the grilled lettuce, slice a head of Romaine in half and drizzle a little olive oil on top. Add some kosher salt and ground pepper. Place these on the grill for 3-5 minutes (make sure you don't burn them!) Remove them from the grill and sprinkle with feta cheese and balsamic dressing. Ben also added cherry tomatoes and sliced onions to the lettuce before serving.

To make the homemade pita chips, Ben cut pita bread into triangles and brushed them with olive oil. You can add whatever spices you want (garlic or something spicier) and bake on 400 until slightly crispy (about 9 minutes).

BBQ and Chicken Pesto Pizzas

For dinner a couple of weeks ago, I made two pizzas - one chicken pesto and one BBQ chicken. Both recipes are from Allrecipes.com which I have found to be full of great, easy ideas for dinner.

Here's the link to the BBQ chicken.

3 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cubed

1 cup hickory flavored BBQ sauce

3 tablespoons of honey (the recipe only calls for 1 tablespoon, but I love honey)

2 tablespoons molasses (the recipe only calls for 1 teaspoon, but what harm is a little more molasses going to do? none)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

1 (12 inch) pre-baked pizza crust

1 cup mozzarella (the recipe calls for smoked Gouda, both sounded good)

1 cup thinly sliced red onion (which I did not use, because I forgot to cut it)

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees (I used 450 since that's what the pesto pizza calls for and it turned out fine). In a sauce pan over medium high heat, combine chicken, BBQ sauce, honey, molasses, brown sugar, and cilantro. Spread chicken mixture evenly over pizza crust and top with cheese and onions.

Here's the link to the chicken pesto pizza. This one was the easier of the two.

1/2 cup pesto basil sauce

1 (12 inch) pre-baked pizza crust

2 cups cooked chicken breast strips

1 (6 oz.) jar of artichoke hearts, drained

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (I always use more than this because I like it cheesy)

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Spread pesto on the pizza crust. Arrange chicken pieces and artichoke hears over the sauce, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and the crust is lightly brown on the edges. So easy and so good!

I put the pizzas right on the grate in the oven so the crust gets crispier = more delicious.

Camping Trip Dinner - BBQ chicken

My friends and I do a sometimes-annually-sometimes-biennial float trip on the Buffalo River in north central Arkansas and this year there was no shortage of great food. For dinner Friday night, Grant fixed a delicious meal of BBQ chicken, rice, rolls, and corn. It was so good I had to share the recipe with everyone!

When camping, you have to improvise since campsites usually do not come equipped with a full kitchen (too bad). Before the trip, Grant purchased a Dutch Oven from Wal-Mart . This is a great investment. Not only can you cook just about anything in the Dutch oven, but you can use the underside of the lid as a skillet for bacon, eggs, etc! One thing to note is that the Dutch oven does not come with a lid-lifter. You have to purchase it as a separate item and I think it would come in handy with this recipe.

Grant found the recipe on camprecipes.com. This is a great website for people who want to cook something a little more than hotdogs while camping.

Here's the recipe

• 2 to 4 chicken breasts
• 1 bottle of favorite BBQ sauce
• 1 can cherry Coke
• 2 garlic cloves
• butter or oil
• salt and pepper

Directions
Warm up Dutch oven over direct fire (Grant spread some Crisco in the oven before placing it on the fire, I would recommend doing this)
With a little butter or oil, saute the garlic until golden.
Pour in coke and half a bottle of BBQ sauce.
Place chicken in the mixture and fully submerge (you can do this ahead of time in a ziplock bag)
Cover and place hot coals on the lid of the oven and cook for 30-45 minutes (check the chicken at the end of the time to make sure it's fully cooked).

In all of the hustle and bustle of fixing dinner in the dark/trying to chase away raccoons, the Cherry Coke was left out. However, I do not think this took away from the dish at all.

Place coals on top of the Dutch Oven. Be careful!

Checking on the chicken.

To cook the corn, just place it on the coals for 3-5 minutes, rotating a couple of times.

So good!