First BBQ of the Season

Today consisted of weed pulling, garden planning and plant purchasing. We now have absolutely everything we need to complete our garden this year.

Our lovely vegetables, herbs and flowers are waiting patiently by the back door until the sun decides to grace us with it's presence. 

Despite the awful weather,  it only seemed fitting to finish off the day with a BBQ.

I've been seeing a lot of recipes for BBQ sauce lately - none of which seemed too challenging. Seeing as how we currently don't have BBQ sauce, today was a good day to try it homemade style! I found this recipe after a quick search on the internet:

Homemade BBQ Sauce
Grab yourself a sauce pan and put it on the stove over medium-low heat. You may also put your sauce pan right on your grill over medium-low flame. (I did this on the stove)

Add 1/2 cup of ketchup
Add 2 TB brown sugar
Add 1 TB red or white vinegar (I used white)
Add 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Add 1 TB lemon juice, or 1/2 tsp lemon zest (lemon juice for me)
Add 2 TB/pats of butter (margerine)
Stir all ingredients until melted and blended together to bbq sauce perfection!

So now the sauce was done and I was onto my side dish of potatoes. We had some organic sweet potatoes (which turned out to have a white flesh if you're confused by the picture) as well as just plain russet potatoes. Again, a little search on the internet brought me to this recipe which I followed loosley:

Roasted Potato Medley
Ingredients
1 russet potato, cubed (1 big one)
1 red potato, cubed (none of these on hand)
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed (3 little ones)
2 tablespoons olive oil (I only used 1tbsp... 2 seemed like a lot)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme (I used rosemary... fresh!)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup low fat, low sodium chicken broth (veggie broth for me)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a mixing bowl, combine the russet potato, red potato, sweet potato, olive oil, vinegar, thyme, garlic and chicken broth. Toss well to coat.
Place into casserole dish and roast uncovered for 40 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

As the potatoes cooked away in the oven, Jason went to town BBQ'ing his 2 Bison Burgers and my salmon along with 2 cobs of corn. I prepared his buns with some mayo, spinach, red onion and feta. 

REVIEW: I have no reviews from Jason as he's washing his bike but he loved the burger combo. It was very different from the usual ketchup, mustard and relish.

We both really enjoyed the BBQ sauce and it took about 10 minutes from start to finish to whip up a batch. Definitely worth it and will try some other versions in the future.

The potatoes were ok. They were in the oven for about an hour then had to go in the microwave for another 5 minutes! Next time I'll stick with the usual potato wedges with olive oil and herbs.

Turkey Dill Burgers and Artichokes

First things first, we bottled our wine yesterday. The Tangerine Machine is wonderful.

Second, today was cleaning day and thank god for energy drinks! Jason took it upon himself to organize and clean all of my make-up and hair stuff after consuming his Monster Energy drink. He wiped off every separate eyeshadow container and even cleaned the hair out of my brushes.

Honey, on the other hand, knocked over her very full food dish and sent kibble flying all across the kitchen floor and front room floor (both of which had just been swept, washed and vacuumed). I must say, that cat is a real dream.

Third, this is how I make 2 dinners and 2 lunches at 1 time

And here's dinner! Both the artichoke recipe and turkey burger came from Company's Coming. I'll start with the burger:

lean ground turkey
bread crumbs
1 dill pickle finely chopped
sprinkle of dried dill or freshly chopped dill
1 egg
salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients and form into patties. Heat some olive oil in a pan and cook the turkey burgers on medium heat for about 7 minutes on each side. I put the patty on a whole wheat bun with mozzarella and spinach.

Now the artichoke was interesting. I've never cooked or eaten an artichoke like this before but they were on sale at Superstore (6 for $1) so I thought I would give it a try. Luckily Jean Pare had pretty good instructions in her Vegetable cook book:

Cut the stems off and remove the smaller leaves around the bottom. Cut the tips off all the leaves. Start separating all the leaves and sort of spreading them out. Once you get to the middle there might be a little hairy bit that you are supposed to remove with a spoon. Stand the artichokes up in a saucepan with about 3" of water and a squirt of lemon juice. Boil, covered, for about 30 minutes until it's very tender. For dipping sauce, melt margerine, some lemon and a drop of Worcestershire sauce together. To eat, you pull a leaf off with your fingers, dip the bottom into the sauce then sort of pull the leaf through your teeth and suck out the flesh inside. Once you get to the middle you can pretty much pop the whole thing in your mouth because the leaves are so tender and you're at the heart. If you're interested in the exact measurements of anything, let me know. I just don't have the book in front of me right now.

And here's tomorrows supper! I originally had wanted to try some kind of vegetarian lasagna but Jason started asking questions about why I needed ricotta. One thing lead to another and I was convinced to make a meaty, cheesy lasagna. I used the same lasagna recipe I made on Valentine's Day but about half the size. This will be Jason's Monday dinner and Tuesday lunch! I will not be participating in the lasagna but will come up with something equally tasty for myself hopefully.

MY REVIEW: I didn't eat the turkey burger but the artichokes were pretty good. They do take a little bit of time to prepare but it was worth it. Go to Superstore if you want to try them!

JASON'S REVIEW: Delicious. (The energy drink has worn off)