Memorial Weekend Cookout

Happy Memorial Day! We had our cookout on Sunday, as our guests went home today, but it also worked out weather-wise, as today was stickier and then rainy. The chicken was a new recipe, marinated and then grilled in a homemade bbq sauce. We also had grilled tofu for the vegetarians as well as grilled fattoush made with homemade foccaccia, red beans and rice, asparagus, and then carrot cake for dessert. BBQ Chicken 2 c ketchup 1 c brown sugar 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce 2 Tbs cider vinegar 1 Tbs freshly grated ginger 2-4 Tbs sesame seeds salt and pepper chicken, washed and dried (I used boneless skinless thighs and legs, but any parts will work) Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Pour a cup or so over the chicken, using more or less depending on how much chicken you have. Marinate for at least 15 min or, in the refrigerator, up to several hours. Broil or grill til fully cooked and serve with some of the extra sauce on the side. You can also refrigerate the leftover sauce (not the leftover marinade) and use it another time. Grilled fattoush, based on a recipe from Bon Appetit, cucumber sticks, and bbq chicken Red beans and rice, foccaccia, and grilled tofu Asparagus with lemon juice, olive oil, and sea salt Just a slice ... carrot cake for dessert

First Cookout of the Season

Spring is here in full force, with flowers and trees blooming everywhere and warmer weather, too. Today, having resolved our grill issues, we decided to do a quick cookout out back. We had bbq chicken basted in a sauce I mixed up recently (coffee, molasses, caramelized onions etc), potato salad with a little smoky paprika on top, and a mixed greens salad with carrots, apples, and pecans.

Just Peachy

Peaches are my absolute favorite fruit, possibly my favorite food of all time. They're just that good. I saw a few peaches at the farmers' market last weekend, but today they were everywhere--along with cherries, apricots, blueberries, and a million other things I wanted to buy. Thing is, I'm going out of town later this week, so in theory I shouldn't be buying too much. Instead, I bought a quart of cherries, a ton of green beans, and all of these peaches. I just couldn't say no to them.

And so, I made peach-sour cream coffeecake muffins with a crumb topping. A whole coffeecake is too much all at once, but the muffins can be popped in the freezer and pulled out when needed. The basic recipe is here. I peeled and cut up about 5 or 6 peaches and tossed them in about 1/4 c of flour (set aside from the recipe, not in addition to), to keep them from sinking, and folded them in at the end. I skipped the glaze and used only half of the crumb topping--muffins don't use as much as a full coffeecake, but I've usually had some leftover anyhow.

I also made peach barbeque sauce using a recipe in Eating Well. I put it on chicken, while others put it on tofu. Definitely make it, but make at least a double recipe, because you'll want more.