You're All Invited to a BBQ

Since summer is here, I thought it would be really fun to invite everyone to a BBQ, especially since the Fourth of July is right around the corner and lots of people will be grilling. I love to cook and eat outdoors. There's something about the smell of food cooking on the grill that's so inviting and enticing.

I wrote a BBQ cookbook, Best of the Barbecues, a way long time ago filled with 369 recipes for everything from drinks to desserts and everything in between that you could possibly ever
want to eat, drink, and enjoy at your outdoor barbecue.

The recipes include all kinds of dips
and finger foods, a bit of the bubbly, milkshakes, bean salads, potato salads, macaroni salads, lots of veggies, both grilled and on the side, burgers... of course!, chicken, beef, fish, and steak, breads and buns because you need something to put your burger or hot dog in, delicious desserts like key lime pie, dirt cake, hot fudge sundaes, fruity things, and sauces, rubs, and marinades.

The book has been out of print for a while; I'm planning to bring it back into print. I have a few copies left and I'd like to give one to you. All you have to do is come to my BBQ and bring food to share. You can bring whatever you want--drinks, salads, veggies, meat, desserts--as long as it ties in with a BBQ and you can bring more
than one dish. BTW, I'm also planning to update the book before
I republish it, so your recipe(s) will be included.

Since a lot of people will be grilling over the holiday weekend, and won't have pics or a post on their blog yet, here's how you can win: Blog about the BBQ and invite all your readers to come to the BBQ. Include the badge and a link to this post. Leave a comment with a link to your post. After you grill, post your BBQ pics and recipes on your blog, then leave another comment with the link to your BBQ post. I can collect the pics and recipes from your blog. Or if you
have a BBQ recipe in your archives, just do a quick, short current post with your pic, the badge, and a link to this post. I'll post the round-up on July 10th and pick the winner at random.

You're all invited to my BBQ. Let's get grilling.

Less is More

Less is more... more Foods and Flavors
of San Antonio. I've been thinking about quitting Cookbook Cuisine for a while because I've been posting less here and more at Foods and Flavors of San Antonio since my new cookbook was published. I wanted to let you know so you wouldn't think I disappeared. It's been fun blogging here and I've made lots of wonderful foodie friends. I hope you'll come over and visit me at Foods and Flavors of San Antonio.

Potato Salad and a Picnic

What's more perfect for a picnic than potato salad? Louise, at Months of Edible Celebrations, is having an online alphabet picnic and is inviting everyone to bring a dish corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. The letter of the dish you bring depends on when you go over to her blog and sign up for the picnic.

I happened to get the letter D so I searched my blog for a D recipe that would be appropriate to bring to a picnic and I also wracked my brains to think of a recipe that would begin with D. The only post I could find with a D were my dogs, where I introduced you to my furry friends, so I've renamed my Perfect Potato Salad to Dill Potato Salad since there's dill in it. I suppose I could bring my dogs to the picnic, but you're supposed to bring food.

I "borrowed" this picture from Taste, because I didn't have a camera when I first blogged about my potato salad, and I wanted to get this post up to let everyone know about the Picnic, but the recipe is all mine and I've been making this Dill Potato Salad for a very long time.

• 2 pounds red potatoes, skin on
• 4 - 6, maybe 7 or 8 slices turkey bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup very finely-diced yellow onion
• 1 small green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp. or more dry mustard (my secret ingredient)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup light mayonnaise, more or less depending on how much is needed to make a moist potato salad
• Couple shakes of dill weed
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the whole potatoes, bring to a boil again, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water. Set aside--usually putting the colander in the sink is the best place--and let cool at room temperature. They'll still be a little warm when you cut them.

While the potatoes are cooling, cook the bacon, dice the onion, and chop the green bell pepper. It's understood that you'll drain the bacon on paper towels, but just thought I'd mention it here.

When the potatoes are cool, slice them, one at a time, on a cutting board with a wet knife; makes it easier and you'll probably have to keep wetting the knife with water because those silly little potatoes can get so sticky about it.

After slicing, cut the slices into cute little (or large) cubes and put them in a large plastic bowl, preferably Tupperware which has a tight-fitting lid so you can carry your potato salad to the barbecue or picnic or wherever it is you're taking it. But don't put the lid on it yet. And here's a secret for cubing already-cooked potatoes. Put the one-potato-at-a-time slices on top of one another and cut through the long way and then the short way.

Put the onions and green bell peppers that you've diced and chopped so nicely into the bowl and admire how pretty and colorful your potato salad looks. Think nice thoughts about everyone enjoying it at the barbecue. Mix the onions and bell pepper in just a wee little bit, so they can get friendly with the potatoes.

If you've already crumbled your crisp-cooked bacon, you'll be missing out on the fun part: Crumbling it into the bowl with your hands. You can make much better crumbles this way and if you're starting to get hungry thinking that the potato salad is going to be so good, you can lick your fingers. Most people prefer to simply wash their hands, but I used to make this potato salad with my kids when they were little and this was one of the fun parts of cooking together. They always called dibs on crumbling the bacon and I had to wait until they grew up and moved out on their own before I got to crumble the bacon again.

Now that you've buddied up the bacon with the potatoes, onions, and green bell pepper, shake in some dry mustard. (If you've never heard of dry mustard before, it's like a spice and is sold in the spice section in a cute little yellow can.) Just a tad because too much and it will tend to overpower the potatoes. It tends to get a bit sharp and tangy after it's been sitting for awhile. But you might like your mustard this way and it's all a matter of taste anyway. The taste will grow of its own accord after you refrigerate the potato salad for an hour or two, so you can always add more later if you want to.

Gently massage your not-yet-finished potato salad with a wooden spoon, just to make sure the mustard and the bacon and the green bell peppers and the onions all get to be good friends.

Then introduce the mayonnaise, but not all at once. Mayonnaise has a tendency to be shy because it has to dress the somewhat naked potato salad. Stir some in, see what happens, take a taste, then stir a little more in, take a taste, repeat, then stand back to admire how well everyone is getting along. But don't take too many tastes; you won't have anything left to bring to the barbecue. This has happened to me a few times.

You're not done yet. You still have to put the finishing touches on, to finesse your potato salad to perfection. When your potato salad is well-moistened and mixed, shake in some dill, stir it around a bit, and then add salt and black pepper to taste. Take a few more tastes, just to be sure it's absolutely perfect and because you're hungry. Put the lid on it (if it's Tupperware, you can burp it), stick it in the fridge and let it chill out for awhile.

I'm going to a picnic and I'm bringing Dill Potato Salad.

Good Greens, Good Gravy... BSI

Greens are really good for you. Greens that also have gravy (made from a wine sauce) poured over them are even better. One of my favorite foodie friends, Heather, at Girli Chef, is hosting this week's Blogger Secret Ingredient (BSI) and she chose Greens as the secret ingredient. She won last week's BSI with her Watermelon Margaritas. The assignment--should you chose to accept it--is to make a recipe featuring greens. She then gets to choose which recipe she likes best and the winner receives a gift, plus he or she gets to chose the next BSI and host the next round-up. Check out her post for all the details.

Spinach is my favorite go-to greens because, not only is it really, really healthy, it's also delicious in so many recipes. A while back, I made Sauteed Chicken and Baby Bella Mushrooms Served Over Garlic Spinach. It was absolutely delicious and it's definitely a keeper. It's one of my favorite recipes; I've made it many times. And judging from my stats, several thousand people have searched for it and ended up on my blog, so it must be good. I'm re-posting it here as
my greens entry for BSI.

• 1/3 cup plus 1 T. all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 T. Tone's Garlic & Herb Seasoning (available at Sam's Club or substitute 1/2 T. garlic powder and 1/2 T. dried oregano)
• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced lengthwise in half (they're much easier to slice if they're partially frozen)
• 1 T. vegetable oil
• 3 T. butter, divided
• 1 (16 oz.) container sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (10 oz.) bag fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup white wine
• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Put 1/3 cup flour on a dinner plate. Add the salt, pepper, and Garlic & Herb Seasoning. Stir to mix with a fork. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture.

Heat a deep, 12-inch chef's saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil and 1 T. of the butter. When the mixture bubbles, add the chicken and saute on both sides until nicely browned. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Add 1 T. butter to the pan. When it sizzles, add the mushrooms, let them brown on one side, then turn them over and let them brown on the second side. Remove and set aside on the same plate with the chicken.

If necessary, add just a little bit more butter to the pan. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes, or until limp and just starting to brown.

Add the garlic and saute for one minute with the onions.

Add the spinach, stirring to mix it with the onions and garlic, and let it cook down. Remove to a separate plate and set aside. Cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

Add the remaining 1 T. butter to the pan. When it bubbles, add the remaining 1 T. flour and stir constantly for about 30 seconds to make a roux. Stir in the chicken broth and the wine. Let cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice and stir to mix. Return the chicken
and mushrooms, with any accumulated juices, to the pan and heat through.

Serve the chicken and mushrooms over a bed of spinach. (If the spinach has gone cold, just zap it in the microwave for about a minute.) Drizzle the wine sauce over.

Enjoy!

Amazing Pot Roast

About two months ago, Sara, at Amazing Taste, sent me samples of their nine seasoning packets: Beef, Pork, Poultry, Seafood, Steak House, Burgers, Fajitas, Chili, and Malibu. I used the seasoning for beef since I was planning to make a pot roast. According to the directions on the packet, the seasoning can be used either
as a dry rub or a marinade.

• 1 (0.75 oz.) packet Amazing Taste seasoning for beef
• 1 - 2 T. vegetable oil
  
• 2 pound eye of round roast, visible fat removed
  
• 3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
• 4 carrots, cut on an angle
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
  
• Salt, coarsely ground black pepper, dried minced garlic, and dried oregano, to taste
  
• 1 (0.87 oz.) package brown gravy mix
• 1-1/4 cups water, divided
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can Italian diced tomatoes
• 6 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered

Add the oil to a deep, 12-inch, chef's saute pan and heat over high heat. Rub the seasoning over the meat, prick it with a fork, then put it in the hot pan to sear. When the bottom is seared, turn it over and sear the other side. When that's seared, sear both the sides. (I used tongs to hold the meat upright while the sides seared.) Remove to a plate and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium-high. Add the celery, carrots, onions, and green bell pepper to the pan. Sprinkle with salt, black pepper, dried minced garlic, and oregano. Let cook for about 5 minutes, then stir and let cook again for 5 more minutes or so. (Not much stirring involved and no need to add any oil; the veggies release their juices when sprinkled with salt so there's just the right amount of moisture to begin softening the veggies. Plus they pick up the flavor of the seared meat.)

Make a well in the middle of the pan (move the veggies to the side) and return the roast to the center of the pan, along with any accumulated juices.

Pour the gravy mix into a 2-cup measuring cup. Add one cup water, then stir with a fork to get out the lumps. Pour this over the meat and veggies, letting some run under the meat, then add the diced tomatoes, along with 1/4 cup water. (I put the water in the can of diced tomatoes and swirled it around to pick up all the remaining tomato bits and juices from the can.) Stir.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and let
cook for 2 hours or so, stirring the veggies and turning the meat occasionally.

About 20 minutes before the roast is done, cook the potatoes in salted boiling water in a separate saucepan.

Remove the meat from the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve the veggies and potatoes on the side, topped with gravy. I also sauteed some baby bella mushrooms to go with my dinner. This pot roast was AMAZING!!

Visit the Amazing Taste website to find out more about their seasonings, to locate a store near you that carries the packets, and for lots
of delicious recipes.

Foodie Giveaway is having an Amazing Taste giveaway this week until Thursday, June 18th. Go on over and enter for your chance to win.