What will you be making this weekend?
To get started, you may need to know how to light a charcoal grill. And if your propane grill is acting funny and just won’t get hot, check out: Why won’t my propane grill get hot?
How about a couple of Lemon Shake-Ups to keep your cool while tending the grill?
But what will you make?
Why not make some easy grilled buffalo wings to get started?
Or skip the appetizer and go straight to herb crusted steaks. As a bonus, there’s a tutorial on that page showing how to grill tomatoes. Yum.
Is chicken more your speed?
How about grilled pineapple chicken leg quarters?
Did you know you could grill a whole chicken? Try the spatchcock or butterfly technique. Last weekend when I was in San Antonio with Cooking With the Troops, my friend Mike Russo and I butterflied 40 chickens which were then cooked in a La Caja China roasting box. Your family can probably get by with just a chicken. We fed somewhere around 160 (Dos Cubanos also roasted two pigs in the other boxes).
How about fully loaded burgers? (The brat is optional). You know you can grill bacon, right?
How about some chipotle mayonnaise to go on those burgers?
Still need ideas?
Of course few things beat pulled pork. Since it’s still too hot to run the oven that long, at least around here. Throw this in a crockpot or roaster oven with excellent results.
What about side dishes?
Since you already have the grill going, why not grill some vegetable foil packets?
Maybe some broccoli almond salad? There’s bacon in there, too.
Pasta salad? We have two kinds:
or
How about a recipe for potato salad?
Maybe a simple tomato salad is more your style.
You are bringing dessert, right?
What are you making this Labor Day weekend?
And here I was thinking I was hungry before…
seriously. That was insane teasing. HUNGERRRRRR
Those pictures are fantastic! I need a new camera! Santa, are you listening??
@reallifemoms Thank you. The past few years have taught me a bit about photographing food and it’s much more about the light than the equipment. This Christmas I got a small light tent to use. I got it on <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MYASTG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=hoec10-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B001MYASTG”>Amazon</a> and I love it. It work so well. I think it goes on sale every once in a while, I got it for about ten dollars less than listed there. That gave me the freedom to not have to time my cooking with the light coming in the window.
You can also tell Santa to watch Craigslist, photographers like to upgrade their equipment and to fund that they often sell off their old stuff.
Good luck!
@justprecious It’s not teasing, every one of those recipes is quite manageable. 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend.
@reallifemoms The past few years have taught me a bit about photographing food and it’s much more about the light than the equipment. This Christmas I got a small light tent to use. I got it on
http://amzn.to/oYXPn6 and I love it. It work so well. I think it goes on sale every once in a while, I got it for about ten dollars less than listed there. That gave me the freedom to not have to time my cooking with the light coming in the window.
You can also tell Santa to watch Craigslist, photographers like to upgrade their equipment and to fund that they often sell off their old stuff.
Good luck!
@valprieto Your arms aren’t broken, are they? 🙂
@HeatherSolos THAT is what I need. Thank you!
This morning I picked up a huge pack of pork ribs on sale for $1.79/lb., rubbed ’em down with some spices, and threw ’em in the giant crock pot with some veggies to slow roast. It will be good eatin’ tonight (and tomorrow)! I’ll whip up some blueberry muffins, and I’ve got plenty of salad makings.
I just got water restored to my kitchen after a pressure surge blew out pipes all over the house a couple of weeks ago, so I’m happy to be back to cooking…I almost don’t care what…
@HeatherSolos@reallifemoms I made a light table for photography from an old drafting table, some pipes for uprights and clip-on aluminum lights for light stands, and some plastic diffuser panels like are used to cover fluorescent ceiling lights. An important thing to remember is color temperature of the lights: CFLs and LEDs are cooler (bluer) and incandescent and halogen are warmer (yellower). Food does not photograph well in cool light. Ambient light is the next most important thing: do your photography in a brightly lit ROOM, not just a brightly lit SPOT. Food generally does not look good if it is photographed in high contrast (spot) lighting. Lastly, be aware of reflections and reflective surfaces, particularly if you are using a flash.
@HeatherSolos@reallifemoms …and here is how to make a studio ring light from inexpensive parts. The video is in Spanish, but you can tell what’s going on from the visuals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAwTFLi7Tmo&feature=player_embedded
@KeterMagick@reallifemoms and for what’s worth, beef is particularly problematic and one of the main reasons there aren’t a lot of beef recipes on here.