Turkey Taco Casserole on the Grill – No Heating up that Kitchen!!!

Tags

bbq, grill, Grilling, ground turkey, healthy, one pot meal, outdoor cooking, summer, taco casserole

Here in inland Northern California, our summers are pretty warm. We’ve had a series of days over 100 degrees, so I’ve been experimenting with more and more cooking on the grill. I’m trying to do anything I can to not heat up my house! This dish did the trick!!!

My experience cooking over an open fire when camping had scared me off from using my pans on the BBQ. BUT the gas grill does not cake your pans with soot the way an open fire does, so I’ve been using my cast iron skills on the grill more. I do have to admit, I’m not ready to put my Le Creuset pans on the grill!

So this casserole was cooked from beginning to end on our gas grill. The other great part about this dish is that most of the prep can be done ahead of time and stuck in the fridge for when you’re ready to cook. I love me some early dinner prep!!! Not to mention, it’s one of those all in one dishes! I didn’t make any other sides to go with it. It stood alone!

Turkey Taco Casserole

Makes 4-6 servings

1 pound ground turkey

2 tbsp oil (avocado or vegetable)

1 – 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup diced green onions

1/2 cup diced cilantro

1 small can sliced black olives

1 diced fresh jalapeño (if you want less spice, remove the seeds and ribs)

1 small can diced green chiles

1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (I used fresh, but you could use canned)

1/2 cup salsa

1 tbsp Tapatio hot sauce (optional)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika (I used hot, smoked paprika. We love our spice!)

1/2 tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper

1 cup crushed tortilla chips

1 1/2 cups grated pepper jack cheese (cheddar or plain jack would be good too.)

Our gas grill has 3 burner strips. I started by putting the 2 tbsp oil in my large cast iron skillet and then the ground turkey. I browned this over two of the burner strips. While that was cooking or even before, I mixed the next 12 ingredients (everything except tortilla chips and cheese) in a bowl and set aside or stick in the fridge if prepping ahead.

Once turkey is lightly browned, add the bowl of other ingredients and stir well until mixed. Sprinkle crushed tortilla chips over the entire top of casserole and then sprinkle grated cheese over that.

I turned all but one burner off and moved the skillet to the cooler side of the grill away from the burner that was on. I closed the grill and tried to maintain a temp of about 350 in the grill. I cooked for 40 minutes, turning it about 1/2 way through, so both sides of the skillet would cook evenly. You can check with a spoon to see that the center of the skillet is nice and hot.

I hope you enjoy and stay cool!!!

Barbecued Asparagus – BBQ Sauce on Asparagus??? Yes!!!

Tags

Asparagus, barbecue sauce, bbq, grill, Grilling, vegan, vegetarian

Last weekend we did an all BBQ dinner for 4th of July.  Our favorite, and probably easiest entry, was the Barbecued Asparagus. Now you’ve probably grilled asparagus before, but have you doused it in BBQ sauce??? It not, you HAVE to try this! It is so very delicious!!! It was the easiest thing in the world and it could easily be done stovetop or in the oven too, if you don’t have a grill handy. I think our family has found our new favorite way to eat asparagus!

Barbecued Asparagus

Serves 4-5

1 bunch Asparagus (I like to buy the thinner spears as they are not as woody as the thick ones)

1/3 cup BBQ Sauce (I usually like my asparagus a little spicy, so I used the Kinders Sweet Sriracha variety)

Trim about an inch off the cut ends of your asparagus and discard. Cut the asparagus into bite size pieces, about 1 inch and place in a medium mixing bowl. Pour barbecue sauce over asparagus and toss gently. We used a grill basket to cook the asparagus in. I like it with the holes and not a solid bottom, so the veggies get the smoky flavor of the grill. Spray your basket with non-stick spray and then add your veggies. Put on a hot grill and cook for 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally. We like our asparagus to still have some crunch to it, but if you like yours softer you can cook it longer.

Enjoy! I hope you’re having a fantastic summer!!!

Thanksgiving Tips Part 4 – Barbecued Turkey – Great Tasting and It Frees Up Your Oven

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barbecue, barbecued, Cooking, Food, grill, grilled, recipe, Thanksgiving, Tips, Turkey

  
I think we can all agree that the backbone of a great Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey! I know for me, if I screw up the turkey I feel like I have failed as a Thanksgiving host.

I forget exactly how we discovered it, but about 20 years ago my husband and I discovered the joy of the barbecued turkey. This moist, smokey flavored bird is definitely the star of the meal. An unexpected perk to barbecuing the bird, is that you don’t have a huge turkey hogging up your oven. I have never been blessed with two ovens, so on a big cooking day oven space is at a premium. Since I usually put my husband in charge of the barbecuing, it keeps him occupied and out of the kitchen. Prior to putting him to work on the barbecue, he was always sticking his finger in to taste things and stealing yummy bits of food. He likes to set up a little man zone outside on the patio with a cooler of beer and a TV to watch football

So how do we do it?

1. You need a barbecue deep enough to accommodate whatever size turkey you’re cooking. We started with a simple Weber kettle and now we use a CharGriller barrel grill. Those square Meco grills tend to not be deep enough unless you’re cooking a really small turkey.

2. The secret to a moist bird? Stuff it with moist ingredients that will evaporate into the bird as it cooks. We stuff our bird with a variety of fruit, garlic and onions. Remember the flavors of what you stuff it will impart flavor to the bird. I usually use a variety of citrus fruits, apples, and or pears. The stuffing just gets thrown out after the bird has cooked, but all that fruit juice that evaporates into the bird makes for a moist and flavorful turkey.

3. Want that smoke flavor? Add some wood chips to your briquettes. We like to use wood from fruit trees. Our favorite is apple. Some of the other woods, like mesquite, can be overwhelming. The fruit wood provides a mellow, sweet flavor to the bird. Be sure to soak your wood chips overnight, so they don’t just catch fire and burn up right away. You want them to burn slowly and give off lots of smoke. My husband has also been known to pour some brandy or tequila in with the chips as they soak for additional flavor.

4. As I always like to say, play with your food! Over the years, we have tried a variety of things and they’ve all been good. We’ve brined our bird and we have injected our bird. These strategies both add moisture and flavor. Don’t be afraid to try different things! If brining, I will tell you to be cautious with the zip-lock brining bags and how you store your brining turkey. Let’s just say I had one pop open on me and then was dealing with about 2 gallons of liquid on my kitchen floor. It wasn’t a good day, but we recovered. Maybe I’ll include a brine recipe in a future post.

  
So let’s get to the actual recipe for barbecuing your turkey!

Ingredients

• Turkey – size should be based on the number of people you’re feeding and the amount of left overs you want

• Fruit for stuffing – Any combination of Apples, oranges, limes, lemons, pears,etc, cubed

• Savory ingredients for stuffing – Garlic and/or onion, cubed

• Salt and pepper or barbecue rub (See my very first blog post for a great rub recipe)

To prep turkey, clean out the chest cavity removing neck bone and any organs. I discard these things, but some people cook with them. Ensure the turkey is completely thawed, inside and out. Season the outside of the bird and inside the cavity with salt and pepper or a barbecue rub. Stuff the bird generously with the fruit and savory ingredients. Prior to seasoning, some people like to rub their bird with oil or butter. In an effort to keep fat and calories down, I opt not to do this and my turkey still turns out moist and delicious. This is also the time you would inject your turkey, if you decide to do so. Place turkey in a turkey baking rack, so it can be moved more easily.

Barbecue Instructions

• You’ll want to use the indirect method to cook your turkey by creating two beds of charcoal on either side of your grill. Add soaked wood chips to charcoal if you choose. In between the charcoal beds place an aluminum drip pan to catch your turkey’s drippings. Replace your grill’s grate.
• Place turkey in rack on grill grate and close barbecue.
• Every hour add 5-8 briquettes to each charcoal bed. Add carefully, so you don’t get ash on your turkey. Also, add additional soaked wood chips, if you’re smoking your bird. Your remaining charcoal should be hot enough to light these newly added briquettes. You can also baste your turkey with the drippings at this time. If the dripping are too hard to get to, which is the case with some grills, just baste with chicken broth that you keep warm on the stove.
• Cooking time should be about 11-13 minutes per pound. For example a 20 pound bird should take about 3 1/2 hours.
• A meat thermometer should register 180 degrees in the thigh or 170 degrees in the breast.
• Let the bird rest 10-15 minutes before carving. Remember that smoking the bird will sometimes make the meat a pink color, this doesn’t mean it’s not cooked through.
• Discard the fruit stuffing. It’s job is done!
• Carve and enjoy!

Tahoe Barbecue Chicken Portobello Sandwiches and Bacon Cashew Green Beans – Eating In While On Vacation

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Bacon, barbecue, Barbecuing, Cashew, Chicken, Cooking, Food, Green Bean, grill, Grilling, Portobello, Sandwich

  

My husband and I are back from our vacation in Tahoe. It was wonderful! I ate WAY too much, and wasn’t as active as I would have liked. I recently had surgery and am still somewhat in recovery mode, so I have to watch my activity levels. This meant we had plenty of time to find and dine at wonderful restaurants, because I’m not ready to handle the kayaking and horseback riding that we longed to do. Oh well! Someone had to eat all that great food and blog to you good people about it! As we all know though, eating out too much gets really expensive, especially when you’re in a very touristy area. One of my vacation tricks, is we usually try to get a room or rent a house with a kitchen instead of regular hotel room. This allows us to eat in some and not have to eat all of our meals out. This is especially helpful when you add a few kids to the vacation mix! I have always felt that the little more we paid for the room/house with a kitchen was made up for by spending less money on eating out.

This trip was just my husband and I, but we still ate some meals in and I wanted to share one of those with you. We were fortunate enough to have a kitchen and an outdoor barbecue available to us in Tahoe, so we made good use of it! We have this one sandwich that my husband came up with on a previous Tahoe trip and it has become one of our “go-to” meals when we’re up there! You know how certain foods or drinks remind you of a certain place and they just seem to taste better when you have them there?

So I would like to share with you a couple of recipes that we made while in Tahoe! My husband’s Tahoe Barbecue Chicken Portobello Sandwiches and my Bacon Cashew Greenbeans.

Tahoe Barbecue Chicken Portobello Sandwiches

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, butterflied if too thick

Italian Salad Dressing (Use fat free if trying to reduce the fat)

Sandwich Roll (We found some really soft whole wheat rolls that were wonderful!)

Portobello Mushrooms, sliced

Balsamic Vinegar

Sliced Pepper Jack Cheese

Bottled Ceasar Dressing (We used a lite version)

Tomato, sliced

Red Onion, sliced

These are sandwiches now, so I didn’t give you exact amounts. I’ll let you figure it out based on how many people you’re feeding and how much stuff you like on your sandwiches. We marinated the chicken in the Italian dressing for a few hours. We also marinated the Portobello mushroom slices in balsamic vinegar (Or you could use more Italian dressing, but I wanted to incorporate another flavor). My husband grilled the chicken until cooked through and then briefly grilled the Portobellos and put the sandwich rolls on the top rack to give them a little texture. While you’re cooking the mushrooms and rolls, you can melt the pepper jack cheese over the chicken breasts (You can always use a different type of cheese too.) Once everything is cooked, bring it all back in the house because you’re ready to assemble! Instead of mayo, we decided to use the Ceasar dressing as a spread. It just adds an extra yummy, tangy-ness to the sandwich. Then top your sandwich with whatever fresh veggies sound good. We used tomato and onion. Viola! You have our family’s bite of Lake Tahoe!

  

Bacon Cashew Greenbeans

1 pound green beans, with ends snapped off and broken into bite size pieces

½ pound bacon, cut into bite size pieces (You can use regular or turkey bacon)

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

½ cup roasted cashews (salted or unsalted can be used)

Put beans in a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook at a low boil for about 10 minutes. I like beans to still have a little crunch, but you can always cook them longer, if you wish. They will cook a little more once they get in the bacon. While the beans are boiling, cook the bacon in a frying pan on medium-high heat. When bacon is done cooking, remove from pan and keep warm. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Drain off some of the bacon grease from the pan, but not all of it. You want a little left in there to coat the beans with. Add the garlic to the remaining bacon grease in the frying pan and cook until fragrant, but not crispy. Once the beans are done boiling, drain and then add them to the frying pan. Add the cashews and stir. Add the bacon back in and continue to stir. Season with salt and pepper. If you used salted cashews, you won’t need as much salt. Cook all ingredients for about 5 minutes.

  

What’s Cooking for Father’s Day?

Tags

barbecue, bobby flay, brine, Cooking, family, father's day, Food, grill, oyster, porkloin, shrip, southwestern layered salad

So I’m going to give myself a blogging break today and make this one pretty brief. I’m going to put it out there to all of you to see what are you cooking up for Father’s Day?

Personally, I have recently watched a couple of episodes of Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction, on the Food Network, and so he has inspired our menu for tomorrow’s lunch. We will be having Sicilian grilled pork loin. You can see my pork loin soaking in the brine in the picture above. We will also be having Bobby Flay inspired pinto beans and my Southwestern layered salad that I covered in a previous blog. I also have Hawaiian sweet bread cooking in the breadmaker. Of course, we have lots of family coming and they will all be bringing various dishes too. Oh! I almost forgot! We’re also going to throw some tequila lime shrimp and oysters on the barbecue. That should be yummy!

So to all the dads, grand dads, and all-around father figures, I hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day tomorrow! And please share with us here all the great foods you enjoyed on your special day!