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

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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!!!

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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 Turkey, Grilling, Holidays, how to, Thanksgiving

Inside Kel's Kitchen

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…

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Grilled Watermelon – You Threw What on the Grill???

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barbecue, fruit, Grilled watermelon, Grilling, melon, vegan, vegetarian

OK, I’m new to the grilling fruit concept!!! I realize this might not be ground-breaking news to some of you, but I thought I would share this for those of you that are like me and are late to the party. I was recently introduced to the idea of grilling watermelon on one of the many TV cooking shows I watch. We were barbecuing and had some watermelon on hand, so I thought we should try it. It was very good!!! The sugar in the watermelon carmelized a bit changing the texture and the barbeue adds a smokey flavor. It was delicious!!!

There is definitely still a place in my heart for ice cold watermelon!!!  But those watermelons are pretty big, so throw some of the slices on the grill and give it a try!!!

You really only have to grill them a couple of minutes on each side, depending on how hot your grill is. I just cooked them until I had some decent grill marks.

Enjoy! For all my U.S. Readers, I hope you have a safe and wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Stuffed Surprise Burgers – The Tastiest Burger I’ve Had in Ages!!!

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barbecue, bbq, Burger, Cheese, Grilling, Hamburger, recipe, stuffed

  

My 17 year old daughter wanted to make dinner last night. All she would say was she was making burgers. She was being very secretive about what exactly she was doing with them. Low and behold it was a stuffed burger with surprise ingredients in the middle. These were stuffed with tomato, onion,cheese and relish. They were delicious!!! I’ve been trying to keep my posts really healthy, but this recipe was too good not to share!

My daughter, with some help from her dad, cooked these plump beauties on our charcoal grill. You can’t beat the taste of a charcoal grilled burger! The only better thing is a stuffed, charcoal grilled burger!

  
Stuffed Surprise Burger

This recipe comes from “365 Ways to Cook Hamberger and Other Ground Meats” by Rick Rodgers.

2 eggs

2 lbs. ground beef (85% lean)

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp prepared mustard

1 large tomato, cut into 6 slices

1 small red onion, cut into thin slices

6 thin slices of cheese, we used pepper jack, but take your pick!

2 tbsp pickle relish

Prepare a hot fire in a grill. In a large bowl, beat eggs with a fork. Working as quickly as gently as possible, add ground beef, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper and mix well. Form into 8 patties about 1/2 inch thick.. Spread mustard over 4 patties, then layer on tomato, onion and cheese slices, trimmed to fit,if necessary. Spread relish over cheese. Place remaining patties on filled patties and pinch edges together to enclose filling and create 4 stuffed burgers.

Place patties on an oiled grill set 4-6 inches from the coals. Grill, turning once, until well browned outside but still pink and juicy inside. Cook about 14 minutes for medium or shorter or longer if desired. They should be cooked long enough to melt the cheese inside. The stuffing will keep burgers flavorful and juicy!

Meanwhile, open up buns and toast on sides of grill til warm and lightly browned. Place cooked burgers in buns and let everyone choose their own fixings. Personally, I just dipped mine in Ketchup and it was perfect!!!

We served our burgers with a side of oven-baked, seasoned curly fries. It was a great Friday night family dinner!!!

Enjoy!!!

Tay’s Sesame BBQ Sauce

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barbecue, bbq, Chicken, chinese, Grilling, sauce, sesame, tays

  
Someone else posted this recipe for homemade barbecue sauce. It looks easy to make and flavors sound fabulous! A must try!

1/4c Kraft Toasted Sesame Seed Dressing 2T Teriyaki Sauce 1/3c Sweet Baby Ray’s HONEY BBQ Sauce (USE HONEY!) 1T Soy Sauce 1tsp Green Onions (Optional, I skipped) 1/2T Brown Sugar – Sea Salt Pepper 1/2T Olive Oil 1/2T Flour Premix Sauce. Set aside. LIGHTLY Sea Salt and Pepper Legs. Add in Oil, toss. Sprinkle in half the Flour, toss. […]

https://dinkingaround.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/tays-sesame-bbq-sauce/

Thanksgiving Tip #10 – Brining Your Turkey for a Moist Bird!

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barbecue, brine, brining, Cooking, Food, Grilling, recipe, recipes, Thanksgiving, Turkey

In a previous post, I discussed how we really like to barbecue our turkey. Regardless of how you choose to cook your turkey, there are a variety of techniques you can use to keep your bird moist and impart some fabulous flavors to the meat. One of the techniques that we’ve tried a couple of times successfully, is brining.

There is actually some science behind the brining process. It’s more than just some tasty meat! The high salt content of the brining liquid actually dissolves muscle filaments in the meat making it more tender and the salt also allows the protein to retain more fluid. Works just like me! Salt = Water weight gain!

In addition to salt, most brine recipes include a variety of other spice that lend wonderful flavors to your turkey. One of the best recipes we’ve tried comes from one of my favorite Food Network stars, Bobby Flay. That guy can grill and my husband I have the same palette for spicy foods that Mr. Flay has. I would like to share his recipe for Cajon Brined Turkey with you!

Cajon Brined Turkey – Two Ways

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Spanish paprika
• 1/4 cup New Mexican chile powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chile de arbol
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
• 1 1/2 cups kosher salt
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 4 whole cloves garlic
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 1 large Spanish onion, quartered
• One 12-pound fresh turkey
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• Special equipment: 3 cups hickory or apple chips if desired, soaked in cold water for 1 hour

Directions

Two days before cooking: Combine the Spanish paprika, New Mexican chile powder, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, thyme, chile de arbol and cayenne in a small bowl. Remove 1/4 cup and save for use with another meal.

Dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 gallons cold water in a large (at least 16-quart) stockpot or a clean bucket. Whisk in half of the remaining spice rub, the garlic, bay leaves and onion (Tip: Be sure to mix REALLY well or seasonings will just settle to the bottom of your brining container). Add the turkey, cover and refrigerate or set in a very cold place (that stays somewhere between 32 to 40 degrees F) for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours (Tip: Brining bags (can be purchased at Bed, Bath and Beyond) can be great, but set them in a larger container in case it bursts open. A Cooler is a great choice for storing your turkey during brining as this can really hog up space in your refrigerator). Rinse well under cold water and pat dry to remove the salt. Let air-dry in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

In The Big Green Egg: Light a large chimney filled with charcoal briquettes (about 5 quarts) and allow to burn until all the charcoal is covered with a layer of fine gray ash. Empty the coals into the grill. Top with some of the soaked wood chips if using. Put in the ceramic plate, then the grill rack. Put the cover on and let the grate heat up.

Brush the turkey with oil and rub the entire turkey (including the cavity) with the remaining spice rub. Tie the legs together. Adjust the grill vents to get and maintain an internal temperature of 350 degrees F. Roast the turkey for 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted in the thigh reads 165 degrees F. Remove from the grill, tent with foil and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.

In the Caja China: Prepare the charcoal briquettes according to the instructions that come with the box. Put the roasting pan with its rack (comes with the box) inside, and put the turkey breast-side down on the rack. Put on the top and fill with charcoal. After 30 minutes, flip the turkey breast-side up and continue cooking for about 1 more hour, until a meat thermometer inserted in the thigh reads 165 degrees F. Add charcoal as necessary according to the box instructions. Remove from the box, tent with foil and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.

Tip: We don’t have a Big Green Egg or Caja China, yet!!! Check out my blog entry Thanksgiving Tips Part 4 from Saturday, November 7, 2015 for instructions on how to barbecue your turkey on most grills.

Beer Butt Chicken – Yes, you heard me right!

Tags

barbecue, beer, Beer Butt Chicken, Chicken, Cooking, Food, Grilling, recipe, Smoking

   One of my favorite smells in the world is when a barbecue is fired up and it gets even better when you add some wood for smoking to the mix. I got to enjoy this smell last night, when we made Beer Butt Chicken. Now I know the name sounds funny, at least that’s what I thought when I first heard it, but in my humble opinion I think this is one of the best ways to cook a chicken! Because of the placement, the beer evaporates up into the chicken. This makes the meat incredibly moist and tender.

How do you make this delicious chicken? Well, it’s really simple! You start with a whole chicken. You will need to make sure the inside of your barbecue is tall enough to be able to accommodate a chicken standing on end. The chicken has to be able to stand on end for this to work. Resting on its side just won’t do for this! This bird needs to stand at attention!

Cooking this chicken can be as easy as setting your chicken, bottom side down, over an open can of beer. We’ve done it this way, but it can be challenging to get your chicken to balance and remain upright. This is why we bought one of the available racks for just this cooking technique (see photo). These racks are not very expensive, but they do help with balancing the bird and keeping it in place. These racks can be purchased at Amazon.com.  

 Before putting my chicken on the rack, I decided to cover it inside and out with some of my dry barbecue rub (see previous blog post for recipe). You also want to pull out any of the organs that are inside the bird. You don’t have to season the bird like I did, but this jazzed up the flavor quite a bit. You could even just salt and pepper it.

Now for the beer! Cooking with beer is like cooking with wine, if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it! You’re imparting the flavor of the liquid to your food, so if you want your food to taste good you want whatever liquid you’re using to taste good too!

So get that bird over the beer and let’s get grilling! You’ll want to cook the bird using indirect heat, so you’re going to scatter your coals to either side of the bird. We also chose to incorporate some smoke, so we soaked apple wood chips in water prior to barbecuing and sprinkled those on top of the coals. Our grill also has a side smoke box, so my husband also added some coals and large chunks of apple wood in there. If you’re adding smoke to the mix, don’t overdo it with the coals and get your grill too hot. You want this to be a bit of a slower process. The smoke will help in the cooking process. Your cooking time will depend on the size of your bird. If the process is taking more than an hour, you will likely need to add a few additional coals to each side of your grill to keep the heat up. We cooked about a 5 pound bird and it took about 1 hour 45 minutes. Our grill has a thermometer and the temp stayed close to 300 degrees. You want a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast to register at least 165 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can see if the wings or legs pull easily away from the bird. This is a clue that it is cooked. I highly recommend a meat thermometer though! You certainly don’t want to serve undercooked chicken and chance salmonella poisoning! You can find meat thermometers to purchase at Amazon.com. I love my digital thermometer where I can set the desired temperature and an alarm goes off when the meat has reached that temp.
  
Chicken, like beef, needs to rest a bit after cooking. Once you pull your bird off the grill, let it sit for 5-10 minutes before carving. This allows the juices to distribute throughout the meat and they won’t all run out when you cut the meat. Be careful pulling the bird off the rack or can. Any liquid remaining in there will be very hot!

I hope you enjoy Beer Butt Chicken as much as we do! It’s always a hit with our friends and family!

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.