7UP Grilled Chicken

I saw this recipe on food.com and thought it was interesting.  7UP in a chicken marinade...hmmmm...I was curious.  The original recipe is here.

I modified it since soy sauce always seems to make it too salty for my taste.

The results were a grilled chicken that was moist and yummy.  It didn't dry out on the grill like a lot of chicken breasts do when cooked.

 

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces of boneless skinless chicken
• 1 can of 7UP or other lemon-lime beverage
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce (original called for 1/2 cup but I didn't want all the saltiness)
• 1/2 cup of canola oil

Directions:

Preheat grill.

Throw all the ingredients and chicken into a bag and marinate for 30-60 minutes (or longer).

  

Throw the chicken on the grill and grill until cooked without any pink inside.

 

 

French Onion Burgers

This is something I've been making for a long time and its so yummy to turn an ordinary burger into something special.  Remember if you don't like onions...probably not a good idea to try this one :-)

Ingredients:

• 1lb of 95% lean ground beef (I only use lean since I'm grossed out by meat fat)
• 1 packet of french onion soup mix
• American Cheese

Directions:

Preheat grill.

Mix together meat and soup mix. 

Shape into hamburgers.

Grill until done to your liking.  I put cheese on it.  You know whats funny is that my husband hates these burgers since he doesn't like onion so I have to make the cheese into a different pattern on the top so he knows these are the "poison" burgers.  That's why the cheese is criss crossed on the pictures.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Kabobs

Found this recipe here at Six Sisters Stuff blog.

First let me just say that I'm not a big kabob fan.  Why you might ask...because its a pain in the ass to keep the meat on the stick and to turn it on the grill without frying the hairs off my hand.

But this recipe looked so good I couldn't turn down an attempt at it.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• 1 package of bacon (cut into 3rds)

Directions:

In a large bowl...mix together the soy cause, vinegar, honey and oil.  Put the chunks of chicken in and stir to coat them.

Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for an hour or more.

Preheat the grill.

Wrap each chunk of chicken in bacon and slid on the skewer.  Brush with the leftover mixture from the bowl.

Put the kabobs on the grill and cook about 15-20 minutes until they are cooked and the juice is clear.  Make sure you turn them over occasionally.

Oh and it goes without saying but make sure you take them off the skewers before eating.  :-)

Slow Cooker/Grilled Baby Back Ribs Recipe and Experiment

In the off season from tailgating I like to experiment with new recipes.  A trial run so to speak for the big day.  On Sunday I decided to do baby back ribs in the slow cooker.  I'd seen a version of this on Taste of Home website but I decided to go with my own version.

Ingredients:

• Rack of Pork Loin Back Ribs
• Famous Dave's Rib Rub
• Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce

Directions:

First start out with the meat.  Safeway had a "big meat sale" last week so I bought a couple of racks of extra meaty pork back ribs to try it out with.

I took the ribs and cut them into chunks with two bones in between.  Then I took them and coated them with Famous Dave's Rib Rub.  (I'm sure you can make your own but I didn't have the time or the patience on Sunday to do it).

I took each section of rib that I'd cut and sprinkled some Rib Rub on the front and back and put in a ziplock bag for a couple hours.

Then I took my 6 quart crock pot and put the ribs in against the sides and along the bottom with the meaty side against the wall.  I took the BBQ sauce and drizzled over the tops. 

I let the ribs cook for 6 hours on low.  I then took them out to the grill which I preheated and grilled them for a minute or two on the meaty side.  Just enough to give them that smoky BBQ taste and the crispy outside.  I put them in a tray and used some of the BBQ sauce that I had left to brush a light coat on them. 

They turned out great!  Everyone at the birthday party loved them and the meat was so tender it fell off the bone!

For the tailgate I will cook in the slow cooker overnight and finish them off on the grill at the actual event.

Baltimore Style Pit Beef

Sometimes life gets in the way of the best laid plans.  Ry guy has been sick with an earache so I haven't gotten a chance to look for the tailgate pictures from January.  But i did take the opportunity when I was preparing the Pit Beef for the Easter Egg Hunt to take some pictures of the prep work.

But as I found out as the guest started arriving I didn't remember to take any actual pictures of the finished product :-(  Maybe next time.

So this is what I used (minus the red wine vinegar that I'll talk about later)...two 2.5lb bottom roasts, Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic, Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt, salt, and pepper.

Here's a close up of the meat package.  I've also used top round and eye round before and its turned out great.

Put down some plastic wrap, coat each roast with the salt, pepper, garlic garlic, and seasoned salt.

Wrap up each roast individually in plastic wrap then in aluminum foil.  Put in the refriderator overnight.

This will help the spices marinate.

Preheat the grill to 350 degrees.  Place the roasts on one side on indirect heat.

I have a 5 burner grill and turn off the right 3 and keep the left two on HIGH.  This keeps the grill at around 350 degrees.

This is where I stopped taking pictures :-(

So turn the roasts every 30 mins.  They should cook in approximately 2 to 2.5 hours.  At the 1.5/2 hour mark I cut the roast in half and check it.  I cook until its medium done.  If you like it more well done leave it on longer.  Just make sure there's still a little pink in it.

After I take it off the grill I brush the outsides of the roast with a little Red Wine Vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes.

I have a cheap meat slicer but a really sharp knife works also.  Cut the beef into thin slices.

To finish it off grab a Kaiser roll and put a nice handful of the pit beef on the bun.  Maryland/Baltimore style pit beef usually gets topped off with either barbeque sauce or horseradish.  Optional are raw thinly sliced onions for a topper.

Enjoy! 

--Purple Tailgating Mama