#griled

Summertime means BBQ and cocktail parties! You gotta love them! Nevertheless there’s always the tricky moment when they come together! You stuff yourself with apetizers and get the risk to end up filled before the main dish arrives... these grilled marinated mushrooms are your solution! Light and delicious! And most of all: easy to make! Check out how to make them now!

Barbecued Grilled Shrimp

Once again, let's get the heat of the kitchen and out to the backyard or patio area and grill up some delicious, barbecued shrimp! A perfect Summer's day recipe that will keep your kitchen cool and serve up grilled plump, succulent shrimp on the "barbie". Have you noticed all the sales on shrimp in your local grocery ads? I have, so let's take advantage of them. Remember, a pound of shrimp is a pound of shrimp no matter what size. Select the size most appropriate or what you prefer for your particular recipe. In this case 16-20 count shrimp works well, but larger shrimp will give you that "wow" factor....

For this recipe, please go to:

https://creativeelegancecatering.blogspot.com/.../barbecu...

For hundreds more delicious recipes and mouthwatering food images, please go to:

This Week's Lunch: Smoked BBQ Salmon with Spicy Quinoa Salad Recipe Adapted From: NY Times & Food Network

Balance is hard for me. Not physically--I danced for ten years, and can still balance on one foot when I'm a few sheets to the wind. But I have a hard time balancing things like families, specifically mine and  C's. We went to the same high school, and our parents still live in the same town. Really, this makes things a lot easier; we've been able to do Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter with both of our families by spending one day with hers and one day with mine. But it almost always results in an argument--one of small proportions, but an argument nonetheless. This weekend we managed to have two dinners with her family, and a lunch and Easter egg hunt with mine: balance achieved. Speaking of balance...this week we're mixing it up a bit. Last week we indulged in Asian food all week, but this week we've got salmon and quinoa salad for lunch, and zucchini taco roll-ups with chipotle roasted corn and bean salad for dinner! We've got protein (a lot of it); as usual, lots of veggies; and my favorite part: crazy savings! The salmon we used this week has been in our freezer for about 3 weeks, next to our applewood sausages, cod, flounder, organic ground beef, and round steak. Why, you ask, do we keep such an assortment of frozen fish and meats? And now, we reveal the key to our affordable meals: THE KROGER WOOHOO SPECIAL. It's the best thing C ever introduced me to. The total cost of the food in our freezer, including the salmon, comes out to $70.33. We paid $46.74 for it. 

I mean really, how can you pass this up? Go to Kroger now. Buy your most expensive items on Woohoo! special, freeze them, and plan your meals around them. You seriously can't beat the savings unless you steal, which we do not encourage on this blog.

And now for our recipes.

For the salmon: we bought ours pre-seasoned, as you can see in the picture above, but this recipe is pretty similar. 

2 T packed light brown sugar 1 T chili powder 1 tsp cumin 1/8 tsp salt 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper 6 x 6-oz. salmon filets, skin & bones removed 1 T olive oil

This week, we used C's parents' Big Green Egg to smoke our salmon, and if you're shopping for a combination kamado grill/ceramic grill/charcoal smoker, this is the way to go. C's mom cooked her Easter leg of lamb on it, and it was the best lamb I've ever had.

If you have a Big Green Egg, grill your salmon on a grilling pan (we left the skin on) at 350 for about 30 minutes. Check it after 20 minutes, and every 3-4 minutes thereafter.

What To Do:

1. Coat your grill with cooking spray and preheat over medium heat. 2. While grill is heating, combine the brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Brush each salmon filet with 1/2 T of the spice mixture. 3. Grill the salmon, flesh side down, until charred--about 4 to 5 minutes.  4. Flip and cook another 5 to 6 minutes for medium doneness. For well-done fish, cook an additional 1 to 2 minutes.

Spicy Quinoa Salad 1 c quinoa 3 c water Salt 2 c diced cucumber 1 small red onion, chopped 2 c diced tomatoes, roma or cherry/grape 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced* 1/2 c chopped cilantro 2 T red wine vinegar 3 T lime juice 1 T olive oil *Please, if you do anything right in this recipe, wear gloves when you mince your jalapenos. My hands were burning so badly about an hour after chopping them that I resorted to putting sour cream, and then lidocaine gel on my hands--neither helped, and my thumb is still burning over 12 hours later. And DON'T TOUCH YOUR EYES.