Sliders on the Grill

Yesterday we bought some hamburger sliders on clearance at Target.

We bought three packs of eight, one of which were bacon cheese sliders. The regular beef sliders were $1.99 a pack. The fancy ones were $2.49.

My husband proposed grilling them. It rains every time we grill. And we never get a good fire going. It took us about an hour to grill the sliders, a rousing success.

I served with my homemade multigrain biscuits, lettuce and the first tomato of the season.

Pre-birthday post

Tomorrow is my little girl's ninth birthday! In the space between this post and the previous, we went to Washington, D.C., for a networking event so I didn't really plan much. On the fly last night, my stepmom and I started planning a surprise barbeque tomorrow night (since my stepmom and I both work until 4). If you see the wee one, don't you dare tell her!

We have nearly no food in the house and the bank has somehow totally confused our checkbook. My stepmom said she's been craving her mom's macaroni salad and she has 100 hot dogs left over from a special event she hosted at the office. My daughter wants a watermelon for her birthday. With those elements available, it seemed obvious to have a barbecue.

I had some Bush's vegetarian baked beans in the cupboard and then we went to Wegmans for the watermelon and a cake. I picked a strawberry chiffon cake because it just sounded like the perfect summer cake for my summer baby.

I also got some vegetables to cook on the grill tomorrow: artichokes, red pepper, green pepper, potato, carrots and pineapple. I have it chopped and "marinating" in olive oil, four color pepper, garlic pepper and a touch of pineapple juice.

I spent $91 at wegmans but I think I got some great stuff:
- Wegmans honey apple oat bread, $2.79
- sour cream $1.09
- Chobani Flipz, 6 at $1.29 each
- Alexa multigrain onion rings, $3.19
- Alexa crinkle cut salt and pepper sweet potato fries, $3.19
-Wegmans spinach and feta pierogies, $1.99
- Wegmans steam in bag artichokes and asparagus, $3.99
- sweet peas, 99 cents
- frozen juice concentrate, $1.99 and $2.09, three total all 100% juice
- wegmans chunky pizza sauce, 3 at $1.19
- cool ranch doritos, $2.50
- tomato sauce, 16 ounce can, 3 at 55 cents
- tomato sauce, tiny can, 3 at 3/99 cents
- canned artichoke hearts (plain) $2.99
- mandarin oranges in pear juice, 2 small cans at 89 cents each
- canned crab meat, $2.39
- club pack of 2 baguettes, $4
- strawberry chiffon cake, $13
- 5 lbs idaho potatoes, $1.99
- kale, $2.49
- green pepper, 94 cents
- one pound organic baby carrots, $1.29
- red pepper, $1.96
-eggroll wrappers, $2.99
- broccoli slaw, $2.50
- 12 ounces of raspberries, $3.99
- 2 lbs strawberries, $3.99
- watermelon, $4.99 

Successful grilling?

Anyone who has followed this blog knows that when we grill, serious misadventures follow, to the point where we doubt our successful grilling endeavors because they feel *too easy.*

When your NOT trying to keep a fire lit in a windstorm or seeking shelter in the middle of heavy rain, it seems overly easy to light the grill, put food on the grill and voilà dinner... Too damn easy.

Today I took a head of cauliflower, brushed it with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled it with sea salt and cut it into large chunks to layer in the grill basket.

I put those on the preheated grill for 15 minutes and they began to turn nicely brown. I flipped them and put some bratwursts beside them for about five minutes. I have them in another basket, so I flipped them and put them under the cauliflower.

In a few more minutes, we should have a meal.

Pork sandwich

Before daughter's dress rehearsal for dance I made this awesome sandwich:

- toasted English muffin
- leftover pork chop
- grilled peppers
- homemade apple jam

S'mores

So, the meal with the layered basket of chopped potatoes, then red and green peppers, then black olives, and finally pineapple turned out awesome on the side of the grill that actually lit on this windy, rainy afternoon.

Gayle came over to burn economics books and make s'mores. That worked out deliciously. We had regular AND chocolate mint marshmallows, graham crackers and get this-- chocolate Ghiradelli squares filled with caramel.

Finally marinaded the pork

Last week, I posted an idea for a meal. Finally started it today. Now, it's raining and I fully expect to not be able to grill it. But here's what I did in prep.

Ingredients:
- 5 thin pork chops
- black olives
- 1 red and 1 green pepper
- 1 can pineapple slices.

I layered the meat in the bottom of a large bowl, then I added the olives. Next I arranged thick long slices of pepper. I poured the juice from the pineapple over all of it and placed the pineapple on top.

I covered and put in fridge.

Will update when I finally cook it.

Meal idea

So, last week I bought thin pork chops on sale thinking they would be perfect for the grill. I have green pepper, red pepper and potatoes left from an earlier meal.

I thought I'd slice the peppers in big pieces, mix them into pineapple, add black olives and throw the meat in there to marinade.

But all week, life kept thwarting my plan. Today I finally put the pork in the freezer. I still hope to prepare this meal. In my head, I have it all figured out.

I'm going to chunk the leftover potatoes and line the vegetable basket with them. Then I'll top with the pineapple-pepper-olive mixture and grill the chops outside of the basket.

If you try this before I do, let me know how it turns out.

The final meal

Looks delicious!

It was! The vegetables, which had no butter, cooking in their own juices... We had them in the coals for 90 minutes. They were succulent.

The ras el hanout made the spiced pack very tangy and too hot for the child.

The Morningstar hot dogs were edible but far from amazing. Vegetarian hot dogs are a tricky busy.

BBQ of errors

We put a glass jar of green tea on the front step to brew.

We preheated our tiny charcoal grill for our first solo barbecue. We sprayed some aluminum foil and wrapped slices of red potato and organic carrot. One pocket had ras el hanout. The other is plain.

After twenty minutes, the downpour begins. Husband moves the grill under the cute dormer of the garage. I get the umbrella. Child plays in mud puddles.

Sun comes out.

We get the Morningstar veggie dogs. One fell in the grill. That was fun to dig out since we don't have tongs.

First meal on the grill

Asked our family friend Dan to teach us how to grill. Smoked sausage from my mother-in-law's favorite butcher, red peppers, corn-on-the-cob, and red potatoes. With a crisp honeydew for dessert! It was simple & incredible. Anxious to start on my own... Stay tuned!