Fire it Up...It's Grill Season

There are so many reasons I love when the warm weather finally makes it's way back to us.  I always turn into a bit of a hermit in the winter, I'm just not a big fan of the cold and see no reason to venture out if I don't have too. Since Mother Nature finally decided to take her meds and we've seen some nice sunny days I've been all over taking the cover off the grill and firing her up.  There's nothing like nice char marks on a medium rare steak or juicy piece of chicken to make me happy and if you think there's something wrong with that, well, that's your problem:)  

Growing up we ate a lot, and I mean a lot, of meals where the main course came from the grill.  My dad was a grilling machine, like, 20 below, middle of a blizzard, outside in a parka grilling machine.  His love of the grill was definitely passed down, however the finesse & ability to cook it just right has taken a few years to hone.  

I can honestly say that I think I'm well on my way to reaching my dad's level of talent with a pair of tongs and a basting brush while I'm cooking with gas. I'm not saying I'm a level 10 Grill Master or anything but I can hold my own nowadays and if you'd have had the pleasure of seeing, but the pain of eating my early attempts you would agree that I've come a long way baby:)

So, the million dollar question right now is what's on the grill for this edition of Wanted....More Friends to Feed???  How about some Chili Lime Chicken. It's no secret that I've been hooked on my Chili Lime marinade...I don't know why, maybe it's because it adds such a zippy flavor.  I've tried it with tilapia, steak and now grilled chicken and have been happy with the results every time and my chicken on the grill wasn't any different:)

Chili Lime Chicken

1/4 c. Lime Juice
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Tsp Chipotle Chili Powder
1/2 Tsp Paprika
1/2 Tsp Dried Cilantro
1/2 Tsp Coriander Seed
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Tsp Honey
1/4 Tsp Celery Salt
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
I've been using the method for grilling chicken that I found in July 2012 issue of Cook's Illustrated Magazine...I love it!! For someone like me the step by step directions are awesome as well as the explanations etc.  

I start by mixing all the ingredients together, except the chicken, and then tossing it all in a large ziplock bag with the chicken for at least 4 hrs, preferably 8 hrs to overnight. 

Once I'm ready to start cooking I light my grill and let it heat up on high until it's really hot...at least 15 minutes.  After it's good and hot, I give it a brushing to clean it up a bit and oil it using a paper towel in a set of tongs dipped in oil.  When I'm done, I turn off the 2 back burners and just leave the front one on high.

The chicken goes on the cooler side of the grill with the big side facing the heat and the smooth side facing down...I cook it like that with the grill closed for about 8 mins.  After the 8 minutes I flip it and rotate it and give it another 8 minutes or so...I want the temperature to be 140F.  

At the 140F I put it on the hot side of the grill for a couple minutes each side to, this helps get those nice dark char marks.  It's done when it hits 160F and from the grill it goes to the plate and I tent it with some foil for about 5 minutes. 

Cooking on the grill this way has given me the juiciest most tender chicken everytime!!

Back Online & Loving It:)

Well, well, well...looks who back in town...well online anyway:)  That's right, it's meeeeee!!!  My trusty, or not so trusty, depending on how you look at it, computer is finally back in working order...her hard drive has gone to Techno Heaven and Aaron's friend Dave got me back up and running...at this point he is one of my true hero's in life...lol...how dependent I've become on my electronic devices.  

Obviously we haven't starved to death and I've still been putting time in the kitchen.  There isn't too much in the way of "new" in my 2nd home but I'm gearing up for some new recipes and some old favorites (especially on the grill) since it's officially...SUMMERTIME!!  Summertime also means some gardening and I'm starting to really jump on that bandwagon...one of the biggest reasons is that I love using fresh herbs when I cook so every year it seems that my herb garden is getting bigger and bigger.

My Herb Garden:)

Well...tonight was a Girl's Night, we did have a couple of "Dad" crashers though...lol, I think they just wanted to be fed.  There's nothing like getting together with your friends and family for a BBQ and since it usually includes a bottle or two of wine I'm always game for guests.  We had quite the feast tonight and I tried out 2 newbies...well 1 newbie and a variation so that makes it a semi newbie. 

Our Newest Members of the Girls Club

I've wanted to try doing a Chickpea Salad for awhile now but Aaron isn't a fan of that kind of stuff so I had to wait to have my girls over to give it a whirl.  It went over well, my taste testers liked it but we did come up with some additions & to me chickpeas are kind of bland so I want to find a way to perk them up a bit...I'm thinking instead of canned I might use dried and try roasting them first with my some of my Epicure spices...maybe the Greek, that's still up in the air though:)  

My First Attempt at a Chickpea Salad with Fresh Herbs from my Garden:)

My variation was for my Grilled Stuffed Chicken Breasts...I did a marinade first and then instead of just plain goat cheese, which Aaron doesn't like, I did a split of goat cheese with ricotta and used some different herbs from my garden...that was a crowd pleaser for sure, for my non goat cheese loving girls it wasn't too much and for my goat cheese lovers it still had that nice and creamy goat cheese flavour.  Unfortunately...we shoveled them in our mouths before I could take a pic...oh well...that's a good thing right:)

I think one of the next things on my list is trying to do something with Cous Cous.  Every time I have Cous Cous I say I want to try making something with it so I think it's getting to be time to bite the bullet and make something.  Spring brought an awesome Cous Cous Salad so I'm gonna have to bug her for her recipe...lol.  

Spring's Cous Cous Salad

Anyways...I'm off to do my thing now so I guess I'll have to leave you with some great advice I heard from my Mom when she was over for her 24th Anniversary of her 29th birthday...as I was grilling up some dinner she told me "If you're looking...you aren't cooking"...how very true that is:)