Weekly Tip: Double Duty Grilling

When you are grilling- whether its burgers, steaks or chicken- consider what else you might be able to cook while you have the grill lit. More than likely, you will only be using about 1/2 of the space on your grill to cook for one meal. Why not use that extra space to save yourself time later in the week?

For example, if you are grilling steaks on a Saturday night, throw some chicken for chicken salad, chicken wraps or fajitas on the other side of the grill and for about the same amount of gas or charcoal, you'll have the meat for two meals!

Other great things to cook on the side include: thick-sliced potatoes, tomato halves, veggie kabobs, meat or veggies in a foil packet.

Works for Me Wednesday

Homemade Pancakes

Homemade pancakes are one of this family's favorite comfort foods. Steven particularly loves pancakes. Of course, I always say he'll eat anything that's covered in syrup. Like Buddy the Elf, he thinks syrup is one of the basic food groups.

Pancakes are easy to make. I always make twice as much and freeze the rest. The kids can just warm them up in the toaster or in the microwave!

HOMEMADE PANCAKES

1 Cup Flour

3 Tablespoons Melted Butter (cooled)

1 Egg

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

3/4 Cup Milk

1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar

Mix all ingredients together (use my mixing tip for easier clean up). Pour 1/4 cup batter on a hot, lightly-oiled griddle or skillet. Cook until bubbles rise out of batter and edges start to look dry. You can also check underside for doneness by lifting slightly with a spatula. Turn and cook until browned on both sides. Serve hot with butter and syrup.

Weekly Tip: Pancake Batter Tip

Sorry for the blurry picture, but the details of it aren't important. This week's tip is about cutting out some steps-- and dishes-- when you make pancakes. A little trick I use is to make your pancake batter in your blender. This allows you to mix the batter up and pour it out of the same container. You won't have to use a separate ladle or measuring cup to dip the batter out!

Canning- Before and After

Before...

After...
22 Quart jars and 1 pint of tomato sauce. We also had about 1.5 cups left over that we just refrigerated. This was the first batch from my In-laws' garden.

Weekly Tip: Marinating

Many people will marinate meats and vegetables in dressing before cooking on the grill. Marinating adds a ton of flavor with minimum effort and since it is an established flavor, you don't have to mess with measuring anything.

If you are going to use a salad dressing to marinate your food, choose a light or fat free version. The oil in most dressings provides no flavor and can burn on the grill, but the fat free and light versions often omit the oil.

Sweet Corn

Its the time of year that sweet corn is ready to devour- in this part of the world, anyway. I love corn. There are people in our family who will make a meal out of just fresh corn. We also freeze it (off the cob) to enjoy all year long. There is nothing like home grown sweet corn with your Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham!

To cook your sweet corn for eating right away:

Remove the husks and silk from the corn. Bring 5 to 6 quarts of water to a boil; add 1 cup of sugar to the water. Gently place corn in water and let boil for 8-10 minutes. Remove and serve with butter and salt.

Alternately, you can roast your corn on the grill. Stephanie gives great directions on this at Stop the Ride.

To cook corn for freezing:

You only want to par-boil corn for freezing because you will be cooking it fully later on. Clean your corn and prepare water as listed above. If you are freezing large amounts, you'll want to boil much more water and sugar. Fill one side of your sink or another large container with ice water. Gently place corn in boiling water and boil for 3 minutes. Remove and immediately place into ice water for 3-5 minutes; drain. From here you have two options:

~Place whole cobs of corn in freezer bags (you can even place a pat of butter on each cob) and freeze.

~Remove corn from the cob and place in freezer-safe bags. Freeze flat.

TIPS:

~To make cutting corn off the cob easier, place a cereal bowl upside down inside a larger bowl. Place corn cob standing up on its stem end on top of cereal bowl. Using large knife, cut from the top down. When all corn is removed, you can take the back of the knife and "milk" the cob. This adds a lot of juiciness and flavor to your corn. There are also many gadgets available to help with this.

Weekly Tip: Trash Box Tip

Like many Moms, when I am making a cake, mac & cheese or anything else from a box, I use the box as my tiny trash can for any wrappers or egg shells I use to finish making the food. The problem I run into is that these boxes are so skinny that it makes a mess trying to shove something like egg shells into a box half the width of the shell.

To fix the problem, simply pinch the narrow ends together (begin at the top and pinch half-way down) and the box will be open wide for whatever your little heart desires to throw in there!

Link-a-dink-a-doo 8/5/08

Here are your Tuesday Links! Have a good one!



Visit a list of product expiration dates, including household goods and beauty products, from Real Simple. You'll be shocked at how long some thigns last and even more so at how quickly others expire.



In a cooking slump? Check out CookingByNumbers.com for meal suggestions determined by what you have on hand. Many other cool things and how-to's on this site as well!

Savory Pork Roast

I made this recipe up after tasting a delicious pre-packaged, no doubt sodium-laden, pork roast at a wedding shower. It took a few tries to get it right, but tasting the results was fun!

I am still amazed at how simple and delicious this comes out!


Savory Pork Roast
3-4 Lb. Boneless Pork Roast
Honey
Onion Powder
Salt
Pepper


Drizzle honey over the pork roast to make a nice, even coat. Sprinkle on salt, pepper and onion powder to your liking ( I like a lot of onion powder and pepper on mine). Pierce the roast all over with a small knife to allow the honey and seasonings to seep in. Let roast sit at room temperature for one hour, turning every 15 minutes or so to roll the roast in the honey that drips down.





Preheat oven to 325 degrees.





Brown all sides of the roast in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Place roast in a shallow roasting pan on a rack. Place in oven and roast for about 28 minutes per pound. Check doneness with meat thermometer beginning about 3/4 of the way through the roasting process. Internal temp should be 160 degrees when done roasting. Let roast rest on platter tented loosely with foil for about 20 minutes to allow juices to redistribute. Thermometer should read about 165 degrees after resting.

Slice and serve warm.

TIPS:
~Wonderful served with green beans and Au Gratin potatoes or peas with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival Winners

And the winners are:

From my personal blog, Its All for the Best...
Cocoa Puffs Combos Cereal
Each of the following winners will receive a certificate for a FREE box of NEW Cocoa Puffs Combos Cereal:
1. jnmacdonald
2. Teri
3. donna444444
4. christene

As a consolation prize, you may click on the link below and print a $.55 coupon for Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!!
http://bricks.coupons.com/bstart.asp?o=53431&ci=1&c=GM&p=8asJ7XWi

From my food blog, The Fat Bottomed Girl:

~Stephanie (dsmoore1 at centurytel dot net) won the Gifts from a Jar: Cookies & Muffins!
~momo3 won the Gifts from a Jar: Soups, Chilis & More!

And also from Its All for the Best, the winner of the $25 Visa Gift Card is.........
~Amy!!!

Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you to everyone who took the time to visit, enter, stay and read and/or subscribe to my feed! Hope you'll come back everyday to visit!