Fabulous Dinner on the Grill: Tri-Tip, Potatoes, Corn and Peaches

Monday is Mr. Gooch's night off during the week. So it is the night we do our most involved dinner. This week it was all about the grill. Mr. Gooch was very happy as he loves cooking on the grill.

The menu included
Ceasar Salad
Marinated Tri-Tip Steak
Grilled New Potatoes with Parmesan and Herbs
Easy Grilled Corn on the Cob
Grilled Peaches



We purchased the tri-tip a couple of weeks ago from a vendor at our local farmer's market. The family has been in farming for over 100 years and cows on their farm are grain-fed, locally raised and have been certified hormone free. It is tastes amazing. The nice thing about purchasing a larger piece of meat is that there is enough left over for lunches.

Marinated Tri-Tip Steak
Ingredients
1 1/2 pound tri-tip steak
McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Marinade

Directions
Marinade steak for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator
Heat grill to low heat
Grill meat for approximately 45 minutes over low heat
Flipping every 10-15 minutes or so

Grilled New Potatoes with Parmesan and Herbs (from epicurious.com)
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds small red-skinned potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley (from our garden)
1/1/2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano (from our garden)

Directions
Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain potatoes; cool.

Prepare barbecue (medium heat). Cut potatoes in half; transfer to large bowl. Add 1/2 of the oil; toss to coat. Grill potatoes until golden, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl. Drizzle with rest of oil and add remaining ingredients; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Easy Corn on the Grill (from cooks.com)
Ingredients
2 ears of corn for each person
1 tablespoon butter for each ear of corn
3 tablespoons crushed ice for each ear of corn
aluminum foil or foil pockets
salt, to taste

Directions
Husk corn and rinse. Heat grill to 350F.

Cut a rectangle of aluminum foil large enough to wrap each corn cob twice. Place each corn in the center of foil with the shiny side in. Add 3 tablespoons crushed ice and 1 tablespoon butter.

It's important to wrap the corn with the aluminum foil so that the edges of the foil are crimped and sealed securely so that as the ice melts, the liquid will be retained in the foil pocket. Make an envelope with the foil and double fold the edges, then place the seams on the top.

Place the corn pockets on the hot grill and cook for 30 minutes or so, turning over half way through cooking time. (Length of cooking time will vary depending on the tenderness, variety and age of the corn - some types of corn may be done in half the time).



When I was buying this week's batch of peaches, I overheard one of the farmers telling a customer that a great (and easy) dessert to be made on the grill is roasted peaches. Based on the basic directions I heard, I headed home and pulled together the recipe below.

Grilled Peaches
Ingredients
Ripe Peaches (this ensures that the peach with some off the pit easier)
Brown Sugar

Directions
Cut the peach in half
Remove the pit
Fill the whole with packed brown sugar
Create envelope using tin foil making sure you can access top to check for doneness
Place filled peaches in envelop
Cook over medium to medium high heat until peaches are soft
Serve with vanilla ice cream with the juices from the brown sugar and peaches

Mr. Gooch Cooks (Chicken and Peppers Marinated in Spicy Chipotle Tabasco Marinade)

Mr. Gooch was in charge of dinner this evening. He made one of his specialties - chicken and peppers marinated in Spicy Chipotle Tabasco Marinade. These are one of my favorites, let me tell you.

Marinade Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup TABASCO® brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce
1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions:
Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat; stir in garlic and cook 15 seconds or until garlic releases its fragrance. Remove from heat to cool slightly, then stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Set aside 1/2 cup marinade to serve at the table. Use remainder to marinate* poultry, meat, or seafood before grilling; discard used marinade.
We usually cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and marinade overnight for best flavor. We then add the cut peppers to the marinade about 2 hours before cooking.

To cook the chicken and peppers, we place in kebob baskets for grilling using medium-high heat and cooking until done.

I will often make a taco/fajita out of them using low-cal/high fiber/great tasting tortilla from Tortilla Factory. For those doing Weight Watchers, the point value on these is 0 points (score!)

Blueberries, Blueberries, Blueberries

I love summertime. I especially love late summer when the various fruits come into season. Blueberries are one of my favorites and I love to make blueberry muffins. I could eat a blueberry muffin each and every day of the week. After gorging myself on muffins made with the first two tubs of blueberries purchased this season, I started looking for other blueberry related recipes that weren't pie and would not be greatly impacted by not including cinnamon (which I really don't like).

I found a great blueberry coffee cake recipe on http://www.recipeland.com/. It was so easy and so tasty!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ready to Serve in: 60 minutes (includes cooling time)


Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 large eggs
2 cups flour, all-purpose
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
2 cups blueberries*
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour, all-purpose
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (omitted)
1/4 cup butter

Directions:
Cream first 2 ingredients together.
Add eggs.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together, and add alternately with milk.
Stir in berries.
Spread into a well-buttered 9x12-inch pan.
Blend the last 4 ingredients, and sprinkle on top.
Bake at 375 degrees 25 to 30 minutes.
*Frozen berries may be used. Be sure to rinse and pat dry before blending them into the batter or the juice will turn the batter blue. (Most of a 12 oz. bag makes 2 cups.)

Party on the Beach and Holy Aching Feet

I worked my first event with the new company. A birthday party on the beach. While I knew it would be hard work setting everything up, I had thought that not having to wear heels for hours on end would save my feet. How wrong I was. Spending 12+ hours trudging up and down the sand will strain your calves and cramp your feet. The next morning I was walking like an old lady.

However it was all worth it to see how happy the client was and how beautiful the event turned out. The weather was perfect, with just a slight breeze to keep the bugs off. People were out on the dance floor almost immediately. Guests eating and drinking like mad. It couldn't have gone better.

More Yum Yum - Blueberry Ice Cream

With the success of the strawberry ice cream experiment, I moved right ahead to the blueberry ice cream experiment. Partly because I love the blueberry, partly because I have about 4 cups of those tasty berries in the fridge and partly because I love being able to make my own ice cream at home.

I found an easy to follow recipe on the blog Half Baked. Her recipe for blueberry ice cream is divine. The blueberry taste is amazing and the color is a beautiful purple. It totally reminds me of the color Violet Beauregard turned in the original Willy Wonka movie.

The only changes I made were omitting the vodka (since we may be serving it to kids) and I did not strain the bits out (since I didn't have a fine sieve). I don't think either omission made an impact on the taste.

Mr. Gooch declared this experiment and even greater success than the strawberry one.

With the good peaches at the Farmer's market, I think peach may be the next recipe to try.

Yum Yum - Strawberry Ice Cream

Mr. Gooch and I received the KitchenAid mixer ice cream maker attachment as a wedding present last October. It has been in the basement, unused, until Sunday night. I was finally inspired to make a frozen treat after browsing through many food/recipe blogs, using the strawberries in the fridge.

Having never made ice cream before, I wanted a recipe that was clear and had good photos for me to follow. I found a great recipe at http://www.myhomecooking.net/. Click here to view the recipe and very clear directions (with photos).

Mr. Gooch was my guinea pig and declared the ice cream delicious. A success!! Next I will be trying a blueberry ice cream recipe.

Update - Attack the Shrubs and Share the Hostas

Last month I posted about removing the shrubs and hostas in the back yard to make room for next year's garden. Click here to see the original post.

Before

Well, the 25+ hosta plants were given away via http://www.freecycle.org/. One of the women even gave me three tomato plants when she came to pick up her plants. She wasn't sure of the variety as they were "volunteers" from last years plants but it looks like they may be cherry tomatoes. The plants have been blooming like mad and fruits are just now forming so Mr. Gooch and I are waiting to see what type we end up with.

The biggest job, the cutting of the shrubs (thanks Dad for letting us borrow your chain saw) and digging out the stumps is now complete. We had no idea that the stumps would be such a pain to remove or that there were so many of them. We had to dig down at least 2 feet on each of the 20 stumps. We ended up breaking up the digging/chopping sessions since trying to get them all at once would have probably given us heart attacks.

After

But the after picture is fabulous, don't you think? I now have so much room for a garden. I am already starting to lay out what I plan to plant where.

Farmer's Market Score - Blackberries and Peaches

Mr. Gooch and I struck gold at the farmer's market last weekend. The blackberries and peaches were gorgeous, so we purchased both. At that point I didn't have any idea what I was going to make, just that I needed to find something that would include these two ingredients. I loved the idea of the sweetness of the peaches and the tarter flavors of the blackberries combining into something absolutely tasty.


I was browsing through various cooking blogs and recipe sites and I found a great recipe on the Good Things Catered blog. Her recipe for Blackberry Peach Crumble was just what I was looking for. Mr. Gooch thought it was tasty though he did think that vanilla ice cream would have make it just about perfect. The recipe was quick and easy to put together and my only comment was that the next time I make this recipe, I will cut back on the lemon. The lemon I chose must have been extra juicy because the lemon-y flavor seemed quite strong.




I am already looking forward to Saturday to see if there are more good blackberries and peaches.

Coupon Madness and Cutting Costs

Since I have taken the paycut for my new endeavors, I have become very sensitive to cutting costs and keeping spending under control.

To try to keep food costs under control, I am shopping the sales and cutting coupons. Related to our food costs I have found www.couponmom.com to be the most helpful site. Once you complete the free registration, you can easily access the sales for local stores and it also matches those up with coupons from the Sunday papers. The double whammy of matching coupons with sales has resulted in some pretty significant savings on out weekly grocery trips. I think our best savings on a big trip so far has been a savings of over 40%. Mr. Gooch has also started asking about coupons and sales before heading off to the store. He even likes to brag that on his last trip to the grocery store, which was for a few items needed for dinner, by shopping the sales and with coupons, he saved almost as much as he spent. My dream is that one day he will get as excited as I do to see the "You Saved $XX.XX" amount.

We also have been shopping at Costco. For many of our staples, it is cheaper than our regular grocery store. After comparison shopping with our local grocery store, I have found that lunchmeats, baking supplies, frozen treats (like the yummy Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches), as well as stuff for Mr. Gooch's lunches. We also watch for the coupons we receive from Costco to stock up on things like paper towels, toilet paper, dishwasher tablets. They seem to come out just as we are running out from the last purchase.

I also use sites like www.moneysavingmom.com to look at sales at Walgreens and CVS. By using the CVS Rewards card and matching sales with coupons, it also has resulted in large savings on toiletries, hair care products and other drug store items.

Another way that I am trying to plan weekly menus for breakfasts, lunches and dinners so that I can see if we can get along with a small trip to the grocery. This week, between the Jewel, Ed's Grocery and Costco, we need a grand total of less than 15 items for a weeks worth of meals.

DIY Project - Wine Corks

Another aspect of my new direction in life is to try to embrace my crafty/artistic side. To that end, I have been collecting corks (with the help of my mom and dad) so I can make a tack board for the main floor hallway and a wreath for the front door. I found the following links that included instructions in how to make a tack board (click here) and a wreath (click here).

The first project I completed is the tack board which will hang in the hallway that runs from the front to the back door allowing me to remove some of the clutter from the fridge. This project took about half of the corks I had gathered.

First I removed the glass from the frame and laid out the corks starting from the bottom left corner, trying to keep each set of two corks the same where possible to make visual impact. I then glued the corks down using hot glue. There was approximately a 1 cork width space left on the right side of the frame so I used kitchen shears to trim the corks to fit the space, gluing them in place. The original hanger on the frame was not strong enough to support the weight of the corks so I attached two new sawtooth hangers to the back of the frame. The plan is to hang from screws secured to the wall.

I think it looks nice and made me realize that we really like Toasted Head wine since the corks with the bears were the ones in the greatest number.

Discovering the Town You Live In

Since I have started down my new path, I have extra time on my hands so I am trying to take advantage of some of the amenities of the area I live in. We have lived in this 'burb for over a year, yet I feel like Mr. Gooch and I still don't really know all it has to offer. So we have been exploring over the last few months.

On the main street of town we have discovered the Brown Cow Ice Cream Parlor which has some of the best ice cream ever! I could write an entire post about the fabulousness of their Mountain Berry Crunch (my fav) and Banana Cream Pie (Mr. Gooch's fav). Near our new favorite ice cream place are cute bistros with outdoor dining, Irish pubs where I can get my hard cider fix and antique shops. Some of my new favorites restaurants are Cafe DeLuca and Francesca’s Fiore. Interestingly enough, they are both Italian. We watch the local papers for nights where there are discounts or coupons so we can go out on a regular basis.

On the south side of town, I love the Harrison Street Cafe. Mostly because I am not a fan of the breakfast food and Mr. Gooch is. The HS Cafe allows us to eat brunch together. I usually get the grilled cheese sandwich and Mr. Gooch gets some sort of skillet thing with eggs, sausage, potatoes, cheese and veggies.

I have also gotten a library card and through the library's web site have requested a number of books and DVDs that I have wanted to read and see. The best part is that the library sends an email when the books and DVDs arrive at the local branch.

We also live right near the local Park District with a pool and mini water park, baseball diamonds, tennis courts and skate park. I think that buying tennis racquets for the two of us needs to be added to the "To Do" list. On the 4th of July, the fireworks are set off right across the street from the house.

Now that the farms around here are beginning to hit their peak, we have been visiting the local farmer's market to buy fruits, vegetables, seasonings and marinades, grass raised beef as well as jams and jellies. Things there are a bit more expensive than the grocery store, but supporting local farmers is important so we cut back in other areas to do so.

As the weeks go one, we will continue to explore. Still on the list to explore are the area cemeteries where some famous people are buried, trying more local restaurants and some of the classes offered by local businesses (like cooking, stained glass and pottery).

Cooking with the Crockpot

Growing up my mother never used a crockpot for cooking. I am not sure she even knew what one was. However, this device that cooks meals while you are at work has intrigued me for years. So last week, I took one of my many 20% off coupons, headed to Bed Bath & Beyond and got myself a crockpot. My selection was the Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 Slow Cooker. I liked that this model had the flexibility of the 3 options of cooking sizes (2, 4 and 6 qt. crocks all able to fit into the single base).

My first experiment was the basic BBQ Chicken. Since this type of cooking was totally new to me, I spent some time checking out several recipe sites when I came to the conclusion that BBQ chicken didn't have to be any more complicated than throwing several chicken breasts into the crock and covering them with BBQ sauce then letting the whole thing cook on low for several hours. Once it was done, I shredded the meat and placed it on toasted buns. If I say so myself, it ended up quite tasty. And there was plenty left over for lunch the next day.

With my first (tasty) success, I decided to take on what appears to be one of the cornerstones of crockpot recipes, Pot Roast. To that end, Mr. Gooch got a shoulder roast at Costco for $2.99/lb. Again I searched the Internet to find a recipe that included ingredients that I already had in the house to help keep costs down.

The one I found on about.com is as follows


Crockpot Pot Roast with Herbs
1 pot roast (chuck, arm, shoulder, bottom round or similar cut)
1/2 C. chopped onion
1/2 C. red wine or apple cider
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. crushed rosemary
1/2 t. dried crumbled leaf thyme
1 t. crushed dried oregano
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
7-10 dashes of Chipotle Tabasco Sauce (I added this for a bit of zing)

Trim excess fat from roast and cut to fit into crock pot. Combine all other ingredients and pour over the roast. Cover and cook for 8 to 10 hours.


If you would like to make a gravy, pour juices into a sauce pan, skim fat and bring to a simmer. Reduce by 1/4 then gradually add a smooth mixture of 2 tablespoons of flour and cold water. Stir mixture of juices, flour and water until it reaches desired thickness.

I think my next attempt will be to roast a chicken. Wish me luck!