From top left: salt encrusted fish, cilantro lime beef satay, grilled margaritas, and Naan made on a tandoori grill.

As 2011 is drawing to a close, I want to take a moment to say damn, what a good year this has been. Every year I push myself a little harder to learn more, and accomplish more with my recipes and with GrillGrrrl.com and I thank all of you who have helped along the way. Thanks for your words of encouragement, advice and feedback to help me to continue to be a better cook, blogger and average gal. I enjoy getting to know all of you, whether it is through this site, the BBQ world or events that put us together. Much thanks for a wonderful 2011 and cheers for an equally great 2012!

One of the highlights of this year was getting to go to Kingsford University and learn new food trends and grilling techniques from Chris Lilly and his partner Ken Hess from Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ, who are 2 of the winningest men in BBQ (with many grand champion titles under their belt). One of the best techniques I learned from that event was Grilled Cocktails. We had a cocktail competition where I, along with Meathead (amazingribs.com) and Chris Grove (Nibblemethis.com) won the cocktail competition with the “Rib Job”. Yes, this cocktail has a dirty sounding name but is the real deal as a bourbon based grilled citrus cocktail with rosemary infused sugar water and a rib as a swizzle stick. Other awesome recipes that came from that weekend included Chris Lilly’s grilled mexican corn, grilled pickles and learning Chris’ techniques for doing brisket.

I also got the chance to meet up with Ken Hess, right hand man and pit master alongside Chris Lilly, to interview him on grilling tips and how to dry age your own meat. How cool!

Memphis In May was held at the Fairgrounds this year due to the Mississippi River flooding.

My dad and I competed on the Too Sauced to Pork Team again this year at Memphis in May, only this time the event was at a different location due to the flooding of the Mississippi River. While there, I competed against Clint Cantwell at the KCBS tent in a girls vs. boys chopped style competition and won! I think my grilled poundcake may have done the trick but never the less, it was a nice feather in my cap and a win for the girls!

I took the grilled Cocktail concept and even used it when the Cooking Channel’s Foodography came to film me for their BBQ/Grilling themed episode. We did a mock Women’s Grilling Clinic where we grilled fish in banana leaves with a mango/avocado salsa, jalapeno lime texas toast and grilled lemonade cocktails. Hey, it’s my five minutes of fame and I’ll take it!

Along the way I decided to finally get a BGE. At my Women’s Grilling Clinics, I was teaching at the EGG/Weber dealer and many of the women wanted to learn how to cook on an EGG so I finally got one and boy am I glad I did. I made my first pork butt with a mango glaze for pulled pork sandwiches on the egg and they turned out fantastic. Scott and I have had many a great meal off the egg and I truly feel that my grill line up is now complete. I did my first Women’s Grilling Clinic outside of South Florida in Knoxville at Dead End BBQ in Knoxville, TN. It was a great experience to get out of my comfort zone, expand my boundaries, meet new grilling enthusiasts and join the ranks of other fine chefs who have done classes at Dead End BBQ. While there I also got to participate in a Southeast blogger get together in the beautiful Tennessee mountains at Larry from Big Dude’s Eclectic Rambling’sbeautiful house on Lake Tellico, TN.

Making Cilantro Lime Marinade for my skewers.

During all of this, I met up with a producer down here in Miami and we made 2 “webisodes”. We were trying to see how I did on camera and they turned out very good in my humble opinion, and we are gearing up to do a whole series for for grilling season in 2012. One of my sponsors was a Tandoori Grill called the Homdoor grill that allows the home cook to do Tandoori Indian grilled dishes at home without having to have a commercial tandoori oven. It was quite the learning experience as I had to learn how to cook Naan (Indian flat bread) on the clay oven walls of the Homdoor Grill. This was one of my accomplishments I am most proud of for 2011. I created a “Cilantro Lime Beef Satay” recipe for this webisode that is one of my favorite recipes of the year. Cilantro and Lime are one of my favorite flavor pairings.

Some of my favorite recipes from this year include my grilled margarita recipe. This was a spin on the “grilled cocktail” concept learned at KU. Citrus is easy to come by in South Florida and I’m a big fan of anything with limes in it so this is a no brainer cocktail that’s easy to make and loved by everyone! Plus, grilling cocktails is a fun party trick when you have people over.

I’m always looking for new spins on cooking fish and while this was not on the grill I feel it deserves a mention. The Salt Encrusted Fishwas some of the most moist and flavorful fish I have ever had and I was surprised at how easy the process was. You create a salt crust that steams the fish and it cooks a small fish in less than 15 minutes for a fun, exotic presentation.

Guacamole: it's whats for dinner.

Avocado trees are aplenty in South Florida, only they are Florida Avocados, not Haas Avocados. They are bigger and one Florida avocado produces about as much fruit as 2-3 haas. When these come in season down here, everyone is giving them away and we eat a lot of guacamole. I really love guacamole, in fact I think it should be it’s own food group. Here is my Fire Roasted Key Lime Guacamole recipeto satisfy all you guacamole lovers out there. Grilled citrus, garlic, tomatoes and avocados plus cilantro make for a winning combination.

My first University of Miami #Hurricanes Tailgate in my friends vintage RV. Love it!

As fall approached and grilling season turned into tailgating season, I did a “tailgating 2.0″ series highlighting some of my favorite line up of recipes for a tailgate. I featured lots of awesome recipes from my allstart BBQ Blogging friends including Patio Daddio’s County Fair Onion Burgers and Chris Grove’s Atomic Buffalo Turds. Need I say more? I started blogging for the New Times (an alternative newspaper down here in South Florida) and did some fun articles you might enjoy including “The Funniest Competition BBQ Team Names” and “Spatchcocked and Other Interesting BBQ Terminology”. This has been a fun opportunity to do a little more humorous writing since this newspaper prides itself on being different and a little off beat.

As Christmas rolled around, I perfected my Sea Salted Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Bacon. Chocolate and Bacon- that just about says it all.

My South Florida Smoked Fish Dip continues to be the #1 hit on my blog and one of my best loved recipes by friends and family. One of my goals for 2012 is to further perfect smoking fish on my BGE using local woods indigenous to South Florida (sea grape, citrus). One of my other goals is to learn how to do more Indian Inspired cooking and how to make a basic, homemade curry. Now that it’s committed to the web, I can’t back out now! Let’s see at the end of next year if my 2012 recap includes these things! Thanks for a wonderful 2011 – let’s make 2012 the best year yet!!

Check out my pinterest board to see recipes and step by step instructions for the ideas below.

‘Tis the season for spending. But you don’t have to spend a lot to give thoughtful, personal gifts. That’s why I’m here to show you some of my favorite gifts to give the foodies in your life. Here is my full pinterest board with recipe links and step by step instructions on how to make the items below!! Some of the recipes you will see include Patio Daddio’s Onion-Bacon Marmalade and Lea Ann’s (HighlandRanchfoodie) blackberry merlot jam recipe.

Homemade BBQ rub and sauce make great gifts for friends and family.

Homemade BBQ Sauce:

If you are a BBQ/Grilling person (and if you are reading this then you most likely are), why not share your secret sauce? Show your friends and neighbors what they’ve been missing and put your mojo in a pretty ball jar with a nice ribbon and your friends and family will be talking about your for months, long after the Christmas tree has become a fire hazard.

Here are some of my go-to sauce bbq sauce recipes: Mango BBQ Sauce, Chris Lilly’s White BBQ Sauce recipe, Eastern NC Vinegar BBQ Sauce

Homemade BBQ Rub:

If you’ve got a kick ass rub, it’s worth enlightening those around you. I am using bourbon barrel smoked paprika, sea salt, pepper and other spices to make a smoky rub that will add depth of flavor to just about anything you grill/smoke. These small tins are great for relatives/friends that live far away because they are small and light so they are cheap to ship!! Here’s my bourbon barrel smoked paprika rub recipe, & my Chipotle rub to try out.

Smoked Nuts:

Add your favorite seasoning to your nuts and smoke over your favorite wood at 225 for 2 hours. Here’s a good recipe: http://www.bbqbug.com/forums/other-recipes/712-smoked-almonds-pecans.html

Homemade Hot Sauce:

Hotsauce makes everything better. Here are my 2 favorite hotsauce recipes: Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe & Caribbean Hot Sauce Recipe

Homemade Marinara Sauce: Got a good sauce recipe? Why not share it with your friends. Chances are, they’ve been buying it at the store and yours will be soooooo much better!

Vintage Cookbooks:

Vintage cookbooks are super fun to get as a gift because they are like taking a time machine back to a different era. I recently bought a 1950’s era Grilling Cookbook that cracks me up with its funny photos, plus, the recipes are very good. You can buy vintage cookbooks on etsy.com starting at $4!

Exotic Wood Chips:

Woods such as avocado, citrus or guava can add an exotic touch to smoked meats, and  are perfect stocking stuffers.

Infused Vodka:

Vodka is the utilitarian liquor, it mixes well with just about anything. Why not make homemade vodka infused with citrus, vanilla or even chipotle peppers? Put it in a cool bottle and you have an inexpensive gift that makes you look like a creative gifting genius.

Check out my accompanying gift guide for Foodies on clean plate charlie: includes magic thermometers and beer opening sunglasses. 

Smoked pork butt makes for fabulous pulled pork sliders, and would work well for tacos too. Pair with my spicy slaw and sweet potato fries for an extremely satisfying meal.

I admit, I’m an egghead. Earlier this year I finally made room on the patio for one more grill- the grill of all grills- the Big Green Egg. My first “smoke” on her was a pork butt, also know as a Boston Butt. I’m a Carolina girl transplanted down to Florida, so of course my first smoke would be a pork butt. If there was a state meat, much like there is a state flower, I believe for NC it would be the pork butt.

Cut the fat on the top into a cross hatch so the rub can get good and rubbed in.

I don’t even know why they even call it a pork “butt” as it comes from the shoulder area of the pig. This is a tough cut of meat that needs some serious low and slow to make it tender.

Your low and slow cook will last about 8 hours at 250 degrees. I used a mixture of peach/cherry wood for a fruity finish on the smoke.

A 6-8 lb pork butt will feed a crowd for some great pulled pork sandwiches. Or, put the pork on a tortilla paired with slaw for a pulled pork taco!! Paired with my cilantro lime coleslaw, a Mango Guava BBQ sauce and some sweet potato fries, and you have a meal that says “I’m sitting high on the hog!”

Ingredients:

• One 6-8 lb pork butt (think 1 hour per pound to smoke)
• Your favorite BBQ rub, I used John Henrys East Texas Chipotle Cherry. Here’s a good rub recipe if you don’t have one: A chipotle brown sugar rub.
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 cup mango nectar or apple juice- for injecting the meat to keep it moist and juicy

Directions:

Prepare your grill to 250 degrees. Add wood chips of your choice to add smokiness.

Next, slice the fat layer on the top of the meat in a “cross hatch” direction so as to create cubes on top of the meat. (see picture). This is going to help get more rub “rubbed in” to the butt.

Next, inject the meat once liberally with the mango nectar or you can use apple juice or juice of your preference.

If someone tells you your butt looks juicy and moist, take it as a compliment!

On the egg, place the pork butt (fat side up) on the grates with a piece of foil underneath to catch the  juices. Make sure to also have the place setter in place as we are cooking indirect.

Baste with the BBQ sauce periodically as it is cooking. Smoke the meat for up to 8 hours or until the internal temp reaches 180 degrees. Then it is ready to be pulled. If you have the time, you can smoke longer at a lower temp- 225, but 250 worked fine for me.

Baste that butt!!

After you pull the meat off, let it rest under foil for 10 minutes. Then you are ready to “pull it” with a fork. You will shred the pork with a fork and it will be perfect for a sandwich or tortilla for pork sliders or tacos. I made sliders paired with my chipotle cilantro coleslaw and sweet potato fries.

Mango Guava BBQ Sauce:

Mango and Guava are 2 of my favorite tropical fruits I find down here in South Florida. This recipe is easy to make and accessible to anyone as it only uses mango nectar and guava jam that is easy to find at most grocery stores. It will give you a fruity hot finish to your sliders and a non-traditional spin on bbq sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mango nectar
• 1/4 cup guava preserves
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• t tablespoon lime zest
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped with seeds
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and let simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with you sliders. Pair the sliders with my infamous, quite addictive chipotle cilantro coleslaw.

Wow, that's a beautiful butt!

I love a good margarita, and adding smoke and char to the recipe only makes them better!

You may recall in previous posts that I learned about the “Grilled Cocktails” food trend while attending Kingsford University earlier this year.

If you love the smokiness the grill imparts in food, then you will love this classic citrus cocktail with a twist. By grilling the lemons and lime, the fruit caramelizes and gets a nice char while also making them extra juicy for squeezing into your pitcher.

This recipe makes a pitcher of margaritas, roughly 4 very large glasses.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs limes/lemons plus a few oranges, sliced in half
• ½ cup sugar
• 3/4 cup tequila
• 1/4 cup triple sec
• 1 cup simple syrup to taste
• 1 pitcher full of ice

Directions:

Dip the sliced citrus in a bowl of sugar so they have a light coating. Grill the citruson medium high heat until they have char marks. Let them rest until they are coolenough to be juiced . Fill your margarita pitcher halfway full of ice, then add thetequila and trip sec. Add the juice to the ice/tequila mixture- by adding it to ice itwill help cut the tartness of the citrus. Add the simple syrup in small batches until the proper sweetness is achieved.

Enjoy your first smoky margarita that goes great with grilled foods, specifically my chili lime skirt steak fajitas!

The Sunshine State Eggfest will be held April 8 and 9 in Melbourne, FL at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne Ocean Front Resort & Spa. More than 400 “eggheads” (For all of you that don’t know, “eggs” are a type of grill) will gather and learn new skills and watch demonstrations, as well as mingle and meet more “eggheads” in the area. You can also look forward to a meet and greet and a Ceramic Iron Chef competition. The best part is that all of this happens on a covered deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean – you can’t beat delicious food and a beautiful ocean view.

This looks like a fun event for grilling fanatics of any skill level. Tickets range from $22-32 and you can register at the Sunshine State Eggfest website.

The honorable mentions are…Larry Gaian and Aileen Carroll! Pork Tenderloin glaze is definitely a top priority and I loved Aileen’s story about her grandparents taking her to Tavern on the Green when she was 10-years-old. Thank you both for sharing your delicious Tavern Direct flavoring ideas!

And the winner of the Tavern Direct Giveaway is….Chris from Nibble Me This! I love chicken wings and that recipe sounds delicious! Congratulations on winning and I look forward to hearing about your Tavern Direct recipe adventures.

And don’t forget, for every Tavern gift-set sold Tavern Direct will donate $3-15 to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to help protect America’s children. With the holidays quickly approaching, these gift-sets make a great present for any cook in the family and contribute to a worthy cause.

Also check out my Fight Hunger Initiative and Tailgate Gear Giveaway for more chances to win awesome prizes!

Back in September, Kraft Foods announced the launch of their Huddle to Fight Hunger program.  The program teamed up with football legend Joe Montana, sports journalist Erin Andrews and celebrity chefs Pat and Gina Neely to donate 20 million meals or more to Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger relief organization.  Fans can sign up to join the Huddle to Fight Hunger by visiting www.HuddleToFightHunger.com – for each person who joins the Huddle, Kraft Foods will donate one meal to his or her local Feeding America food bank.

How does this fit into the tailgate gear giveaway? In the spirit of giving, I am giving away some cool prizes signed by the Neelys, Erin Andrews and Joe Montana to help the cause.

The Fight Hunger Initiative Tailgate Gear Giveaway includes:

• Two aprons signed by Gina and Pat Neely
• Two “Down Home with the Neelys” cookbooks signed by Pat and Gina Neely
• A cutting board signed by the Neelys, Erin Andrews and Joe Montana.

Giveaway Rules:

Respond with a comment on my blog with your favorite Neely’s recipe and tell me why it’s your favorite. Best recipe and comment will win the giveaway. Please be sure to include your email address with your comment so I can get in touch with you!

Contest runs until Thursday, December 9th. The winner will be announced on Friday, December 10th.

FYI- Kraft Huddle to Fight Hunger has graciously supplied the giveaway items for the giveaway, but are NOT a sponsor of this giveaway.

If you ever had the chance to go to the legendary Tavern on the Green in NYC, you know that the marinades and flavors of the food are delicious. Today I am giving away some goodies from Tavern Direct, including:

• A limited edition Tavern Cookbook with three new flavors
• The Flavor to Savor gift-set

I started using their fig balsamic and it’s absolutely delicious. These flavor gift-sets will accentuate the natural flavors of anything you put on the grill – including veggies. Not only do these gift-sets add amazing flavor, but they also help give back to charity this holiday season. For every Tavern gift-set sold, Tavern Direct will donate $3-15 to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to help protect America’s children. These gift-sets make a great gift for anyone in the family.

Giveaway Rules:

Respond with a comment on my blog with how you would use the gift-sets if you won them. The comment could include a recipe with how the gift-set flavors would be featured. Best comment will win the giveaway. Please be sure to include your email address with your comment so I can get in touch with you!

Contest runs until Friday, December 3rd. The winner will be announced on Sunday, December 5th.

If you’d like to learn more about Tavern Direct’s NCMEC efforts, visit: www.youtube.com/taverndirect. Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Cornish Game Hen marinated in lemon oil and black pepper make a great marinade.

Hey folks, this is the first official blog post I am making as a married woman. That’s right, I got myself hitched and I am officially Mrs. Robyn Medlin Lindars and Scott is Mr. “Grill Guy”. I will have a blog post about this but I wanted to let You All know.

This month is November, Thanksgiving time, for the “4 Ingredient Challenge” that I participate in with my other creative blogger friends. The ingredients for this month were very Holiday-esque which made it easy for me to make a “Meal On the Grill- Thanksgiving style”.

My meal on the grill concept is that I make the entire “Meal on the Grill” doing meat, veggie, bread and dessert all on the grill. This month the ingredients were: Protein- cornish game hens; Veggie- string beans; Starch- sweet potatoes or yams; fruit- cranberries.

In lieu of doing a huge recipe write up with ingredient list, I’m going to do a picture tutorial with descriptive captions. The ingredient list for this one is easy enough to make this work.

Here’s what I came up with!:

Rosemary Lemon Grilled Cornish Game Hens

Lemon Zest Green Beans

Sweet Potato Pie Steamer Packets

AND FOR DESSERT

Cranberry Orange Bread Pudding (this shiz-nit is the bomb!)

Make a sweet potato packet of including 3 sweet potatos, a drizzle of fig balsalmic, 1/2 cup brown sugar and half a stick of butter. Grill for at least 40 minutes on indirect heat.

Dessert!!!

CRANBERRY ORANGE BREAD PUDDING

Mix 1.5 cups of milk, 4 eggs, 1/4 cup triple sec, 2 tblspoons of orange zest, 1 cup cranberries, 1/2 cup of crainsins, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 3/4 loaf of challah or brioche bread (cut into a bunch of pieces). Let the bread soak in the ingredients for at least 20 minutes. Then bake on indirect heat on the grill for 3o minutes.

About The 4 Ingredient Challenge Bloggers:

Grill Adventures by Broadcast Marc (our newest blogger from the Netherlands!)
Grill Adventures by broadcastmarc was started in March of 2010. I started the BBQ thing when I was 30, before that we ate a lot outside. had fun, but when the kids came into our life we started serious cooking. Most of it is really healthy I think). The grill has a special place in my heart because we love to do things outside. Everything I make is an adventure, and sometimes we use the books. We try to grill as much as we can year round.
Marc’s Ingredient Challenge Recipe:
http://broadcastmarc-grilladventures.blogspot.com

The BBQ Grail
The BBQ Grail website was created in 2007, initially to document the author’s quest to find the perfect backyard BBQ experience. Since that time The BBQ Grail has become one of the more popular BBQ blogs on the internet and is listed onAlltop.com as one of the top BBQ blogs.
Larry’s October Challenge Recipe
http://thebbqgrail.com

Into the Flames
Rob launched Into The Flames in the summer of 2010 as a way to share his passion for cooking, eating, and exploring food.
His October Challenge Recipe:
http://intotheflames.com

Nibble Me This

Nibble Me This is Chris Grove’s blog about his misadventures in live fire cooking.  ”I have no culinary training….I’m just entertaining myself with fire and food”.

Chris October Challenge Recipe:

http://www.nibblemethis.com

No Excuses BBQ

The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author’s goal of cooking outdoors at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world.  Somewhere along the way things got out of control…

No Excuses BBQ’s November Ingredient Challenge Recipe:
http://noexcusesbbq.com

I had the opportunity to grill Jerked Cornish Game Hens on Tampa’s own Daytime TV. This was by far one of the most beautiful places I have had the opportunity to grill- I was overlooking the bay from the rooftop of Tampa Tribune building.