Get your picnic on with this picnic-pack giveaway from Michelob Ultra LIght Cider. Cute color-coordinated items including a table, picnic blanket, cooler, napkins and a cutting board from Crate and Barrel.

In time for summer, Michelob Ultra has come out with a light cider that is as refreshing as it is guilt-free. While most cider beers can be rather heavy and sweet, Mich Ultra’s light cider is light, effervescent, and only slightly sweet making it the perfect accompaniment for a picnic or backyard bbq. In fact, when thinking of drink choices for a picnic- light cider is a great alternative to white wine or champagne and is only 120 calories a bottle, much lighter than traditional ciders.

To celebrate summer and a great new drink to bring to your next outdoor picnic, BBQ or outdoor concert, I’m doing a Picnic Pack giveaway. This giveaway includes:

• Crate and Barrel picnic table in a bag
• Crate and Barrel insulated soft cooler
• Crate and Barrel picnic blanket and coordinating napkins
• Crate and Barrel cutting board
• artisanal crackers and summer sausage
• Acrylic drink glasses
• $20 gift card so you can purchase your own case of Michelob Ultra LIght Cider.

How to be eligible for the giveaway? Simply leave a comment on my blog, and like my facebook page (if you haven’t done so already) and you will be entered to win. Winner will be announced on Wednesday, May 16th.

PS: YOU MUST BE 21 TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN! THANKS!

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Smoked trout- like crack rock on a plate!

What is great about being GrillGrrrl is that everyone loves to talk to me about their BBQ and Grilling experiences, regardless of background. Who doesn’t love to eat great food? It’s the common denominator of human experience. So I was totally shocked to find a stove top smoker arrive at my doorstep out of the blue a few weeks ago from a good friend I know from the Miami sailing community. Not only is my friend Oren adept at fixing racing boats, he’s also an avid BBQ-er and we had a lenghty discussion about his stove top smoker he uses for lickity-split smokiness! And then one arrived on my doorstep.

Smoked trout - faster than you can say "stove top smoker"!

Put the box on top of the burner on medium and let it do its magic. Once I could visibly smell smoke, (about 5 minutes) I let the trout smoke for about 15 minutes (I used Alder wood chips by the way- perfect for fish and seafood). I didn’t do anything to the trout other than put salt and pepper on it and it turned out awesome.

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These stuffed tomatoes pair perfectly with a nice steak and a glass of Red wine.

I’m always looking for fun veggie side dishes to put on the grill to compliment whatever main course I am a making. Tomatoes, stuffed with blue cheese, grilled to melted and charred to perfection are the perfect compliment to a nice steak. Throw in some fresh herbs, a dash of balsmic and some fresh grated sea salt and pepper, and you have yourself the perfect grilled side dish that is as colorful on the plate as it is tasty!

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 4 medium sized tomatoes
• 6 oz blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 bunch fresh herbs- oregano and basil work well
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• sea salt- to taste
• fresh ground pepper- to taste

Directions:

Cut out the middle of the tomatoes so there is adequate room to stuff them. Layer cheese, herbs and a splash of balsamic in the middle. Finish with salt and pepper. Grill on a medium heat grill (350 degrees +) until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes have begun to slightly char on the bottom, about 5 minutes. (Keep the grill cover closed while grilling to retain heat). Add additional cheese and herbs if you like before serving. Pair with your favorite main course for a nice colorful presentation!

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Baby artichokes take less time to cook than standard artichokes which is an added bonus!

Grilled artichokes are my utmost favorite thing. They can be a little work intensive in the prep but they are oh-so worth it! The grill adds so much flavor to the chokes that you don’t really need a sauce, but I am a sucker for a dipping sauce so I made this yummy sauce to go with it inspired by the Chef’s Dressing at Houston’s Restaurant. Houston’s usually serves their Chef’s Dressing with their smoked salmon appetizer, but I thought this would be the perfect compliment to grilled artichokes. This is a very “rough” copycat of their recipe that I’ve found as I’ve substituted many ingredients for what I had on hand and also lightened it up a bit with lower fat ingredients. If you don’t feel like making the dipping sauce, the chokes are perfectly wonderful with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Note: Baby artichokes are smaller and therefore require less actual cook time which is an added bonus!

Ingredients:

• 9 baby artichokes, sliced in half, de-stemmed with fuzzy “chokes” removed on the inside
• 2 lemons
• 1 tblsp olive oil
• sea salt- to taste
• fresh ground pepper- to taste

Chef’s Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup light mayo
• 1/2 low fat greek yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 ounce (1/2 small can) of anchovies – oil drained
• 2 tblsp fresh thyme or tarragon
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper

The anchovies add a nice "umami" aspect to this dip without being overpowering.

Directions:

Boil a pot of water. Go ahead and remove a few of the outer leaves of the artichokes, de-stem them, and slice them in half. Using a butter knife, remove the fuzzy inside, they may not have that much of one in all of them (which is the beauty of baby artichokes!). Add the baby artichokes to the boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare your grill for medium direct heat.

While the artichokes are boiling, go ahead and mix all the Chef’s Dressing ingredients with an immersion blender or food processer. Put in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Remove the artichokes from the boiling water. Drizzle the artichokes lightly with olive oil, sea salt and pepper and then grill the artichokes for about 10 minutes until char marks have formed on the inside layers. To serve, slice the 2 lemons in half and squeeze the juice on the artichokes. Be amazed at how easy and baby artichokes are to prepare versus regular sized artichokes! Hooray for baby artichokes!

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Bacon Explosion Pic by Mark Woodbury- Woodbury and Associates Photography

People are obsessed with bacon. Why? Because Bacon is awesome, that’s why. So while I usually strive to be healthy and offer up healthy recipes on my site, I’m going to go out out on a limb and give you the best of Bacon from my bacon loving BBQ buddies, my adventures on pinterest, and even a few of my own recipes.

Hooray for bacon!

To see a complete list of my favorite bacon ideas and recipes, go to my Bacon inspired pinterest board.

Food Trend: Sweet and Savory Bacon

Candied Bacon, or “Pig Candy” - a great recipe from John Dawson

Candied Bacon  Chocolate Cupcakes - my husband loved me a little more the day I made these

Sea Salted Dark Chocolate Chip with Bacon - again, my husband loved me a little more the day I made these

Bacon Ice cream 2 of the best things on earth put together.

Bacon Flavored MarshMallows - truly an original idea from Chris at Nibblemethis.com

Paula Deen’s Krispy Kreme burger, with Bacon - leave it to Paula Deen to make something so yummy and so utterly bad for you!

Chocolate Covered Bacon 

Meat, with More Bacon:

The Bacon Explosion - a Bacon Basket week stuffed with more meat, and then smoked.

Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs) -stuff jalapenos, wrap them in bacon, smoke them

Moink Balls - the infamous meatball wrapped in bacon, smoked and finished in BBQ rub

Bacon Rub - add bacon to your meat, in the form of a rub. Brilliant!

Bacon Mac N’ Cheese Burger – cool and different use of bacon in a burger, thanks to Clint from grilling.com

Vegetables, With Bacon:

Jalapeno Poppers - jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon and then grilled or baked

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus - one of my most popular recipes, bar none

Wedge Salad, heavy on the bacon 

Paula Deen’s stuffed tomatoes with Bacon - notice Paula has made it twice on this post!

Dips:

Onion Bacon Marmalade - PatioDaddioBBQ’s infamous recipe

BLT Dip

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

Blue Cheese Bacon Dip - bacon and blue cheese are a match made in heaven!

Spirits:

Bacon Vodka - now you can infuse your favorite cocktails with the essence of bacon. Buying is much easier than trying to make your own!

Bacon Infused Bourbon - here are directions on how to make your own bacon infused bourbon. Not commercially made yet.

Condiments:

Baconnaise – everything you eat can taste like bacon now that they are packaging a bacon flavored mayo.

Bacon Salt

Bacon Hot Sauce – a double whammy of a combo if you ask me.

Bacon Jam – spreadable bacon

Finally, after eating this much bacon, you will most definitely need a “Bacon Coffin”.

You can actually buy a bacon coffin, brought to you from the same guys who brought you baconnaise.

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Guava, lime, ginger and soy sauce make for a light yet zesty marinade for scallops grilled on a salt plank. These can be grilled on skewers if you don't have a salt plank.

I’ve had this salt plate for a while but it’s always in the back of my “grilling cabinet” so I often forget to use it. When I picked up some scallops for dinner, I knew they would be perfect to grill on the salt plank. The salt plank serves as a hot griddle that can be used on your grill that imparts a light saltiness to anything cooked on it.

Guava jelly, one of my favorite things in the world (second only to guava pastelitos- a popular Cuban Pastry found in Miami) pairs perfectly with fresh squeezed lime juice and ginger for a zesty marinade. While I grilled the scallops on a Himalayan Salt plank, these would be great skewered and grilled directly on the grates as well. I served these on a bed of arugula dressed in equal parts lemon juice and orange blossom honey, but they would be great with any veggie or tossed with rice or pasta. Served on their own they would be a great light appetizer. This marinade is extremely versatile so get creative!

Ingredients: (Serves 2 as main course, 4 as an appetizer)

• 1 lb large scallops
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (juice of 4 limes)
• 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

The Himalayan salt plank acts as a hot, salty griddle on the grill. You can also use the plank refrigerated for cold apps and as a decorative plate. (of course, after using it on the grill it's not very pretty anymore!)

Directions:

Heat grill to medium high heat. If using the salt plank, place it directly on the heat source (grates/coals) and give the grill time to heat up to about 400 degrees to ensure the plank it hot enough to grill on. If grilling the scallops directly on the grates, place the skewered scallops on the medium heat grill and grill 3 minutes per side, or until the scallops are no longer translucent and look milky white. If grilling on the salt plank, lightly oil it before grilling so the scallops do not stick. Grill for 3-5 minutes per side, or until the scallops go from translucent to opaque (minimum internal temp is 145 degrees).

Got a salt plank? What have you grilled on yours? How are you grilling your scallops this summer?

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This is my new favorite twist on a pulled pork sandwich. This sandwich is going to make an appearance at Memphis in May this year- it will be a standout among heaps of traditional pulled pork sammies.

Everywhere I go these days, I see Bahn Mi sandwiches. I’ve seen them at the Miami Food Truck meetups, at the South Beach Wine and Food Fest BBQ event (Guy Fieri did a rendition) and at the newly opened Vietnamese restaurant down the street. My hubby even asked me to make one so I was chomping at the bit to try my own when I smoked a pork butt earlier this week.

Bahn Mi literally refers to the Vietnamese baguette that they are served on. But these days the term “Bahn Mi” is synonymous with this popular sandwich that is served on a light and airy Vietnamese bread with some kind of meaty filling (or tofu), along with cilantro, cucumbers, pickled daikon and carrots, jalapenos (or sriracha, or both) and mayo.

Below is my Gringa rendition of a Bahn Mi. I’ve had countless pulled pork BBQ sandwiches and I was ready to try something new. Hubby was loving this- I made a chipotle mayo, and in lieu of pickled veggies I added sliced cabbage and radishes, cucumbers and jalapenos. The pulled pork has a good dose of vinegary BBQ sauce. This sammy can be made with your own pulled pork rendition, I’ve included links to 2 of of my pulled pork recipes, made either in the smoker or (gasp! ) in the oven.

Pulled Pork and BBQ Sauce Recipes:

Recipe: (Oven) Pulled Pork Tenderloin (includes a vinegar based sauce recipe)

Recipe: (Smoker/Grill) Smoked Pork Butt (includes a mango BBQ sauce recipe)

Ingredients: (makes 4 sandwiches)

• French Bread Baguette (to be authentic, you could attempt to go to a Vietnamese bakery for their lighter, airier version of French bread)
• 4 cups pulled pork
• 1/2 cup chipotle mayo (take mayo and mix 2 tblsp adobo sauce from chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (recipe here if you want to make your own)
• 1-2 jalapeno, sliced
• 4 radishes, thinly slice (use a mandolin if you have one)
• 1 large cucumber- thinly sliced (again, use a mandolin if you have one)
• 1 cup sliced cabbage
• sriracha sauce (optional)

Directions:

Cut the ends off the baguette and slice lengthwise. Next, cut into 4 servings. **NOTE: The bread is going to be very thick, I suggest pulling some of the inside bread out so that their is room for more filling and the bread to meat ratio is more even. Add mayo to the bread, and then begin to assemble the sandwich. Add one cup of meat per sandwich, then add BBQ Sauce, cilantro, radishes, jalapeno, and cabbage. Add sriracha to taste if not using jalapenos.

This is my new favorite way to do pulled pork sandwiches. I’m competing at Memphis in May this year again with the Too Sauced To Pork Team, doing “Peoples Choice” which is pulled pork so I’m going to be serving up Pulled Pork sammies a whole different way this year!

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Tahini dressing- The nuttiness of the tahini paired with citrus and herbs are a perfect compliment to a mixed green salad.

I’m a big fan of tahini- ever since I tried Annie’s Goddess Salad Dressing back in college, I’ve been hooked on it. Years later, I’ve finally gotten around to making my own tahini dressing!

Tahini is roasted sesame puree- think the peanut butter of sesame seeds. It is often a key ingredient in hummus and many mediterranean dishes. This simple dressing is paired with lots of citrus, fresh herbs and garlic to compliment any salad lucky enough to get dressed in its’ yumminess!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1/2 cup water
• Juice of 3 lemons
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (to taste).
• Handful of fresh herbs (I used basil and oregano and they played off the citrus perfectly!)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients with an immersion blender until they are unified. Add more salt if needed to suit your palate!

NOTE: Until I made this dressing, I’ve never seen my husband have second helpings of salad! He was dipping his bread in the dressing too. I hope you equally enjoy!

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Rum Sauce Seals the Deal: Grilled bananas layered with tahitian vanilla gelato, 'nilla wafers, strawberries and rum sauce!

You all know I love to make desserts on the grill! Bananas + ice cream + rum sauce = an insanely good dessert that you won’t event feel guilty about later! You will be proud you licked the bowl clean and will consider a second helping! I splurged and went with the tahitian vanilla gelato versus regular old icecream, and that- paired with grilled bananas, ‘nilla wafers, strawberries and healthy dose of rum sauce is THE SHIZZLE! Yes it is!

Ingredients: (4 servings)

• 4 ripe bananas, sliced lengthwise with peel on
• 10 large strawberries, thinly sliced (optional)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp brown sugar- for bananas
• 1 – 1 1/2 cup mini vanilla wafers
• 1 pint vanilla ice cream or gelato (for larger portions, go with more icecream)

Rum Sauce Ingredients:

• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ tblsp butter
• ¼ cup rum

Directions:

Split the bananas lengthwise with the peels on. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Grill on direct heat until char marks form on both sides. While grilling the bananas, put the butter, remaining brown sugar and rum in a grill friendly pot or small aluminum pan. Put the pot on indirect heat (not above the coals) and let the butter, rum and sugar mixture come to a slow boil and begin to caramelize (this will only take a few minutes). You can also make the rum mixture on the stove.

Remove the bananas and rum sauce from the grill. Remove the bananas from their peel and slice. In a wine or martini glass, layer ice cream, vanilla wafers, banana, and strawberries until filled to a little under the top of the glass. Pour rum sauce over top. The bananas combined with the vanilla wafers, strawberries and rum sauce make the perfect, crunchy bite. And who doesn’t love a little rum with their dessert?

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On the left- the infamous Kumamoto oyster hailing from the West coast. Evidently, this is the Cadillac of Oysters.

I don’t do many restaurant reviews. Usually I’m the one doing the cooking! However, this restaurant is such a gem that I really wanted to share it with you. I travel to Austin pretty frequently these days for work. While strolling Congress avenue with a co-worker looking for a place to grab dinner, we spot this alluring outdoor patio with big, lit up trees emerging from the structure. It looked like the perfect place to have a cocktail!

When you go- grab a seat on Perla's expansive porch!

Hailing from Florida, I was a little skeptical of a seafood and oyster bar in the heart of Texas, but Perla’s flys their catch in fresh everyday. Their Oyster bar boasts Oysters from Rhode Island, Maine, British Columbia and California. I tried the Kumamoto Oyster from California, which is evidently “The Cadillac of Oysters” known for their mouthfeel and nutty flavor, an umami-like experience for true oyster lovers.

Take a seat at the bar next to the Oyster bar and aquarium.

The restaurant is refreshingly relaxed yet upscale with its sprawling outdoor patio, good looking waiters, saltwater tank, shuffleboard table and impressive looking oyster bar. I ordered the boullibaise, always my favorite, and was impressed with very large prawns and pieces of seafood- they do not skimp on their seafood. A diehard brussel sprout fan, I ordered a side and was impressed that they were served skewered, straight from the grill with a nice char.

Bouillabaisse- my favorite!

I washed all of this down with a “Passenger” cocktail, a refreshing gin drink infused with lime juice, mint and St Germain liqueur.

A laid back attitude and dog friendly porch- a great spot in my book- I'll be back next time I'm in Austin.

While dining, my friends and I noticed Bill Murray dining at a table nearby! Evidently Perla’s is no stranger to celebrities, as Austin is a hotspot for them, known for it’s great music and local flavor.

While I’m not a celebrity, I certainly do know good food and I’ve added Perla’s to one of my new favorite restaurants. On my next trip to Austin, I look forward to trying the owner’s other restaurant, Lambert’s Barbecue. Now you are speaking my language. The food is the silver lining to these work trips!

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