Grilled hummus, Fire Roasted Guacamole, chorizo queso dip, chili lime wings, jalapeno poppers and more!!

Who hoo, the holiday of all holidays where you get to drink large amounts of beer and gorge on really awesome finger food is upon us! If you click on my pinterest board link, you will see some of the best recipes from my BBQ friends and from the web that are ready to duke it out in front of your tv. I’ve also included some of my own personal recipes including jalapeno poppers done two ways.

Best of the Web:

John Dawson’s (Patio Daddio.com) Grilled Hummus- grilled garbanzo beans paired with tahini and grilled lemons! Yes please!

Chris Grove’s (Nibblemethis.com) Chili LIme Wings- my two favorite ingredients together!

Loaded Baked Potato Dip- myrecipes.com

Asian Meatballs with Hoisin Blackberry Glaze - from Justataste.com

My Favorite Recipes:

Fire Roasted Guacamole

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

What’s in your Superbowl line up? I’d love to see your favorite recipes! Happy Superbowl everyone!

Fake Fried Chicken- quick, easy and always a favorite!

As much as I love to grill, believe it or not, I do occasionally use my oven. This is one of my favorite quick and easy recipes that is tried and true, and pairs well with any veggie and starch you serve it with. The crunchiness comes from Panko Bread crumbs, one of the best and most versatile ingredients of all time (at least in my humble opinion!). Pair chicken tenders with your favorite coating agent, then dip in panko and bake and you have crunchy perfection with no guilt or frying-mess! This recipe originally came from Real Simple awhile back and I’ve slightly tweaked it.

Panko= Japanese bread crumbs. They make for serious crunch!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce (think Sri-racha (sp?) or something similar)
• 3 tablespoon pineapple juice
• 4 6 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts OR chicken tenders (these will cook more quickly so watch your time!)
• 3/4 cup PANKO bread crumbs
• Fresh ground sea salt to tast

Directions

1) Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2) in a large bowl, combine the chili-garlic sauce and pineapple juice. Add the chicken and toss to coat
3) in a seperate bowl, combine the panko bread crumbs, 1/2 teaspoon salt
4) using one piece of chicken at a time, coat the chicken in the bread crumb mixture and transfer to a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken

***note, I like to make sure the pieces are really fully covered in the crumbs and even take the remaining bread crumbs and spread them where they are on thinly on the chicken. This makes them turn out extra crunchy. 

5) bake until cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes.

This recipe is awesome because you cook them at a high heat so they cook quickly and retain their moisture- it is also nice when you get home late from work and you are so friggin starving you could eat anything and everything in the fridge, healthy or not! So there’s not much waiting time in this recipe- kitchen to table in less than 30!

BBQ Sauce + Marinara + Leftover Pulled Pork = Barbecue Spaghetti

My parents have this dish on a regular basis so I finally got around making it and it does not disappoint! It is great for turning leftover pulled pork (or insert your meat of choice here) into an entirely new dish that is a universal crowd pleaser (who doesn’t like spaghetti?). At my dad’s recommendation, I didn’t use only BBQ sauce as the base of the sauce but a half/half combination of BBQ sauce and spaghetti sauce- BBQ sauce on it’s own for this dish is overpowering. The leftover pulled pork sauce is also great as a sloppy joe the next day- how is that for a creative use of leftovers? In reference to the Neely’s – the original idea for this recipe is based on the original recipe by Patrick and Gina Neely- you may have seen them on “Down Home With the Neely’s” on the food network. Patrick and Gina always appear like they are going to break out into a make-out session mid-show. I love me some Neely’s, they are just too funny.

Ingredients: (keep in mind this can be adapted based on how much leftover pork you are using)

Directions:

Prepare your spaghetti as directed. Meanwhile, chop up your pepper, onions and garlic. Now, heat up a sauce pan on medium heat and saute your peppers and onions. Add your garlic last so it doesn’t burn. Next add your BBQ sauce and marinara sauce, then add your chopped up chipotle peppers. Mix together and bring to a slight simmer. Now add your meat and let all the flavors meld together for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve with a nice salad and you have a VERY hearty meal that pairs a love for pasta with a BBQ undertone. Now this is what I call BBQ fusion!

This is my go-to coleslaw recipe, you will love this- it pairs well with everything!

I heart coleslaw. When I go to a new BBQ restaurant, if their coleslaw is not up to par, it ruins the experience for me, even if their meat is good. I’m always trying to eat low carb (hence how I got my start grilling) and am always looking for new veggies and coleslaw recipes to try that aren’t loaded in fat and calories. Great coleslaw is a paring of great flavors without swimming in mayo!

The mix of cilantro, lime juice, chipotle peppers and crisp apples make for an exotic coleslaw that pairs awesomely with fish, pulled pork, and just about anything. Plus, it is made with non fat yogurt and low fat mayo so it is a low guilt recipe! My friend Steve has eaten an entire batch of this slaw in one day, so I will take that as a compliment.

Ingredients

• half head cabbage (green or red cabbage is fine)- or half a bag of pre-shredded cabbage mix
• one medium sized apple or pear, chopped fine
• 3 tblsp. chopped fresh cilantro. (you cannot use dried cilantro.)
• 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion, (or half of a small onion)
• 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped (add more if you like spice!)
• 1/4 c. mayonaise (I prefer light mayo, you can’t tell the difference in this recipe)
• 1/4 c. nonfat plain yogurt or nonfat Sour Cream
• 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp. lemon or lime juice (+ more to taste if the slaw is too dry)
• 1 tbsp. sugar or splenda (I use splenda- the lower the calories the better!)

Directions:

I mix all the wet ingredients first then add the sugar, grated apple, peppers, cilantro, etc then the cabbage at the end. Let this slaw sit for 30 minutes to marinate first.

This is my “go to” coleslaw recipe. Let me know what you think- I promise you won’t be disappointed!

If you are a fan of tomato soup, this smoky rendition will make you oh so happy!!

I love tomato soup. It’s just one of those comfort foods that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I’ve been seeing all these “roasted” tomato soups on pinterest and I thought, “I’m going to grill the tomatoes to kick the flavor up a notch with the addition of smoke and char”. That is exactly what the grill does in this case, it adds flavor depth that you CANNOT achieve with your broiler. My husband said this recipe was a “plus one” which is his way of saying, “this is awesome, please make this again”.

I paired the soup with Crostini sandwiches held together with mini bambo skewers. This accomplishes two things 1) this makes it easy to dip the sandwiches into the soup, 2) the crostini (ie, toasted bread) can be served by themselves as croutons in the soup. The presentation on the crostini skewers adds visual pop and dimension to the plate, and it just looks cool and would be fun to serve to kids as its something different from your average sammy.

Ingredients:

These are so easy yet so good. Leftover Prime Rib really makes this sandwich but you can always buy roast beef from the deli.

What to do when you have a large amount of Prime Rib leftover? Make French Dip sammies of course! This is a quick and easy crowd pleaser that is suitable for a hearty lunch or dinner. If you don’t have prime rib in the house, you can always buy deli roast beef but it prime rib would be my first choice! This is one of those dishes that will make you look like a Culinary Goddess but is easy-peasy to make.

Ingredients:

• One baguette of French Bread or Sourdough, sliced length-wise
• 1 lb prime rib or roast beef, thinly sliced
• 8-10 slices provolone cheese
• 32 oz (1 qt) beef broth

Secretariat Dipping sauce (optional) or horseradish mayo (mayo with a little horseradish mixed in)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the baguette in half lengthwise. Place the baguette on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Layer both sides with the provolone cheese. To the side of the baguette on the cookie sheet, put the roast beef on the foil so it can heat at the same time. Bake about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Let the baguette/cheese and meat roast in the oven until the cheese is melted. Meanwhile, heat the beef stock on the stove until hot.

Pull the baguette out of the oven and place on a cutting board. Place the meat evenly on the bottom baguette and place the other baguette on top. Slice into 3″ sandwiches and serve with a small single serving of beef broth per person. Serve with secretariat sauce or horseradish mayo.

Dinner is served and it took you less than 15 minutes!

This prime rib came out beautifully and the rub created a nice aromatic crust. No photoshopping on this photo, it just came out that good!

I never grew up having Prime Rib for the Holidays, but I’ve heard that it’s a staple in many a Holiday Kitchen, so I thought I’d give it a try this year. My friends over at Grand Western Steaks recommended I give one a try so I thought, why not? Maybe a Standing Rib Roast will become a fixture at my holiday table.

As you all very well know, anything you can do in an oven, you can do on your grill, and I set out to dry roast the Prime Rib in my Big Green Egg. While many will add a “kiss of smoke”, the lump charcoal used in the egg is wood, and it is smoky on its own so I figured this was enough after consorting with the BBQ perfectionists in my life (Meathead from Amazing Ribs, Chris from Nibblemethis and John Dawson from Patio Daddio).

I used a 6lb bone in rib roast, but I’ve heard that this cut of meat is equally good without the bones as in this cut of meat the bones aren’t adding flavor/texture as much as they seem to in other cuts (according to Meathead in his recent recipe). I made a wonderful rub that was a variation of Adam Perry Lang’s and truly wouldn’t change a thing about this rub. It is PERFECT.

My conclusion is that if you are a Prime Rib person, this rub and method work well and will not disappoint. As always, the Big Green Egg maintains temperature and the rub created a juicy crust that complimented the meat perfectly.

Rosemary, bourbon barrel smoked sea salt and pepper, garlic, beef base and olive oil make for a very aromatic rub.

Ingredients:

• 6lb standing rib roast

Rub:

• 1 tbsp sea salt (I used Bourbon Barrel Smoked Sea Salt which is my fave!!)
• 2 tbsp cracked black pepper (I used Bourbon Barrel smoked pepper)
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp beef base
• 2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Horseradish Dipping Sauce; this is a slight adaptation of Meathead’s “Secretariat Sauce”. 

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 4 tbsp prepared horseradish
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 3 pinches sea salt

Mix together and refrigerate until ready to serve. This makes enough for leftovers the next day.

Ready for some heat!

Directions:

Set the meat out for at least 30 minutes before putting on the grill so it has time to get closer to room temperature.

Go ahead and heat up your grill for indirect cooking at 325 degrees. As I used the Big Green Egg, I inverted the plate setter so the legs were facing up, then put an aluminum pan on it to catch the drippings. The meat rested on the grates.

(The plate setter is used for cooking indirect on the egg. If you are using a gas or charcoal grill, you will need to create an indirect cooking zone by leaving one burner on and putting the meat on the indirect (burner off) side. The same applies for charcoal where the charcoal will be on one side of the grill and you will put the roast on the indirect side, ie, not on top of the coals.)

Mix the rub ingredients together and rub into the meat well so all parts are well coated. If you like, you can trim some of the fat on the meat so that there are more places for the rub to adhere.

Put the meat on the grill with the bones on the bottom and the fat cap on the top.

Use a meat thermometer so that you can watch the internal temperature of the meat. Roast your meat at 325 degrees until the internal temperature reaches 130 degrees (this will be medium rare). Keep in mind that the meat will continue to cook after you take if off the grill. For a 6 lb rib roast, this will take about 1.5-2 hours.

Tent your roast for 15-20 minutes so the juices can reabsorb. I served mine with a creamy horseradish dipping sauce that also went well with the French Dip Sandwiches I made with the leftovers the next day.

You can use the drippings to make gravy but I was happy with the dipping sauce for this recipe. I paired it with roasted asparagus and blue cheese mashed potatoes for a killer Holiday meal. Serve this for your next special occasion or when the family comes to town and you won’t be disappointed.

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!!

Make Santa very happy this year with these cookies!

I don’t bake that often, but when I do, I go all out. My theory on desserts is that if you are going to splurge on the calories then you might as well go big or go home. These cookies do not dissapoint. The sweet and savoriness of sea salted dark chocolate, brown sugar and bacon make for the perfect bite. You won’t feel guilty about eating these, you will just be glad you did. Merry Christmas everyone!

Use your mixer- this is some seriously thick cookie dough!

Ingredients: (this will make a large batch of cookies, approximately 60 medium/large sized cookies. Half the recipe for a smaller batch)

Note: original cookie recipe inspired by Savorysweetlife.com

• 2 cups salted butter (4 sticks), softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 cups packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons medium, coarse sea salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 24 oz semi sweet dark chocolate chips
• 1 3.5 oz. bar Lindt sea salted dark chocolate, cut into small pieces
• 12 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped into small pieces

Directions:

Preheat your oven 360 degrees. Combine butter, sugar and brown sugar until it is creams together and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes in a mixer on medium-high speed). Add eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes. Add baking soda, baking poweder, salt and the flour until the batter is fully mixed (you will want to do this with a mixer if you have one because it will make your hand VERY tired!) Add the chocolate chips and sea salt chocolate bar until they are uniformly mixed in. Next, add the bacon and mix everything together. This is a very thick cookie dough.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper so they are easy to remove later. Drop the cookies onto the sheet in heaping tablespoons, even spaced on the cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes, set your timer to check on them at the 10 minute mark since all ovens bake differently. They will be ready when the edges are slightly browned. Give the cookies a few minutes to cool before moving the parchment paper/cookies to a cool spot.

Serve these with a nice glass of milk. Santa is going to love you for leaving him these cookies!

A Thermapen under the tree will make someone very, very happy this Christmas.

Contest Winner:

Themapens are awesome so I was not surprised to see everyone’s enthusiasm for this contest. However, when I saw that Katie Rupp has also been tweeting to Thermapen for their own contest and also had her husband sign up for this contest, I felt she was very deserving to get one under the tree. I hope she learns to use it as well and doesn’t just let her husband do all the grilling in the family! Congrats Katie!

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I love my Thermapen- and you will love yours too. The the Thermapen is a waterproof, instant read thermometer that makes it easy to know if you’ve reached your desired internal thermometer. The fold-away probe in the pen makes it easy to stick in a pocket, apron or even a purse (yes, that how I roll!). Thermapens are the benchmark in digital thermometers and getting one under the tree would make someone very, very, very happy this Christmas. They normally retail at $89 making this one of the best give-away contests I have done this year! The contest will run until midnight on Sunday, the 18th, winner will be announced on Monday, the 19th in time to get the thermapen in the mail to you! The color will be winners choice! Now that is cool because they have tons of cool colors these days!

In order to be eligible for this pen, here’s what you need to do:

• leave a comment on my blog
• tweet the contest
• like my facebook page

Winner will be chosen based on meeting the requirements above. Good luck- this is going to make someone very happy this Christmas!