BBQ CHICKEN

This is another recipe from Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cover Cookbook. She credited this one to Troy and Faith Davis at 92 Pacific Boulevard and The Waterfront Park. She added a note that it was a favorite of Charlotte and Ben Rhodes. We ended up not grilling any chicken until the end of summer. Can't believe it. We grilled plenty of burgers but no chicken. I thought this recipe looked good and it was. 

She cooked using a whole chicken that was cut into pieces. I took two of our large chicken breasts and cut them into strip pieces. That worked out well except that we decided we grilled the smaller pieces too long. We were following her guidelines (what I have written here) for the length of time to cook them. Her time was fine for the thicker pieces. So use your own judgement as to how long to cook your chicken.

BBQ CHICKEN

Sauce:

1       cup ketchup
1/4    cup apple cider vinegar
2       tablespoons molasses
1       tablespoon Dijon mustard
1       teaspoon Tabasco or hot sauce (I did omit)
1       whole chicken (about 4 lbs) cut into 10 pieces (or chicken breasts or tenders)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Cut breast in half to cook more evenly on the grill. 
serve any leftover sauce on the side and store the remainder tightly sealed in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Sauce:

In small saucepan over low heat, combine sauce ingredients.

Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.







Preheat grill.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Place chicken pieces, skin side down, over the hottest part of the grill.

Cook, uncovered, about 2 minutes until golden brown.

Turn pieces (we cooked them 2 minutes on this side also before)

and move them off the direct flame to the cooler edges of the grill.








Cook 15 minutes to 20 minutes, turning and moving pieces occasionally to prevent charring and flare ups.

Baste chicken with the BBQ sauce the last 5 minutes of grilling

turning the pieces so that the sauce is heated through.

BAR-B-QUE SAUCE (MARINADE) FOR CHICKEN

One thing I like about summer is grilling. Especially when my husband or younger son, Patrick, is the chef. But even if I have to be the chef, it is a break from the heat of the kitchen. 

I found this recipe for bar-b-que sauce for chicken in my Midwest Old Threshers Cookbook, 40th Reunion Limited Edition. Since I had some chicken tenders and wanted to find a new way to grill them, the recipe sounded interesting. It was submitted by Karen Richard of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. 

Fortunately, I mixed up the ingredients a couple of hours before I planned to grill the chicken. I say fortunately because it didn't turn out exactly like I thought it would. BUT I decided to place the chicken tenders in the mixture and let them marinade for several hours. That's why I added (marinade) to the title. 

The results were delicious juicy grilled chicken. tenders. The combination of ingredients produced a tasty piece of chicken.

BAR-BE-QUE SAUCE (MARINADE) FOR CHICKEN

1/2       cup vinegar
1           cup water
1           tablespoon salt
1/4        cup brown sugar
1           teaspoon pepper
1           stick butter or margarine
1           tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. 

Heat until butter melts.

Cover the chicken pieces to marinade for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. 

The butter solidified some from the cold but that just meant the tenders were covered with butter and the sauce.

Rub oil on the grill to prevent the chicken from sticking to the grill as it cooks (before you start the fire).

Preheat grill to 350 degrees F.

Place chicken tenders on grill. 

Cover the grill and return the temperature to 350 degrees F. Start your timer.

Grill for 5 minutes and then turn to grill 4 - 5 minutes on the other side. Check pieces for doneness and grill a little longer if necessary.

BACON CHEESEBURGERS

You know that moment when you see something and you think, "Now, why didn't I ever think of doing that?" That's what I thought when I saw this recipe for Bacon Cheeseburgers in my new old Women's Circle Home Cooking Cookbook. With over 1200 recipes, I still have so many recipes to explore. 

Well, this one is so ingenious. I really can't believe I have never seen it before. So glad Sharon Crider of Evansville, WI did. I had to buy some ground beef just for the recipe but I had everything else. The recipe made 8 burgers, but I just bought a pound of ground beef. After tasting it, now I wish I had bought the 2 pounds. Anyway, I just cut the recipe in half. 

The taste is unbelievable! The bacon and the cheese. Even though you don't get as much cheese as you would if you had put a slice of cheese on it at the end. If you think about it, you are getting a slice of bacon in each burger since you cook 4 slices of bacon and make 4 patties. So much easier to eat. It would work great for kids. too.

BACON CHEESEBURGERS

1       lb. ground beef
4      slices of bacon
1/4   cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2   teaspoon seasoned salt (I used Nature's Seasoning)
1/4   cup chopped onion (I omitted)
1/2   teaspoon parsley flakes

Fry the bacon til crispy and crumble.

Mix all ingredients until well combined. (I used my hand.)

Shape into patties.

Grill until done. (5 minutes on a side at 350 degrees works for me.)

I have these trusty little Tupperware containers that hold patties. Each one holds exactly a quarter pound of meat. I made four patties using the containers. 

I stacked three of them to freeze and cooked one. (This is why I could have made the original amounts for the recipes. I have a bunch of these little containers. An A lid fits them.)



My husband was disappointed when I told him I didn't make one for him. I told him I had thawed out some of his little turkey burgers for him. (He had a good laugh.) He doesn't eat a lot of beef and so we buy turkey burgers or ground turkey for him. After dinner, I told him I would buy some ground turkey and mix him up some to enjoy the next time. That pleased him.

GRILLED BALSAMIC CHICKEN BREAST

Last week on the fourth, we decided to go down to the river in Parkville and watch the fireworks. The Parkville Symphonic Orchestra was having a concert beforehand and we wanted to get there early enough to hear that. 

Earlier in the day,I prepared the marinade for the Grilled Balsamic Chicken Breast and took the chicken tenders out of the freezer to thaw. We got busy though and ended up not eating lunch until around 2. That meant we weren't going to be hungry when it was dinner time.  

So we decided to grill the chicken and then just take it and eat later in the evening when we got hungry. (We thought the orchestra was going to be playing outside, but the concert was held inside a church on Park University.)  

But that was okay. The concert was over at 8:30 and the fireworks weren't going to start until 9:45. That would be plenty of time to eat. (I taught school too many years when I only had about 15 minutes to eat my lunch so I still have a tendency to eat too fast.)

That meant we would be eating them cold, but they were still really good. They were so good, I ended up eating 3 of them.

I am so glad to have seen this recipe from Smart Balance because my husband loves to grill and it doesn't end up heating up the kitchen with the oven on baking chicken as I usually do.

The chicken was so tender and not the least bit dry.

GRILLED BALSAMIC CHICKEN BREAST

8    chicken tenders or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast

FOR THE MARINADE:

1/4    cup balsamic vinegar
1/4    cup canola oil
3/8    teaspoon garlic powder or 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
Sea salt, to taste (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
ground black pepper to taste (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
2      teaspoons rosemary leaf or 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary

Mix up the marinade ingredients and pour over chicken in a ziplock bag.I started them in a casserole dish, but there was enough marinade to completely cover them, so I poured it all in a bag. It works so much better anyway, but you can keep turning the bag over so that all the meat gets marinated.

Let it marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours, but preferably 4 - 6 hours or longer. (I left mine in for 4 hours and about every hour would turn the bag over to make sure all the chicken was being covered.)

Ready for the grill.













Preheat an outdoor grill to 350 degrees F. Rub the clean grates with cooking oil to prevent the chicken from sticking.

Lay the chicken on the grill.  

For tenders cook for 5 minutes and then turn the tenders over to grill on the other side for 4 - 5 minutes. For whole breast, cook for 10 minutes on one side, then 8 - 10 minutes on the other side.