Foxy- Beach BBQin’- Foodies September 2009

With all of our crazy schedules, it’s sometimes near impossible to find a date that works for everyone. After much debate, we settled on a Sunday. A few of the girls suggested we go to the beach before since I live really close. This, along with summer ending (tear), inspired me to put together a beach bbq theme---hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Chipotle Veggie Dip
This recipe was really easy to put together. The cream cheese and chipotle combination says it all and of course the other yummy key ingredients (cilantro, garlic, etc). Dipping veggies and pita chips in it made it a great appetizer! So easy to make. Only note is to be careful when using chipotle chilies in adobo…a little goes a loooong way with that ingredient in general.

1 8oz package of cream cheese

2/3 c. sour cream

3 teaspoons lime juice

3 canned chipotle in adobo sauce

2 tablespoons minced scallions

3 tablespoons fresh cilantro

Finely grated zest of one lime

Place first three ingredients into a food processor and blend until creamy. Stir in remaining ingredients by hands and enjoy!

H – Thumbs up – spicy and delicious!
K- Thumbs up
N – Thumbs up – a bit spicy, but yummy.
R - Thumbs up.

Grilled Romaine with Spicy Caesar Dressing- Food Network

Nicole – I had never “cooked” lettuce before, let alone barbequed it, so this was a new concept for me. It actually worked out well though, and I would recommend using larger romaine leaves (some of the smaller ones we used were a bit tricky to flip on the grill). Delicious dressing and the extra dressing could be used for another meal.

H – Thumbs up.
K- Thumbs up for the dressing, down for the grilled romaine. It just seemed to wilt; I thought it should be crispy?
N – Thumbs up.
R - Thumbs sideways. Definitely didn’t need to be grilled and became a lot of work to lift those guys off the grill. The dressing was good, but didn’t taste like Caesar necessarily?

Macaroni Salad- Bon Appetite
Heather – I was very skeptical about this recipe as I’m not a fan of mayonnaise-based pasta salads. I much prefer the oil and vinegar types. But, I was willing to give it a try…until I read that we were putting pickles and celery in the salad. Yuck! The only thing I can say about this is it tasted exactly how I thought it would. Maybe there are some people out there who like this sort of thing but I’m not one of them!

H – Thumbs way down.
K- Thumbs down- the store bought version is easier and tastier!
N – Thumbs sideways – nothing special, but not bad either.
R - Thumbs sideways. Don’t need to make again, but would definitely have a scoop if it was at a bbq.

Sticky and Spicy Baby Back Ribs- Food and Wine

Being my first time making ribs, I must say I was impressed! I was a little unsure at first because the first step is to remove the membrane---sick. Since I bought the ribs at Costco this part was already done for me, score! The rub was easy, and the bbq sauce was perfect combination of spicy and sweet. The only thing I would do differently is dice the onions up really small so they are less noticeable in the sauce

H – Thumbs up – These were delicious and had a tangy flavor from the vinegar sauce.
K- Thumbs up
N – Thumbs up!
R - Thumbs up. Ammmmazing. I didn’t think we’d eat the two huge racks of ribs...thought there’d be no way, but I was definitely wrong!

Cuban Corn- Dave Liebermann

This recipe is a classic and perfect for the theme. Grilled of course and with a bit of a spice topping (just a bit) muted by the most delicious queso fresco (big fan here). It was so easy to do. I learned a trick from Kristin in making this…that you can freeze queso fresco. Never thought of that before, but we took it out of the freezer and it was fine.

H – Thumbs up.
K- Thumbs up, lots of flavor.
N – Thumbs up – delish!
R - Thumbs up.


Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Pudding- Paula Dean

This was a relatively simple recipe that did not require the oven. You use a package of vanilla pudding mix, some cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and those fun Chessboard cookies. I think when Paula says it’s not yo’ mama’s banana pudding, she means it’s a calorie-laden, full-fat, heart-attack-waiting-to-happen, version. That said, it was the most delicious bread pudding I’ve ever had!

H – Thumbs up.
K- Thumbs up, my boyfriend literally ate half of the pan.
N – Thumbs up.
R – Thumbs up.