Dirty Dishes: BBQ Season Kick Off
I feel like a bear coming out of hibernation when the snow finally melts and we get our first invite to a friends house for a BBQ. YAY! It’s the BBQ season kick off!
The temps hit a whopping 22 degrees on Saturday and with clear blue skies, how can we NOT take advantage by expanding the entertainment space to the great outdoors. The smell of the grill burning off last summers finale, the icy drinks, the children running wild in the yard, laughter and conversation with friends.
BBQ season also brings with it a rotation of recipes from the warm, rib sticking winter comfort food to the light, fresh and often char broiled foods. I love this time of year! It’s early enough in the season that the bugs aren’t a bother yet the weather is warm and the sun is bright.
My contributions to the meal were both a salad and a dessert.
The Quinoa & Chickpea salad with Tomato Vinaigrette comes courtesy of one of my favorite magazines, Canadian Living. You can find the full recipe HERE.
Just A Tip: I substituted the green beans for sugar snap peas and I used tri colour quinoa but otherwise I followed it to the letter and let me just say, this salad will be on my summer menu plan. The best part of this recipe is that it gets better the next day. Tip: mix in some cooked, chilled, chopped chicken breast for lunch the next day.
This Chocolate Chip cookie recipe is THE last recipe I’ll ever use. For real! They’re soft and chewy and perfect every time. I found this recipe on Kelsey’s yummy food blog. Her recipe can be found HERE. Just A Tip: I substituted the white sugar for organic coconut sugar and in my oven I only needed to cook them for 9 minutes. Yes, 9. Not 8. Not 10.
Who wants to have me over for their next BBQ? What are your favourite BBQ season recipes?
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Nice! I have been looking at coconut sugar lately….is it a good thing?
Oh yes Vickie! I’ve been using coconut sugar as an equal substitute for white sugar or brown sugar in all my baking! It works beautifully. I even tried it in my world famous banana bread and it actually made it better! I’ll never go back to white sugar.
Oh and don’t panic if your recipes turn out a little darker. That’s normal. I find that Costco has the best deal for a big bag of coconut sugar. Let me know what you think!
I can vouch for both, thanks for sharing them with us this weekend:)… DELISH… will be making both of them and adding them to my new fav’s:) xo
Wow – the cookies are amazing! I also had a pretty good recipe, but these were a huge hit at my house. Very dangerous though.