Kymberly's bbq night

 Appetizer- Bruschetta Dip served with sliced baguette (or pita chips) 

 https://mostdeliciouslife.com/bruschetta-dip/

Sides- Apple Feta Spinach Salad  https://www.eatwell101.com/spinach-salad-recipe#

Corn Fritters (recipe in Kymberly's mom's handwriting)

Lemon Jello - also Mom’s idea - Large box lemon jello prepared according to box instructions, pour into 9x13 dish add washed green grapes and fresh sliced peaches to liquid jello and allow to set up in fridge

Sliced Watermelon 

Smoked Brisket always buy your brisket from Costco! It’s the best quality and price. I’ve tried other stores and they just don’t compare. Pick a brisket that when you pick it up is very flexible and floppy. Nice marbling and a decent fat cap is great- you’ll want at least a 1/4” thick fat cap. If you buy one with too big a fat cap you’re just paying to cut off the fat. When you trim off the excess fat you want to keep that 1/4” layer of fat, trim away anything more and cut away any silver skin. Salt and pepper and garlic powder both sides and give it a good rub, then spank it like the bad boy it is. Start your smoker to 225 deg, let it come to temperature and lay the brisket directly on the grate. Insert a thermometer in the middle of the thicker part of the brisket. Tightly wrap it in pink butcher paper or foil (no holes or gaps) when the temp hits 160. It comes off the smoker when you hit 206 degrees. Briskets need to rest for at least an hour before slicing against the grain. Briskets are unpredictable in how long they take so I start mine at 5:00am 😀 they can rest for a few hours in a resting blanket or wrapped in towels in a cooler.

Pineapple wrapped ribs

Pork loin ribs - (not baby back or St. Louis) rub the ribs down with a good rib rub, Hey Grill Hey has a good rub recipe. 

• 
  ▢ ¼ cup brown sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoons black pepper
• ▢ 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground mustard powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon celery salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

trim the pineapple and skewer the seasoned ribs around it. Make a foil boat around the bottom of the pine/ribs. Drizzle hot honey over the pineapple and put on a 225 deg preheated smoker until it hits 165 degrees- mopping it every hour with honey. When you get to 165, you’re going to lay out large pieces of foil to wrap the entire thing. Place slices of butter sitting on the top edge of ribs resting on the pineapple crown. You can also mop it with your favorite BBQ sauce, then bundle the whole thing up and put back on the smoker and turn it up to 275 degrees and keep on smoking til the ribs reach 202, don’t go higher than 205. Cut up and serve ribs with with a slice of smoked pineapple.

Banana Cream Pie Ice Cream

Roasted Cherry Brownies (You can also use the Ghirardelli box brownie mix and follow the instructions for roasting and adding the cherries)

Michelle & Nora's Greek night

Greek yogurt (from Walmart) with fruit, nuts, and honey

Greek Salad. https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/greek-feta-salad/

using this feta from Smiths

Pastitsio- I tripled the cheese in the bechamel

https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/pastitsio/

Portokalopita orange cake

https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/extra-syrupy-greek-yogurt-cake-oranges-portokalopita/

Galaktoboureko custard cake

https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/galaktoboureko/

Greek Salsa with Pita chips

Tzatziki.  I doubled the cucumber but really squeezed the water out.  Also upped the garlic and olive oil.

Oven Steak Fries.  Instead of rosemary and garlic, I added feta on top after cooking and squeezed lemon juice on top.

Sheet Pan greek chicken and vegetables

Amy's back to the future night

 

Appetizer:  Strawberry Yogurt clusters

Main Course- Naan Pizza and Mediterranean Tacos

Peach Pizza: 

Ingredients: Peach (frozen or fresh.  If frozen, just slice into thin pieces), Prosciutto, goat cheese, Monterey Jack, 4 large naan flatbreads, olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, balsamic reduction

Preheat oven to 450 and place baking sheet on top rack to heat up.  Prepare your Naan on tinfoil by Brushing Naan with olive oil and minced garlic.  Season with salt and pepper, then lay prosciutto onto naan.  Dollop ricotta or goat cheese onto pizza, then add the mozzarella, Asiago or Monterey Jack, and sliced peaches.  Place tinfoil with Naan on baking sheet in the oven and Bake for 6min.  Before serving, sprinkle pizza with fresh basil and balsamic reduction.  

To make Balsamic reduction: Pour 1c balsamic vinegar and 1/4c honey into a large, deep skillet..  Allow the mixture to simmer for around 15 minutes, or until the vinegar has reduced. Once cooled, it will thicken quite a bit.

BBQ Pineapple Pizza

Ingredients: Red onion, pineapple, balsamic vinegar, poblano pepper, fresh mozzarella, Monterey Jack cheese, 4 large naan flatbreads, bbq sauce, Portuguese sausage (I buy the Silva Linguica brand at smiths)

Preheat oven to 450 and place baking sheet on top rack to heat up.  Prepare your Naan on tinfoil by spreading it evenly with BBQ sauce.  Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium heat and add 1/2 a red onion sliced thin. Cook until softened (about 6-8min).  

While the onion cooks, very thinly slice a poblano pepper into strips, toss in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Dice mozzarella, pineapple (about 1/2c), and Portuguse Sausage into 1/2-inch pieces (I use 1 long link).

Once cooked onion is softened, increase heat to medium high and add the pineapple tidbits and chopped Portuguese sausage.  Cook, stirring until pineapple is lightly browned (2-3min).  Stir in 5 tsp of Balsamic or Red wine vinegar, stir for 1-2 min more on the heat until it all thickens a bit.  Turn off heat and season with salt and pepper.

Top bbq covered naan with the onion & pineapple mix, then diced mozzarella and some Monterey Jack cheese, then poblano strips.  Place tinfoil with Naan on baking sheet in the oven and bake for 6min.

Med Tacos

https://sunbasket.com/recipe/chicken-and-hummus-flatbread-tacos-with-greek-kale-salad

• 1 ounce sun-dried tomato strips (not in oil)
• 2 to 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 10 ounces total)
• 3 ounces organic shredded kale or other leafy greens
• Mediterranean vinaigrette (below)
• 3 tablespoons crumbled feta
• Naan flatbreads
• Kroger Mediterranean herb Hummus

• (almost 3 TBSP) olive oil
• 1 tbsp) red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• little grind of salt and pepper
• little dried basil
• little dried oregano
• bit of lemon, juiced
•  Bit of dijon mustard

Dessert

Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients needed (oreos, hazelnuts, bananas, 1qt. heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, 8oz of melting chocolate).  The rest of the ingredients you probably have on hand!

• For the crust:
• 20 oreo cookies, finely crushed
• 1 cup raw hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a pie pan (or 14 ramekins) with nonstick cooking spray or melted butter.  Place cookies and hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor and pulse for 1-2 minutes or until cookies are finely crushed. Add in melted butter and salt and process again until well combined.  Press in Pie tin (or one spoonful into each ramekin), bake for 10 min.  Then let cool.

For the Ganache

• 8 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate 
• 3/4 cup Heavy Cream

Place the chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream, until it just begins to boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate completely melts. Pour the warm ganache into the pie crust.

Custard Filling (make 1.5x the recipe for 14 ramekins)

Combine 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1/2 C. sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, 2 large eggs, 1 C. milk, and 1 Tbsp. butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and cook 30 sec. or until thick.  Remove from heat.  Add 2 tsp. of vanilla extract.  In a separate bowl beat 2 oz. of softened cream cheese until light (about 30 sec.). Add 1/4 C. of the hot custard to cream cheese, and beat just until blended.  Stir in remaining custard.

This custard seems to take a little over 5 hrs. to cool and set so to be on the safe side I just make the pie a day in advance.

For a pie:Arrange banana slices on the ganache. Pour about half of the custard filling on top of the ganache and banana slices. Arrange another even layer of banana slices on top of the filling.  Cover the banana slices with the remaining custard filling. Refrigerate until thoroughly cooled.

**For Ramekins: pour one large spoonful of custard into each ramekin (on top of ganache and banana slices).  Refrigerate until cooled then top with more banana slices then whip cream.

Beat the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla until thick.

Top the pie with the whipped cream. Sprinkle with chocolate shavings, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.