Butterball Turkey Burger Bar: A Dinner Idea For Turketarians

I sometimes think people forget that turkey exists when it's not a certain holiday near the end of November. I actually eat turkey year-round though. I eat deli turkey in sandwiches, make tacos and chili with ground turkey, and even have roast turkey besides on Thanksgiving. When I used to have to bring lunch to work, I'd always cook up a bunch of turkey bacon to have on hand to throw in salads and on sandwiches. Butterball has come up with a fun term for those who enjoy turkey all year-long: Turketarian. A Turketarian is:

• Someone who believes that if you aren't eating turkey you are missing out
• Someone who loves turkey as part of their healthy lifestyle
• Someone who craves the delicious flavor of turkey and incorporates it into family meals.

Grilling Ideas For Labor Day Weekend

This post was sponsored by McCormick and is the last in a series of three posts featuring McCormick Grill Mates and Lawry's. The opinions expressed are my own.

Do you have any big plans for Labor Day Weekend? I'm actually going on a road trip with my mom, so I won't be celebrating in the normal way -- picnic* hopping, grilling, etc. (I'll likely be eating cheesesteaks.) But if I were staying home, I'd definitely be throwing something on the grill and spending time outside during the unofficial last weekend of summer.

As you know, I've partnered with McCormick to bring you grilling ideas using McCormick Grill Mates and Lawry's products, so I wanted to share a few tips and ideas for the weekend.

Backyard Barbecue With McCormick Grill Mates

This post was sponsored by McCormick and is the second in a series of three posts featuring McCormick Grill Mates and Lawry's. The opinions expressed are my own.

A couple of weekends ago, we had some friends over for a little backyard barbecue featuring McCormick Grill Mates products and concepts from the McCormick Grill Mates and Lawry's Flavor Forecast: Grilling Edition. I spent days planning and re-planning the menu. I thought about all of McCormick's trends as I planned: Flavors to Watch, Breads on the Grill, 5-Minute Marinating, Smoke & Spice Pairings, Charred Fruit Drinks, DIY Condiments, and Social S'mores. McCormick offers a lot of ideas and recipes for these different trends.

McCormick Grill Mates and Lawry’s Flavor Forecast 2013: Grilling Edition

This post was sponsored by McCormick and is the first in a series of three posts featuring McCormick Grill Mates and Lawry's. The opinions expressed are my own.

There's nothing like burgers on the grill on a warm summer evening. I often find myself craving a burger and am so happy we have a grill and can just throw a couple on whenever that craving strikes. They make for such an easy dinner. When Jeff and I make burgers at home, he always seasons them with Lawry's Seasoned Salt and a little garlic powder.

Soba Noodle Salad with Pesto And Grilled Eggplant

Every time I get a new issue of one of the (too) many food magazines I subscribe to in the mail, I immediately flip through it and dog-ear the pages with all the recipes I want to make. I never end up making everything I flag, but I turn back to the recipes often and eventually get to some of them. Sometimes I follow the recipes exactly, and other times I use them for inspiration.

I made skirt steak tacos with a mango guacamole inspired by the Smoked-Chile-and-Mango Guacamole in the May issue of Food & Wine (I still need to make the Silky Tortilla Soup in that issue). I made a fabulous punch by swapping out brandy for rum in the Strawberry-Ginger Punch in the June issue of Bon Appetit. And most recently my friend and I whipped up the Soba Noodle Salad with Pesto and Grilled Eggplant from the July issue of Food & Wine.

Grilled Potato Salad, BLT Style

If you're anything like me, you're thinking, "Ugh. Not potato salad." But don't click away. I promise you this is not the sort of potato salad that sits untouched at a picnic, warming its mayonnaise-drenched parts in the sun and attracting flies. This is the sort of potato salad that features still-warm grilled potatoes and bursting sweet tomatoes, salty bits of bacon, and sensational grilled romaine. It's the sort of potato salad you eat as soon as it's ready, savoring each bite, appreciating the contrast in flavors, the carefully chosen ingredients, and the lack of mayonnaise.

Grilled Vegetable Salad

We have a grill! And we are so excited about it. We broke it in right away with steaks, peppers, asparagus, and corn on the cob. It was quite a feast. Since then we've grilled pork, potatoes (with which we made an amazing potato salad), chicken, and, of course, some hot dogs. For the most part, I've done the prepping and Jeff has done the grilling, but last week as he was heading out to a softball game, I fired up the grill to make a grilled vegetable salad for my friend and me to have for a little girls' night dinner.

A First Attempt At Grilled Pizza

I have been wanting to make grilled pizza all summer, and we finally gave it a shot last Friday. I had read a few recipes and even watched a video in preparation. I knew we'd have to work quickly, so I got all of our toppings ready ahead of time. The plan was to grill the dough on one side and then the other, then pull it off to top it, and finally pop it back on the grill just to warm the toppings and melt the cheese. Even though I turned the heat way down when we returned the pizza to the grill, the bottom still got a little too charred. Next time I think I would turn the grill off and place the pizza on foil to add a little insulation between it and the grill. While our pizza wasn't perfect, it was a very tasty first attempt.

Here's what we did: Jeff went out to heat the grill (all burners on high). And I stayed inside to prep all of our toppings. There was grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese, red onion, and pesto for him and spinach, kalamata olives, orange cherry tomatoes, red onion, and feta for me.

I divided the dough in half, stretched each half, and placed the halves on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. I crushed a couple of garlic cloves, put them in a small bowl, and poured some olive oil on top. Then I brushed the dough with the garlicky olive oil.

We put the dough on the blazing-hot grill (cleaned well and oiled). We were supposed to put it olive oil side down, but we messed up and left it olive oil side up. Luckily, the bottom still charred nicely and didn't stick.

Once we saw those nice char marks underneath, we flipped the dough and let the other side char. (Had we placed the dough on the oiled side originally, we would have brushed oil on the side that was facing up, so when we flipped the dough, there would be oil on that side too.)

Once we got nice char marks on the second side, we slid the crusts back onto the sheet pan and brought them inside to top them. We also turned the grill way down.

Jeff spread pesto all over his crust and then arranged his other toppings over it.

I didn't use any sort of sauce and just let the garlicky olive oil provide the base for my toppings, which I scattered on top.

We slid the pizzas back on the grill, covered them with foil to help the mozzarella melt, and closed the lid. When we went back out to check on them, my nose immediately informed me that they were overdone. We got them off the grill right away. Luckily, there was just a little charring on the bottom and the pizzas were still almost fully edible.

We cut them up and feasted on our creations. The crust was really crisp but also a little chewy, and the toppings had warmed just enough. Besides a little too much blackening, I was happy with the pizzas, and I'm excited to give grilled pizza another try, this time being much more cautious when we put the pizzas on the grill that final time.

Have you ever made grilled pizza?

Grilled Balsamic Chicken With Fusilli With Raw Tomato Sauce

A trip to the farmers' market, a surplus of plum tomatoes, and an intriguing recipe in Bon Appetit led to a simple dinner of grilled balsamic-marinated chicken and pasta with raw tomato sauce. Grilled zucchini and broccoli, roasted fairytale eggplants, and grilled bread rounded out the meal.

After the tomatoes and chicken finish marinating, this meal can be put together in as long as it takes to grill the chicken and boil pasta. The pasta gets a 15-minute rest and then everything can be served together at room temperature. Luckily, I had Jeff to go out and grill the chicken for me while I made the pasta. If you're doing everything yourself, you may just have to let the chicken rest a bit longer while you deal with the pasta. With or without help, it's a pretty simple meal. And it was really flavorful too. I loved being able to enhance the plum tomatoes with vinegars but still enjoy them raw. And it's amazing how the pasta soaks up all the flavors.

Grilled Balsamic Chicken With Fusilli With Raw Tomato Sauce (adapted from Bon Appetit, August 2012)
Serves 2 to 4, with plenty of pasta to spare

Ingredients

2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tablespoon cabernet vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes, halved, pulp discarded, flesh cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1/4 cup fresh basil, torn
Kosher salt and pepper
8 ounces fusilli

Preparation

Place chicken breasts in zipper-lock bag with 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar. Refrigerate and marinate for 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Meanwhile, whisk together olive oil, remaining 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and cabernet vinegar in large bowl.

Stir in tomatoes and lightly crush with back of spoon.

Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and marinate at room temperature for 1 hour.

After chicken has marinated for an hour, heat grill and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil on the stove.

Remove chicken from bag, letting excess marinade drip off. Grill over a medium-hot fire, about 5 to 10 minutes per side, or until breasts register 160 degrees. Transfer to plate or cutting board to rest and tent with foil.

Cook fusilli in boiling salted water (follow time on package). Drain, return to pot, and stir in tomato mixture.

Let pasta stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes to allow flavors to meld. Transfer to serving bowl.

Slice the chicken and serve it with the pasta. (The pasta is definitely best the day it's made, but I ate it at room temperature 1 and 2 days later and thought it was still really good.)

It's easy enough to throw some veggies on the grill when you make the chicken if you want to add a little something more to the meal. I went overboard buying squash and eggplant at the farmers' market, so we grilled the squash (and some broccoli for Jeff). And I simply roasted the eggplant in the oven.

I like to think of this dinner as the perfect Italian summer meal.

What's been catching your attention at the farmers' market lately?

Grilled Mexican Tortilla Pizzas

To say we've been lazy when it comes to making dinner lately is an understatement. The commute plus all my summer weekend travel is definitely catching up with me. By the time I get home at night, I don't even want to think about making dinner. We've been getting takeout way more than we should, and we're lucky that Jeff's mom cooks for us some nights.

On the nights when we actually cook, I'm always eager to make something on the grill. And on one particular evening, it just so happened that I had a new stack of fresh tortillas from Tortilla Land (remember last summer?) and some ripe tomatoes from the Backyard Farms event. Tortillas + tomatoes + grill = grilled Mexican tortilla pizzas!

I had this -- what I think is fabulous -- idea to cook the tortillas on the grill and top them with typical tortilla accompaniments. I got all the toppings prepped first because I knew the tortillas would cook really fast and I'd have to have everything ready to go.

I cut some corn off the cob and sliced up an avocado.

Then I diced a tomato, and Jeff grilled some chicken we had soaked in a fajita marinade.

Finally, I cooked and crumbled some bacon and sliced a couple of scallions, and of course, we had some cheese on hand too.

Then it was time to head out to the grill. We brought all the toppings out with us and a sheet pan for flipping the tortillas on. (This recipe moves quickly, and you don't really have time to go back inside once you put the tortillas on.) We kept the burners around medium to medium-low.

We put two tortillas on the grill and cooked them just until the undersides started to brown and get grill marks.

Then we flipped the tortillas onto the sheet pan, grilled side up. (The tortillas cook too fast to leave them on the grill to top them.)

I covered mine with corn, bacon, tomatoes, avocado, scallions, and cheese.

Jeff topped his with chicken, bacon, scallions, and cheese.

Then we slid them back onto the grill, closed the lid briefly, and just left them on long enough for the bottoms to cook and the cheese to melt.

We slid the pizzas back onto the sheet pan to carry them inside.

And then we dug in. These are great for individual pizzas for dinner (everyone can top their own with whatever they like), or they could even be cut in wedges and served as an appetizer at a party. They take a little prepping upfront but come together really quickly so you can have them ready in no time.

Thank you to Tortilla Land for sending me more tortillas this summer! If you haven't heard of Tortilla Land tortillas or you missed my posts from last summer, here's what you need to know: The tortillas are uncooked and fresh, so they need to be stored in the fridge and must be cooked before eating. I've only had the flour ones, but they also make corn and whole-wheat tortillas. I love the texture of the flour tortillas and have used them in steak tacos, fish tacos, chicken chimichangas, quesadillas, fajitas... and now tortilla pizzas.

What would you put on your tortilla pizza?

The Best Ribs I've Ever Made

When summer rolls around, most of us want to cook outdoors on the grill and eat copious amounts of corn on the cob, tomatoes, and other summer veggies. I am no exception. Until this summer, though, I didn't have a grill to use. Now that I do, I've been focusing on finding grilling recipes to try. One thing I had never made was barbecued ribs. So when I saw a recipe in Bon Appetit for Best-Ever Barbecued Ribs, I flagged the page and planned to make them.

Jeff went to Whole Foods to get everything we'd need for them, specifically some racks of ribs. The recipe said to use baby back pork ribs or St. Louis-style spareribs, and the butcher told him baby back were better, so that's what he got.

Typically, ribs require some time in the oven prior to grilling to ensure that they get fall-off-the-bone tender. I planned dinner for a Friday night, so on the Wednesday before, I rubbed the ribs with some spices (salt, pepper, dry mustard, cayenne, and paprika), wrapped them in foil, and baked them for 2 hours, according to the recipe.

When the ribs were done, I poured off and saved the juices, let the ribs cool, and then rewrapped them and tucked them in the fridge until Friday.

On Friday evening, I whipped up some buttermilk biscuits and Jeff went out to heat up the grill.

To make the sauce for the ribs, I combined the rib juices (rewarmed slightly in the microwave) with chicken broth and barbecue sauce (store-bought for convenience).

Then we took the ribs outside and Jeff grilled and basted them, flipping them frequently, for about 10 minutes. This gives them that nice charred crust and warms them through.

Back inside, Jeff cut the ribs between the bones, and then we served them with warm biscuits and corn on the cob. It was the quintessential summer meal. (The sort of thing you follow up with juicy wedges of watermelon.) The ribs came right away from the bone. They were so tender and nicely flavored. And they were incredibly easy to make. This was definitely a low effort/big reward kind of meal.

Since I'd never made ribs before, I halved and then followed the recipe exactly. You can find it here.

Have you ever made ribs?

Hope you have a happy, safe, and fun 4th of July!