Grilling

Ladies Fiesta Dinner Party

4 · Jun 30, 2014 · 6 Comments

+ This Ladies Fiesta Dinner Party brought to you by Pepcid® +

As you all know… I LOVE to entertain! The idea of spending time coming up with a menu and cooking all day makes me happy… Seriously I love it! Recently, I had the chance to throw a fun Ladies Fiesta for a few friends for a fun Girls Night IN at my place. SUPER FUN!! Some of you may have followed along on Instagram while I was prepping for the night. Here’s the menu…

Frozen Shirley Temples

Spicy Scallop and Shrimp Cocktail

Creamy Avocado Gazpacho

Light Tacos

Creamy Corn Cups

Fiesta Summer Salad

Dirty Diet Coke

ChocoFlan

Many of the recipes are from or inspired by one of my favorite Food Network Chef’s Marcela Valladolid from Mexican Made Easy. When I decided to have a girls night, I thought a classy fiesta would be super fun and Marcela was the perfect chef to turn to for all kinds of classy fiesta recipes. I didn’t want a night full of chips and guacamole followed with a pan full of enchiladas. I wanted it to be light, fresh and refined. This menu was perfect… Except for one thing.

Here’s a little known fact about me… I have struggled for years with mild heartburn. Over the years, I have learned what foods trigger this condition in me and you would be surprised that even a relatively fresh and light fiesta menu like the one above could cause all kinds of issues with my sensitive stomach. You would think that the typical fiesta fair like heavy burritos and enchiladas would be the only culprits, but it’s not. Everyone is different but even fresh food, if they are high in acid like tomatoes, can trigger a rough night. That’s why when it comes to nights like this, I turn to Pepcid® to help me enjoy the food that I so lovely prepared for my friends! Wouldn’t it be a shame to go to all that work just to suffer in the end? If you are like me at all, you should visit the Pepcid® Facebook page for all kinds of ways to help keep your stomach happy!

Here’s how the night went… I prepped food all day, and while I was doing that I watched as the clouds rolled in. The plan was to eat outside and enjoy a nice summer evening and a rain storm was NOT on the menu. Sure enough, about an hour before the ladies were to arrive, the clouds opened up and DUMPED a ton of rain. YAY! Not to worry, I kept working on party prep and when my friends arrived I put them to work, drying of the table and chairs, no worries there. The rest of the night was perfect, so we didn’t let that little bump create issues for this fiesta! We set the table with fun mismatched plates and dressed it with some simple greenery, lanterns and candles. It looked lovely!

Cocktail + Frozen Shirley Temple +

Once everything was dry, we had my version of a frozen Shirley Temple.

How fun is that? I made a cherry popsicle in my Zoku with all the tasty cherries that are in season right now and then paired it with some coconut La Croix seltzer water to make a fun “cocktail” to start off the night (we aren’t big cocktail drinkers here.) You can get the recipe here!

Appetizer + Scallop & Shrimp Cocktail +

For an appetizer I served a scrumptious scallop and shrimp cocktail…

I kicked this up a notch with some doctored cocktail sauce and then added pan seared, chilled scallops to the shrimp and it was divine. To make it even easier I removed the tail on the shrimp and added it right to the cocktail sauce. It’s much easier to eat with a fork and you don’t have to deal with messy hands… perfect! You can get this recipe here.

Soup + Creamy Avocado Gazpacho with Spicy Croutons +

Next, for the soup course… I served a creamy avocado gazpacho that really hit the spot.

When it comes to cooking for a dinner party, you want simple, yet tasty. Especially in the summer, when you have access to all kinds of fresh veggies, gazpacho is perfect. It’s a chilled soup that is perfect for a classy fiesta. You can find this recipe here.

Main Course + Light Tacos, Fiesta Summer Salad & Creamy Corn Cups +

Since this was a fresh summer take on a fiesta, I decided to go with a lighten-up version of tacos. I found this fun recipe from Marcela for a light taco that used butter lettuce for the shell rather than your traditional corn tortilla. It was super tasty and you can find Marcela’s recipe here.

With the light tacos I served the most amazing salad…

It is a mexican take on a panzanella salad full of tomatoes, olives, spicy croutons and few more tasty surprises. You can find that recipe here.

The last side dish was a little more decadent than the other lighter recipes that we had enjoyed throughout the night. Creamy corn cups are an iconic Mexican treat full of all kinds of creamy goodness. I took that recipe straight from Marcela and you can find that recipe here.

Dessert + CocoFlan & Dirty Diet Coke +

Get ready… this dessert will ROCK YOUR WORLD! Yea, not kidding…

If you are a chocolate cake lover and a flan lover (which apparently I am) This recipe will knock your socks off. It’s chocolate cake and flan together. Again this is one of Marcela’s recipes and it is for sure a show stopper. I will have to say, your guest may beat down your door the following day to get access to the leftovers (if you have any!) Surprisingly enough, this actually pairs nicely with a dirty Diet Coke! You can get the recipe for the ChocoFlan here and the dirty Diet Coke here.

All in all the night was SUPER fun, a total flavor festival and thanks to Pepcid I wasn’t regretting it afterward.

Disclaimer // I have received information, product and materials from McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals C0., the makers of PEPCID®. The opinions stated are my own. This is a sponsored post.

Balsamic Steak Salad with Pickled Tomato Relish

5 · Jun 2, 2014 · 3 Comments

+ Balsamic Steak Salad with Pickled Relish KNOCK-OFF Recipe from Granite City +

There is a restaurant here in Lincoln called Granite City and it’s one of our favorite date night places here in town. They have some really great items on the menu, but my all time favorite is their Steak Salad.

Sadly, this is not a regular menu item and that drives me nuts. Some times it’s there and other times it mysteriously disappears. There is nothing worse than craving your favorite salad just to find that it’s not always available when you want it. I decided I needed to take things into my own hands and recreate my favorite salad at home and that where my Balsamic Steak Salad with Pickled Tomato Relish began.

This salad is a perfect dinner salad, it has 5 components…

1 + The Steak +

This is super easy, all you need to do is grill up some steak simply with salt and pepper. I don’t even bother with the more expensive cuts of meat. Just a basic petite steak is perfect, just make sure to not over cook it.

2 + The Pickled Tomato Relish +

This was a game changer for me… If you love pickles, tomatoes, or vinegar, this recipe is for you! It’s super simple to put together a few days in advance and they keep in the fridge for a while so, a batch could last the whole summer if you like. I share my recipe for these pickled tomatoes HERE.

3 + The Croutons +

This salad has a lot of the same elements as a Panzanella Salad which is a bread salad. The croutons are a major element, not just an after thought. I make some fresh croutons out of day old French bread buy cutting it into large, but still bite sized pieces. I drizzle the bread with Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil and place in my toaster oven or oven at 350˚ for about 10 minutes or until they are lightly browned and dried out, but still a little chewy in the middle.

4 + The Cheese +

Every element to this salad is a must and the cheese is one of my favorites. I LOVE blue cheese. I always have some type of blue cheese in my fridge for just such an occasion. I’m not super picky so just your basic grocery store crumbled blue cheese will work, but it is a must!

5 + The Balsamic Dressing +

I use this dressing recipe ALL THE TIME! It’s great to mix up a large batch and keep in the fridge for simple dinner salads or I also use it as a marinade for chicken, steak, shrimp… really almost anything. It’s defiantly one that is good to have around. It was also perfect for my knock-off steak salad. Here are your ingredients…

+ Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil + Pompeian Balsamic Vinegar + garlic + honey + dijon mustard + dried oregano + salt + pepper +

Balsamic Steak Salad with Pickled Tomato Relish

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Prep time

3 mins

Total time

3 mins

This is a great dressing to have around for all kinds of salads or even a marinade for grilling.

Author: Heather // WhipperBerry

Recipe type: Balsamic Dressing

Cuisine: Italian

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

½ cup Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ cup Pompeian Balsamic Vinegar
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper

Instructions

Peel and finely mince your clove of garlic. Place a large pinch of course salt on the garlic and using the side of your knife rub the salt into the garlic creating a garlic paste. Scoop up the paste with your knife and add to a clean jar.
Add olive oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, oregano, salt and pepper to the jar. Put on the lid to the jar and shake for 1 minute. Let dressing set for 10 minutes so that the flavors can marry and then add to your favorite salad.
Store leftovers in the jar, place in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Now that you have all of the components, all you have to do is assemble and enjoy!

Disclaimer // This is part of a series of sponsored posts for Pompeian. I received product and payment for my recipe development. As always, all thoughts, idea and opinions are my very own!

5 Ingredient Barbecue Chicken Pizza

0 · May 20, 2014 ·

This post brought to you by KC Masterpiece® // I am a BBQ girl through and through. As a kid, I could not wait for grilling season to start! I’ve been known to grill through all kinds of weather, snow be darned (my mom reads this, gotta keep it PG.)

Even as a kiddo, I remember how important the sauce was. For years my Dad (he’s the primary griller in the house) would ALWAYS use KC Masterpiece®, always. My mom would stock-up and buy like 15,000 of them at a time (ok, maybe 6) and the panic button would be activated when we opened the last bottle. Yes, the sauce was that important in our house.

The same holds true for my house. I would have to say that there are very few products that I can claim brand loyalty for three decades and barbecue sauce is one of them, the other being my ketchup, but that another story. KC Masterpiece® has always been our go-to. Did you know that KC Masterpiece® was created by Dr. Rich Davis from Kansas City back in 1978. He created it for the first ever American Royal Barbecue Sauce Competition and won. The folks at KC Masterpiece® are celebrating a big anniversary this year… 35 years!!

To celebrate they have released a limited edition 35th Anniversary Sauce that is reminiscent of the original competition recipe from 1978. It’s lovely!

When the folks at KC Masterpiece® asked me to come up with a recipe for the special sauce, I knew instantly what I had to share. Our family’s favorite go-to dinner… Barbecue Chicken Pizza.

This recipe is so easy, it only has FIVE ingredients and it takes about FIVE minutes to pull together.

It’s one of those meals that I pull out several times a month on those busy nights when you need something quick, but still tasty. It’s also my go-to meal when I’m taking a meal to a family who is in need of a dinner. You know when Mom just had a baby or is sick. I make up a couple of these beauties in a snap, I take them over assembled but not baked. They can bake them when they are ready, they can even toss them in the freezer if they aren’t in immediate need. It’s PERFECT!

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

2 store bought already baked pizza crust

1 1/4 cups of KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce

1 store bought rotisserie chicken

1/2 of a large red onion sliced thin

3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

Yep, I told you it’s embarrassingly easy. I don’t even prepare the chicken. The secret is in the sauce. Seriously, I’ve made this meal at least 100 times and I have experimented with different sauces and it truly is the KC Masterpiece® sauce that makes it amazing.

I place the store bought pizza crust on a baking sheet. Side note... You can use store bought crust, make your own crust, use pita bread, biscuit dough, really anything for the crust. Our family likes thin crust pizza, so I buy the super thin store bought crust. Then I pour about 3/4 a cup of sauce on the crust and spread it all over.

Then I shred the chicken and place a heavy layer of chicken all over the crust. Another side note… On those nights when I’m not in that big of a rush, I make my own chicken by either roasting my own, boiling a couple of chicken breasts or even grilling them. It’s really whatever you like. I would have to say that 75% of the time I use the tasty store bought rotisserie chicken.

Then I add a layer of red onion… This is also a very important layer. Don’t skimp on the onion. This is what makes this pizza aaaamazing!

Next comes the cheese…

That’s it… Place it in a 400˚ oven for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and has lightly browned. You could even toss it on a grill if you don’t want to heat up your kitchen.

Serve with some grilled corn or a nice tossed salad and you have a wonderful easy to prepare dinner that literally took minutes to make and is a real crowd pleaser thanks to KC Masterpiece® and their amazing sauce! For more recipe ideas, you can visit KC Masterpiece® on Facebook or Twitter for all kinds of BBQ inspiration.

KC Masterpiece® barbecue sauce has been delivering authentic barbecue taste and creating culinary masterpieces for 35 years. For more recipe ideas, tips and tricks visit www.KCMasterpiece.com.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of KC Masterpiece®. The opinions and text are all mine.

The BEST Grilled Pork Chops

627 · Mar 13, 2014 · 11 Comments

// How to marinade and grill the BEST Pork Chops //

I admit it… I LOVE to grill! Well, my husband and I love to grill. We are a team really. I work on creating amazing marinades for our meat and veggies and he is the grill master. It’s a perfect partnership. From the minute the weather starts to warm up we fire-up the grill and it’s hard at work until the first snow flies. I have been known to grill some fabulous steaks standing in a snow storm a few years back. We don’t prescribe to the Memorial Day to Labor Day idea, that’s for the birds! Any day that you don’t have to completely bundle up in a parka is fair game in my book.

This week has finally started to warm up and of course we busted out the grill and had one of our favorite dinners, grilled pork chops with a fresh green salad. My secret to these pork chops is an amazing marinade. This one is super simple with only a handful of ingredients, namely… olive oil, white wine, garlic, dried oregano, dried basil, bay leaf, salt & pepper. That’s it!

To start, I grab a nice head of garlic, olive oil & white wine.

Now, I ‘m not a wine drinker so, I don’t really know to much about wine. What I typically do is find a lower to average priced wine for this purpose. Under $10 a bottle for sure. My rule of thumb is white wine for pork, chicken & fish. Red wine for beef. I really like Tyler Florence’s California Crush wines for this marinade, you can find it at Target. Here is the marinade recipe…

5.0 from 1 reviews

The BEST Grilled Pork Chops

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

25 mins

This simple grill marinade is perfect for pork & chicken. Your family is going to fall in love!

Author: Heather Thoming // WhipperBerry

Recipe type: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Serves: 6

Ingredients

6 thick cut pork chops
1 cup olive oil
2 cups white wine
5-6 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl combine the olive oil, wine, garlic, oregano, basil, bay leaf, salt & pepper. Whisk together.
Place pork chops in a large Ziplock bag and pour marinade over the chops.
Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours, best over night if possible.
Grill on a outdoor grill.
Start with 2 minutes over high heat on the first side. Flip over and grill for an additional 2 minutes. Flip again, and give the meat a ¼ turn for optimum grill marks, 2 more min, then flip and turn again, 2 more min.
Then turn the heat to med-low and cook until they reach your target internal temp (160˚F)
Once your meat is at 160˚ remove from grill and let rest for 10 minutes.

Grilling Tips

Now, once you’ve marinaded the meat it’s time to grill… This is my sweet husband’s area of expertise. Here are his grilling tips…

Make sure you are working with a clean well maintained grill. Whether it is charcoal or gas, taking care of your grill is well worth the investment of your time. Keep your grill clean and carefully spray with high heat cooking spray and you won’t have any issues with your food sticking to the grill.
Give your grill proper time to pre-heat.
Have a meat thermometer and a timer handy.
For these pork chops, start with high heat and place your chops on the grill. Set your timer for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, turn your meat and set the timer for an additional 2 minutes. After 2 minutes turn your chops, giving them a 1/4 turn to get those fabulous, professional looking grill marks. Cook for an additional 2 minutes. Turn one more time with the 1/4 turn for the other side and set the timer for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, turn your heat down to medium or if using charcoal, move your meat to a cooler side of the grill. Let cook turing every few minutes until your chops reach 160˚ F.
Remove the chops from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes.

That’s it! It’s really that easy and they taste sooooo good!! After your meat has rested, serve it with a nice garden salad and your family and friends will just adore you. The marinade with all of it’s flavorful goodness has made it’s way through the pork and created this amazing meal you won’t soon forget!

Give it a go and then tell me what you think… Take a photo of your pork chops and tag me on Instagram with the #WBwhatsfordinner hashtag and let me know what you thought!

Grilling

Cocktail + Frozen Shirley Temple +

Appetizer + Scallop & Shrimp Cocktail +

Soup + Creamy Avocado Gazpacho with Spicy Croutons +

Main Course + Light Tacos, Fiesta Summer Salad & Creamy Corn Cups +

Dessert + CocoFlan & Dirty Diet Coke +

1 + The Steak +

2 + The Pickled Tomato Relish +

3 + The Croutons +

4 + The Cheese +

5 + The Balsamic Dressing +

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Grilling Tips

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