Bacon Everywhere on Everything

Well, as if my great desire to eat bacon wasn’t bad enough, my dear sister just sent me a new cookbook (one of those mini pamphlets at the grocery store counter) simply entitled BACON. It is by Taste of Home magazine and really is a nice compilation of recipe cards all starring bacon.

We have bacon for breakfast, appetizers, lunch/dinner, side dishes and even DESSERT. The dessert recipes looked a little strange like Bacon Baklava (the Macedonians and Greeks are flipping out right now) and Chocolate Covered Bacon which really did not look too appealing even for chocolate girls.

Well, of course I tried a few and they were pretty good so I had to share.

First, I made an appetizer. I changed the recipe a bit as it was too cheesy, so here is my version:

Bacon Rounds

1c. mayonnaise
1 tbs. grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. garlic powder (they also included celery seed which added nothing to the flavor)
1c. shredded cheddar cheese (they used 2 cups but it was too gooey for me)
4 green onions thinly sliced
8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 baguette, sliced into 48 rounds.

The original recipe also added chopped peanuts but again, not so great.

In a large bowl combine first 6 ingredients. Mix well and add cheese, bacon and onions. Lightly brush olive oil on the bottoms of the bread. Oil side down, place on cookie sheet and top with spread. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Serve warm. I have made these twice and the recipe does well if you cut it in half since it does make a lot. Enjoy!

Bacon Chicken Roll Ups

After the appetizer try, the next day I went after an entrée and this one was good. Seriously, this one begins with 12 bacon strips, how can you go wrong?

12 bacon strips (partially cook in frying pan but do not let get crisp or there will be no rolling)
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (see, there is one thing healthy about this recipe) 8 oz. softened cream cheese mixed with ½ tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Flatten chicken to 1/8 inch thickness. Spread cream cheese down the center (I used about 2 tbs. for each breast) and roll up from long side, tucking in ends. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap two bacon strips around each breast and secure with toothpicks.

Place in greased 13x9 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until cooked through. These are pretty and good and I served them with glazed carrots!

The original recipe says to put sliced onions on top of the cream cheese, but who wants an onion stuck in the middle of a delicious chicken recipe? I also added the garlic powder to flavor up the cream cheese a bit.

My next try will be Bacon-Pecan Stuffed Mushrooms!

Dinner for You or for Guests

I am an avid watcher of The Food Network and the show "The Next Food Network Star". Last year’s winner, Melissa D’Arabian, is a home cook who specializes in economical dinners – but that is not why I watch her show. She just plain has good recipes. Tonight I made one of her best. I only tinkered with it a bit and I know you will love it. I will go through it step-by-step so you can prepare it for guests without making you or them crazy.

Skirt Steak with Carmelized Onions and Ginger Honey Carrots

The carrots are not her recipe but I thought they were a good changeup from potatoes or another starch.

Here is the plan:

To carmelize the onions, you need one large red onion (I like them better than white onions) cut in very skinny slices. In a medium skillet, melt 2 tsb. butter and 1 tsb. olive oil. Add onions and put on very low heat until they brown and carmelized. This will take a long time, like 15-20 minutes. When they are nice and brown, set aside.

Meanwhile, peel and cut into small sticks about 3 or 4 large carrots. Put in a pan and bring to a boil. Boil carrots for 8 minutes. In another medium fry pan place 2 tsb. butter, 3 tsb. honey and ½ tsp. ginger. As the carrots boil, toward the end of the 8 minutes slowly melt the butter and honey in the pan along with the ginger.

In another, large frying pan, melt 2 tsb. butter and 1 tsb. olive oil. When really smoking hot, add the skirt steaks. (By now the onions are carmelized and the carrots are almost finished cooking the 8 minutes). Add the skirt steaks – you have already trimmed the visible fat. These cook really quickly, about 2 ½ minutes each side. When you put the steaks on, drain the carrots and add them to the honey ginger mixture and toss to coat. They need about 5 minutes for all the delicious flavors to meld together.

Now, take the skirt steaks of the flame to rest and let’s deglaze the onions. I know it is a lot to juggle – skirt steaks on the cutting board, carrots in the glaze and NOW I need you to deglaze the onions. To the onions add 3 tsb. white wine and 3 tsb. sherry. Just use a rubber scraper and get up all the nice bits.

NOW we are ready! Steaks are rested and ready to be sliced, the carrots are glazed and the onions are super pretty and carmelized. We have a winner of a dinner!! Try this tonight. I think you will love it!

California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Pizza Or My Take On It

If you have ever been to a California Pizza Kitchen, I hope you have ordered their BBQ chicken and gouda Pizza (called The Original BBQ Chicken) because it is delicious. It is great to dine at CPK, but I have figured out a way to make the pizza at home and it really is just as good!

BECKY’S CPK BBQ CHICKEN PIZZA

Please read the recipe through before starting as there is some prep work involved.

One pizza crust – now there are a lot of ways to do this. My grocery sells pre-made crusts as well as nice soft dough you can make a crust from and there is always Pillsbury with their ready-made dough in the refrigerated section of your store. You can also make your own. I taught you how to do this last summer when I made the Rosemary Pizza Crusts.

Lay the dough on a cookie sheet. Top with your favorite BBQ sauce (I love Cincinnati’s Montgomery Inn Sauce) and spread to the edge. Don’t overdo it – this pizza is not as mellow as a traditional pizza. Top with about 1c. shredded mozzarella. Next, top with 1-2 chicken breasts you have already roasted and diced into small pieces. Now, here, we vary from CPK and we add my FAVORITE ingredient – BACON! Fry about 6 slices of bacon in a pan, drain and chop and layer on the pizza. Top with sliced or shredded smoked gouda cheese, then drizzle with more BBQ sauce. Cook in a 425 degree oven about 15 minutes until cheese is melted and bottom of crust is nice and brown.

CPK adds sliced red onion but I personally feel it can overpower the cheese and chicken and let’s face it – I just love bacon way more! I think this would be a great cocktail appetizer – cut the pizza in small squares and serve with drinks. Your friends would love it!

Poylnesian Beef

Many years ago, when I was first married, my dad used to send me recipes he would take from our local newspapers, mainly the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The following is a recipe he sent to me and I have passed it along and made it for 35 years. It is delicious, easy to make and pretty enough for company. Just ask Pudgie and Vicki.

Polynesian Beef

1 ½ lbs. boneless sirloin sliced into thin strips with all fat removed (I have on occasion used round steak and that works too)
½ c. soy sauce
1 ¼ c. water
¼ tsp. pepper
One green pepper, sliced thin
Two tomatoes cut in large chunks
One can sliced water chestnuts
Four green onions, sliced thin the long way, and include some green parts
Three stalks broccoli, chopped

In a small amount of oil, brown meat until no longer pink. Mix together the soy sauce, water and pepper, pour over meat and let simmer (not boil) for about a half hour – you can let it go a lot longer if you wish, just cover it so the juice doesn’t evaporate.

Just before serving, make some nice minute rice in your microwave (or boil the rice on your stove until almost cooked through) then add all the vegetables to the meat mixture and let simmer with the cover on for a few minutes. The vegetables should remain crisp but warmed through and they are so pretty and colorful. Serve over rice. This keeps very well and if you have any leftovers just warm them up the next day. Or do what I do and eat them cold!

Beef and Mushroom for Family and Guests

My dad sent me this recipe when I was a new bride (almost 37 years ago) and I have been making it for that long. It is perfect for family and for guests, just like the title says.

I would make it for my in-laws when they visited from Wisconsin - it makes the house smell fab and needs very little attention so you can serve it whenever it suits you. This feature also makes it perfect for guests, especially people who arrive late (never be late for a dinner party by the way it is too rude) because you can leave it in the oven or crockpot for a long time. Here you go:

3 lb. beef roast ( I have used eye of round, boneless rump roast and even sirloin tip roast. It need not be exactly 3 lbs. and since it will braise for so long it can be a very inexpensive cut too, although I would stay away from using a chuck roast since it is so fatty)
One envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
One can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup
One soup can of dry sherry (go to the liquor store and buy a bottle and don’t spend more than $6.00).
½ can beef broth (save the other ½ in case you need to thin out the mixture the next day if there are any leftovers)
12-15 mushrooms sliced thinly

Cut the meat into bite-sized chunks – don’t make them so big you cannot fit them in your mouth. Place meat and mushrooms in a crockpot or dutch oven pan. In a separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Pour over meat and mushrooms and stir.

If you are using your crockpot set in on low for about 10 hours. Sometimes I mix it all up, refrigerate it and then put it in the crockpot early the next morning.

If you are using a dutch oven pan, cover and bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours.

Serve over noodles or mashed potatoes with a nice green veggie and salad.

The best thing about this recipe is you do not need to brown the meat first as you do with so many crockpot meals – I mean if you have to go to all the trouble of browning the meat why bother with the crockpot anyway? Seriously, try this recipe. I know some of the ingredients are ones you may have used before, but adding the sherry and broth make this very, very good.

Rosemary Roasted Chicken

Everyone needs a good, basic roast chicken recipe. I have perfected this one over many years and it always turns out great. You will need a roasting pan with a rack and nice basting brush to get started.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl combine the ingredients below and then set mixture aside.
One lemon, both the zest and the juice
Rosemary (fresh if possible, just remove the leaves from 3 stalks and chop) or 1 tsp. dried
One clove garlic, chopped
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
3 tbs. olive oil

You will need a 5-7lb. chicken. I know there are special roasting chickens out there (which are great), but a whole, uncut broiler/fryer works just as well and is usually less $$. Remove the bag inside the chicken and discard. Before you all write to me and complain that the innards can be used for stock or soup, I already know that – but they are too gross for me.

Wash and dry the chicken and pull out any stray feathers. You need to rinse inside and out and then dry the chicken well or it will not brown properly.

Now, pull up the breast skin and rub about 1 tbs. of the rosemary mix on the breast. Do both sides, reaching as far down the breast as possible to coat thoroughly. Next, try to pull up as much skin as you can on the thighs and do the same thing. Pour remaining mix over the top of the chicken and massage it in.

Tie the legs of the chicken together, I use twine or fishing line. Turn wings under the chicken to create a “perch.” WASH YOUR HANDS!!

Place bird in the oven and bake about 20-25 minutes per pound. Baste often with the juices. The chicken is done when you can pull the leg away from the thigh and the juices are clear. Ignore that annoying pop-up timer thing. It always pops up long before the meat is done.

When the chicken is done, remove from pan, pour interior liquid from the cavity into the sink and rest on a carving board about 10 minutes. Be sure to cover with foil. Carve when ready.

*Becky Knows Everything: After I make the chicken, I often cool and refrigerate the meat for sandwiches. The breast meat is so tender and flavorful from the rosemary mixture. Or, serve warm and make gravy, potatoes, and dressing and pretend it’s Thanksgiving!

Becky's Best Breaded Chops

This is one of those delicious family recipes that I have been making for 35 years. I first enjoyed these chops as a newlywed visiting my in-laws in Appleton, Wisconsin. This is a special dish from my mother-in-law, Jeannine.

Ingredients:

6 center cut pork chops (not thin sliced), trimmed of any wide, nasty fat – I just take my scissors and cut it off
1 c. or more of plain breadcrumbs, I prefer Progresso
2-3 eggs
½ c. or more flour
½ c. chicken broth
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
Oil, I prefer canola

Here’s what you do:
Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Pour canola oil into a large frying pan so it covers the bottom and comes up on the sides about ¼ inch and turn on med to hi heat.

Take 3 pasta type, large deep bowls from your cupboard – in one pour the flour, one the crumbs and one the eggs. Beat the eggs slightly with a fork. Salt and pepper the chops.

The breading is simple - like breading chicken or mushrooms or whatever. Place a chop in the flour, covering it completely, shake off, dip it into the egg (be sure to turn so both sides are coated) and drop it in the crumbs. Pat the crumbs on both sides and all around the chop. Drop into the heated oil. I don’t use a thermometer or anything fancy. I know the oil is hot when I sprinkle a few droplets of water in it and it crackles – be careful, please.

Repeat until all chops are coated and in the pan. Even in a large pan you can usually only get 4-5 chops, so take your time. Let the chops cook on one side in the oil and when the bottom gets golden brown and a little crispy, flip them once. The goal is to get a pretty chop with cooked crumbs. We are not trying to cook the chops all the way through – that’s why we have the oven pre-heating. As each chop is finished browning, put into a 13x9 pan. If your frying pan is oven proof with a tight lid, it can be used in the oven, but you need to wipe out any excess oil after the chops are browned – so that’s why I just use a 13x9 type cake pan. Pour the chicken broth over the chops and cover tightly with foil. Place in the oven for 2 ½ -3 hours, removing the foil about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, so they absorb the moisture and the steam subsides.

*Becky Knows Everything: These are soooo good – warm, room temperature and even cold. Make sure you make an extra for lunch tomorrow!

Slo Joe BBQ

I know summertime is perfect for making a beef barbeque with brisket on the grill or pulled pork sandwiches, but with all the rain in my part of the country sometimes you need to stay inside to cook.

Our family has a great recipe for BBQ made in the oven. It is made with ground beef and a number of simple ingredients which you mix all together and then bake for a few hours. It is really more of a Sloppy Joe mix then real BBQ. It is so delicious and I have made it for many gatherings and have been asked for the recipe often. I have never made it in a crockpot, but I do have friends that have warmed it up in a crockpot. It is great no matter what the season or weather and it freezes so well!

I serve this yummy sandwich with "Sue's Sweet and Sour Slaw" and dill pickles. And, of course a handful of potato chips!

Slo Joe BBQ

2 lbs. ground beef (I use one lb. of the 80%-20% fat content and one lb. of the 90%-10% content – you need some fat or there is no flavor)

In a dutch oven, brown the meat until no pink remains and break into small pieces. Drain off the fat by pouring the meat into a colander, then return to pan.

Add:
One large green pepper, diced
One large yellow onion, diced
Two stalks celery, diced
1 ½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

Cook this all together on low until vegetables get a tiny bit soft. I only do this for about 5 minutes and then I add the rest of the ingredients:

One 16oz can tomato sauce
1/8 c. sugar
¼ c. apple cider vinegar (do not use red wine or balsamic vinegar)
½ c. catsup
1 tsp. dry mustard

Mix all together, let it get bubbly, then put the lid on and bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 2 ½ hours. If you let it cook longer, it is not a problem.

Serve on a sturdy bun (I like Pepperidge Farm sandwich rolls) brushed with butter and broiled until toasty. This keeps the BBQ from saturating the bun too quickly and making it all smushy and soggy.

*Becky Knows Everything: So easy to make and can be done the day before or even weeks before since it freezes so well. I usually make this in advance of a trip and freeze it in small containers, so when we return home we have something delicious and easy to prepare for dinner.

Becky's Perfect Pizza Recipe

This recipe will make a variety of different shaped crusts: 6 thin, irregularly shaped crusts, 15 appetizer size pizzas, 3 nice dinner size pizzas, OR just one large crust!

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. honey

2 tsp. olive oil

1 ½ tsp. crushed rosemary

2 ½ c. flour

1 c. warm water (NOT TOO HOT, but really warm)

1 ½ packages dry yeast or 2 cakes yeast

Put the salt, honey, rosemary and olive oil in a large bowl. With your wire whisk, blend in the warm water until honey is dissolved. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for about 20 minutes so the yeast can “proof” or get a bit bubbly.

Add the flour and mix until all is blended. Turn out onto a floured surface and gently knead for one minute. Return to bowl. Drizzle a little olive oil on dough, turn and drizzle a bit more so dough has a slight coating. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place. In the summer heat, this is not a problem and will create a super nice soft dough. In the winter, the dough will not rise as much, unless you are my mother and keep your house at 85 degrees year round. Sometimes in the winter I preheat my oven, turn it off and let the dough sit on the open door. Let the dough rise one hour.

Time to make the crusts! Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from the bowl and cut in half, then cut each section into 3 pieces. Of course this depends on how many pizzas you are making. Roll each section out on a floured surface and place on large cookie sheets that you have sprayed with cooking spray. I usually get three sort of long and narrow crusts from each piece. Repeat until all crusts have been rolled. Using both oven racks, bake pizzas for about 7 minutes, then switch cookie sheets and bake about 4 minutes more. Only the bottoms and a bit of the edges will be golden. If you over-bake, it is OK – but remember, you will be baking again when you put the toppings on.

Store crusts in the freezer in a jumbo plastic bag. When ready to use, prepare your toppings and go for it! There is only one pizza sauce that is store-bought that I like and it is Contadina Four Cheese. It tastes as good as when I make it myself. Top with pepperoni, sautéed mushrooms, black olives, red pepper pieces and I use both crumbled feta and mozzarella slices. Anything you like will do. When topped, bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes until cheese is melted. YUM!

Becky's Perfect Pizza

I love pizza! I love thick crust and thin crust and everything in between. I really think pizza is my all-time favorite food. (Oops, I forgot about bacon – now THAT is perfect food).

I have been making homemade pizza since I was a pre-teen and used boxed hot roll mix. Over the years I have tried many yeast to flour to water ratios as well as dried yeast, rapid rise yeast and cake yeast. The yeasty taste and smell are so important. It makes you realize it is homemade—frozen pizza just can’t capture that specific aroma.

I will share my perfect pizza recipe in the next blog and I hope you will give it a try. Read on for a pizza story and a few ideas.

My son is the perfect pizza fan. He likes a thin crust, plain (cheese and sauce only) and he likes it often! When he went away to college and then law school I would make up a double batch of dough every two weeks. On Sunday nights, I would roll out the dough into 12 thin crusts and bake until it was just a tiny bit golden. Monday mornings would find me at the post office with a priority mail box in hand full of pizza crusts. Off to Boston or wherever he was at the moment they would go. I mean this is one lucky kid. I even used to regularly mail him homemade cherry pie in a special container. My friends would make fun of me for going to all that trouble, but the worst part was standing in line at the post office. Too bad this was a number of years ago and they didn’t have the self-mail stations you can now use day or night.

The crusts are delicious, can be frozen, then topped with your favorites and baked for a very short time.

I have made the crusts tiny (cut out with a cookie cutter) for appetizers with fresh basil and mozzarella toppings. I have also rolled the dough into larger individual crusts and had friends over to create their own specialties and I have made giant pizzas with great success.

WOW! I am making myself hungry. Let’s have pizza tonight!!

Mandarin Chicken Salad

This concludes my chicken recipes for Jamie P. I hope she found them to be just what she was looking for. I am sure she will impress anyone she invites to dinner.

Mandarin Chicken Salad

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 c. of any store bought teriyaki marinade (or just blend ½ c. soy sauce with ½ c. water)

1 tbs. vegetable oil
1 pkg. oriental flavor ramen noodles (optional but they give a nice crunch and only cost TWENTY CENTS or if you don’t like these, use crunchy chow mein noodles)
½ c. sliced almonds (don’t buy the weird white slivered ones that look like skinny false teeth)
1 tsp. sesame seeds
One bag of mixed greens (I always add a few handfuls of good old chopped romaine since these mixed greens look too much like weeds to me)
3 green onions, chopped
½ cucumber, sliced
8 oz. can of mandarin oranges, drained
One bottle of any ginger, sesame, teriyaki salad dressing (there are a bunch of them out there and they are all pretty good, even the low fat ones).

Marinate chicken in sauce for an hour or longer in refrigerator. When ready to serve, remove from bowl, discard marinade and grill or broil until chicken is cooked through. When slightly cooled, cut in thin slices on an angle. Meanwhile, in sauté pan using the oil, lightly brown the almonds, broken up noodles and sesame seeds. On each plate, assemble mixed greens and romaine. Add oranges, green onions, noodle mix and chicken. Top with dressing. I think you will like this one – it’s spicy and so flavorful too.

*Becky Knows Everything: I flatten the chicken breasts so they cook more evenly, but if the pounding drives you nuts, just cut them in half horizontally.

Lemon Loves Chicken

Here is one more idea for Jamie P. in response to her request for some fancy but light chicken main dishes suitable for entertaining.

Lemon Loves Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts that have been “filleted” or pounded to be even in thickness
1/3 c. olive oil
Zest of 2 lemons
4 cloves minced garlic
1/3 c. fresh lemon juice
2 tbs. fresh parsley, chopped (I told you all to go buy that mini chopper)
½ tsp. dried, crushed rosemary (I know fresh is good but it gets so woody and sticks in your teeth and who needs that with company coming)
½ tsp. kosher salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients, whisk, then add chicken. Marinate chicken in sauce for an hour or longer in refrigerator. Grill or broil for about 5 minutes each side and serve. This is a very simple recipe, but the fresh lemon, as always, adds a “WOW” factor. I would serve this with fresh asparagus and small red potatoes that have been boiled gently and then tossed with melted butter and a sprinkle of rosemary.

Entertain with Chicken

Jamie P. writes: “Becky, I have some spare time on my hands and am cooking more. Can you give me some chicken recipes that are fancy but light and festive enough for company?”

Jamie is a 30ish grad student with a cute boyfriend and loves to entertain - so I have a few good recipes for her that are not too $$$ but are different and delicious. The recipes are easy for a novice cook, but really tasty and you will be proud to serve them. I will post a few recipes over the next couple days. Tonight, let's start with Chicken Brochette.

Chicken Brochette

Marinade: Mix all together – ½ c. soy sauce, ½ c. vegetable oil, 3 green onions, chopped, 1 tbs. brown sugar, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tsp. vinegar (not balsamic or red wine but rather white or cider vinegar).

Other brochette ingredients - 8 cherry tomatoes, one fresh pineapple cut into chunks (you will only use about 12 chunks), green or red pepper pieces (think enough to fit on a skewer) and about 12 fresh mushrooms.

For four people I use 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut in nice size chunks. After you mix up the marinade, drop in the chicken and let the mixture sit covered in refrigerator for an hour or more (you can even do this in the morning before work and let it marinate all day).

When you are ready to go (allow 20 minutes to get it all together) thread chicken on 2-3 skewers. If you don’t have the metal ones, use wooden ones that you have soaked in water for a few hours so they don’t burn up. On different skewers, thread alternating pieces of pepper, pineapple, mushroom and tomatoes. Brush these skewers lightly with olive oil.

You can cook these a number of ways – do them under your broiler, on top of your stove on a grill pan or outside on a grill. The vegetables will go quickly, just make sure the chicken is cooked through (about 5 minutes each side, but cut a fat one in half before time is up to see how they are doing). By the way, once you flip the chicken, start the rice (I use minute rice since it tastes the same to me as regular and never gets gummy). If you time it right, the rice will be done when the meat is ready.

To serve, assemble the plates in the kitchen, dividing the meat and veggies on the four plates with the rice. Serve with a nice green salad.

*Becky Knows Everything: I use chicken broth with a dash of soy sauce for the liquid I cook the rice in. Also sometimes it is nice to serve some cold, fresh pineapple with dinner. Sweet and refreshing.

Finger Lickin Good

Becky's Basic Pork Ribs

All you need to make this recipe is one slab of baby back pork ribs (try to find ones that look lean since there is plenty of flavorful fat hidden) and your favorite bottle of BBQ sauce.

Talk about simple - all I do is generously salt (I use garlic salt) and pepper the ribs. Be sure to do both sides. I put them on a rack in a pan (no rack, no worry), add ½ c. water and cover it tightly with foil and bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours. I use my broiler pan but you may have a nice pan with its own lid, so use that. If anyone wants to buy me a nice rectangular pan with its own lid, feel free to do so.

At the end of the 3 hours (try not to peek since you will never really get that foil back on) I drain the liquid, remove the rack and flip the ribs over so the leaner bony side is on top. Preheat the broiler, spread sauce on the meat and broil until very dark and sauce is thick and sticky. Flip and repeat on top side. Of course, these can be done on an outdoor grill too after you have baked them in your oven.

*Becky Knows Everything: Many people use a rub on the meat and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Frankly, I don’t do this because it never tasted any different to me after the sauce went on. But if you want a rub, there are many available out there.

*Becky Knows Everything DOUBLETIME: My favorite sauce is a Cincinnati special - Montgomery Inn BBQ Sauce. You can order it from their website.

Becky's Great Greek Salad

Here is one more delicious recipe with feta - Becky's Great Greek Salad. It's healthy and crunchy! This is so pretty and delicious you will be dancing like Zorba - you know smashing plates and all that.

Becky's Great Greek Salad

One bunch romaine lettuce, torn into bite size pieces

One bunch red leaf lettuce, also torn into bite size pieces

One small red onion, sliced very thinly

½ half seedless cucumber, sliced thinly

Grape tomatoes (they are so sweet and yummy and don’t burst in your mouth like those cherry ones)

Two hard boiled eggs, chopped

12-15 pitted kalamata olives or most of one jar

Combine all the above in a large bowl. Just before serving, toss with dressing and sprinkle generously with feta cheese. This recipe makes a lot and will fill a big bowl. You can keep it fresh if you only put the dressing on the portion you are eating and refrigerate the rest until tomorrow.

Dressing: combine 1/3 c. balsamic vinegar, 1/2 c. olive oil, salt and pepper, ½ tsp. oregano, ½ tsp. basil, ½ tsp sugar. Mix all until well blended.