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Greetings from the beautiful Miramichi where our summers are fun filled with lots of festivals. We
have festival days for all cultures. Grammie hasn't
had a chance to sit back on the old rocker for ages — it's go, go, go!
After a busy day having fun it's home to a BBQ.
We won't be heating up the kitchen these days. Sunny days are nice, but we really need some rain. Grampie says the garden
is '‘crackin’ for rain. If we don't get some rain soon the string beans will be rubbery.
There is nothing like having
that first feed of fresh garden veggies, a nice big hodgepodge. You can even make a sauce for your veggie hodgepodge. So this
month it's BBQ and Garden Veggies.
First a little word about the
grandchildren and their antics. They tell me I embarrass them. I tell them it's payback for all the times they embarrassed
me when they were growing up.
One incident I remember . .
. The children were asked to write about their grandmother for a school project. Well one granddaughter's essay was chosen
for the local paper.
She started off really well by telling how nice
I was, how I made cookies with them, read to them etc. But she ended by saying I called all the granddaughters ‘Sally
Ann’ and all the grandsons ‘Henry’ because Grammie had so many grandchildren she forgot their names . .
. the little darling. J
And now on to the BBQ!
BBQ Potatoes
Potatoes
are really nice done this way, especially if you like onions.
Tear off large pieces of tin
foil and spread the centre with butter.
Leave skins on potatoes, wash
and slice in circles.
(Do as many potatoes as you
think you will need.)
Slice onions in circles, as
many or few as you like.
In the centre of the tinfoil
stand the potatoes up, about 3 or 4 slices, then add an onion slice. Repeat this until you have enough to fill the centre
of the tinfoil and what you think one person will eat.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over
all. Add dabs of butter.
Fold your tinfoil
up around potatoes and onions. Fold tight on ends so butter won’t drip out. Repeat this process until you have enough
packages for everyone.
Put packets on the BBQ or in the oven, turning every now and again
until potatoes are cooked.
Onions and mushrooms with salt, pepper and butter (or margarine) done together
this way is also really nice with your BBQ.
Maybe you would like Baked Potatoes with your BBQ.
I wash
my potatoes, leaving the skins on, and prick with fork.
Put potato in centre of buttered tinfoil with salt
and pepper.
Wrap tightly. Bake about an hour.
When serving I always have a dish with shredded
cheese, bacon bits and cut up scallions mixed together.
Cut your potato in two, add a bit of butter, sour
cream, salt and pepper, and garnish with cheese, bacon and onion mixture.
How about a Stir-fry to go with your potatoes?
Whenever I barbecue chicken,
I boil it in a little water first and save the broth for my stir-fry.
I use whatever veggies I have in the house —
green, red and yellow pepper; cauliflower; sliced carrots; broccoli; onions; mushrooms; snow peas; etc.
I put
the vegetables in my electric fry pan with a bit of oil and gently stir-fry. An electric wok works well too.
When
veggies are done to my liking, (we like ours a little crisp) I take the chicken broth and add a little more water with chicken
or beef base and some corn starch, depending on how thick you like your stir fry (add wet mixture to corn starch). I don’t
like it too thick. Stir into veggies, and gently simmer until it thickens a little.
The vegetable hodgepodge
can be made to suit your own taste. Cook young carrots, green and yellow string beans, snow peas, pod peas . . . maybe snow
peas could be steamed separately and then added.
Another sauce to try with your veggies is a Cream Sauce.
In a pot over medium heat
and melt a couple tbsp butter. Stir in same amount of flour, and add milk, stir until thickened. Add more milk if too thick.
Add salt and pepper and more butter if you wish.
Cater to your own taste buds. You may even like to add a bit of
cheese or garlic to sauce. Stir into cooked vegetables.
As I told you before I don’t do too much
measuring when cooking, just by gosh and by golly.
Dear Grammie,
Do you know anything about BBQing a whole chicken? I've heard it's
really tasty done this way, but I have no idea how to go about it.
Thanks,
Susan
Dear Susan,
I'll
let you in on a little secret — Grammies don't know everything, J so I asked
my daughter how she does her chicken. She is in Alberta and it’s so hot there she does all her summer cooking on her
BBQ. Here is her letter on BBQ chicken.
Dear Mom,
Here is the way I BBQ chicken.
Boil whole
chicken or chicken parts until almost completely cooked.
Remove from water and allow water to drip off
(save broth for stir fry).
Sprinkle
any seasoning you might want.
Heat BBQ.
Turn one side off.
Put the chicken on side
that is turned off.
Leaving the other side on medium.
Close the lid and cook, turning approximately every 20 minutes.
If you like BBQ sauce add near the end of cooking, if you do it too soon it will just burn.
Hint - Add your favourite chicken herbs or spices to water when
boiling chicken.
Chicken In Tinfoil
1 chicken
breast
1 Potato, sliced about 1/4 inch
Sliced carrots
Sliced Peppers (Red or
Green)
Butter
Seasoning
Place
chicken on tinfoil.
Layer veggies on top and butter.
Roll up tinfoil and double wrap.
Place
on BBQ at low heat and turn every 5 minutes.
It helps to butter the tin foil on first layer.
Hope you enjoy these recipes. I make them all the time. I also make Hamburger dinners in
tinfoil, the same as chicken breast just use a hamburger patty.
Grammie’s Hints for Potato Salad
When cooking
potatoes for salad, add a bit of vinegar to keep potatoes from turning dark. Also, don’t add salt while cooking potatoes,
add salt when putting your salad together.
For hard-boiled eggs, boil for 10 minutes then immediately run under cold water
to keep eggs from turning dark.
Grammie’s Words of Wisdom
Crayon marks on your walls?
This works wonderfully — ase a damp cloth dipped in baking
soda. Crayon comes off with little effort (elbow grease that is!)
Bloodstains on Johnnie’s shirt from the cut he got while playing
with Dad‘s fishing knife he wasn‘t supposed to have?
Not to worry! Just pour a little peroxide on a cloth and
proceed to wipe off every drop of blood. Works every time.
For Dad, use empty toilet paper rolls to store appliance cords. It keeps
them neat and you can write on the roll what appliance it belongs to.
And finally for all you Grammies out there, after the kiddies have gone
home and you feel a tension headache coming on, take 2 aspirin and do what it says on the bottle — “Keep away
from children.”
Until next time, remember, I made it especially for you.
Grammie is waiting for you in her kitchen, rocking in her favourite chair by the stove, knitting needles
clicking away the seconds. Drop by and join her for a spot of tea, a warm molasses cookie and some wise advice. Every month
she answers all your letters as only she can. So, if you have a kitchen-type question or comment for Grammie, send an email
to editor@breadnmolasses.com and put Grammie in the subject line.
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