Fresh and Delicious Green Beans

We grew green beans in the garden last summer, so we had plenty of FRESH green beans to go around. They were delicious! As I was looking for different ways of preparing them, I decided to give one of those grill baskets a try.

If you have never tried one of these, run to Ace Hardware or http://www.cooking.com/ and get one! You'll be happy you did. Ours doesn't look this shiney and new anymore, because it has been used often! We use this for everything! green beans, aparagus, potatoes, onions, zucchini, etc. any vegetable you'd saute on the stove can be cooked on the grill in this thing.
So, we made our beans in this all last summer. These don't take more than 5 minutes on a pre-heated grill, so I would prepare the beans while any meat that was just cooked on the grill is quietly resting under tented foil.

1-2 pounds fresh green beans
olive oil
kosher salt
1-2 cloves of garlic minced (optional)
soy sauce

Place the grill basket on the preheated grill. Toss the washed and dried green beans with olive oil and put into the hot basket. They'll sizzle and smoke. Using your grill tongs, keep tossing them in the basket. Sprinkle with kosher salt and toss some more. Continue to cook on the grill for a couple minutes, until the beans are cooked, but still crisp; you do NOT want limp beans.
Depending how hot your grill is, this should take about 4-5 minutes.
Just before removing from the grill, generously sprinkle the beans with soy sauce and thoroughly toss. At this point, if you also want to toss in some minced garlic, do it. Be VERY careful to NOT burn the garlic if you do choose to add it. Burnt garlic = blechhhh!
Remove the basket from the grill and transfer the beans to a serving bowl. Pass them when they are hot off the grill. So delicious!

**pictures will follow, making these tonight with grilled pork chops....


NOTE: you can also make these in a large non-stick skillet, on the stove.

Classic BBQ Chicken

I made this for dinner on Thursday night and I have to say, it is one of the best versions of BBQ chicken I've tried! So delicious and the chicken was so tender and juicy. The sauce was really good and sticky on the chicken. There's a lot more sauce than what what you'll need, but we made BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burgers last night for dinner and it was delicous there too!

Quick BBQ Sauce3 cups barbecue sauce (bottled)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 tablespoons brown mustard
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Chicken1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (breasts, whole legs, thighs, and/or drumsticks), trimmed and breasts halved

Instructions
For the sauce: Whisk all ingredients in medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until sauce is thick and reduced to 3 cups, about 20 minutes. (Sauce can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 1 week.)

For the chicken: Mix salt, pepper, and cayenne in small bowl. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and rub spice mixture all over chicken pieces.

Open bottom vent on grill. Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (about 100 coals) and burn until charcoal is covered with fine gray ash. Place 13 by 9-inch disposable aluminum roasting pan on one side of grill and pour coals in even layer over other side of grill. Set cooking grate in place, cover, open lid vents completely, and let grill heat for 5 minutes. Scrape cooking grate clean.

Oil grate and place chicken skin side down on cooler side of grill. Cover, with half-opened lid vents over chicken, and cook until chicken begins to brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Move chicken into single line close to coals. Begin flipping chicken and brushing with 2 cups sauce every 5 minutes until sticky, about 20 minutes. Slide chicken pieces over coals and continue to brush chicken until sauce on chicken becomes crusted and internal temperature of breast meat registers 165 degrees and legs, thighs, and drumsticks register 175 degrees, about 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter, tent with foil, and let rest 10 minutes. Remove foil and serve, passing remaining sauce at table.

Cooks Country TV has the gas grill version of this recipe available as well! YUM!