Friday, November 26, 2010

Really Great Hamburgers without All the Work - Grilliant Ideas Burgers



Tonight the family had gourmet burgers from the Burger Man, my friend GrilliantIdeas at Twitter. He is one of my grilling and barbecue buddies. We talk a little junk, and he always makes me laugh.

He's been bragging on his flavored burgers. No. He is not a modest guy. Haha. You can tell him I said that.

So, Frank hooked me up with some of his We Got Burgers in various flavors. He just wanted to see what I thought and didn't even make me promise to wear one of those skimpy Burger Girl outfits or anything (-: Yeah. Seriously, all I have to do is tell him what I think (and he knows I'm good about that), so I thought I'd tell ya'll too.

This was a good time for grilled burgers, and I designated it TGIB or Thank God It's Burgers (and not turkey again) with it the weekend after Thanksgiving. Gotta love the turkey, but not for every meal. So, burgers were just the ticket and on the Weber charcoal Kettle for extra measure.



Here you will see Bacon and Cheddar burgers and also Pineapple and Teriyaki. And, yes, they do look big. They are a half pound each. I'll try some other flavors later and check back in, but a half pound is really more than I can scarf down in one sitting. Yep. I'm a lightweight. That's OK. I saved the other half for lunch tomorrow.



Here's the crowd. As you can see, we are guy heavy. They can definitely throw down with thick and juicy 1/2 pound burgers especially good ones.

My two sons called dibs on the bacon and cheddar burgers. This is a small town, and that's getting adventuresome for them. So, if you have a conservative crowd, then you might want to go that way. I got a bite of Caleb's bacon cheddar burger, and it was really fabulous.

I had the We Got Burgers pineapple teriyaki. I had a hamburger in Disney World back in my teens with pineapple on top and thought that rocked, so I knew I'd like the pineapple in there. Yep. Excellent. That worked for me, but I loved that bacon cheddar too.

If you have had pre-made burgers at the grocery store, then you may have noticed that they are not very good usually. Sort of like the Happy Meal burger patties - no flavor at all. This is a whole different ball game here with We Got Burgers. Normally, I'd only serve my own hand patted grilled hamburgers, but that Grilliant has got it going. If you want tasty burgers and convenient, you can just order now and have ones that taste great plus have some very cool flavor options.

One thing for sure . . . this was an easy meal after two mega-time-in-the-kitchen meals. It was realy great to kick back and just enjoy.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Grilled Shrimp in a Grill Wok - Super Easy Grilling Recipe



We had grilled shrimp again tonight, and YES we had shrimp wok grilled last week as well. I've had a sinus and double ear infections, and frankly the guys are lucky they are getting food at all around here. I feel dreadful.

Shrimp in the grill wok is super simple though and easier than going and picking up something to eat. No. We do not have delivery out here in the country. Sigh that.

I did decide to fancy things up a bit with our grilled shrimp, since this is two weeks in a row. So, I used Melanie Yunk's Big Acres Teriyaki & Ginger marinade on this batch of vegetables and shrimp.



Melanie's marinade gave the grilled shrimp and veggies a richer and fuller flavor without adding any extra work on my end. Her Big Acres gourmet marinades and sauces are top notch, and I recommend them and also note that her collection that you see above is a real cool gift for friends or family who are foodies or ones who just don't know what they are missing.


How to Grill Shrimp in a Grill Wok


1. First I fire up the grill. This can be a charcoal, gas or electric grill. I used a gas grill tonight. The temperature should be fairly hot - around 375 degrees F or close.

2. I spray the grill wok with non-stick spray to make clean up easier. Tonight, I used Weber's grill non-stick spray. I think it's new. I've not seen it until lately here, and it works great. Then I let the grill wok heat a bit.

3. I have my vegetables in marinade. In this case, it was Melanie's Gourmet Teriyaki and Ginger. I also use Kraft Zesty Italian or I use olive oil and add my own seasonings.

4. I put my vegetables in the grill wok for about 5 minutes to give them a little head start, unless my shrimp are large. Mostly, around here, the shrimp sold are medium.

5. Once the vegetables grill for a few minutes, I add the shrimp to the grill wok.

6. I stir now and then and watch the color. My grilled shrimp took about 10 minutes, but that can vary on the heat and size of the shrimp. The main thing is to get the shrimp the pretty orange cooked color. That means they are done. And, if you keep cooking them, they get rubbery. Just watch the color. That's the key. When they look done, they are done.

Well, that was my quick and easy grilled dinner tonight. It took 15 minutes total on the grilling (not including the heating times). We ate the food like a Low Country Boil - just picked up shrimp and veggies (green peppers and mushrooms) and had lots of paper towels. This same meal can be served over a rice bed for a more upscale meal, but I did not feel like doing rice tonight.

I did boil some corn on the cob and made some canned biscuits to go with our wok grilled shrimp. Again - going easy on the dinner when not feeling great.

There were sure no complaints. The guys grabbed plates of the wok grilled shrimp and vegetables and watched the ballgame on TV. They did the dishes too, so I call this a really good dinner night and sure super easy.