a weekend of grilling and chilling!

so this was one of those weekends where the weather would not make up it's mind.. friday night it rained all night.. saturday it was brrrr cold.. and sunday beautiful.. just gorgeous.. we had a pretty busy weekend.. saturday morning we picked up our bountiful basket and then off to ollie's soccer game.. later that evening was shell's junior prom!! sunday we decided to hang around the house..grill some bratwursts for lunch and chicken for dinner..the kids came over.. so all in all a very nice peaceful weekend..  friday night i decided to grill some flat iron steak, peppers, onions and make "grilled" fajitas.. they were soo yummy.. there is no picture of the finished product it was raining cold and gloomy!! i even grilled in the rain!

i was inspired for friday night's dinner from reading my food network magazine and coming across this recipe here.. it sounded so yummy i wanted to try it.. and i was right.. soo good!!

prep time: 15 minutes

cooking time: 20 minutes

servings: 6

ingredients:

2 lbs flat iron steak

1 cup pickled jalapeno peppers, including the onions and carrots from the jar

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 tsp. cumin

salt and pepper

small flour tortillas (heat according to package directions or heat on the grill quickly)

put steak in a baking dish and toss with the pickled jalapeno mixture, let marinate at room temperature for one 1 hour.  pre heat grill to medium high.. brush the jalapeno mixture off, season steak with cumin, salt and pepper and grill until slightly charred.. 5-6 minutes per side.. transfer to a cutting board and let rest.. we also grilled veggies at the same time in my grill basket and made fajitas..

i cut up a red pepper, yellow pepper, jalapeno, onion and cilantro.. tossed with cumin, ancho chili powder and a little olive oil and grilled in my grill basket until stoft and tender about 15 minutes..

we got to see ollie play in his second ever soccer game.. and while i think he is the next beckham he was more interested in playing keep away..

he still isn't sure about the concept that someone gets to kick the ball he just kicked but it was fun to watch!! the weather cleared up nicely there was no rain but it was still a bit chilly..

grilled ribs sounded good for dinner and they were so yummy!! so i pulled out my old recipe for beer braised ribs found here.. i did make a few changes.. i used guinness beer.. mainly because i still have some left over from st . patricks day and it's not going to get drunk in my house.. blah that stuff is nasty to drink but good to cook with.. and i used sweet baby rays bbq sauce.. because well i think it's amazing and i love it.. and that's what i had and didn't want to make my own.. i know lazy.. but..

braising/steaming the ribs in the beer.. they come out fall apart tender.. so juicy.. seriously good!! i wish i had brought them for lunch today :o(*

after we were able to eat this delectable wonderful meal.. shell went to prom.. she had a really nice time and looked fabulous!! she didn't eat the messy ribs ha..

shell and sam..

her brother tends to get cranky when she goes out on dates.. ha ha  

shell and her boys!! (her bbf's ha ha)

the group she went out with.. they went to margarittaville on the strip.. had a blast!!

and finally her and patrick..

it turned out to be a long night and i was up very late.. i actually slept in until 8:00 am on sunday i was so happy.. when i finally woke up i could not believe what a beautiful day it turned out to be.. i quickly did my chores.. cleaning, laundry, etc.. and then retired to the backyard to read my book, (mocking jay the third book in the hunger games trilogy), play with the dogs and do some more grilling.. for lunch i made bratwurst with onions..

i got some cheddarwurst and regular stadium brats.. poked them with a toothpick all over and soaked them in guinness and a tablespoon of chili powder for about 3 hours then put them on a medium hot grill and cooked them until done.. about 5 minutes on each side.. topped with grilled onions and horseradish mustard.. and an ice cold beer.. talk about a great sunday!!

i hadn't had a brat until about 6 years ago and ever since i've been addicted.. in the summer i grill them and in the winter i boil them in beer.. truly doesn't get much better than that..

to make the onions i sliced one large white onion.. i then shed a few tears.. recovered and sauteed them in a little olive oil.. two twirls around a medium size pan over medium heat.. threw in my onions, salt and 1/2 tblsp. of chili powder and cooked until tender and caramelized.. they were perfect on the brats!!

see that mustard back there.. beer n brat horseradish mustard.. umm it's amazing!! after lunch we tossed around a toy for monroe and junior and enjoyed the rest of the weekend..

perfect weekend for grilling and playing.. i hope you got to do some of both yourself!!