It’s been awhile…

I have been on a sort of a sabbatical from both cooking and blogging for the past several months. Call it a writer’s block, a rut in terms of cooking style, or just overall laziness, but it happened. The nice weather over the last couple of weeks has inspired me, so I thought I would post a quick summary of some of my favorite meals.

Clockwise, starting from the far right…

Lamb chops marinaded in garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon, olive oil, kosher salt and pepper roasted on a charcoal grill (direct heat for 1 minute/side, then indirect heat for about 2-3 minutes/side)

White sangria with Pinot Grigio, brandy, Cara Cara oranges, lemons, limes and a can of Sprite served with frozen oranges over ice

Lemon chicken, which you can find a recipe for on this site

Vanilla bean ice cream with peaches and cinnamon sugar cookies (nothing fancy but tastes great after a meal of spicy food!)

Tri-tip with grilled potatoes. I posted my tri-tip and potato recipe previously, but made a few recent changes that have toned down the spice a bit.

First, I rubbed the meat with canola oil. I changed the rub to include: 1 tablespoon EACH of garlic powder, sweet paprika, dried rosemary, dried thyme, kosher salt and black pepper. In this version, I added only a ½ tablespoon of cayenne. The cooking instructions remain the same.

I grilled the potatoes in a cast-iron skillet on a very hot charcoal grill. The flavor was amazing and the potatoes were more evenly cooked and much crispier than in the oven. I cut the potatoes in even pieces then added garlic powder, kosher salt, black pepper, dried oregano, shallots (cut in large chunks) and canola oil. The potatoes cooked about 30 minutes over direct heat (most of the time).

Hopefully my cooking and my blogging is back on track and you will see more posts very soon!