Not a Blah-becue

There was a radio ad running this week that said something like “Was your last grilled dinner a bore-becue? Did you serve blah-becue?” I knew I would be grilling on Sunday and I felt the pressure! Chase and I are eating grainfree and concentrating our meals on veggies, fruits, and beans. We just feel better without grains, plus we can lighten up a bit for the summer. I think it’s super healthy and actually quite colorful and never blah. Anyway….

After much needed rain most of last week, the weather teams promised Sunday would be beautiful. Indeed, it was a glorious day. I got out for some exercise and marveled that there was not a cloud in the sky and all the trees were finally green.




A butterfly landed on me before I went inside.




Now, for some very un-boring food! All great barbecues need a great sauce. While any grocery store here has at least 60 feet of shelf space devoted to barbecue sauce, the best is always homemade. I decided to make Vcon Backyard BBQ Sauce.

Most of the sauce was used for the BBQ Blackeyed Peas and Collards. I had some beautiful local collards, but I chose not to make rolls. I also used eggplant instead of mushrooms. I can’t imagine this dish would be any more delicious in rolled form. It was outstanding.

I put together some skewers for the grill. I marinated baked tofu for Chase, along with red peppers, purple onions, zucchini, and mushrooms for me. This marinade is ½ cup broth, 2 T. soy sauce, 1 T. olive oil, 1 T. red wine vinegar, and 1 clove minced garlic.

Here are Chase’s skewers ready for the grill. I gave them a little brushing of BBQ sauce.

And done.

Here are my mushroomy skewers done.

Another side dish to go with this meal was Crispy Baked Cabbage Wedges. I’ve made them before, but this time I sliced them extra thin. I sprayed them with oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, then baked them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

I made a tiny bit of mustard-soygurt-fresh dill dressing for them. These were so good. The cabbage wedges were still firm and the crispy edges were so tasty. If you love cabbage, I recommend this method.

Of course Chase had to stay late at work and couldn’t come for dinner. So I packed up his skewers, the collards, half the cabbage, mustard sauce, and BBQ sauce and took it to his apartment so he would have dinner when he got home. Then I came back home and decided some mashed sweet potatoes would be perfect with the crispy cabbage. I boiled and mashed myself a potato and reheated my dinner. Here’s my big, lonely, but not a blah-becue plate.

You probably thought there wouldn’t be dessert, but alas, grainfree baking was accomplished! Chickpea Blondies, courtesy of Celine. Not a speck of flour. I made them entirely with flaxseeds. I used apricot jam (her recipe used strawberry jam), I added 2 T. of coconut flour to help it bind, and I just couldn’t resist sprinkling some chocolate chips on top. I can’t tell you how much I love these, except too much, and as much as I love Celine and her always fabulous recipes.

Chase called me as he was eating his dinner. He loved everything, especially the homemade sauce. Hooray for springtime and not boring BBQs!