Bedrest.
Before I had children I thought it would be an ideal situation. Laying around all day long catching up on all the reading and sleep that nobody ever gets caught up on. Then when I was pregnant I realised laying around with all that extra belly probably wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I was lucky to never have to do bedrest with my babies.
However, a friend of ours has been put on bedrest for 10 weeks. She already has a busy little boy at home so lots of people are chipping in to help out. We have signed on to make Sunday dinners.
This past Sunday we served up grilled barbecue chicken with coleslaw, corn muffins, and chunks of fresh watermelon.
I absolutely love the barbecue sauce on this chicken. It’s adapted from Ina Garten’s book, the barefoot contessa. Actually all three of these recipes are from this book. It’s become my go to book when I just can’t decide what to make.
This chicken works just as well baked as grilled. I love it baked, but the spouse loves is grilled. Since we are running out of nice days to grill we took advantage of the weather and fired up the grill. We were so busy delivering and eating we forgot to take a pic of the finished chicken. Oops.
Barbecued chicken
2 whole chickens, cut into quarters and marinate in half of the barbecue sauce for a couple of hour our overnight in the fridge.
barbecue sauce
In a saucepan over low heat pour in 1/2 cup canola oil.
Add 1 chopped onion and 3 minced cloves of garlic and saute for 10 to 15 minutes.
When the onions are translucent, add
1 twelve ounce can of tomato paste
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup honey
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup brown mustard
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1 Tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and store in fridge.
When it’s time to cook the chicken discard the used marinade and place the chicken on the grill over medium heat. Cook for about 45 minutes and be sure to turn them a couple of times to cook evenly.
Serve with the extra sauce on the side.
We used the leftover for quesadillas. The were delicious.
corn muffins
makes 18 – 20 muffins
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup cornmeal
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter melted
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
In bowl of mixer, combine flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix milk, melted butter, and eggs. With the mixer on low, pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just blended. Spoon into the paper liners and bake for 30 minutes.
vegetable coleslaw
1 pound green cabbage
1/2 pound purple cabbage
6 carrots
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 cup brown mustard
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon celery salt
salt and pepper
I used the wide blade of my food processor to slice the cabbages and the grating blade to grate the carrots. Then put all the shredded vegetables in a large bowl and set aside. In another bowl mix the mayo, mustard, sugar, vinegar, celery seed, celery salt, salt and pepper. Pour this over the veggies and stir gently to coat them.
We picked up a watermelon at the CSA on Saturday. Lulu, being a lover of all things pink, was a little unsure about a yellow watermelon. One taste quickly won her over.
There were also Espresso brownies for dessert, but they will have to wait for another day. CJ finally recovered from his bout with pneumonia and is back to school, but now I have so much to catch up on around the house.
Tags: barbeque chicken, coleslaw, corn muffins, watermelon
