Happy Monday everyone! Today I will be sharing with you my Thug Kitchen Barbecue Contest. I designed this to be in combination with my Thug Kitchen 21 Day Challenge. As mentioned in this post, I thought it would be fun to get you to help me pick some recipes for a barbecue dinner I was hosting for my lovely family up in Sun Peaks, British Columbia. I needed an appetizer, salad, meal and dessert. Well, wow! Did I get some great entries! It was tough to pick the finalists but would like to thank everyone who participated.
I was so excited to spend the weekend up at Heffley Lake, which is right outside of Sun Peaks Ski Resort, in British Columbia. My aunt and uncle have a beautiful property that they build from scratch in between big trees, on a creek. The house has beautiful big windows, floor to ceiling. They have two golden retrievers and horses that explore off leash throughout the day. I love my family so much and enjoy spending time with them. It was so exciting to spend last weekend with them explore the countryside in the summertime. After reflecting, I realized it was something I haven’t done since I was a child. My aunt suggested I plan a dinner party and test out her beautiful bright kitchen and use the back yard as a natural landscape to show the food. Needless to say, I was super excited.
Making a barbecue dinner for a family of 8 has a few challenges. None of my family is vegan and really love to roast a good hot dog Weiner every chance they get. They are fairly open minded however and were excited to see what I had cooked up my sleeve.
Secondly, there is the added challenge of cooking in a kitchen that isn’t your own. My aunt and uncle provided me the perfect kitchen however, with a dream countertop, natural light and abundance of fresh ingredients. The third challenge, is grocery shopping in a city that is not your own. Kamloops is becoming increasingly open to the whole foods lifestyle, however it took me a few stores before I could find all the ingredients I needed for a healthy and hearty meal.
I would suggest if you are making a meal for someone, try to prep as much as you can in advance. I regretted not deciding on the recipes well before I traveled. That way I could have brought the needed ingredients without having to go out and buy a whole new container of nutritional yeast, for example.
Also, when you are visiting family, you may not want to spend all the time around them cooking. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love to cook. However, I wish that I had spent a day before I left prepping all the ingredients that I could, so that I could use that time with them to produce the meals as efficiently as possible.
That being said, I absolutely loved making this meal for my family. There was nothing as exciting as seeing their faces light up when I introduced them to meals they have never thought of making before. I think it is a universal issue in that we often get tired and bored of the foods we eat. This is partly why I do these challenges, to push my foodie taste palette and limit.
Without further ado, I would like to share with you the recipes I have made for the Barbecue Contest! Thank you to Caitlin_spring, khyen3 for your winning contributions of the potato herb salad and boozy watermelon salad. Please contact me at wholefoodiechallenge (at) gmail (dot) com so I can mail you a foodie prize.
I created a fun downloadable menu if you would like to make the same recipes for your next barbecue.
And now for a few notes regarding each of the recipes…
Roasted Garlic Pull Apart Bread
Found in the Party Grub Cookbook
This recipe was lovely. It took a bit of time as you had to roast the garlic in advance, but the sauce overtop was worth the wait. It was a perfect combination of lemon, garlic and cheesiness with the subtle flavour of nutritional yeast, or ‘nooch’. I also think it needs a really good bread knife in order to cut the bread in appropriate pull apart pieces. To really take it to the next level, I would suggest using a flavoured bread. Rosemary, jalepeno or olive would be divine! This was a definite favourite with the family, probably rated second overall between the other five recipes.
Grilled Romaine Hearts with Avocado Lime Dressing
I was surprised by this one. Would grilling romaine work? It seemed to work out pretty well. The proper grill is essential for the success of this recipe. We had to grill a bit longer than suggested. My uncle recommended next time putting the oil on the grill itself, not on the romaine so that the grill marks would be more pronounced. I think the family was all in agreement that this was the most visually appealing of all the recipes. The avocado lime sauce was unreal. The majority of us drenched our romaine in the dressing. It was tangy, slightly sweet and a perfect compliment to the warm crispy chewy texture of the romaine. This one should be served right away as it doesn’t keep long.
Boozy Watermelon and Papaya Salad
Recommended by @khyen3 on Instagram and found in the Party Grub Cookbook
I personally love watermelon, so was very excited to try this recipe. I liked how it had a hint of tequila in it, but not too overpowering to take over the flavour of the papaya and watermelon. My brother wasn’t a huge fan of the onion and cilantro in the salad, however that is what I found made it more of a savoury side then a sweet dessert. I think there were mixed reviews in the audience on this one. Again, I think it’s just a palette thing. If you love watermelon and papaya, then you will really like this.
We had a few guests in the bunch that didn’t care for either watermelon or cilantro, which were the majority of the salad. I think this one keeps really well and the flavours develop further over time. I also like how this is a very refreshing salad, great as an appetizer for a heavier entree.
Fresh Herb Potato Salad
Recommended by @caitlin_spring
This was a close third among the audience as far as favourites. There was a resounding notion from the guests that they liked how this salad had a oil base vs. a mayonnaise base. The flavour was great with chewy bites of potato, mixed with carrot, herbs and spices. With only ten ingredients, this recipe is great to whip together on a whim. Chances are you probably have most or all of the ingredients already in your cupboard. It keeps well and again, the flavours marinate well over time. A must have for any summer picnic!
Carrot Dogs
Found in the Party Grub Cookbook
The carrot dogs. Ahh, where to begin with these. If you got a sneak peak on my snap chat, you will know that I was so excited to try these. I was so skeptical, but saw so many good reviews of these on Instagram so had to try. The marinade you make to cook the carrots in, no joke, smells like hotdog. My brother laughed at me as I kept screaming, “what the heck, how is this possible it’s completely vegan!”. Goes to show that there probably isn’t a lot of ‘meat’ in hotdogs haha.
All jokes aside, these dogs were great. The most surprising meal of the night, my family was obsessed. The cilantro pesto was a great condiment, in order to add a bit more protein to the meal. I also think hummus would be nice on top, or some other protein heavy dip. We all ate ours. Even the skeptics in my family were pleased. Definitely make this if you want a showstopper, conversation piece.
Frozen Banana Pops
What a simple yet fun dessert! I have frozen bananas on sticks before, but didn’t think to put melted chocolate and crushed nuts on top. This recipe has only 4 ingredients, and takes no time to prepare. You just have to be patient to while it freezes. I would suggest making this before the rest of the meal so that they freeze completely for the dinner. I topped mine with odds and ends in the cupboard, and they all turned out great! We had these nut clusters from Costco (Kirkland brand) that I broke up and crumbled on some. A few had crumbled ginger snap cookies and the last ones had Nature’s Path cocoa cereal. They turned out really well and were a great way to end the meal.
Final Notes and Prep Day Tackle
The meal was a great success. In order to make it the best experience, I would suggest making the frozen bananas first, then roasting the garlic for the pull apart bread, meanwhile make the potato and watermelon salads to put in the fridge. This can all be done the day before.
MThen I would prep the veggies. I would follow this by washing and drying the romaine. Then I would peel and chop the carrots, then prep the dressings/marinades for the pull apart bread and the grilled romaine. The cilantro pesto, if making is another great thing to do in advance. Really, the only parts you should do right before is bake the carrots for the dogs, and grill the romaine. Which makes this meal great for any potluck or barbecue. Easy peasy is my motto.
Was there enough food? Oh man, there was way too much. I doubled the salads, which wasn’t needed (they said they served 4, and there was 8 of us). I think that if you made the adequate serving recommendations, it would easily make enough for 8, even 10 people. There was lots of big eaters in the family and everyone was over stuffed in the end.
Well there you have it! Let me know what you think about these recipes if you have or want to make them. Our family declared this meal the “Sun Peaks Vegan Food Coma” as we all proceeded to pass out at 8:30 pm after the six course meal. It was oh so good, oh so filling and oh so fun!
Thanks for following along.
