Notes from the Grill

Beer Can Chicken Reinvented

Several weeks ago, my husband and I decided to make beer can chicken. If you’re not familiar with this recipe, here is a quick explanation. Three basic ingredients are required: one whole chicken, a can of really good beer and seasonings of your choice. The idea is that after pulling out the gizzards and incorporating seasonings on the chicken, you slide it over the open can of beer so that while the chicken is cooking on your bbq, the beer is infusing the inside of the bird with amazing flavor. I bought a four pound chicken at the supermarket, brought it home, cleaned it up and seasoned it. After allowing the seasonings to set, I opened a can of beer. My husband then proceeded to place the chicken on top of the open beer can. However, as big as that chicken seemed to be, neither one of us could fit the beer can into the cavity of the chicken. Then it dawned on me to place the open beer on the Treager grill beside the bird and it worked. The chicken was tender on the inside, crispy on the outside and packed with flavor.

Gardening Tips from Underground

March is here and the morning frost is still an issue here in the Pacific Northwest as well as other areas across the country. While it may not be gardening weather just yet, there are a few tasks that can be addressed now before you begin planting seeds.

- Plan your garden ahead of time. What type of plants do you want to incorporate into your garden?
- Most plants are seasonal. When is the best time (according to your location) to plant your seeds?
- Are you planting fruits and vegetables? Do you need to build wire cages for tomatoes or raised beds for root vegetables?
- Design your planting areas. You will want to keep like-plants near each other so that they will receive proper sun light and enough water.
- Till your compost (if you have a compost pile).

Leftovers - Can They Stand Up to Their Creators?

Last weekend my husband cooked approximately 12 pounds of pork spare ribs on our Traeger grill. I grew up eating pork chops as a child, but really never gained an appreciation for other cuts of pork. Once again, the Traeger pulled through, cooking the spare ribs to perfection. The meat almost fell off the bone and was infused with the light smoky flavor of oak. As you can imagine, we still have leftover pork spare ribs in the refrigerator that need to be consumed. So, it looks like we will be eating pulled pork tacos this evening - Yummy!

Frugal Shopper

Sale or No Sale?


Many times, your local supermarket will advertise “red-tag” sales on specific items throughout their store. However, if you pay close attention to those sale prices, you will quickly be surprised by how tricky some grocery stores can be when posting those sales tags. Those advertised “sales” may not be sales at all. In fact, they can be quite the opposite. While “buy one get one free” sounds like a great deal many times the original price for that item has been increased, leading the buyer to think that they are realizing big savings. Keep tabs on the basic price of products you buy most frequently because chances are that when that item is on sale, the normal price you see has actually been slightly increased. Some grocery stores are more misleading than others so don’t be afraid to shop around and compare their prices to that of another local grocery store.