Today's giveaway is another cookbook - an outdoor and entertaining cookbook that looks so fun! Summer is my absolute favorite time to have people over because we can sit outside, grill out, and just enjoy the beauty of the day. I've been learning more about outdoor cooking and really enjoying it - I'm finding that my meats and marinades are getting better. Once upon a time, I tried to let grilling be Andrew's job but now, I really like doing and he prefers it. :) Recently I've made NY Strip Steaks and burgers. I think the real challenge is to cook an entire meal from appetizer to dessert on the grill! Anyway, this cookbook has other great recipes for entertaining and of course, some beautiful pictures.
You are all eligible to enter! Just leave a comment with an entertaining tip, favorite picnic fare, a grill recipe or whatever you like (again, a simple 'pick me' will not work).
Just for a reminder, here are the rules (clarified a little):
1) 1 entry per person per giveaway - you do not have to live locally or even know me personally for any of the prizes (I will cover all shipping costs).
2) You can enter all drawings for the week - just leave a comment with the specified guidelines on each giveaway post.
3) Make sure I have a way to contact you if you are the winner (winners will be chosen randomly unless otherwise noted).
I will draw winners for all giveaways next Wednesday, June 3 and contact the winners via e-mail and list them here on the blog. And I'll try to get everything in the mail or delivered within the week. Thanks for joining in my birthday celebration!
15 comments:
How's this for heartbreaking: I am a horrible picnicker. I hate packing food. Sigh.
But here's a picnic story to warm your heart:
For Tim and my first "dating" anniversary back in college, I took him on a picnic in a park near campus. Cute? Oh yeah, I didn't mention it was the end of January. I don't remember what we had, but I remember sitting out there at the park (yeah, freezing) and he thought it was the weirdest thing ever.
We had a very simple but delicious picnic at Conner Prairie last week: good bread from Trader Joe's, salami, provolone cheese, butter, strawberries and fig newtons.
AS a kid one of our many Sunday traditions was to grab KFC after church and take it to the park. My first cooking experience for my husband when we were dating was to make fried chicken and all the sides for a park picnic. I found two old mits and a baseball for an activity after dinner. I even bought little lunch trays and a Barbie cup for me and Batman cup for him (I was buying all my supplies at the Dollar store). I wasn't a confident cook until I found a yummy marinade (Zesty Marinade, can't remember by who) that I used for chicken. I was so proud of my self on my little electric George Foreman!
Now we have a much nicer grill and I must say it's all his. although you have inspired (and challanged me) with the idea to make everything from appetizer to dessert on the grill!
Grilling is Thad's job, he likes it that way & so do I! I get a break from making supper. ;) One of our favorite things to grill is veggies...yum! We put foil on the grill, trow on the bacon chunks & let them get about 1/2-3/4 way done, add whatever veggies you like, leave it on for about 15-20 min. So good!
I love how your parents celebrated your birthdays, so special with the banners & awesome cakes!
Jeremy and I don't have much of a place to entertain, but we're trying to anyway. I've enjoyed using my gas broiler (since we aren't allowed to have a grill here) to grill hotdogs, hamburgers, and asparagus. For the asparagus I use olive oil, salt, and herb de provence. It's really tasty!
Oh how I remember that hat kit! We all loved that. :)
When we were kids my parents always took us to the cemetery for picnics. (Grr. It looks wrong without the k at the end. I'm spoiled by the photo editing website.) Anyway, I never thought that it was weird that we ate our Little Caesar's pizza on a blanket yards from a row of headstones. It was close to Daddy's work and it was cool in the summer. Lots of shade trees.
Looking back though, I think it explains a lot of my weirdness.
Let's see here... grilling definitely is still Reid's domain. In fact we grilled last night... and he singed his eye lashes on his right eye! We were so glad that was all that happened! I love making summer fruit salads... rarely do I put any extra sweetener in, just lots of different types of fruit!
Favorite picnic fare: grilled cucumber. tomato, and squash. Yum!
I would love to picnic more. We eat outside often, but it's usually more like a sack lunch. This spring/summer we have enjoyed having a picnic at the zoo before we go in. Brian does all of the grilling right now, but I would really like to know how to do it. It's fun to learn new things. I enjoy that it gives me a little break from cooking, but I'd also like to have some idea how to do it. I'm enjoying your birthday countdown.
Mmmmm, my favorite picnic item to make is home grown tomatoes, mozarella and basil
Mmm... I love potato salad lol...but it has to have eggs in it =P
A great chicken salad is my first choice for almost any picnic.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I enjoy keeping outdoor entertaining simple. That way everyone has fun and no one (ie me) is stuck in the kitchen cleaning up all night. :-) For outdoor parties, I love grilling and fresh. To me that's what screams summer.
It's great to have an air mattress when you only have a studio apartment in which to entertain. You can lean it up against the wall and it makes the room about twice as big!
My favorite picnic food is a grilled corn, tomato and sweet-onion w/blue cheese salad by Bobby Flay. There is something about this refreshing salad w/grilled corn,fresh basil from teh garden, that just sets the start of the summer for me. I have had it already this summer. YUM-O.
Tammy Froelich
justscrapbooking@att.net
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