Because sometimes it’s just too hard to decide what you want to eat, so we chose a little bit of everything for this month’s featured recipes! As the weather gets cooler, soups, coffee, and cider are a good option and pumpkin spice is always nice! With mounds of candy leftover from Halloween, we have a dessert recipe that has no tricks, only treats. And as we head into the holiday season we have something healthy to keep you on track!

Smoked Coffee

Beaver Trails (we know… weird name, but stick with us on this one)

Green Chile Mashed Potatoes

Pork Chops with Smokey Apple Compote

Lemon Chicken with Broccoli and String Beans Foil Packs (this is the healthy one we mentioned)

Spiced Pumpkin Latte Cake Bars

Peanut Butter M&M Cheesecake with Brownie Crust

Homemade Apple Cider

Spring and summer are perfect for afternoons on the patio while enjoying delicious food and cocktails. Below are recipes tried and trusted, enjoy!

Smoked Scalloped Potatoes

Bacon Wrapped Keylime Jerk Green Beans

Hickory Smoked Chive and Cheese Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Herb Crusted Prime Rib

Skillet Tennessee Apple Crumble

Smoked Bourbon Pecan Pie

Smoked Berry Lemonade

Charred Citrus Margaritas

This will be something that will really go the distance… Sweet Tea Caramelized Onions! Enjoy them on top of a steak with blue cheese, on chicken, on salmon, burgers, use inside a toasted sandwich or quesadilla. Simply use them when you just want to make something better!

Sweet Tea Caramelized Onions Serves 1 cup

Cook Time: 35 ­-55 minutes

Ingredients

2 large yellow onions

3/4 tsp. Kosher salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

2 tsp. oil of choice

1⅔ cup sweet tea of choice

⅛ cup granulated sugar

Directions

Cut each onion into 1∕8 inch strips (follow the natural lines of the onion.) In a large bowl, add the cut onions, salt, pepper, and oil. Stir to combine all ingredients evenly.

Heat grill to medium. Lightly coat the cooktop with an oiled paper towel.  Take the bowl of cut onions and empty it onto the grill. Spread the onions evenly on the grill and do not touch them for about 5 minutes.  This will allow the natural sugars from the onion to start to caramelize. Stir the onions around a little to now caramelize the other side of the onions. Let them cook without touching for another 5 minutes. Once the batch of onions has evenly caramelized turn the outer burner off and adjust the inner burner to medium­/low.

In a medium sauté pan add the cooked onions, cup of sweet tea, and granulated sugar. Allow this to cook on the grill for about 25 min. Stir occasionally to assure no sticking. The liquid should be close to gone at this point. The onions are done, however now is the chance to really make those onions pop with flavor; if time permits, add the remaining 2∕3 cup sweet tea and allow that to cook for another 20 min. Place finished onions in a bowl and allow to cool.

Use hot or refrigerate for later use.

June brings hot heat and lots of backyard BBQ eats!  June also brings National Cheese Month, Turkey Month and Fresh Fruit and Veggie Month, so we thought we would collide these to make a culinary creation.   Who’s hungry?

Ricotta Cucumber Tea Sandwiches (nice and light, and very tasty)

Feta and Shaved Asparagus Salad (sounds weird, but we think you’ll like it)

Crunchy Havarti and Pickle Hamburger (really just a fancy cheeseburger if you ask us, but still delish)

California Salsa Verde Chilaquiles (not sure what this is, but it was good… realllll good)

Baked Ziti with Summer Vegetables (because it has vegetables, it’s healthy… just trust us)

Honeysuckle Lemonade Cocktail (because by now you’re thirsty)

Watermelon Margaritas (still thirsty?… cheers)

Mini Monte Cristo Sandwiches (Your new favorite recipe, we promise)

Grandby’s Sour Cream Pound Cake (We don’t know who Grandby is, but he/she sure does know how to make a good cake)

Ooey Gooey Butter Bars (We have probably made these a thousand times and they are still everyone’s favorite)

And before we split out of here…

Banana Split Lasagna (don’t eat the whole pan, even if you want to)

May is National BBQ Month, but really all summer long we should be firing up our grill and sizzlin’ up something delicious!  We thought we would do a mixture of savory and sweet, so that there’s something for everyone!

Charred Citrus Margaritas

Grilled Jalapeño Popper Potato Salad

Grilled Chicken Quesadilla Sandwich 

Raspberry Chipotle Pork Kabobs

Grilled Peach and Raspberry Parfait 

Smoky Chocolate Chips Cookies on the Grill 

Who doesn’t love a good slider?  Our highlighted recipe for this month is versatile, feel free to change it up to your liking, but we have a hunch you may keep it just the way it is!  Meet this month’s mouth-watering, gotta-have grilling grub …

So what’s our secret?  See below …

Ingredients

1 red onion

Extra virgin olive oil

Butter (salted) (secret #1)

Fine sea salt

4 pretzel rolls, about 3­in. in diameter (secret #2)

1 pound thick-cut ham

4 oz. Brie cheese, Cut into chunks

4 cocktail skewers

Directions

Prepare the grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat, about 500°F grill grate temperature. Slice the red onion into 3/4­in. thick slices. Oil both sides and season liberally with salt.

Grill the onion slices until translucent and soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from the grill, brake the slices down into rings and set to the side.

Slice the pretzel rolls. Spread salted butter on each side (don’t be conservative, didn’t you hear? Butter is good for you now, so go ahead and take advantage before they change their mind on us again)!   Grilling the buns (especially these buns) will make all of the difference, trust us!

Brush each slice of ham on both sides with olive oil and season with salt. The olive oil will help form a crust on the outside of the meat. Grill ham, turning once, 1 to 2 minutes per side. After flipping the meat, add a large ring of onion to the top of each slice, so it sits neatly in a circle.

Add the cheese on top of the onion. The cheese will melt, almost into a creamy sauce, and the onions will help hold the cheese on top of the ham. While the cheese is melting, lightly grill the rolls.

Gently remove the meat when the cheese has melted and transfer directly onto the pretzel rolls.  Skewer each slider to hold it together.

Open wide and enjoy!

September 29th is National Good Neighbor Day, so breakout your culinary skills, get to grillin’, and invite them over for a patio party.  We brought the heat by kicking up the spice on traditional burger recipe for this edition of our Recipe of the Month.

Green Chili Cheeseburger

Ingredients

Instructions

Click on the image to discover the details of this traditional project.

Click on the image to discover the details of this traditional project in Briar Bayou.

Click on the image to discover the details of this traditional project in Sugar Land.