Spring Recipe Favorites

Spring is the perfect time to pull out the grill in California. Generally the weather starts to warm up around our Northern California home during the end of February to early March. Once that happens it's grillin' time. Over the years we've been slowly going through all the commercial brand barbecue sauces to pick out our favorites. A few we liked, most were just okay. Finally I decided to see if I could come up with my own recipe that we might like.

I searched the Web and cookbooks for recipes and finally found a few that I wanted to try out. Of course, the recipes were never quite right. Still I continued my quest. After changing ingredients here and there and adding my own ideas I finally came upon one that everyone liked.

Make your own Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 small finely chopped onion

1 can (5 1/2 oz size) tomato paste

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup catsup or 1 small can of tomato sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cooking molasses

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 cup apricot jam or preserves

Directions:

Sauté onion with non-stick cooking spray until just beginning to turn light brown. Add rest of ingredients; stir well to blend. Bring to a boil for just a few minutes and then cover and simmer for one hour. Stirring ever 10 minutes. Let cool and stir in apricot jam. Refrigerate overnight and you're ready to spread on your favorite barbecue meats.

Mixed Fruit Smoothies

To go along with the barbecue why not try a refreshing treat. Smoothies are great fun whether they are mixed with ice cream for a warm weather treat or protein powder for a breakfast on the go. Here's our family's favorite for anytime.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup orange juice (any fruit juice will do. Cranberry is another of our favs)

1 banana sliced

2/3 cup of frozen mixed berries fruit (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.)

3 oz. vanilla yogurt

Directions:

Mix all ingredients into blender until smooth.

Ratatouille a la Garlic

Some years back I had the opportunity to enter the Gilroy (California) Garlic Festival's Cooking Contest with an old family favorite Ratatouille a la Garlic. At the time I didn't quite remember the recipe and had to make my husband suffer as I spent months perfecting the recipe for the contest. The work paid off in the end and I had the chance to present my dish to the judges at the Festival and my dish was forever be immortalized in the pages of the Garlic Festival Cookbook. Famous chef, Narsai David told me at the contest that he remembered someone once saying that the good thing about Ratatouille is that there were no set ingredients besides the eggplant. It was one of those dishes you could clean out your refrigerator vegetable draws with.

Here's my version:

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 head of garlic, crushed and minced (remember this was the Garlic Festival)

1 large onion, chopped

2 large eggplants, cubed

2 green bell peppers, chopped

2 red bell peppers

4 small zucchini, chopped in large chunks

1/2 cup mushrooms

2 stalks of celery

6 tomatoes, peeled and seeded, sliced thickly

2 sticks of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 springs fresh rosemary

5 to 6 leaves of fresh basil

2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 to 2 dashes of hot pepper sauce

Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Add olive oil to large Dutch oven heat until hot. Add garlic and onion and sauté for 5 minutes until onion starts to tan. Add eggplant, bell peppers and cook for 10 minutes stirring frequently. Add zucchini, mushrooms and celery and sauté for 3 more minutes stirring frequently. Add tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until eggplant is tender. Can be served alone or over steamed rice.