Canada Day Family BBQ
Sometime around the middle of June, I decided to have a family barbecue. It was a big decision to make for a couple of reasons. First was the fact that we have four of our sons living in the same town -( our other four children live a two hour ferry ride and anywhere from an eight hour to three day drive away ) and my sister and her hubby also live in the same town. One of our sons' best friend also lives in town and he has run tame in our home since they were thirteen years old, and he and his fiance are considered one of our own. What makes this part of a big decision is we have all this family we wanted to invite and we don't have a dining room table or chairs. We don't have a table of any kind at all. Well, that's not entirely true- we have our tv tables and our grandkids little table. That was the reason for the barbecue. We do have a beautiful patio table and chair set outside.
The second reason for having a barbecue was so everyone could enjoy our backyard and the beauty that we have worked hard to bring there.
The third reason was because I haven't done a family meal in our home in almost five years, and by that I mean a family gathering. We go to Devon and Jessica's home for all our big holiday meals because they have the room to fit all of us in. My Man's health makes it difficult to have a lot of people gathered in one small area. So barbecue it was because it was outside, leave the patio door open and the room we do have inside, gets bigger, if you get my drift.
The fact that it was July 1st and Canada Day totally didn't register with me until my sister started talking Canadian flag decorations for the yard. My invitation to the boys was more like, " hey, we are having a bbq at our house next weekend at 5pm. Hope you can make it"
We borrowed a small patio table, their huge patio umbrella and several chairs. Our neighbour even built me a table for my barbecue (it's a tabletop one)! He made it out of an aquarium stand and a piece of plywood. I need to paint it, but I love it!
When it came to the menu, I didn't want to do just burgers and hotdogs. After all, this was the first family meal I had done in years and I wanted it to be a great! So I decided on ribs, wings and salads with sundaes for dessert and lemonade for a beverage.
This is how I pulled it all together:
My sister offered to help. She made a gorgeous pasta salad (recipe follows) and she came over the day before and helped me get organized. We cut up the strawberries for the sundaes and then we cut up six racks of ribs into serving size pieces. She lent me her large crockpot, and I borrowed Dustin and Crystal's crockpot.
The night before the bbq, I cooked the potatoes and boiled the eggs for a potato salad, I cut up the green onions and had everything in the fridge ready to be put together in the morning.
I was so organized, there was really nothing for me to do the day of the bbq! That in itself was a miracle!!
Here are the recipes ( of sorts)
Ribs
I bought three packages of pork baby back ribs. (They were huge!) Janet and I cut them into serving size pieces of about three to four ribs per serving. In the morning I brushed each piece on both sides with barbecue sauce. (I cheated and used bottled instead of my homemade) These went into the three crockpots and I arranged sliced onions over top of them before pouring a bottle of barbecue sauce over all. I plugged two crockpots in the kitchen and the third one, I plugged in outside our patio door! Set the crockpots on low and left them for 8 hours. The whole place smelled amazing!!
About 4:30, I had the barbecue heating up and I started grilling the ribs to give them a bit more barbecue flavour. Thank goodness my sister and brother-in-law came early to help and Michael took over the grilling! The ribs were perfect!
The second reason for having a barbecue was so everyone could enjoy our backyard and the beauty that we have worked hard to bring there.
The third reason was because I haven't done a family meal in our home in almost five years, and by that I mean a family gathering. We go to Devon and Jessica's home for all our big holiday meals because they have the room to fit all of us in. My Man's health makes it difficult to have a lot of people gathered in one small area. So barbecue it was because it was outside, leave the patio door open and the room we do have inside, gets bigger, if you get my drift.
The fact that it was July 1st and Canada Day totally didn't register with me until my sister started talking Canadian flag decorations for the yard. My invitation to the boys was more like, " hey, we are having a bbq at our house next weekend at 5pm. Hope you can make it"
We borrowed a small patio table, their huge patio umbrella and several chairs. Our neighbour even built me a table for my barbecue (it's a tabletop one)! He made it out of an aquarium stand and a piece of plywood. I need to paint it, but I love it!
When it came to the menu, I didn't want to do just burgers and hotdogs. After all, this was the first family meal I had done in years and I wanted it to be a great! So I decided on ribs, wings and salads with sundaes for dessert and lemonade for a beverage.
This is how I pulled it all together:
My sister offered to help. She made a gorgeous pasta salad (recipe follows) and she came over the day before and helped me get organized. We cut up the strawberries for the sundaes and then we cut up six racks of ribs into serving size pieces. She lent me her large crockpot, and I borrowed Dustin and Crystal's crockpot.
The night before the bbq, I cooked the potatoes and boiled the eggs for a potato salad, I cut up the green onions and had everything in the fridge ready to be put together in the morning.
I was so organized, there was really nothing for me to do the day of the bbq! That in itself was a miracle!!
Here are the recipes ( of sorts)
Ribs
I bought three packages of pork baby back ribs. (They were huge!) Janet and I cut them into serving size pieces of about three to four ribs per serving. In the morning I brushed each piece on both sides with barbecue sauce. (I cheated and used bottled instead of my homemade) These went into the three crockpots and I arranged sliced onions over top of them before pouring a bottle of barbecue sauce over all. I plugged two crockpots in the kitchen and the third one, I plugged in outside our patio door! Set the crockpots on low and left them for 8 hours. The whole place smelled amazing!!
About 4:30, I had the barbecue heating up and I started grilling the ribs to give them a bit more barbecue flavour. Thank goodness my sister and brother-in-law came early to help and Michael took over the grilling! The ribs were perfect!
Wings
I bought two kinds of frozen wings from the grocery store. I had never done wings before and I wanted people to enjoy them, so I didn't make them from scratch. I did pepper wings and honey garlic ones. They were so good! Thirty minutes in the oven, following package directions and they were ready for the table!
Janet's Pasta Salad
This is the best pasta salad ever!! And so easy to do! When I asked my sister for her recipe, she sent me this text:
I quote" it's pasta, yellow zucchini, celery, green onions, carrots, chorizo and tossed with Italian dressing"
I included a photo of the salad so you can see the end results
I bought two kinds of frozen wings from the grocery store. I had never done wings before and I wanted people to enjoy them, so I didn't make them from scratch. I did pepper wings and honey garlic ones. They were so good! Thirty minutes in the oven, following package directions and they were ready for the table!
Janet's Pasta Salad
This is the best pasta salad ever!! And so easy to do! When I asked my sister for her recipe, she sent me this text:
I quote" it's pasta, yellow zucchini, celery, green onions, carrots, chorizo and tossed with Italian dressing"
I included a photo of the salad so you can see the end results
Potato Salad
For our bbq, I cooked a dutch oven full of potatoes. We like our potato salad on the creamy side, so I mash the hot potatoes with my potato ricer before putting them in the fridge to chill. I hardboil a dozen eggs for that many potatoes and cool them in the fridge after peeling them. I mash them just before adding them to the potatoes when I am ready to mix the salad together. I chop up one bunch of green onions to mix in then as well.
For the dressing I use a good 2 cups of mayonnaise, 1 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of prepared mustard, 1/4 cup of ranch salad dressing and 1/4 cup juice from a jar of yum yums. (You can use dill pickle juice or sweet pickle juice if you like those better)
Mix this all together with the potatoes, eggs and green onions until creamy and no lumps of potatoes remain. If this isn't creamy enough, I add a bit more pickle juice or sour cream. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until serving time.
For our bbq, I cooked a dutch oven full of potatoes. We like our potato salad on the creamy side, so I mash the hot potatoes with my potato ricer before putting them in the fridge to chill. I hardboil a dozen eggs for that many potatoes and cool them in the fridge after peeling them. I mash them just before adding them to the potatoes when I am ready to mix the salad together. I chop up one bunch of green onions to mix in then as well.
For the dressing I use a good 2 cups of mayonnaise, 1 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of prepared mustard, 1/4 cup of ranch salad dressing and 1/4 cup juice from a jar of yum yums. (You can use dill pickle juice or sweet pickle juice if you like those better)
Mix this all together with the potatoes, eggs and green onions until creamy and no lumps of potatoes remain. If this isn't creamy enough, I add a bit more pickle juice or sour cream. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until serving time.
Lemonade
1 cup bottled lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Measure into a large jug and stir until sugar is dissolved. Fill jug with cold water and serve over ice in tall glasses.
1 cup bottled lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Measure into a large jug and stir until sugar is dissolved. Fill jug with cold water and serve over ice in tall glasses.
