Sweet Cheeks Q & Some BBQ For You

Last night Brian and I finally got to try the new-ish BBQ place near Fenway Park that everyone seems to be raving about: Sweet Cheeks Q.  Sweet Cheeks opened in November 2011 and is chef-owned by the well known Tiffani Faison of Top Chef fame. 

I love some good BBQ and there aren’t too many place in and around Boston to get it. 

We had Red Sox tickets that night, so I met Brian after work for an early dinner before the game!  He got their before I did and grabbed 2 seats at one of the communal tables (basically you share with whoever else needs a seat).  In this type of atmosphere (casual & kind of noisy) I don’t mind that seating.  Wouldn’t recommend it for a first date or anything though.

Brian had already ordered a beer, so I scanned the menu and picked my own.

I’ve had Sweaty Betty before and remember liking it.  Refreshing, flavorful blonde ale.  They didn’t have too many beers on tap, but they did have a fantastic selection of bottles and cans!

To start we ordered the Fried Green Tomatoes.  Neither of us have ever had them.

Thick slices of juicy tomato, and a crispy browned coating.  They came with a sort of ranch dressing that had a nice kick to it!  With the ranch these were awesome!  The tomatoes themselves weren’t the most flavorful, but it’s not tomato season so it’s hard to complain. 

Maybe 1 minute later our meals came out!

I ordered the pulled chicken tray with sides of heirloom baked beans and the farm salad.  I also ordered a single biscuit instead of the sliced bread that usually comes with the meal.

If you only order one thing there…GET A BISCUIT!!!  O.M.G.  The menu has an order of a basket of 4 with honey butter on the side, but you can order just one even though it wasn’t on the menu.  AND make sure to ask for some of that honey butter.  WOW.

First of all the biscuit was HUGE.  Easily 4” diameter and so thick and fluffy.  Warm, crisp on the outside, tender and flaky on the inside.  That with the honey butter was a match made in heaven.  I’m drooling on my keyboard right now.

       

Brian’s tray:

Ribs, collards, and potato salad.

The pulled chicken was delightful.  Tender, juicy, flavorful…especially with their housemade BBQ sauce.  The table also had a bottle of their housemade vinegar sauce, and habanero lime hot sauce! 

The farm salad had tons of seasonal veggies, nuts, grapes, arugula, parmesan, and a mustard vinaigrette (I believe).  I loved all the veggies and it would of been perfect with just a tad less dressing.

I stole a lot of Brian’s collards.  Vinegary, and cooked with some type of pork which gave the greens an awesome flavor. 

I also stole a bite of the potato salad, 2 thumbs up.

The ribs were incredible tender, and not overly fatty.  I don’t mind fat, but hate actually biting into it. 

The one thing I wasn’t crazy about was the beans.  They were pretty good, but tasted way more like chili than baked beans.  Too smokey, too much cumin for me.  But they were still sweet, which I wouldn’t like my chili to be so it was just a conflict of flavors for me.  Brian really liked them though.

We still had time to kill before the game so we went with another round of beers.

Brian HAD To order this as we never see it ANYWHERE

I tend to not like overly hoppy IPA’s because they are usually bitter, but this one is just the opposite.  No bitterness, but just tons of hop aroma.  Delish.

All in all it was a great night.  Would have been better if the Sox won but what can you do?

 

Pretty good seats too!

Now with all this BBQ talk, I have the perfect contest you can enter!!

Eversave is giving away 2 of these prizes of $250 worth of delicious BBQ catering from Dickey’s Barbeque Pit! 

Now, there aren’t any Dickey’s in Massachusetts (closest ones are in CT, or in Portland, ME)…but this is open to anyone so maybe there is one near you.  But if there’s NOT…don’t fret, if you win you could also choose a $250 gift card to Omaha Steaks!!   Create your own feast with that prize!

Just enter HERE!  This contest goes until Sunday, May 6, and they will notify the winner on Monday, May 7!

And in case that doesn’t pan out for you, the folks at Eversave are letting me give away a $10 save reward (to use on any Save) to one of you!

In the spirit of BBQ, to enter for the $10 save reward, leave me a comment with your favorite side dish to order at a BBQ joint.  If you’re not a BBQ fan, then just your favorite other restaurant side dish!

I’ll choose a winner for the $10 save reward by 10 p.m. EST on Monday May 7th!

Blue White and “Red” Velvet

First, since I was so busy this weekend, I’m guessing you were too and so I’m extending my Eversave giveaway for McKinnon’s Meat Market one more day!!  I’m picking a winner tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July weekend!!  We were up in NH at my in-laws house for a bbq and some pool action. 

There was also the annual Center Harbor Road Race that I somehow talk myself into each year even though it’s the most miserable 5miles EVER.   This was also my very first road race a couple years ago.

Check out this mapmyrun.com profile so you can see what I mean when I say it’s one BIG hill!!

Well this year I once again talked myself into running….BUT last minute I made an executive decision to join in the 2-mile race instead.  BEST IDEA EVER.  It was 10am, already HOT and sunny, and I have not been training on any hills really so I knew I’d be miserable. 

Best 2 miles ever :)  They don’t chip time (annoying) and I didn’t have my Garmin or anything with me…just my ipod, but it took me around 18min which is great for me!

After the race, we lounged in Brian’s mom’s pool for a while, ate some BBQ leftovers and then headed home!

Now the cupcakes (with an unfortunate sad ending):

Pretty right?

Well, this was my first (and last for a while) attempt at “Red” velvet.  You know…I was going for the Red White & Blue theme of course.

I knew I wanted to make red velvet, with delicious cream cheese frosting.  However, I really did NOT want the ridiculous amount of food coloring.

So I tried the option of using beet puree in my batter instead. 

I wasn’t all too optimistic as I couldn’t really find a great recipe online using beets that delivered a classic “red” color, but I decided I’d rather have “not so red” velvet, than food coloring cupcakes. 

The batter was nice and red, as expected, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t last through the baking process. 

I actually used this Cooking Light recipe for the cake.    I made the following revisions:

• 7 oz cake flour + 3 oz whole wheat pastry flour
• ADD: 1/2 cup pureed beets (fresh beets, boiled, peeled, and pureed)
• SUBTRACT: 1/4 cup buttermilk and 2T butter to make up for the added moisture from the beets
• LEAVE OUT: red food coloring
• Mini cupcakes baked for 9-10 min

I also used red paper liners to enhance the “REDness” of it all.

However they came out more like a chocolate-looking cake with a slight red tinge.

I made 48 mini’s and 6 regular sized

I was happy with them regardless. 

Especially because the BEST part is obviously the cream cheese frosting!!

I used:

• 8 oz Neufchatel (reduced fat) cream cheese
• 4T butter, softened
• 3 -  3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Start with 3 cups confectioners sugar, and remaining ingredients.  Blend on medium speed until creamy.   Add more sugar if needed to reach desired consistency.  I wanted mine really thick so I could pipe it. 

Mostly swirls with a few stars mixed in…

Then we needed the “Blue”.  Keeping with my naturally colored theme, I went with a simple blueberry.

So into my cupcake carrier they went!  I fit most of the mini’s in there, and put the 6 big ones, and 4 minis in another baking dish to take up to NH with me.

We arrive.  I get out of the car, grab the carrier…and then before I know what happened the bottom falls out and 40 mini cupcakes splatter all over the DIRT driveway!

This is what it looked like after we picked them up…

Now, I’m all over the 5 second rule, but not when there’s a lovely dusting of sand and gravel on my frosting!!

FAIL.

Well at least I got my nice “before” photos ;)  And we still had the 6 big ones, and 4 small ones to share!

Me and Red Velvet are taking a “break”.

Grilling for the 4th: Giveaway!

Maybe some of your have already checked out of work for the long weekend and are heading to the lake or the beach for the 4th of July.  Maybe you’re going to stick around at home, have a cook-out, and just watch some local fireworks!
Either way, I’m willing to bet 95% of you are going to be firing up the grill at some point this weekend.

If you’re local to the Boston area, have you checked out the Eversave happening right now?? 
$10 gets you $20 worth of goods from McKinnon’s Meat Market in Somerville’s Davis Square!!
McKinnon’s is known for quality meats at great prices.  You could come home with a party-size amount of meats for the grill for that $20!
They also have all your other necessities too such as fruits, veggies, breads, and other dry goods.
There has already been over 4500 of these saves sold!  That should say something right there.
Luckily for you, the lovely folks at Eversave have offered to let me giveaway one of these saves!!
Here’s the ways you can win!
Leave a separate comment for each entry: 
You do NOT need to have a blog to enter!

1. Let me know what you’ll be grilling up this 4th of July weekend!
2. Follow me on Twitter @yogurtberries
3. Tweet about the giveaway:  “I want to win a free Save from @YogurtBerries and @EversaveBOS!”
4. “Like” Eversave and Yogurt and Berries on Facebook
5. If you have a blog, mention this giveaway and comment back letting me know.

I’ll choose a winner by the end of the day Saturday!   EDIT:  I'll be choosing the winner on Wednesday, July 6th, by 10pm!

Good Luck!
Also, if you’re eyeing that beautiful looking burger above, that was a Turkey burger I made Monday night for dinner:

What I did:

• Took just over 1lb of lean ground turkey and mixed it with:
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T ketchup
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• Formed 4 patties
• Grilled until cooked through
• Provolone cheese on top
• Classic toppings:
• whole wheat hamburger bun
• lettuce (ok, actually arugula)
• sliced tomato
• sliced red onion
• sliced pickles
• whole grain mustard
• ketchup

I could barely bite the whole thing, but it was delicious!

Happy Grilling!

South of the Border BBQ

p.s. still time to enter my giveaway!!

There’s always been a Memorial Day weekend BBQ at my place. It started…I’m thinking 5 years ago when I was living in Somerville with my bff Jocelyn! Brian’s birthday usually falls around then so we had a bbq/party and the tradition stuck.

Last year, it was our first big BBQ at our new House with our new patio furniture…and a little more tame than years past ;)

Recap of last years BBQ

This year was different. The Half Marathon was that weekend and the last thing I needed was to be overly stressed by hosting a party…but I still wanted a party!!

Solution = SMALL party :)

I find, at least for myself, I get the most stressed about having people over when I have multiple “groups” of friends coming. They all might know each other, but I constantly feel like I need to spend time and chat with everyone while still trying to get all the last minute food details ready.

I’m much more relaxed once everyone has eaten haha.

So in order to have a stress-free gathering I stuck to a small group of people…9, including Brian and myself.

Although, I still managed too make enough for 20…oh well! Leftovers!!

The Menu was entirely inspired by the June issue of Cooking Light!

There were SO many awesome sounding Mexican-ish dishes in there, that I decided to have a Mexican themed BBQ!

The Menu:

Drinks

Minted Lemon-Lime Watermelon Aqua Fresca (non-alcoholic, I had two lovely pregnant ladies that day)
Skinny Girl Margaritas!
Brian’s beer (he has 2 varieties on tap in the basement)

Snacks

Homemade Guac – I special requested my friend to make it since she uses our FAVORITE recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.
Mango Salsa – homemade by another guest!

Main Dishes

Flank Steak Tacos – made the recipe for the steak and had the options out for people to make tacos: tortillas, cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocado
Ancho Chili Chicken – a favorite family recipe! Already on the blog!!

Sides

Cilantro Lime Rice – made by a guest
Baked Black Beans with Chorizo – LOVED this recipe, the chorizo gives it so much flavor.
Grilled Corn on the Cob – never got around to making the jalapeño butter, but I bet it’s delicious.
Pasta salad – made by a guest, minus the chicken
Fruit Salad – made by a guest

Dessert!!

Margarita Ice-Cream Sandwiches – I wasn’t in love with the sound of these at first, but they looked so cute and went perfectly with the theme!
SOOO happy I made them, they are delicious!!
Dessert Nachos! – totally came up with this one in my head and I am obsessed with how they came out! Definitely going to do a full post on these :)

The plan:

Friday:

• Shop for all ingredients and drinks. Also assess if you need any paper plates, or other disposable items. I already had enough at home.


• Clean!!


• Make cookie dough for ice cream sandwiches (it has to chill before baking)
  

Saturday:

• bake off cookies for ice cream sandwiches
  


• make marinade for chicken, rub for steak, and get all meats into large Ziploc bags to marinate overnight


• make Ancho chili sauce
  


• Make/Prepare beans to be baked the next day. Don't add cheese, tomatoes, or green onion yet.


• Make simple syrup, and prep lime juice for watermelon aqua fresca


• chop up watermelon


• Prepare tortilla chips for dessert nachos
  

Sunday:

• Run half marathon (if that’s what you’re doing that morning)


• come home, shower, and get ready


• final clean up/pick up


• husk corn


• Guests Arrive!!


• Fire up the grill and start grilling the meats, then corn


• Place toppings on beans then bake


• Make your friends a batch of Watermelon Aqua Fresca
  


• After everyone eats, sneak back to the kitchen to make the chocolate sauce and whip the cream for the desserts :)


• ENJOY!

It was a fun low-key, relaxing day. No one stayed too late, we did a quick clean up, and were able to crash at a reasonable hour considering we had got up around 6 that morning!

How do you handle the stress of being the hostess?? No matter how stressed I get, I still LOVE having people over! Usually my problem is a bite off more than I can chew…we probably didn’t need as much food, especially 2 desserts…oh well! I’ve been enjoying mini ice cream sandwiches all week!

Happy Friday!! I have my first dance performance tonight for the company I am in up in NH. This is sort of a practice performance for just one of the pieces, but still…a little nervous :) Our big show isn’t until September.

Summer Kick-Off

This was one crazy busy weekend!! 

First I want to rewind about a year ago…we bought a house.  Said house had a feature in the back yard that made the decision to make an offer that much easier…

(this picture is from last year when we bought it).

A cabana!  Plus a great patio, path, outdoor lighting, and a yard!

We knew this would be a perfect spot for parties and spending time with friends, but last summer was so crazy with moving and the wedding, that we never had a party back here…until yesterday.

We invited a bunch of our friends, some who hadn’t even seen the house yet, over for a BBQ to officially break in the cabana and put our new patio furniture to use!

Obviously there was MORE than enough food…when am I going to learn how to judge the right amount??  I mean I’d always rather have too much than too little…but that can get expensive after a while.

The Menu

Appetizers/Snacks:
*=brought by a friend

• Guacamole and chips* (she used my FAVORITE recipe)
• bean dip and chips*
• caprese skewers*
• a humus/tomato/feta layered dip with pita chips*
• fresh pineapple

Main Course + Sides:

• Salad
• Sesame Noodles
• Potato Salad*
• Baked Beans*
• Pasta Salad*
• Grilled Veggies
• Marinated Steak Tips
• BBQ Chicken
• Burgers
• Grilled Corn on the Cob

Desserts:

• Homemade Whoopie Pies*
• Cup Cakes
• Lemon Squares
• S’mores Brownies
• Raspberry Choc-Chip Oatmeal Muffins (must get recipe from my friend!!)

Drinks:

• Various beers (mostly summer brews!)
• Brian’s latest Homebrew
• Sangria
• Wine
• Soda

Yeah…a lot of food!

One of the dishes I made was my aunt’s recipe for Sesame Noodles!  I haven’t had these in many many years but I remember loving them and this was an easy thing to pre before hand.

Recipe post to come! 

The finished product came out pretty good if I do say so myself.

One of the other items I made were lemon squares from this Eating Well recipe.

When Brian wasn’t busy acting as my Sous Chef (i.e. veggie chopper), he set up the yard.

You can add the post about how we painted those black chairs and table to my growing list of things I need to blog about!!

And a canopy tent!

I picked this bad boy up for just $30 at Wal-Mart.  There was thundershowers in the forecast and I was SO worried about the rain!!!

However we totally LUCKED out!!  There was a very short shower lasting about 4 minutes, and other than that it was sunny and perfect :)

Then people started to arrive and then it was go-go-go all day and night!

How beautiful do these Caprese skewers look!  My friend Jen made these.

The BEST Guacamole…I recommend this recipe to anyone looking to make some guac!

My favorite God Daughter Riley!!  She’s the cutest :)     

Some of the girls….hey who gave Riley the beer bottle!!??!

My Sparking Sangria…this was really really good!!!

    

I was running around like a crazy person until we ate, so I didn’t get the best pictures of the food…or even all the food but I got some!!

BBQ Chicken made with a rub and then bbq sauce added at the end

Potato Salad…another Ina recipe!  I made a special request for this salad, it’s my FAVORITE potato salad.

My salad…it’s another favorite recipe that I make a lot for parties.  So simple:

• chop tomatoes and combine with chopped garlic, and let those to sit and marinade for a couple hours before.
• Combine with chopped Romaine, scallions, and grated Romano Cheese.
• Dressing is equal parts lemon juice and olive oil (I do about 1/2 cup of each for a big bowl) + 1 Tbsp of dried oregano

Grilled Veggies!

Grilled Corn…to save time I pre-steamed the corn a bit, then we just put the ears directly on the grill for a few minutes.

Burgers. This was Brian’s creation.  To the ground beef he added fresh garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and his favorite seasoning…Emeril’s Essence.

Homemade Whoopie Pies!!!  My friend made these and they were AWESOME!

Relaxing…

You can’t tell from the pic, but we had just finished an INTENSE game of Badminton and were sweating pretty bad haha!

We also had a visitor fly in…I fed him some hot dog bun :)

Lights on.

Turned out to be a beautiful day, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I’ll admit I was a bit frantic up until all the food was ready, but I relaxed after that. 

We really lucked out with weather as there was basically a mini-monsoon today!! 

Brian and I were so tired we left the mess until the morning…fine by me!  We also have SO many leftovers.

So what’s your favorite thing to eat or make for a BBQ???