Grilled Kielbasa Sandwiches

I love grilled kielbasa and I love reubens. I decided to use kielbasa patties and make reuben inspired sandwiches. I love the combination of flavors here. You can pick up kielbasa patties right near where they sell regular kielbasa at your grocery store.

I had the ingredients to make these sandwiches and I had a friend coming over to watch new england revolution mls soccer, so thought it would be a great way to impress a guest.

I started out by cooking up some onions until soft and golden brown.

Then I added saurkraut and cooked the mixture until almost all of the extra liquid was gone.

In a different pan, I toasted hamburger buns in butter.

I started grilling the kielbasa patties and cooked them until each side was crispy.

Once the kielbasa patties were done, I turned off the grill and let the swiss cheese melt while keeping them warm.

I put the patties on the buns, piled on the saurkraut onion mixture and on goes the thousand island dressing!

Had some leftover sweet potato fries. My buddy was very impressed and I was proud of my creation. This is definitely something I would take tailgating. Beer, soccer, and some great food!

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Grilled Steak with smoked porter marinade!

I am still new to actually using beer as an ingredient in a recipe, I have only tried it a few times. A good rule to follow is always choose a beer to cook with that you like to drink! I love Stone brewery's smoked porter and I thought the flavors would be perfect for steaks on the grill.

I used fresh cut round steaks from the grocery store. For the marinade I used a little over half the 22oz bomber of Smoked porter. I added 1-2 tbsp of worchestershire sauce, 1-2 tbsp ketchup, tbsp of lemon juice, tsp garlic powder. Before adding the steaks to the marinade I rubbed each side of the steak thoroughly with steak seasoning.

I decided to cut up some sweet potatos and spray with olive oil and coat with salt, pepper, and paprika. Baked them in the oven at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

After grilling both sides of the steaks til the steaks we medium well with some pink, I couldnt wait to try! Mmmmmm the steaks came out so juicy and flavorful. The beer gave it a rich, smokey, slightly buttery flavor. Then topped it off with the sweet potato fries! Mmmm

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Spontaneous Grilling

Sometimes I forget to check the weather and I get a surprise when I realize how beautiful it is outside. My first thought was..."It is way too nice out not to grill" First thing that came to mind was barbecue chicken. I ran to the store and bought some chicken drumsticks, kansas style bbq sauce with molasses, and premade coleslaw and potato salad (yeah felt too lazy to make my own).

I get home and immediately put the chicken in a plastic tub with a lid. I dump half the bottle and I can just smell the smokey bbq sauce mmmm. I put the lid on and shake the chicken to coat every piece with the sauce. Time to fire up the grill. Once the grill is nice and hot I throw the chicken on and splash more sauce on the top side with my heat resistant bbq brush. I don't ever time my grilling, I have an eye for it. When it was time to flip over, I flipped each piece and splashed some more bbq sauce on. We ate the chicken once I knew it was done. The chicken came out so nice and juicy. What a great meal. Now I just need weather like this more often.

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Dogfish head Chateau Jiahu

I've said it before, but Dogfish is easily my favorite brewer. One of the big reasons is how creative and experimental they are. I love how they take ancient recipes and adapt them to today. You get a lesson in history and culture while enjoying a great brew.

Dogfish head Chateau Jiahu is a brew inspired by a chinese beverage brew 9000 years ago. Wildflower honey, chrysanthamum flowers, rice + barley malt, and mascat grapes make up this very unique and interesting brew.

Very smooth and drinkable especially for having 10% abv. You can taste spices, grapes, honey, floral and very slight citrus peel type notes, very pungent, slight maltiness, with a nice smooth sweet finish that really hides the alcohol content. Very drinkable and enjoyable for anytime but especially a special occasion (just got married, perfect). 4/5. A must try!

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Beer Battle Face-off : Pilsner Urquell vs. Aportel Brau

The battle of the pilsners.

I am really not a huge fan of pilsners, some are good but most are mediocre. So I thought I would do a beer battle with 2 imported pilsners Ive never heard of. I tend to stay away from pilsners because when I think of pilsners I think of popular cheap beers from around the world such as budweiser, becks, Heineken, etc, yeah not my style. So I was interested to see where this beer face off would end up.

Pilsner Urquell is a beer from Czech Republic. This beer had a slight skunky aroma and flavor. Very light hops, slight sour, kind of watery drinkable, but very plain.

Aportel Brau Pilsner is a beer from Germany. This beer has very slight hop notes mostly malt taste but a little watery, smooth and drinkable but very little flavor.

I made this one kinda short and sweet because I really didn't care too much for either beer. I gave both a 2/5. It was a close one but I would like to say the Aportel Brau was better. Both didn't have what I was looking for but the Pilsner Urquell was a bit skunky and just reminded me too much of a typical cheap pilsner.

Next time I am going to do an IPA or summer ale, make it a bit more interesting.

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Pastrami on Wry

I didn't spell wry wrong, its the owners name, Corey Wry, who is behind all the wonderful creations at this local sandwich shop. It is one of those places where you look at the menu and everything sounds so ridiculously good that it seems almost impossible to decide. I went with a classic favorite of mine, the cuban sandwich. Their cuban consists of black forest ham, roasted pork, genoa salami, swiss cheese, pickle and spicy mustard on a pressed buttery hoagie roll. Pastrami on wry has classic deli sides like coleslaw, potato salad, mac salad, etc or fries for additional charge. I had slaw and mac salad on the side with a hosmer moutain soda (local soda company). What a great sandwich and sides! And the prices are the same as any fast fast food joint. I have a feeling I will be back soon to try some of those sandwiches I was checking out on the menu.

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Italiano Delicioso

I recently eloped and my wife and I went to olive garden to celebrate (were simple people) yes olive garden is chain Italian and a lot of people diss it, but I know when I want simple, reliable Italian food, we always find ourselves pleased there. I always enjoy my meals and the service so why not go and enjoy it? May not compare to fancy overpriced mom and pops, but it always hits the spot! I tend to not be able to resist the specials that they advertise. I must go out and try it for myself! This time they had four cheese pastachettis with grilled sausage or chicken. I went with the sausage. What the hell is a pastachetti? I was wondering the same thing...it is four cheese pasta lasagna squares that have no tomato sauce and are parmesan crusted (mmmmmmmm). I loved the crunchy texture of the parmesan crust, and they four cheeses were amazing. Right beside these bad boys were grilled sausage in a sun dried tomato alfredo (love sun dried tomatos). So damn good I have to admit. Top it off with a glass of the reserve classico cianti (ciantis are my favorite). It was one of those meals where the whole I'm like "mmmmm ahhhhh sooooo good!" Ready to pass out with satisfaction. So yeah Olive Garden is a chain, its not the best Italian food in the world, but they sure have some brilliant dishes that I can't help but enjoy!

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