Professional Recipes Blog

It’s Memorial Day weekend in the United States and most folks are gearing up to break out the grills for the first time this year and fire them up for a barbeque in the backyard with friends and family. I cleaned up the backyard tonight and pulled the dusty cover off of my huge gas grill in preparation for this weekend. Tomorrow, I’ll clean it up real good, use a grill cleaning brick (made from lava stone) and hook up the gas tank and test it for leaks (this is very important!). Once that’s done, it’s time to oil it down and give it a test run with some burgers and grilled corn. Here’s a picture of my grill, it’s a Charmglow that I bought last year and I am very happy with it:

My Charmglow Grill

It’s important to clean your grill before cooking. While some believe that keeping some of the burnt food on the grill irons adds flavor, it’s simply not true. That will cause more headaches instead as food sticks to the burnt leftovers and chars the outside of the food before the inside is cooked, which forces you to keep it on longer, burning the outside even more. Make sure to oil down your grill before cooking on it as well so that food doesn’t stick and always remember – SAFETY FIRST!

Check out some of these great grilling tips from my site: Grilling Tips from Professional Recipes

On the menu this weekend, I’ve got:

• London Broil with a smoky mesquite marinade
• Grilled Corn on the Cob
• BBQ Chicken marinated in my near-famous barbeque sauce (not giving out that recipe yet)
• Steak and Shrimp Kabobs
• I might do these again this year too: Grilled Chicken with Walnut Sauce

Are you looking to try something different this year, like a gourmet hamburger? I might give these a try, from 2 chef friends of mine:

• Greek Burger with Beetroot Relish
• Chef Newmans Newman Burgers

I wrote some posts last season as well for Memorial Day and Tips for Grilling in general and keeping the grill clean, check them out if you get a chance:

Memorial Day Weekend, so What’s Cooking on the Grill?
Grilling Tips for the Backyard Gourmet

I found this article today about enjoying wine at the backyard BBQ, check it out:
Burgers and Beyond, Wine Comes to the Barbecue

The three biggest holidays around this time of year, in my part of the world, are coming up literally one right after the other. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, began at sunset on Sunday the 21st. Santa Claus comes Wednesday evening as Christmas follows on Thursday the 25th and then Kwanzaa follows on Friday the 26th. Whew!!! That’s a lot going on right there!

It’s a wonderful time of year where most people you meet seem to be more a little more cheerful than usual, as long as you’re not trying to take their parking spot at the mall!!! It’s also a time of year where people indulge in some of their favorite holiday foods and sweets. Extravagant displays of goodies adorn many tables and the home bakers of the world get busy making their favorite cookies and cakes to share with their friends and families. My wife was busy this weekend in fact, baking up the family favorites (I’ll post some recipes up here shortly!).

In honor of the holidays, we’ve got a few suggestions for recipes below that you might like to try:

• Hanukkah Candle Cookies
• Christmas Light Cookies
• Candied Yams
• Pumpkin Pie

However, admittedly, I am short on different holiday and traditional recipes and not very knowledgeable about the dates of other holidays this time of year. If you have any recipes you’d like to share or any comments or suggestions for a holiday that you celebrate, please leave us a message or submit your recipes on our Submit a Recipe page.

Check out this great resource on the three major US holidays:
December Holidays

Happy Holidays to all!

Thanksgiving is upon us once again and Americans will be stuffing themselves on turkey, stuffing and their favorite side dishes they’ve enjoyed for years (including stuffing!). So, to honor the holiday, I thought I’d throw out some recipes for those looking to try something new and hopefully create some new traditions.

To start, we have the classic Thanksgiving Roast Turkey for the main course. There are some who enjoy ham instead of turkey and some who do both or try something else entirely.

For something entirely different, check out the Cornish Game Hen with Garlic or Rosemary.

Or for the adventurous types, there is the increasingly popular Turducken, which is a chicken stuffed inside of a duck stuffed inside of a turkey. John Madden of NFL and Monday Night Football fame made this one popular. I have to admit, I’ve never attempted to make one, but if I do I’ll be sure to post the results here and the recipe as well.

For a different kind of stuffing, try this Cornbread Stuffing instead of your usual “classic” bread stuffing.

There are thousands of side dishes made in all sorts of ways. Often different family members are responsible for bringing this or that. If you’re one of those family members and you’re looking for something different or special to make, try some of these side dishes, sure to be a hit:

• Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
• Carrots Vichy
• Bacon Cheddar Whipped Potatoes
• Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
• Candied Yams

Here’s an interesting one I found, Mashed Potatoes with Lavender and Honey. Not sure how this one is, but if someone gives it a try, please comment here and let everyone know how it is.

For dessert, we’ve got a couple of suggestions here:

• Chocolate Mousse
• Cherries Jubilee with Cote Rote Wine
• Coconut Cake
• Poached Pears
• Classic Pecan Pie

Hopefully now you’ve got some different things to try for your Thanksgiving feast. If you decide to try one of our recipes, please post a comment and let us know how it came out. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone,

With the Easter holiday coming so early this year, we had to get out some Easter Recipes, especially Easter Ham Glaze and a few others coming in the next few days. Stay tuned to our latest recipes by going to the Latest Recipes menu in the Recipes section of our site. There you can view the 10 newest additions to the site (RSS Feed coming soon – updated).

I’d also like to discuss glazing hams before the holiday officially arrives, which is a popular tradition in many households who celebrate Easter. Usually the ham is cooked to whatever family tradition passed down to the chef du jour, and is one that has been used for a long time.

While I don’t propose breaking family tradition of course, it’d be very easy to change up your style instead and throw some pizazz into that family tradition. How do you ask? Simple, we’ll show you some tried and true methods for your old favorites and some new ideas for those of you bold enough to change it up!

Searching for the Perfect Easter Ham Glaze

List of Easter Recipes: (more to come)

Orange and Honey Ham Glaze
Orange Marmalade with Bourbon Glazed Ham
Coca Cola® Ham Glaze
Pineapple Ham Glaze