Eating on Jitneys

I spent the beginning of the BBQ season bragging that I was going to invent BBQ’d pizza. Then I realized that that would not be an invention as lots of people apparently already BBQ pizza. Then I thought I would be super innovative and BBQ a pizza without a pizza stone. This is also done, as can be seen in the multile recipes for “BBQ Pizza.” On Sunday I had lots of free time, a BBQ, and as usual I oddly enough had all of the ingredients necessary to make the perfect BBQ’d pizza.

The recipe said…I SWEAR it said…place the pizza dough directly on the grill. They even said charcoal grills were better than gas. I don’t know what I did wrong but the middle burnt, the edges sunk into the grill and started to catch fire, and the cheese did not melt at all. I was able to get the stupid pizza off of the grill and into a 400 degree oven where the middle became even more burnt and the edges got only semi-cooked.

As much of a failure this was, it actually ended up tasting OK. I think Frank even said, “It tastes awesome.” The toppings were definitely awesome. I sauteed crimini mushrooms, garlic, red onions, and spinach in olive oil before putting them onto the pizza. This was very important. I plan on trying to make the ultimate pizza again soon because pizza is so good all of the time no matter what. Unless it is BBQ’d. Hint: Trader Joe’s sells bags of pizza dough for a dollar and it tastes great.

Here are the shameful pictures:  The first looks so hopeful.

I went back home on Sunday and my mom made lunch. We even ate at the table! I took a picture of the spread because it is such a typical summertime Sunday lunch at our house: a bowl of corn, bratwurst, potato salad, chips, grapes, etc. The fiestaware is pretty crucial too.

The potato salad was one I had completely forgotten about. It has pickles and shredded carrots in it. I need to get the recipe from my mom. For now, I’ll leave you with this: my brother’s plate.

SWEET POTATO PIE:
What else to make on a hot summer day? I love sweet potatoes so figured it most appropriate if I make sweet potato pie with whatever I have available in the kitchen. Oddly enough, I had just about all of the ingredients.

ALMOST PRIMARY COLOR PANCAKES:
I usually add lots of fruit to pancakes so that they don’t taste like the breakfast equivalent of white bread. Since I was in Texas with my brother, and not in my own kitchen full of fruit, we decided to make them more awesome with food coloring. So that they weren’t too plain, I also added a lot of sesame seeds. MMM.

PICNIC:
Featured here are the fruit of my Saturday night labor: curried potato salad with green beans, spiced nuts, and homemade butter (I went crazy) with dill and lemon.

BBQ PINEAPPLE+BANANA FLOWER SUMMER DRINK:
This little number was created very late into the night of a BBQ that was eventually stopped by Lindsay’s landlord (human pyramids in the backyard aren’t as quiet as you might think). If memory serves me, it includes vodka, juice, bbq’d pineapple, strawberries, bananas crushed into flower shapes, and a certain amount of bravery.

Since I don’t want to live too far in the past, I felt I needed to add these little summer treats into one scrunched entry so that I could get them out of my system and move on. Not pictures are lots and lots of BBQ creations. This summer is the summer of BBQ’d potato packets: Add potatoes (all kinds), dill, garlic, oil, fennel, onion, and anything else you want (spices? yes.). Wrap them up in tin foil and wait wait wait while they cook slowly on the BBQ. You will never be disappointed.