Grilled Salmon with Blueberry BBQ sauce


Fruit in a BBQ sauce? Sure, I'll give it a try. When I started to make the BBQ sauce I wasn't sure what the outcome was going to be, but I am glad I gave it a try! The BBQ sauce has your typical BBQ sauce ingredients with the addition of fresh blueberries. The sauce was not overpowered by the sauce, in fact it was a nice hint of sweet. I'm not a huge salmon fan but this was pretty darn good. Next time I'll try this out with a firm white fish and using some type of nut as a crust!

Blueberry bbq Salmon

2 8oz salmon filets
kosher salt/ground pepper
olive oil
3/4 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and patted dry
1/4 cup ketchup
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbs grated onion
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Pat salmon dry on both sides and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. In medium saucepan, heat blueberries over medium-low heat until they begin to soften and some burst, about 10 minutes. Use the back of a wooden spoon to mash some of them, then add the ketchup, vinegars, brown sugar, garlic, onion, mustard, Worcestershire and red pepper flakes. Whisk to combine, then increase heat to medium. Stirring often, cook until the sauce begins to bubble, then lower the heat back to medium low. Continue to cook over low heat until the sauce has thickened, another 10-15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat a grill pan or prepare an outdoor grill. Drizzle salmon with olive oil and cook, skin side up, 4 minutes. Flip and brush the salmon with some the blueberry sauce and cook second side until done, depending on thickness of fish, anywhere from another 2-5 minutes. Fish should still be slightly pink in the center – do not overcook. We aren't skin fans, so I actually cooked the fish, skin side down, and when I flipped it I removed the skin. The skin slides right off.

See it on TV one day,,, eat there the next day

We caught Eden Eats on the cooking channel last Sunday and lucky for us she was in Austin going "around the world in 24 hours in Austin". She visited various ethnic cuisine like a Middle Eastern food cart, a Lebanese bakery, a European Bistro and the Cuban Cafe. there were a couple of other places as well, but I forgot ;)

The cafe was a part of town in Austin that I haven't really explored so I was pretty thankful for GPS on my cell phone. The cafe was in a small strip center in the middle of a few neighborhoods.

They had a lot of great sounding items on their menu but I had to go with the sandwich that I saw on the show, the Cuban Sandwich.

What I first noticed was the bread and the density (which is a good thing) along with the crunch on the top.... delicious. I can't really say that I have experienced that type of bread before. The sandwich had a layer of roasted pork, many layers of ham, Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard and pickles. This sandwich was awesome! I could only eat about half of the sandwich, it was huge! I can't remember the price of the sandwich but I paid $7 for the sandwich, bag of chips and a coke.

I was extremely thankful for catching the TV show that featured Cuba Sandwich because the sandwich was totally awesome.

Chewie is stretching as much as he can to get to the squirrels up in the tree

Abbey taking a break during our walk this morning

4th July Weekend Fun

We had a very good 3 day weekend over the 4th of July holiday. We had fun on 2 days and one day was more of a "fix the house" type of a day. On Friday night we decided to head out to dinner at Zocalo Cafe which is a more modern than tex mex type of a restaurant. We had our trusty Groupon... yay for discounts!!! We started off with the Guacamole, which was nice and creamy. It came deconstructed which means they had the tomatoes, onions, cilantro and lime wedges on the side versus being all mixed together. We ended up just mixing it all together and enjoyed it.

I ordered the Empanada plate with one pork, chicken and veggie empanada (pictured below). I enjoyed the pork empanada it was filled with juicy pork. The chicken empanada was good but lacked flavor... it was pretty simple. Thankfully the salsa gave it a nice kick. And I wasn't really thinking when I ordered the veggie empanada,,,, it was filled with black beans (not a fan). So I can't really comment on that one. Jim ordered the shrimp tacos, which were 3 flour tortillas filled with shrimp. He was a fan of the dish but he wished the slaw that came with it had more kick, he thought it was bland.

As we were eating dinner, Jim noticed that people kept walking by with collapsible chairs. At first we thought maybe a park was having fire works, but then we remembered that fire works were banned this year due to the drought. After dinner we decided to check it out and followed a couple of people. We came across the sign and though... very cool! We have taken a broken TV to Bonds in the past so we are familiar with the company.

They were giving away free popcorn, hot dogs and watermelon along with the movie. We didn't have any plans so we decided to hang around and watch the movie, which was Unstoppable with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. Apparantly they do these movies in the summer on the first Friday of each month. I forgot to check out what they are playing in August but if we are free then I'd like to go again.

The sound was really good and the picture was clear. It was neat sitting in a parking lot to watch the movie. Plus you can bring your own cooler full of adult beverages, treats, pups or kids!

On Saturday night we headed over to Dawn and Matt's for a 4th of July BBQ. We had a great time relaxing and catching up with friends. Matt smoked a brisket and cooked up some hot dogs and guests brought tasty side dishes!!

Rachel, Dawn, me, Jennifer, and Sarah
Jim and Jake

Dawn had a beautiful little girl 2 months ago, Vivienne. Since she was sleeping so well I asked if I could hold her ;) No crying babies for me! She slept the entire time on my lady bumps.

Dawn and baby Vivienne

On the morning of the 4th, Abbey and I walked down the street to watch the neighborhood 4th of July parade. There isn't much to the parade.... some people with drums dressed in period costumes, some classic cars that threw candy to the kids, and then it is followed up with parents and their kids all dressed in red, white and blue. It takes about 10 minutes to roll by but I still enjoy going.

Abbey was very well behaved. She met some other dogs, had a little girl constantly hug her (we ended up moving down the street because I was getting annoyed with how much she was all over Abbey).

That afternoon we met up with our friends to hand out on Lake Austin. Here is Jenn showing us her 4th of July spirit! ;)Jim, John, and Chris

We had to wait on the boat (our friends family member borrowed it) but it was fun to do since we had a great pool to hang out in.

We were even served margaritas while we were waiting. Those frosty beverages were awesome in the heat.

Finally on the boat

Charlie enjoying a drink while surfing

Jenn was the rockstar of the day, she was able to surf for awhile without the rope.
Lindsay

This was the best caught wipe out of the day... Chris falling like a champI am a ham. Pretty sure I fell shortly after this.

Jim riding along

Charlie flipping off of the side of the boat

John surfing

Chris and Lindsay

Georgetown Gangstas

We had a fun and eventful 4th of July!!!

Last day in Chicago

Our flight didn't leave until 8pm so we had a full day of fun ahead of us. Our first stop was the Willis (formerly Sears) building. We had attempted to go the day before, but there was a power surge in the building and the elevators stopped working. We were waiting in line for the elevators when it happened :) kinda glad we weren't on those elevators when they stopped working. I think the people were only stuck for about 20 minutes. So we woke up early to miss the lines, and were able to walk through and go up the elevator to the 103rd floor to see the views, and the famous "ledge". The view was a little hazy but still very beautiful.

Here we are ... the ledge... where the little girls and grown women are separated.... who will have the balls to stand out in the glass box that is suspended 1353 feet in the air :) I didn't have any issues walking out to see, but once I was out there and started to look around, my stomach did a little flip. However, the Jersey girl inside of me took control and reminded me that 1.3 million people stand in these glass boxes each year and they are perfectly fine.

There were plenty of people waiting to get inside of the box, so we were a little limited on the time we had in the box. It was a fantastic experience.

After the Willis Building we walked towards Lake Michigan, where we came across the Buckingham Fountain. It is located in Grant Park and is one of the largest fountains in the world. Remember the TV show, Married with Children? This is the fountain in the opening of the show.

We found a little Italian place for lunch called Volare. I found this gem through yelp.com, it was located a block off of Michigan Ave (where all of the shopping is) and is slightly tucked away. I saw the glowing reviews for the gnocchi so that is what I ordered. I ordered it with their vodka sauce and it was perfection in a bowl. The gnocchi was so tender and the sauce was flavorful without being overpowering. Jim ordered the special which was chicken breast with spinach, ricotta in a white wine sauce. His was good, but lacked the wow factor that my dish had :)

Saturday crowds walking along Michigan Ave. I was really glad that our vacation started in the middle of the week, since there was WAY less crowds than the weekend.

After lunch and doing a little window shopping, we headed over to Navy Pier. I didn't have high hopes since I have heard it is a big tourist trap but we still wanted to check it out. The pier had plenty of restaurants and ice cream and Italian ice stands along with rides. We chose to ride the Ferris wheel and the other ride that I have no clue what the name is. Did you know that the Ferris wheel was invented in Chicago? George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. designed and constructed for the 1893 World's Colombian Exposition.

We saved the best for last, one of my favorite rides. I never knew the rides name until I just looked it up,,,, Wave Swinger-an Old Fashioned Swing. I used to LOVE this ride as a kid (I can only remember going on it during the fair in Arizona) and I was so damn happy to see this ride on the pier. Jim hasn't been on this ride before so it was a first time for him.

I even got a self picture while on the ride :)

I took this picture from the hotel bar right before we hopped on the train to the airport. I love the Indian busts on the corners of the buildings.

Chicago, you rock. We can't wait to come back and see more of the city. What an excellent vacation!