Friday Favorites - Summer BBQ Recipes

Today I am joining a linkup from Meet @ the Barre!! So excited to be part of a new linkup!

This past weekend we had friends over for a lake day! Hanging out in the lake, boat rides and then a bbq. So I knew I had to make things in advance, or come together easily. I have to say the homemade BBQ sauce was soooooooo good! Here is a sample of the menu I made for us! These recipes are also perfect if you are attending a BBQ and want to bring something or you can even use the pickles or bbq sauce as a hostess gift. I apologize in advance for my pictures! I just took a few quick snaps with my iPhone!

one... Homemade BBQ Sauce
I found the recipe on epicurious.com and it is amazing. Most sauces are too sweet for my husband, so I was looking for something that had a little more kick. Did I mention how easy it was to make the homemade bbq sauce too? Basically you just put everything in a pot and let it simmer! Click here for the recipe, for a spice rub I used Penzey Spices Galena Street Rub. If you haven't checked out Penzey Spices definitely recommend. Perfect for grilling! Remember when you are grilling the chicken add the BBQ sauce later on in the process, otherwise it will scorch and look black!

two... Homemade Pickles
This recipe was originally found by our Miss Kate via The Dabble! She made this years ago for a party and since then all of us girls have been making it for every picnic and party. Homemade pickles are SO easy and not to mention it is fun to experiment with different kinds of veggies. Over the years we have used everything from traditional cucumbers, to white asparagus and green beans. The one thing we do change in this recipe is using ground coriander seeds and black pepper.  Reason being then you don't have to pick the seeds off your veggies as you eat.

three... Penne with Green Beans & Tomatoes with a Lemon-Shallot Vinaigrette
I was sitting in my mother-in-law's living room flipping through the July issue of Southern Living and saw a recipe for a lemon-shallot vinaigrette that looked delicious! And they used it with a penne with green bean and tomato salad. Don't get me wrong the pasta salad was delicious but the vinaigrette was SOOOOOO good! I am definitely adding this one of my go to salad dressing recipes. It would be great on a kale or arugula salad. I love the citrus kick along with the dijon mustard. I adapted the salad slightly and also added some red and orange peppers since I had them in my refrigerator and needed to use them!

four... Oven Baked Beans
When I first registered for the Le Creuset Heritage Bean Pot my husband thought I was insane and that I would never ever use it. I told him that I would use it all summer long. Then we actually received it and I couldn't wait to start using it. Le Creuset provided a bunch of recipes on ways to use it, and for our BBQ I decided to make the oven baked bean recipe. Let me tell you how floored my husband was when I put the pot on the table! Haha! The recipe is super easy and basically you just dump all the ingredients into the pot, give it a stir and bake covered for 1 hour. Voila you not only have oven baked beans but it is quite the serving dish to impress your guests with too! I couldn't find the recipe online so please see ingredients below!

• 15 oz Kidney Beans, 15 oz can Pinto Beans, 15oz can Great Northern Beans, 28 oz can Pork n Beans, 15 oz can lima beans (I used frozen), 1/2 cup onion chopped, 1T chile powder (I used cayenne pepper for a EXTRA kick), 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 1 cup brown sugar packed, 1/2 cup molasses, 1/4 cup mustard, and 1/2 cup hot BBQ sauce (I used the recipe above!)

Preheat oven to350 degrees. Drain beans and rinse, Combine all ingredients in bean pot. Bake covered for one hour.

five... Marinated Zucchini Salad
This recipe was found on Pinterest! Again, this is super simple to make. The recipe calls for 4 zucchini thinly sliced. However, I think they are referencing 4 extremely small zucchini! I think two zucchinis are more than enough, and I would double the recipe for the dressing. I followed the recipe exactly and then had to go back and make another batch of dressing since only a small portion of the zucchini was covered. What is great about this recipe is that you can make this ahead of time and the dressing needs to marinate on the zucchini for over an hour. So great if you have to travel someplace, or to prepare ahead.

And appetizers were kept super simple with salsa and chips, homemade guacamole, and veggies with dip. All of which were prepped/prepared beforehand so we could enjoy every minute of sunshine on the lake! Dessert was fresh watermelon!

Would love to hear what you are making for summer barbecues! I am always looking for new recipes to try out!