Famous Names in Barbecue

They are grilling celebrities in their own right. You've seen them on TV and you see their cookbooks lined along the shelves of your local bookstore. They may have different backgrounds and a variety of cooking styles, but just like you, they all share the same passion and that is for grilling and barbecues.

Bobby Flay is one of the most successful chefs who specialize in grilling and barbecues. In 1991, Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill opened and was dubbed as the Best Restaurant by New York magazine. In 1993, Chef Bobby Flay was voted as James Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef of the Year. It was during the same year that his other restaurant, Bolo opened. Bobby Flay's love affair with the grill can be best experienced through his TV shows, BBQ with Bobby Flay, Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay, and Boy Meets Grills, as well as his cookbooks Boy Meets Grill, and its sequel, Boy Gets Grill.

Larry Gerber a.k.a. The BarBeQue Man. Dubbed as the BarBeQue Man or simply Que, Larry Gerber has become the face and voice of virtually anything related to grilling and barbecues. His company, Barbeque Man, does endorsements and promotions of various barbecue-related products, events, and issues. Apart from being a personal chef, he also writes for different national culinary publications, hosts a TV show called Culinary Adventures, and can be heard on many radio stations in the upper Midwest as he talks about the fine art of barbecuing and grilling.

Mike Mills is often referred to as The Legend in the world of grilling and barbecuing because of his family's treasured barbecue sauce. Between 1989 and 1994, his team, the Apple City BBQ team won hundreds of awards and accolades in various barbecue competitions. They even hold the record for being four-time World Champions and for being three-time Grand World Champions, which no other team has ever bee able to beat so far. Today, Mike Mills owns 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, IL and has published a book entitled, Peace, Love, and Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue in 2005.

Steve Raichlen is a journalist, cooking teacher, award winning author and PBS TV host. His best-selling Barbecue Bible cookbook series (more than 2 million copies in print) and Barbecue University TV show on PBS has changed the American barbecue for the better. In August, 2003, Raichlen defeated Iron Chef Roksbura Michiba in a bbq battle on Japanese television. Some other famous quotes about Raichlen include: Oprah called him the “Gladiator of Grilling” and “Howard Stern hailed him as the “Michael Jordan of Barbecue.”

Now, aren't you just inspired to get out there and cook the most amazing barbecue recipes yourself? Not a problem – get your grill ready, hit your local meat shop or grocery store and logon to InsaneChicken’s BBQ Sauce Catalog and get their delicious recipes ranging from barbecue to vegetarian recipes. And of course, check out their wide range of sauces and marinades to further make your grilling dishes insanely bold and daring.

Chris McCarthy is the owner of InsaneChicken's BBQ Sauce Catalog. InsaneChicken is proud to sell Blair's Hot Sauce and some of the Worlds hottest hot sauces

School Lunches the Frugal Way!

It seems that school starts earlier every year. So it's time to start thinking about what to put in those school lunches every morning.

My children always wanted to bring their own lunches because they didn't really like what was offered in the school lunchroom. But it was sometimes a little difficult to make their lunches nutritious and tasty and also to put a little variety in their lunchboxes without spending a small fortune.

If we let ourselves, we can spend a "lot" on individual servings, lunchables, and treats for lunches. Here are a few ideas to help you meet the "Frugal Lunchbox Challenge".

Go to the Dollar Store and buy a few of those individual serving-size storage containers. These are very inexpensive and they are worth every penny.

You can use them for any number of things--like making your own fruit cups and pudding cups.

And they can also be used to hold dip for carrot or celery sticks or fill with peanut butter and pack a zipper bag of pretzels for dipping.

Also at the Dollar Store or discount store, you can pick up one or two of the small "blue ice" cold packs. They will help keep lunchbox items cold and safe. Sandwiches such as egg salad or tuna salad need to have a cold pack. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, on the other hand, can be packed without one.

Those zipper bags we all love come into their own when packing lunches! They can hold vegetable sticks, popcorn, crackers, homemade cookies, etc.

Muffins hold up well in a zipper-top bag, as do slices of banana nut bread, or most any other quick bread.

When the weather turns cool, a small thermos will come in handy for homemade soup or chili. I see lots of these for sale at garage and yard sales, sometimes for as little as 25 cents.

A thermos is also handy to hold whatever drink your child likes to take.

Try to put some fun in the lunchbox: keep a stash of small, inexpensive toys, cut sandwich bread into cool shapes with cookie cutters, write little notes to your child, cut out funny cartoons. Children love surprises.

A good routine to get into is while you are cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, put leftovers in the storage containers, or make sandwiches and place in the fridge in a designated area for lunch items. Get your kids to help--the more they are involved, the better!

Put napkins, etc. in lunch boxes or bags and place them where all anyone has to do in the morning is fill with the prepared items. Now you can all be out the door in minutes!

Here are a few recipes that will help get you started this school year:

Apple Surprise

• 1 apple

• Raisins

• Peanut butter

Cut apple in half. Carefully, cut out the core of the apple. Spread peanut butter where the core used to be and over surface of apple. Sprinkle raisins over the peanut butter.

Trail Mix

• 2 cups granola cereal

• 1 cup peanuts

• 1 cup dried apple bits

• 1 1/2 cups yogurt-covered raisins

• 2/3 cup chopped dates

• 1 cup dried banana bits

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.

A small serving of this goes a long way!

Peanut Butter Balls

• 1/2 c. peanut butter

• 2 1/2 tbsp. nonfat dry milk

• 2 tbsp. raisins

• 2 tbsp. honey

• 1/4 c. coconut

• Sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients and form into balls. Roll in sesame seeds.

This is a good recipe for the kids to help with-- they love to roll the dough into balls.

NOTE: sesame seeds are cheaper in bulk at a health food store. You can get unsweetened coconut there, also.

About The Author

Cyndi Roberts is the editor of the "1 Frugal Friend 2 Another" bi-weekly newsletter and founder of the website of the same name. Visit http://www.cynroberts.com to find creative tips, articles, and a free e-cooking book. Subscribe to the newsletter and receive the free e-course "Taming the Monster Grocery Bill"; editor@cynroberts.com

Mustard Sauce – Liven Up Your Food

Pep up your taste buds with a dash of mustard. If mustard seeds are not your cup of tea, have mustard sauce instead. Spread it on your grilled meats, dip those crunchy French fries in it or crown your hamburger with a liberal dose of mustard sauce. Have it anyway you like. The tangy, pungent flavored mustard will make a delicacy out of even the plain old bread and butter sandwich.

The mustard sauce is a hot sauce with a mild temperament. While it is spicy enough to add a zing to your food, it does not exactly cause your tongue to go up in flames. So you don’t need to be a fire-eater to savor its taste.

Big Bob Gibson’s Backyard brand of barbecue mustard sauce happily blends the best of both worlds. The sharpness of the onions, garlic, and hot sauces are tempered to comfort by the molasses, sugar and caramel.

It is actually hard to fathom that the staple fixture that mustard sauces are in today’s dinner tables, had a relatively low-key debut in America. Though mustard in its raw form was not much popular, the Americans gradually warmed up to the mild mustard sauces that were prepared with white mustard seeds. Now, “Pass the mustard” is probably the most uttered phrase during any meal.

Once gaining a foothold, the mustard sauces have blossomed with time, innovating while simultaneously adhering to the taste appeals of the average American. Thus, you have Honey Dijon, a delectable combination of honey and mustard, which enjoys cult status among the foodies.

The mustard sauces lend themselves well to innovations and customizations. Thus those who would love to heat up things a bit more can add peppers to their mustard sauces. Ass Kickin Mustard would suit them to a hilt. Containing the fiercely hot Habanero peppers, ground mustard and also whole mustard seeds, mustard sauces of this variety command considerable awe.

The mustard sauce, as a food additive, dipper and accompaniment, can any day give the ketchup a run for its money. Those tiny mustard seeds do pack in quite a punch.

Mustard Fact Sheet

Mustard seeds were used both for flavoring and for medication by the ancient Greeks and Romans. By 800 AD, France was already using the stuff to enhance salted meats and plain meals. Mustard was also one of the many spices brought during Spanish explorations in the 1400s. It was originally considered as a medicinal plant and only later took on a culinary character.

Actually, mustard seeds aren't hot at all. They only get “fired up” when cracked and mixed with cold water. Mustard gets its heat from the oils which are released from the seeds when crushed. The mustard oils contain enzymes and chemicals that when mixed with water, liberates compounds known as isothiocyanates, that give mustard the heat.

Mustard varieties differ mainly in strength of flavor. The relative heat packed by mustard depends on the proportion of brown or black (strong) to yellow (mild) mustard seeds. The flavor of black and brown mustard is more intense and lasts longer than that of the white mustard's

Chris McCarthy is the owner of InsaneChicken's Hot Sauce and BBQ Sauce Catalog and a hot sauce enthusiast. InsaneChicken sells hot sauces, bbq sauces, bbq rubs and salsa's from around the world. The site also has a Recipe of the Day section and a Hot Sauce and BBQ Blog.