I grilled an entire Thanksgiving dinner on the BBQ

 

This post is sponsored by the Home Depot. 

Let’s cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner on the barbecue, yes, you heard me right. I’ve partnered up with the Home Depot and Weber to create a delicious Thanksgiving dinner cooked entirely on the Weber Genesis II. The Thanksgiving dinner menu included a spiral cut ham, hasselback potatoes, grilled green beans and grilled brussels sprouts.

Having multiple burners that I could control the temperature on made cooking this delicious dinner simple and straightforward. I started by firing up the grill and continued to check the temperature until it reached 225°.  The spiral cut ham I purchased was fully cooked and just need to be reheated. I went to the Weber web site to look for information on reheating a precooked ham. The Weber website says that a good rule of thumb for reheating a ham on the grill is 12 to 15 minutes per pound when you stay between 225 – 250 degrees for a precooked ham. I purchased a 4-pound precooked ham, which took about an hour to reheat on the barbecue. 

I took the ham out of the store packaging and placed it in a square cooking tin and then placed tinfoil over the top to keep it from drying out. I then put the ham on the barbecue to start the reheating while I got started on the preparing the side dishes. 

 

Grilling brussles sprouts is super easy, and the grill gives them a nice crispy glaze to the out side while keeping the insides soft. I used metal barbecue skewers to prep and cook the brussels sprouts, I evenly spaced 5 sprouts per skewer and based them on a baking pan with olive oil and then lightly seasoned them with salt and pepper. Then I set the brussels sprouts aside to work on prepping the potatoes. 

 

I’ve seen a lot of ways to cook hasselback potatoes, and grilling them on the barbecue is a great option that turns out delicious and is super easy to cook. I went with medium sized red potatoes for this recipe. I used a large serving spoon to rest the potato on while cutting through the potato in 1/4" slices. The spoon acts as a barrier to keep the knife from cutting all the way through the potato. 

Once the potatoes were cut I place them on the baking pan and basted with an Herb de Provence oil olive. I made sure to coat in between each slice of the potato while lightly spreading the slices apart.

After the potatoes and brussels sprouts were prepped for the barbeque I moved onto the green beans. I tossed the green beans in a bowl with olive oil and seasoning. I picked up a Weber deluxe grilling basket from Home Depot, which was perfect for grilling the green beans.

Once the ham had been on the barbecue for 30 minutes it was time to add the side dishes to the grill. I placed the potatoes on the ham side of the grill, which was set for a higher temp. I placed the green beans and the Brussels sprouts on the other side of the grill that was set at a lower temp, which helped keep everything cooking at the same speed.

Having the use of 3 burners is especially nice for when you want to control the cooking speed of multiple items. I was able to keep the side of the barbecue with the vegetables at a lower temp, which help to not over cook or burn them, while keeping the ham and potato side at a higher temp to insure fully cooking to potatoes and full reheating the ham. I flipped and rotated the brussels sprouts twice to ensure even grilling on all sides. I used a metal spatula to stir the green beans in the grilling basket. The stainless steel deluxe grilling basket made cooking the green beans a breeze, and an even easier clean up because nothing stuck to the basket. 

Once everything was cooked and ready, it was time to set the table and garnish the side dishes. I garnished the hasselback potatoes with fresh sprig of rosemary and I garnished the brussels sprouts with a balsamic glaze.

I garnished the green beans with fried onion pieces, which gave it that little extra flavor and crunch.

 

This by far was the most stress free and easiest clean up Thanksgiving dinner I ever made, and I cooked the entire thing on the Weber Genesis II. I’m encouraging you this holiday season to try something new by grilling a holiday side dish or even make the main course on the barbecue. Its super simple, rewarding and makes for a stress free clean up. Let’s be honest who’s not looking for a little less stress during the holidays. You can give the gift of great food and experience with a little help from the Home Depot. The Home Depot carries a top selection of Top Brands, such as Weber. The Home Depot offers free delivery on all grills purchased online. If anyone purchases a grill $399 and over in-store, you'll also qualify for free assembly and delivery. Discover what’s possible with Weber.

 

Cleaning all the sinks in our house using the New Dremel Versa Kitchen Scour Pads

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot

I've partnered with The Home Depot Prospective Team and Dremel to review Dremel Versa's Kitchen Scour pads. I love using my Dremel Versa for household chores; it helps speed up the clean process and is great for small areas that need deep cleaning. I put the new Dremel Versa scour pads to the test by cleaning all the sinks in our house. I did side by side comparisons of the cleaned side of the sink and the old dirty side of the sink. The Dremel Versa Kitchen Scour pads help make the task of cleaning sinks fast and pain free, without any elbow grease needed.

The Dremel Versa Kitchen Scour pads come in a pack of three. Kitchen dirt and food stains are no match for the Dremel Versa Kitchen Scour Pad. The silica abrasive is great for regular kitchen cleaning tasks. The multi-purpose surface can be used in wet or dry applications to clean cookware, oven racks, stove burners and grates and much more. 

I started by tackling the kitchen sink. The bottom sink rack was gross and had some really had to reach places that my kitchen spoon wasn't reaching. The Dremel Versa Kitchen Scour pads worked amazing at cleaning the top and bottom of the rack. Cleaning the bottom and walls of the sink was easy and quick using the Dremel Versa.

 

For the hard to reach areas in-between the rack I switched out the scour pads for the New Dremel Versa Detail Brush with the conical brush tip. This thing is great for getting in the really small hard to reach areas that dirt and grime like to collect in.

I also used the New Dremel Versa Detail Brush in all the corners and edges of the sink where the scour pads couldn't reach. I didn't realize how dirty these areas get until I did one pass on it with the Dremel detail brush. Wow that thing works miracles. The 4" extender made it extremely easy to maneuver in the corner areas.

The difference of the clean side to the dirty side was extremely noticeable with in a few minutes of using the New Dremel Versa kitchen scour pads and the New Dremel Versa Detail Brush. I had to immediately finish cleaning the other side of the sink. The scour pads cut down on the grease and grime that had built up over time that my typical sponge was not cleaning well enough.

After I finished the kitchen sink I moved on to our guest bathroom. Each sink in our house comes with different cleaning challenges. This sink has slopped square edges that loves to collect miscellaneous dirt and soap scum. The New Dremel Versa scour pads worked wonderfully on the bottom, edges and walls of the sink. I was able to clean this sink with in minutes. The best part is the kitchen scour pads are great at cutting down dirt and grime with out scratching the sinks.

Finally I tackled our everyday use bathroom. Because my husband and I both use charcoal toothpaste, we tend to see a lot of black residue left behind after rinsing. The charcoal mess was no match for the Dremel Versa Kitchen Scour pads. The slope walls that meet up to the straight wall on this sink tends to leave hard to reach places that toothpaste collects in. I was able to get into all the weird spots with the Dremel versa using the kitchen scour pads with no problem. This sink was the fastest and easiest of all the sinks to clean.

Cleaning and detailing all the sinks in our house was smooth and effortless using the Dremel Versa Kitchen scour pads. I was able to clean all the sinks in the house in half the time it would have normal took if not for the Dremel Versa and the Kitchen Scour pads. You can find the Dremel Versa at your local Home Depot along with the Dremel Versa accessories like the kitchen scour pads, detail brush and more.

 

A review of the Webber Genesis II

Time to fire up the grill because it's grilling season. I'm very excited to be partnering with the Home Depot to review the Webber Genesis II.  

The Home Depot carries a wide range of Webber accessories that makes BBQ possibilities endless. The Genesis II 3-Burner propane gas grill with built-In thermometer and side burner is the ultimate grilling machine. It’s equipped with 3 stainless steel burners that deliver even heat, a sear station & side burner and the flavorizer bars sizzles the drippings to add a smoky flavor to food 

The high performance ignition switch made firing up the grill a snap. Having the propane tank positioned on the outside of the grill makes it ultra convenient to install and remove the tank.

“Discover what’s possible with Weber”

A good friend of ours is a local fisher and recently brought us home some fresh caught lobster.

BBQing fresh lobster was a first for me but with a little quick research and the help of my Webber Genesis II, I grilled up a delicious surf and turf dinner for two. 

I started off by preheating the grill and then adding a marinated tri-tip steak. I let the tri-tip steak cook for around 15 minutes while I worked on prepping the lobsters for the grill. I split the lobster shells along the top ending at the tail, and then butterflied it open. I used a whole stick of butter to lather the lobster and coated them with fresh squeezed lemon and a light touch of salt and pepper. 

The Intense Heat Zone in the center of the grill is the perfect

sear station that quickly seared the tri-tip steak creating the beautiful sear marks. The stainless steel flavorizer bars below the grill are angled just right to catch and sizzle drippings. The smoke created adds delicious smoky flavor. I grilled a lemon to add to the lobster at the very end that made the entire BBQ smell zesty and delicious.

I added the Webber LED Grill handle light, which came in handy during the evening grilling. The sun began to set before I had finished barbequing, which made having a task light over the grill extremely helpful. I didn't realize it until I turned it on, that it has a motion sensor that turns the light on once you open the lid to the BBQ. This was very handy and also helpful on saving the battery life.

Another fun and helpful Webber accessory I picked up at the Home Depot is a Webber Instant-read grill thermometer. Figuring out the inner temperature of the tri-tip steak was as easy a click of the on button.

 

I grilled the tri-tip for around 35 minutes, and I grilled the lobsters over the open flame for 5 minutes then flipped them over and let them grill on low heat for about 15 minutes with out opening the grill lid. I finished the lobsters off with a squeeze of fresh grilled lemon, which had a zesty smoky flavor. I have to say for my first time grilling surf and turf, I'm extremely proud of myself. Not only did it turn out delicious it was a fun and easy grilling experience.  

The Home Depot carries a top selection of Top Brands, such as Weber. The Home Depot offers free delivery on all grills purchased online. If anyone purchases a grill $399 and over in-store, you'll also qualify for free assembly and delivery. Discover what’s possible with Weber.

 

Building a Fun and Safe Contactless Halloween

I've partnered up with my good friends at the Home Depot to create a fun a safe contactless trick-or-treat experience for our neighborhood trick-or-treaters, using simple materials found at the Home Depot.

I started off by decorating our front porch handrail, which will be the base for our contactless candy drop off experience.

I picked up a bag of bones found at the home depot in the Halloween decor section along with a bunch of other fun and spooky decor that I’ll be incorporating into this project. 

(I’ve listed everything I’ve used below)

I used 3M mounting tape to secure a tape measure that was locked and extended out to 6' to the top of our wood handrail. I also added the same mounting tape to the skeleton hands that I add to the top of the handrail, which will be holding the PVC pipe in place.

I purchased a 10-foot long piece of PVC pipe that was 4" in diameter at my local Home Depot. I measured the 4” pipe to be 6 feet in length and cut it down to length using my miter saw.

I then placed the PVC pipe on top of the skeleton hands that had the 3M mounting tape secured to. The nice thing about the 3M mounting tape is extremely strong and made for outdoor use.

I tested the 6-foot long contactless candy shoot with multiple types of candies and they all past with flying colors going down the pipe to the pumpkin candy bowl at the bottom. I picked up this fun motion sensor jack-o-lantern candy bowl at the Home Depot, which has a fun, little surprise. Once the motion sensor is activated from the candy dropping into the bowl, a spider pops out from a secret compartment in the back section of the bowl, startling the trick-or-treaters. 

What would Halloween be without skeletons? I had a lot of fun incorporating skeleton into this spooky design. The Home Depot has a wide selection of different types of Halloween skeletons. I picked up a few of the 5-foot posable skeletons, and dressed them up with different costumes, that I happen to have on hand. One of the skeletons I placed on the front porch by the tape measure and dressed him as a construction worker, I positioned one of the skeleton’s hands to hold the tape measure and positioned the other hand to be waving hello.

I was able to place a small bucket on the ledge of the handrail tucked under the skeletons arm, which I can fill with candy to pass down the shoot to the trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

I used a large black paint pen to mark each foot of the 6-foot pipe and then relocated the tape measure to the top of the pipe for a better visual.

I really had fun creating this fun and safe contactless Halloween for our front porch. It was simple and easy and you can do the same to fit your home with a few simple materials and some creativity.

Here is a list of all the material I used which you can find at your local Home Depot.

• 4" PVC pipe
• Home Depot Bucket
• 3M double sided extreme mounting tape
• Stanley tape measure
• Bag of bones
• Bag of skulls
• 5' posable skeleton
• Jack-o-lantern candy bowl
• Skeleton dog
• Skeleton howling wolf
• Skeleton piranha
• 20" Lighted up Jack-o-lantern 

You can find everything you need for a safe and fun contactless Halloween at the Home Depot.