Honey Barbecue Sauce for Grillin' Season and Our First Backyard Campfire

Since it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind, I've decided to change mine. Last week I declared, rather foolishly I might add, that it is good to have a couple days of sunshine, followed by a little rain. Something about allowing the muscles a chance to heal...blah, blah, blah....

I forgot momentarily where I live. Saying that out loud was like giving permission for the rain to return.

So, I've officially changed my mind. Please, please, please bring back the sun. My mental well-being depends on this.

We did have one rather nice day. Since I can hardly believe anything the weatherman says, I wasn't prepared for this at all.

So I improvised.

Kids like fire and hot dogs, right?

Guess who was the favorite parent of the day?

Not to mention, the favorite owner of a singing beagle!

Yesterday, we started and ended our streak for longest days without rain.

One.

Could be one for the record books.

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With summertime fast approaching (ahem!), I decided to can some barbecue sauce. The stuff in the grocery store is questionable at best and one of the quickest ways to ruin a good, healthy piece of grass-fed meat.

This is a recipe I learned from Anne Marie at the Cheeseslave during her "Surf & Turf" classes. She just kept a jar in her fridge to use when needed, but I can't do anything small like that.

I dream big!

And then I have to bring out the canner!

Homemade Honey Barbecue Sauce

~The Players~

1/2 onion, chopped

1 Tb. unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tb. paprika

1/4 t. black pepper

1/2 t. sea salt

1 cup organic ketchup (Only use organic to avoid the high fructose corn syrup!)

1/2 cup apple cider or white vinegar

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup yellow mustard

1/8 cup Barbados molasses

2 Tb. Worcestershire sauce

*chili powder or *cayenne pepper to taste

I quadrupled the above recipe to make 7 & 1/2 pints of barbecue sauce.

In a saucepan (use a large pot if making enough to can), saute onions in butter. When onions are soft, add garlic and cook a little longer.



Add paprika, black pepper, salt, ketchup, vinegar, honey and yellow mustard to the pot and simmer to melt honey. Stir well. Add molasses and Worcestershire sauce and mix. Bring pot to boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.



Add chili or cayenne pepper to taste.

Wipe rims and put 2 pieced lids on, screwing down tight. Process in hot water bath for 20 minutes.

Cool on a towel in a draft free area.

Be sure to label the cooled jars!

*For this large batch, I added 1 t. chili powder and 1/2 t. cayenne pepper. This gave it a pretty nice kick without being too spicy to enjoy.

In my next batch, I will saute the onions in bacon grease and instead of adding cayenne pepper, I'll add a little hickory smoke.

Since our old barbecue made the poor decision to singe our eyebrows instead of searing the steaks, I guess I'd better put in a request for a new barbecue too, huh? 

This post is linked to the Barnyard Hop.