Today we’re going to be doing one of my favorite things

Having friends over and serving food.

Not that I *need* an excuse to host a party, but when Bush’s Beans asked if I’d like to partner with them to host a Game Day barbecue, pair a couple of my own recipes with a couple of their recipes, share them with y’all and talk about some of my favorite Game Day grilling tips — well I’m sure y’all can imagine just how quickly I said yes.

Today, I’m going to be serving grilled onion garlic Burgers and jalapeno bacon wrapped Brats alongside Bush’s Beans Homestyle Baked Beans and Onion Baked Beans.  There will be more food (obviously) but the food isn’t actually the point of today’s post.

Today’s post is about 3 of my favorite

Game Day Grilling Tips.

Tip #1 Clean Grill, Good Food

You must keep those grill grates clean!!  If you cook on a dirty grill, the leftover bits of food can cause flare-ups which causes burnt food which causes unhappy chefs and guests – not a good thing!

• A quick and chemical free way to clean your grill – halve an onion and rub it over your warm grill.  This cleans off all the residue and food leftover from cooking, smells wonderful and is a completely natural and biodegradable way to clean your grill.

Tip #2: Leave the food alone:

• For every time you have the urge to walk over and flip that burger sizzling on your grill – turn around and walk away.  The less you mess with the food on the grill, the juicier it will be.  Plus, if you flip a burger before it’s ready, it’ll stick to your grill.  Do not mess with the food, most food only needs to be flipped once. Once you’re ready to flip that burger, lift it up (if it comes up cleanly you know it’s ready) and place it down on a previously unoccupied space on the grill – because it was unoccupied, this part of the grill will be hot.

Tip #3: Let Cooked Meat Rest:

• Want the juiciest cut of meat?  Once your meat has cooked and you’ve removed it from the grill, let it rest.  Once the meat has left the heat of the grill and is on the serving platter, tent some foil over it and allow it to rest so those delicious juices can reabsorb into the meat.  This means do NOT cut into the meat immediately, you’ll lose all those juices and flavor!!

Rachel’s Bonus Tip(s)

• Have fun.  Prep as much of your food ahead of time as  you can, so that you aren’t spending your whole day in the kitchen getting everything ready. Get your family involved the day before in slicing and storing the veggies for dipping, or the burger toppings; write out your to do list so you know what you need to do and how much time you’ll need to do it.
• Once the guests arrive, let people help when they offer and make sure that you enjoy the food and the friends who’ve come over to celebrate and cheer on your favorite teams.  Be in the moment, the dishes can wait.  Leave the food out so people can nibble and remark once again what an amazing chef and host(ess) you are.

Thanks, Bush’s Beans for including me in this Game Day Grilling Opportunity!  I am receiving some product and compensation for my time and participation in this program.  The opinions, ideas, recipes shared are 100% mine unless otherwise stated.

Stay tuned! Next week I’ll share the recipes that we’ll be enjoying today and I have a pretty fantastic Game Day Grilling Kit to give away, courtesy of Bush’s Beans!!!!