I'm planning a cookout for Saturday, and stressing out about it since I'm on the road until Friday evening. I did some preliminary menu planning this weekend but I've still got a few kinks to iron out. Chief among them is what to make for the vegetarians. I'm probably going to end up with store bought veggie burgers, but I still hold out hope that I'll come up with something more original—maybe something from A Meatless Feast.

I've got the salads figured out. I'm going to make the Fresh Sweet Potato Salad I found in Chile Pepper last year—it was my "can I bring something" dish last summer. It's a surprising dish, the first I'd ever seen with raw sweet potato. They're shredded—people think they're carrots at first. I like the look of surprise when I tell them what they're eating. It never occured to me to serve sweets raw, but it works.

For a little bit of spice on the salad table, I'll be serving Smokin' Chipotle Coleslaw and Poblano Potato Salad. They're both repeat as well, though I'm not sure when it was I made the potato salad. The coleslaw I've made for parties and as part of another recipe. Both have a mild chile bite that shouldn't cause any alarms, even among the kids at the party

People who've attended my parties are used to seeing a beef salad of some sort. I've used a Thai recipe quite a bit, and an Italian-style one to try something new. I'd chosen the latter recipe for this week's cook out when a recipe in the latest Eating Well caught my eye. Soba has become the latest star of our pantry, and I knew as soon as I saw the recipe for Japanese Inspired Beef and Noodle Salad that I'd be serving it on Saturday. I'm going to make a couple of changes to the recipe, using flank steak instead of sirloin and replacing the mesclun greens with additional beef and noodles. I'll make up for the greens with a green salad of some sort, most likely one from Lettuce in Your Kitchen—that way the veggies can eat it, too.

On the meat front, I'm planning on Brazilian Beer Chicken—chicken marinated in beer and spices—from The Barbecue! Bible. They cook over direct heat, and I'll probably cook some hot dogs and hamburgers that way, too. This will be the first time I've had people over for a "BBQ" since I got my NB Silver Smoker, so I'm looking to cook up some real 'cue. I'm a bit nervous about the timing since I'll be working late on Friday getting all the salads ready, but I think it will be worth it to cook up a couple of picnics and some ribs.

10:28:32 PM