Is grilling bananas the same as grilling frozen brats? Less than a year into my marriage, I discovered the answer.

The story is legendary with our extended families and close friends. I have to admit, it was embarrassing at first but years later, it’s downright humorous.

As a bachelor, I was a proud tailgater with grill skills limited to hamburger patties, brats and ball park hot dogs.  When it came to serving them up in a bun, there was nobody better at squeezing plastic bottles of ketchup and mustard onto them. Life was good.
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This Week’s Johnsonville GRILLVILLE Secret Code Word is “SAUSAGE.” That’s right, I wrote it, SAUSAGE, SAUSAGE, SAUSAGE…

You might remember a post from awhile back for a neat little Johnsonville Social Media campaign for grilling. I just wanted to remind everybody out there that they can still participate, so DO IT.

But get involved quickly, as the campaign will end on July 20th. Yup, that means, that I too have to get crackin, as I have been busy with my own Social Media Marketing campaign launches for a certain large legal publisher in the United States.

Good luck to all you tailgaters.

In other news, I will be looking for some really worthwhile cooking courses for grilling. I want to learn how to be a master chef on the grille. It is a goal of mine for 2010-2011.

Every now and then, the social media marketer in me, gets excited about companies that try their hand at creating a unique contest to engage their product users.

Johnsonville  (“Sausage is all we do”)  recently launched “Share Your Ville”, an online video contest where winners will receive awesome Summer Grilling items, including newly released products from Coleman, gift cards from Gander Mountain, a collection of products from Hefty and more!

I was contacted by one of their marketers, who introduced me to this campaign, and I like the concept. To enter all you have to do is create a short video in one of four main categories and upload it to their www.ShareYourVille.com contest page.

To participate in this fun engaging campaign, I am going to the local grocery store this week, to buy several of their  brats and sausages. Then, it’s grilling time with the handheld video to record my family’s reaction. I will write some reviews of the products I buy,  and hope you all will do the same.  If you are interested in trying this yourself, go for it!

More experienced “professional” video creators will be able to enter a category of their own and they will be vying for a $10,000 cash prize. And here’s the great news… you can enter the same video into all the categories and you can create as many videos as you’d like!

Here’s a little insider information: The first 50 entries will receive a FREE Johnsonville product! So fire up your grills, get your video cams going and have some fun this 4th of July.

Cheaters BBQ Results:

Finally the moment had come. Time to serve the meal and hear the reviews. The first person who get a serving was the baby, who had just turned 1 year 3 months old. We chopped out the turkey breast for her and put it on the tray.

“Mmmmmmmmmm,” she mumbled, signalling for more.

“Well I am one for one!, ” I proclaimed proudly, knowing that she pretty much says the same thing for any meat or poultry we serve up to her.

Next, came the 5-year old mite hockey player. He is bit more finicky, and has not ever been a fan of poultry or pork. This would be a tough sell.

I cut off a few slices, and put them on his plate. He ate, smiled and said, “I like it daddy, I like it better than anything mommy has cooked, EVER!”

Now, that’s a loyal son, but I really think he was exaggerating. My wife is a fantastic cook, and actually could be a professional chef if she wanted. The woman does recipes from America’s Test Kitchen, and has a collection of cook books that rival my collection of Vikings games on DVD. I mean, if there was ever an expert of fine cooking, I am proud to say, that it would be her.

“So…. what do you think?” I asked her, expecting a direct and poignant critique.

“Well, honestly, it is really good. The breast is a little dry, but most turkey breast is hard to keep completely moist, and that is not the recipe’s fault. I think you did well, and the taste is very good. You could do this again, and try some other rubs with it too to keep it different. I am impressed that you could pull this off with just a crock pot, and basic preparations. Good job.”

So, there you have it. One recipe, one random attempt, and plenty of left overs later, I am very proud of my first achievement with the help of this book. I would strongly recommend this resource for those who need to impress a hearty lot of tailgaters from the lot, a first date, or those with no cooking experience at all (like me).

I know I will be using this book more in the future, as I try to become a better cook for my family.

Cheater BBQ is less than $20, and You can buy at Amazon.com. You won’t get a better bargain for such a great assortment of tailgating recipes!!!

Is Cheater Barbecue good? It’s fantastic. Does it taste like barbecue? Yes, it does. In test after test around the kitchen table, Cheater Pulled Pork and Cheater Ribs disappeared just as fast as Memphis’ Corky’s, Nashville’s Witt’s and even backyard-smoked pork and ribs.

It’s simple. Live, love, cheat.

Read Part 1

The Vikings release their 2009 schedule and it looks promising for roadtrip potential. The first choice would obviously be Carolina on December 20th. We have never taken the goalposts to that state, nor I have ever visited that area. That would be a good place to go. The obvious day trips are November 1st at Lambeau (Halloween in Green Bay anyone?) and Monday Night December 28th at Chicago. But, we could always consider a fly in to Pittsburgh on October 25th or repeat a GREAT tailgating trip to Arizona in early December. So many choices.

The Full Schedule:
Preseason