Memorial Day Grilling with the Big Boy Barbecue Book

Happy Memorial Day! I don't know about you, but every Memorial Day weekend we spend quite a bit of time at the old grill. In honor of that tradition, I wanted to share this vintage cookbook that I found at Joan's house a few years ago. It was published in 1960, and the illustrations and verbiage are just so kitschy and fun. For example, the book is attributed to "the Barbecue Experts of the Tested Recipe Institute, Inc. at the Kitchen in the Clouds and with the Cooperation of Barbecue Experts of Big Boy Mfg. Co." The book is filled with recipes for meat-eaters and veggie-lovers, and they do look pretty yummy for the most part....perfect for a Memorial Day cookout. Enjoy a little peek inside!

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In the Kitchen with Gerald & Joan: Vegetarian BBQ Nachos

Since becoming vegan/vegetarian almost three years ago, I haven't missed BBQ. That is almost sacrilegious to admit when you live in Memphis, Tennessee, but it's the truth. When you don't eat foods for a long time, you don't really crave them anymore. Well, at least not until BBQ Fest...

Last weekend was the World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest. It's a really big deal in Memphis, and for an entire week, everyone is talking about BBQ. When your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds are constantly blowing up with photos of BBQ for a straight week, you start to crave BBQ just a little bit.

Which brings us to this week's in the kitchen recipe...It was Thursday night, our healthy dinner was already prepared, but I was craving BBQ. It's not every day that I have a craving as well as the ingredients to satisfy that craving, but I just happened to have chips, tofu, cheese dip, shredded cheese and jalapeños (note: we don't usually have cheese products in our home, but we were expecting company over the weekend). It was far too tempting, so we saved dinner for another day and made these nachos. In a former life, I lived for Central BBQ nachos. These tasted just like them to me. Yummy.

If you are vegan, you can substitute the cheese for Daiya. Cheese dip is a little more tricky to recreate, but there are several decent recipes on the Internet. Here's a good one that we've made before. Note: Daiya is pretty expensive (around $4.50 a bag), but in my opinion, it is the best vegan cheese product on the market.

Enjoy!

Our Obsession with All Things California

Oh, California. As the temperatures start to rise in our hometown of Memphis, we wish we could fly West for a visit. Here are a few of the reasons why California is always in our hearts: [gallery type="rectangular" ids="1291,1292,1293,1294,1295,1296,1297,1298,1299,1300,1301,1303,1304,1305,1306,1307"]

Where is your special place?

Presenting...LOVE STORY

This collection has been years in the making. Heck, in some ways it feels like we've been working toward it our entire lives.

It brings together everything that matters to us. More importantly, it is the start of something. It is a new chapter and the beginning of our dream.

The launch of this collection makes this little business legitimate (we hope) and gives us purpose. We hope you'll follow along as we find our way. We would love to hear your own personal stories as well as your honest feedback. Gerald & Joan is a family business, and it's about so much more than just us.

Gerald & Joan is about sharing the history, the stories and those special details that inspire everyone. It is about applying all three to daily life.

Welcome to Gerald & Joan and to our LOVE STORY. We are so glad you are a part of it.

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