Jamaican Barbecue Feast

Jamaican vegan jerk dish.

We have been barbecuing a lot this summer. We have a new home with a clean backyard and I spent a week restoring our old patio set. We also left our rusty old BBQ grill back in Canada and bought a new one here. We are so crazy we even eat outside from time to time and we hardly ever do that! We're obsessed with being clean. Haha.

We decided to have a Jamaican barbecue because my husband was craving jerk food ever since we visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in town a few weeks ago. Sounds good to me! I love jerk chicken and Jamaican food :) And I love Jamaica! Besides, we had to finish off our tank of propane before we could store it for the winter. However, since our grill has been so efficient and we haven't cooked very much at every barbecue, we still have propane left. There's still one, maybe two more barbecues to do! Not that I'm complaining :)

I tried this new jerk mix I found through Pinterest and it tastes exactly like Jamaica! I think next time I might just lower the spice level just a notch for my poor husband :) We jerked chicken, mahi mahi, tuna steaks, tempeh, and Beyond Meat chicken-less chicken. They all turned out great. We served our jerked meats with rice and peas, Jamaican coleslaw, and store bought plantain chips. As for drinks, we had ginger beer and this grapefruit soda that tasted like Ting, since we didn't have Ting. Aw:( The only thing we were missing was Jamaican festival! I already started bookmarking potential recipes for that. Next time!

Jerk chicken.

Jerk mahi mahi & ahi (tuna steaks).

Jerk chicken-less chicken & tempeh.

The food was delicious and it really wasn't that much work. We all ate well and I didn't even feel tired. I think I can really get used to this idea of sticking to a theme and barbecuing less :)

 
The jerk seasoning recipe I used:
http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/jamaican-jerk-chicken

The rice and peas recipe I used, minus the water and with extra coconut milk, and no hot pepper:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/02/jamaican-red-beans-and-rice.html

Fresh thyme from the garden. <3

Rice and peas.

Jamaican coleslaw.

Jamaican Coleslaw
(Adapted from Spice Islands)

1 bag of broccoli slaw (from Trader Joe's)
2-3 cups of shredded green cabbage
3/4 cup mayo (I used Vegannaise since it was a vegan dish)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp jerk spice (from above recipe link)
1 handful of craisins

Mix mayo, sugar, vinegar, and jerk spice together. Add cabbage and broccoli slaw. Mix well. Add craisins and mix. Let sit in fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving.