This is more of an entertaining tip than a culinary tip. In our world today, there seems to be a lot of pressure to be perfect when entertaining. We are constantly bombarded by the likes of Martha Stewart, The Food Network, Home & Garden TV.

We have to remind ourselves when watching these shows or reading the magazines that they have huge staffs and unlimited budgets. They don't have phones that are ringing, kids asking for a snack, dogs barking to go for a walk.

Yesterday was my daughter's 5th birthday party. Yes, I'm a caterer and my husband is an executive chef and normally we get carried away and make all kinds of wonderful food and a birthday cake worthy of a magazine cover. Well not this year! I didn't have a lot of time this week so I went and bought a Carvel ice cream cake. Trust me no one complained and wanted to know why I didn't slave away all night making a cake. For the food, we made simple but great BBQ. Good old fashioned baked beans and macaroni salad.

The point of my story is everyone had a great time regardless of whether or not I slaved away for days cooking and being stressed about how fantastic it was all going to be.

Okay, I do have a cooking tip for you this week...for BBQ chicken.

Put your chicken pieces on a baking sheet and salt & pepper both sides. Season with some garlic powder (not garlic salt) and some dried thyme. Bake in a 350 degree oven until just underdone. This can be done up to a day ahead of time. If you'll be doing it ahead, refrigerate chicken until ready to BBQ. Remember to pull chicken out of fridge 20 minutes before cooking so it isn't very cold - it will cook more evenly.

Brush chicken with BBQ sauce and BBQ on a low flame. This will give you all of the flavor and smokiness of the grill while being sure that it is cooked through evenly and not charred. This also helps to free up your grill when you have other stuff to cook as well.

--- © Chef Raven

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