The sky is blue, the sun is shining and summer is here! It’s time to dust off the barbeque and route out the outdoor crockery.  Planning a barbeque whether just for the two of you or for a group of friends doesn’t have to be difficult. 

After a long winter the first inclination is to go overboard and buy so much food you could feed the whole neighbourhood for a week!! You’ve not had a barbequed sausage for months and you’re really looking forward to it. Your mouth is watering already at the thoughts of fresh tasty sausage barbequing.  You can already smell them cooking!  Maybe the thought of actually tackling the overgrown lawn and wind ravaged garden doesn’t really inspire you, but it has to be done sometime and now is a good a time as any.  Think of the end result – tasty sausage on a bun and it will spur you on! 

After your energetic bout of exercise whipping the garden into shape it’s a good idea to keep the barbeque simple by choosing only two or three dishes.  You can start off with a few nibbles.  These can be healthy or naughty, crunchy carrot sticks or crisps and peanuts.   Serve a choice of sausage and soft white bread fingers with tomato or barbeque sauce for the main.  If you buy the sauces and bread fingers the only work involved in this course is to actually cook the sausage.  This is the fun part and requires little effort from you, especially as you’ll probably have a cold beer or glass of wine while you’re cooking.
Dessert can be either fresh fruit or a sticky chocolaty dessert.  Buy the fruit and the dessert can be bought or home-made.  Better still, if you have a guest who makes great desserts get them to contribute the pudding.  It keeps the cost down and the work!

Open the wine, chill the beer and you have the makings of a great barbeque.