Okay so maybe you aren’t stricken with Propane Tank Envy. That’s probably only because you’ve never seen a tank quite like this one. And now you can make one yourself. Soon enough, all your friends will be jealous of more than just your awesome propane gas grill. They’ll be jealous of your awesome propane tank, too!

I saw this on instructables.com the other day and I was a little upset that I don’t have a propane tank for any reason. I’m thinking of getting one just to paint it all up and then stick it out back.

Every child loves LEGOs, right? (And, to be fair … I think most adults do, too. It’s just not as socially acceptable to whip out your LEGO playset when your friends are over once you hit age 12. Or, you know, 45. Whatever.) Well then, what are you waiting for? Learn to make your propane tank look like a giant yellow LEGO person head:

Step 1: Paint your gas bottle Starting with a basic LPG/Propane gas bottle, give it a wipe with turpentine to remove any grease and dirt, and then spray it with yellow paint.
Step 2: Paint the face Wait for the yellow to dry thoroughly and then paint your face onto the bottle.  The one on instructables.com used enamel hobby paints and the face was painted freehand, but you could use a stencil and spray paint.
Step 3: Reinstall the gas bottle Wait for the paint to dry and then reinstall the bottle back onto the BBQ. Then sit back and enjoy how much cheerier it makes any barbecue area.

I found this here: Propane Bottle Lego Head and quickly discovered there were other great ways to dress up your propane tank. With Halloween fast-approaching, I thought this one was great, too: Propane Bottle Jack-o-Lantern. Especially since the weather is getting cooler and your propane tank might not be getting as much use on the grill as it did a few weeks ago. It’s kind of nice that in a little while you could be looking at your snow-covered deck and see a little LEGO man peeping through!

Have you ever painted your propane tank? Would you?

It’s Monday again, the weekend is over and it is back to work. Make your Monday better by going out and buying some cheap steaks and turn them into a quality steak for dinner tonight. A good meal always makes a Monday better. If you like steak and eat it a lot this is a great cost saving measure.

Go out and buy your typical grocery store steak. The ones that usually range in price from $4-$7. Nothing from behind the counter, no filet or quality prime meat needed. Also pick up some kosher salt if you don’t already have it at home.

Directions

1. Take the steaks out of the packaging and place them on a plate.
2. Coat the steaks with kosher salt. (Just don’t sprinkle some on, coat it.)
3. Let sit for desired time. (If your steak is an inch thick let sit for an hour, inch in a half let sit for an hour and a half.)
4. Rinse steak of all the remaining salt and pat dry with paper towels.
5. Now you can cook it or prep it any other way you would like before grilling it.

What happens is the salt breaks down the protein cells in the meat. Instead of being very tough and tight they loosen and help the meat hold its flavor better. There is more science behind this, but all you really need to know is that it works and works well.

Try this method this week and let me know what you think in the comments below.

In a continuation of last weeks post on how to deep clean your grill grates we are going to show you how to clean the inside of your grill. Cleaning the inside of your grill will vary from a charcoal grill to a gas grill. The cleaning in the post is with a gas grill.

I unfortunately neglected my grill over the years and failed to ever really clean it. I would say a lot of people do this. Get a grill, cook the food, brush the grates off for the next use and that is the extent of cleaning. Not cleaning the inside of a gas grill can quickly become a fire hazard.

As small pieces of food and grease fall down to the bottom they burn up some and then become hard after the grill cools. Then the next time you go grill it does this again and continues to build up the gunk. These pieces can catch on fire as your cooking and if one of those pieces falls down to the grease drip pan then you could start a pretty dangerous fire. You definitely do not want this. This is why you want to give the inside of your grill a good cleaning each year and always empty out your drip pan as needed during the cooking season.

As long as you keep up with cleaning the inside of your grill on a regular basis it won’t take long to do.

1. Remove your grill grates.
2. Scrape of any loose debris from your heat plates or heat tents that are covering your burners.
3. If they are really bad you can soak these in a soapy/baking soda mix for an hour and scrub.
4. Brush or scrape all loose debris on the bottom of your grill into the removable catch all pan.
5. Remove the pan and dump out all the debris.
6. If the inside is still very dirty you can spray it with a grill cleaner and let it sit then scrub/brush the inside. If you do this you will want to hose out the inside.
7. Put the catch all pan back.
8. Put the heat plates/heat tents back over the burners.
9. Put the grill grates back.

Find more information on: Cleaning Your Grill.

How often do you give the inside of your grill a good cleaning?