23 Saturday Nov 2019
Posted in Barbecue, Food, Healthy Cooking, Meat, Thanksgiving, Turkey
Tags
We started barbecuing our turkey years ago! It’s so delicious and it frees up your oven for all the other stuff you need to cook. Best of all, it gives my husband something to do! LOL!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
28 Sunday Jan 2018
Posted in Barbecue, Cooking, Food, Slow Cooking, Super Bowl
Since Super Bowl is next Sunday, I thought I would make something that others might enjoy as a game day dish. I had purchased some pork stew meat on sale and I had a bag of pinto beans, so pork and beans it is! Of course, I couldn’t resist the lure of BBQ flavor, so I included some BBQ sauce in the beans and boy that combined with a dash of liquid smoke, gave these beans a wonderful flavor! Not to mention, my house smelled wonderful all day while they were cooking! This is something a little different from the game day chili that is so popular, but it was just as delicious!
We enjoyed these beans as a main dish with a slice of bread. I happened to have some spicy chow chow in the fridge, so that is the relish you see in the photo. It added a nice, tart zip to the beans.
BBQ Pork and Beans
1 pound of dried pinto beans
8 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 pound cubed pork stew meat
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1-2 tsp hot sauce
Dash of liquid smoke
Salt and pepper
I didn’t soak my beans overnight, so I did the quick soak method. I put the dried beans in a large pot with 8 cups of water. I brought the pot to a boil and let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Then I turned off the heat and let them sit for about 20 minutes to cool down just a bit. I then transferred the beans with about 3 cups of the water they cooked in, into my slow cooker. I added all the other ingredients, gave it a good stir and cooked it on high for about 8 hours. The beans really need that high setting to cook through.
Enjoy! Go Eagles!!!
04 Saturday Mar 2017
Posted in Cooking, Food, Slow Cooking
Tags
barbecue, crockpot, pork, recipe, red cabbage, ribs, sauce, slow cooker
It has been way too long since I’ve posted anything and I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but after posting something on Facebook I had a request to post this recipe. Pork ribs were on sale at my local grocery store, so I picked up a rack. With the cold weather, we haven’t been in barbecue mode, but I have been in slow cooker mode! So slow cooker ribs it is!
I was looking through one of my cook books and saw a few recipes for ribs with saurkraut. Now that sounds interesting! I didn’t have much saurkraut on hand, but I did have a jar of red cabbage. This sounded even better to me! I must say, it did not disappoint! The ribs were tender and delicious and the cabbage was incredibly tasty!
This meal was super easy to make and was incredibly satisfying! My family loved it! I served it with a side of corn and some fresh baked sourdough bread. I made my own sourdough starter for the first time, but that is another post!
Barbecue Ribs & Cabbage in the Slow Cooker
1 rack of pork ribs (I used loin back ribs), cut to fit in slow cooker, I cut mine in half
1 – 12 oz jar of German red cabbage
2 cups of barbecue sauce (I used 1 cup of Kinder’s Sweet Sriracha BBQ sauce and 1 cup Kinder’s California Gold BBQ sauce)
2 tsp liquid smoke
Season ribs with salt and pepper and place in slow cooker. Cover ribs with red cabbage,then pour over BBQ sauce and finally, sprinkle on the liquid smoke. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Cook shorter time for on the bone ribs. Cook longer for fall off the bone meat. Mine was somewhere in between and was very nice to eat.
Enjoy!
13 Sunday Nov 2016
I think we can all agree that the backbone of a great Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey! I know for me, if I screw up the turkey I feel like I have failed as a Thanksgiving host.
I forget exactly how we discovered it, but about 20 years ago my husband and I discovered the joy of the barbecued turkey. This moist, smokey flavored bird is definitely the star of the meal. An unexpected perk to barbecuing the bird, is that you don’t have a huge turkey hogging up your oven. I have never been blessed with two ovens, so on a big cooking day oven space is at a premium. Since I usually put my husband in charge of the barbecuing, it keeps him occupied and out of the kitchen. Prior to putting him to work on the barbecue, he was always sticking his finger in to taste things…
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11 Sunday Sep 2016
Going through the grocery store these days can be daunting. Food prices have really risen and sadly it seems the healthier the food, the more expensive it is! I try to find ways to keep our food costs down or at least make the most out of what I buy. That can include finding multiple uses for a product, making sure I use all that I buy, and making sure we throw away as little food as possible.
With this post I thought I would discuss one of my favorite “thrifty” products, the whole chicken. When I first started cooking I was intimidated by cutting up a whole chicken, but it is definitely cheaper than buying skinless, boneless chicken pieces. My local grocery store has recently had these whole chickens on sale for .99 cents a pound. That’s a good price here. I bought quite a few and stocked up my freezer.
What do I do with these beauties? When I was younger and we were really struggling financially, I would cut up the raw chicken and use it for a variety of recipes. You can look online for instructions on how to butcher a chicken. It’s not as difficult as you might think!
Lately, I cook the chickens whole. I usually prep them in the same way; stuff with fruit and onions or garlic and sprinkle the outside with barbecue rub or other seasonings. One the bird is prepped, we either bake in the oven or barbecue over indirect heat. Be sure your chicken is cooked through. This is where a good meat thermometer comes in handy!
The other night I baked a chicken. We carved off as much meat from the bird as we could. We enjoyed some chicken with the mashed sweet potatoes I blogged about yesterday. After the chicken had cooled, I picked as much meat as possible off the carcass and have saved that to make another dinner where I can use what is basically chopped chicken meat, because the pieces are so small. This meat would be great for enchiladas, a pasta dish or casserole of some sort.
I wasn’t done with the chicken yet! I put the carcass in a large pot and filled the pot to the top with water. I covered the pot and put on the stove and brought it to a low boil. I let it boil for about 1-2 hours. Then I took it off to cool and then using a strainer, I poured the resulting broth into containers. Most of the broth went in the freezer for future cooking adventures. This process ensure you know exactly what went into your broth! Based on how you originally seasoned your bird, you know what ends up in the broth. You can make it completely salt-free if you wish. It is great for any recipes requiring broth, including homemade soups.
I hope this give you some ideas on how to stretch a dollar at your house!
03 Sunday Jul 2016
Posted in Barbecue, Cooking, Food, Vegan, Vegetarian
Tags
barbecue, fruit, Grilled watermelon, Grilling, melon, vegan, vegetarian
OK, I’m new to the grilling fruit concept!!! I realize this might not be ground-breaking news to some of you, but I thought I would share this for those of you that are like me and are late to the party. I was recently introduced to the idea of grilling watermelon on one of the many TV cooking shows I watch. We were barbecuing and had some watermelon on hand, so I thought we should try it. It was very good!!! The sugar in the watermelon carmelized a bit changing the texture and the barbeue adds a smokey flavor. It was delicious!!!
There is definitely still a place in my heart for ice cold watermelon!!! But those watermelons are pretty big, so throw some of the slices on the grill and give it a try!!!
You really only have to grill them a couple of minutes on each side, depending on how hot your grill is. I just cooked them until I had some decent grill marks.
Enjoy! For all my U.S. Readers, I hope you have a safe and wonderful 4th of July weekend!
06 Friday May 2016
Posted in Cooking, Entertaining, Food, Recipes
Tags
barbecue, Cheese, Chocolate, creative use of chocolate fountain, dipping, Entertaining, fountain, nacho, Party, Ranch
Several years ago, some lovely friends bought us a chocolate fountain. They knew we entertain a lot and knew we would get good use out of it and we have! Our kids have loved having chocolate fountains at their parties. Who doesn’t love dipping stuff in melted chocolate!?! But wait! There’s more!!! These fountains can be used for more than just chocolate! We recently used ours as a barbecue sauce fountain. It was a hit! People loved the novelty of it and had fun dipping the various meats and crackers in the fountain.
So what can you do with that fountain, you ask???
As I like to say, get out there and play with your food! Get creative with your ingredients and your kitchen tools! These fountains aren’t terribly expensive and they make a great gift! I probably wouldn’t have bought one for myself, but we have thoroughly enjoyed having this party trick to delight our friends!
02 Saturday Apr 2016
My 17 year old daughter wanted to make dinner last night. All she would say was she was making burgers. She was being very secretive about what exactly she was doing with them. Low and behold it was a stuffed burger with surprise ingredients in the middle. These were stuffed with tomato, onion,cheese and relish. They were delicious!!! I’ve been trying to keep my posts really healthy, but this recipe was too good not to share!
My daughter, with some help from her dad, cooked these plump beauties on our charcoal grill. You can’t beat the taste of a charcoal grilled burger! The only better thing is a stuffed, charcoal grilled burger!
Stuffed Surprise Burger
This recipe comes from “365 Ways to Cook Hamberger and Other Ground Meats” by Rick Rodgers.
2 eggs
2 lbs. ground beef (85% lean)
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp prepared mustard
1 large tomato, cut into 6 slices
1 small red onion, cut into thin slices
6 thin slices of cheese, we used pepper jack, but take your pick!
2 tbsp pickle relish
Prepare a hot fire in a grill. In a large bowl, beat eggs with a fork. Working as quickly as gently as possible, add ground beef, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper and mix well. Form into 8 patties about 1/2 inch thick.. Spread mustard over 4 patties, then layer on tomato, onion and cheese slices, trimmed to fit,if necessary. Spread relish over cheese. Place remaining patties on filled patties and pinch edges together to enclose filling and create 4 stuffed burgers.
Place patties on an oiled grill set 4-6 inches from the coals. Grill, turning once, until well browned outside but still pink and juicy inside. Cook about 14 minutes for medium or shorter or longer if desired. They should be cooked long enough to melt the cheese inside. The stuffing will keep burgers flavorful and juicy!
Meanwhile, open up buns and toast on sides of grill til warm and lightly browned. Place cooked burgers in buns and let everyone choose their own fixings. Personally, I just dipped mine in Ketchup and it was perfect!!!
We served our burgers with a side of oven-baked, seasoned curly fries. It was a great Friday night family dinner!!!
Enjoy!!!
13 Sunday Mar 2016
Someone else posted this recipe for homemade barbecue sauce. It looks easy to make and flavors sound fabulous! A must try!
1/4c Kraft Toasted Sesame Seed Dressing 2T Teriyaki Sauce 1/3c Sweet Baby Ray’s HONEY BBQ Sauce (USE HONEY!) 1T Soy Sauce 1tsp Green Onions (Optional, I skipped) 1/2T Brown Sugar – Sea Salt Pepper 1/2T Olive Oil 1/2T Flour Premix Sauce. Set aside. LIGHTLY Sea Salt and Pepper Legs. Add in Oil, toss. Sprinkle in half the Flour, toss. […]
https://dinkingaround.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/tays-sesame-bbq-sauce/
14 Saturday Nov 2015
In a previous post, I discussed how we really like to barbecue our turkey. Regardless of how you choose to cook your turkey, there are a variety of techniques you can use to keep your bird moist and impart some fabulous flavors to the meat. One of the techniques that we’ve tried a couple of times successfully, is brining.
There is actually some science behind the brining process. It’s more than just some tasty meat! The high salt content of the brining liquid actually dissolves muscle filaments in the meat making it more tender and the salt also allows the protein to retain more fluid. Works just like me! Salt = Water weight gain!
In addition to salt, most brine recipes include a variety of other spice that lend wonderful flavors to your turkey. One of the best recipes we’ve tried comes from one of my favorite Food Network stars, Bobby Flay. That guy can grill and my husband I have the same palette for spicy foods that Mr. Flay has. I would like to share his recipe for Cajon Brined Turkey with you!
Cajon Brined Turkey – Two Ways
Ingredients
Directions
Two days before cooking: Combine the Spanish paprika, New Mexican chile powder, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, thyme, chile de arbol and cayenne in a small bowl. Remove 1/4 cup and save for use with another meal.
Dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 gallons cold water in a large (at least 16-quart) stockpot or a clean bucket. Whisk in half of the remaining spice rub, the garlic, bay leaves and onion (Tip: Be sure to mix REALLY well or seasonings will just settle to the bottom of your brining container). Add the turkey, cover and refrigerate or set in a very cold place (that stays somewhere between 32 to 40 degrees F) for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours (Tip: Brining bags (can be purchased at Bed, Bath and Beyond) can be great, but set them in a larger container in case it bursts open. A Cooler is a great choice for storing your turkey during brining as this can really hog up space in your refrigerator). Rinse well under cold water and pat dry to remove the salt. Let air-dry in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
In The Big Green Egg: Light a large chimney filled with charcoal briquettes (about 5 quarts) and allow to burn until all the charcoal is covered with a layer of fine gray ash. Empty the coals into the grill. Top with some of the soaked wood chips if using. Put in the ceramic plate, then the grill rack. Put the cover on and let the grate heat up.
Brush the turkey with oil and rub the entire turkey (including the cavity) with the remaining spice rub. Tie the legs together. Adjust the grill vents to get and maintain an internal temperature of 350 degrees F. Roast the turkey for 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted in the thigh reads 165 degrees F. Remove from the grill, tent with foil and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.
In the Caja China: Prepare the charcoal briquettes according to the instructions that come with the box. Put the roasting pan with its rack (comes with the box) inside, and put the turkey breast-side down on the rack. Put on the top and fill with charcoal. After 30 minutes, flip the turkey breast-side up and continue cooking for about 1 more hour, until a meat thermometer inserted in the thigh reads 165 degrees F. Add charcoal as necessary according to the box instructions. Remove from the box, tent with foil and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.
Tip: We don’t have a Big Green Egg or Caja China, yet!!! Check out my blog entry Thanksgiving Tips Part 4 from Saturday, November 7, 2015 for instructions on how to barbecue your turkey on most grills.
Inside Kel's Kitchen 