This & That...

Well...I have some great news.

I submitted my Chili recipe to the Tennessean News Paper a few weeks back, and I got a call last night and my recipe is in. Woo-Hoo!!!

It will be featured next week in the Wednesday Living Section. This is a great honor for me...to have one of my original recipes published in the News Paper.

I go in tomorrow for a photo shoot (my picture in the paper) and I have to bring some chili along with me for them to sample. So...this is the most important pot of chili I have ever made.

Did I do good? Julie said it was perfect. (Lucky me)

So...

Wish me luck...this will open a very big door for me...

If they like my chili...They'll love my ribs...

Oh yeah babe...

B.D.

Woo-Hoo!!!

Weekend Report (part II)

Chili-Garlic Shrimp
1 pound peeled and deveined fresh large shrimp
1.6-ounce package Buffalo wing seasoning
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon (or more, to taste) red pepper flakes
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons lime juice
Lime wedges (optional)

Rinse shrimp with cold water, drain and pat dry with paper towels. Combine shrimp and Buffalo wing seasoning in a large plastic bag and shake to coat evenly. Set aside. In a large skillet over medium heat, combine butter, garlic and red pepper flakes. When butter has melted, increase heat to medium-high, being careful not to burn butter or garlic.

Add the shrimp when the butter begins to pop and sizzle. Cook and stir 4-5 minutes, or until shrimp is opaque and cooked through. Be careful not to overcook.

Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and juice. If desired, garnish with lime wedges. Serve hot.
Makes 4 servings.


Creole Curly Fries
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
Half of a 28-ounce bag frozen curly french fries
Jarred chili sauce, for dipping

Preheat the oven to broil. Line a baking sheet or broiler pan with aluminum foil.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, Cajun seasoning and salt.

In a large bowl, combine the fries and oil mixture. Toss to coat evenly, then spread the fries in a single layer on the baking sheet. Place the pan 6 inches from the broiler and cook for 9-11 minutes, turning the fries over halfway through baking.

Serve fries immediately with chili sauce.
Makes 4 servings.



Shore Is Good Seafood Dip
Recipe by Paula Deen

2 tablespoons butter
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 of a 10 3/4-ounce can cream of shrimp soup (discard top half and use bottom part of soup)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 pound freshly grated Parmesan
1 (6-ounce) can crabmeat, picked free of any broken shells, drained
6 ounces shrimp, fresh or canned, drained
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, onion, and celery and saute for 2 minutes. In a bowl, combine the soup, mayonnaise, Parmesan, crabmeat, shrimp, and pepper. Stir the sauteed vegetables into the seafood mixture and spoon this mixture into a lightly greased 8 by 11-inch casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve with toast points or crackers.

Weekend Report...

Baked Texas Jalapeno Peppers

50 appetizers

25 min 20 min prep
25 medium jalapeno peppers
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cut jalapeno peppers in half lengthwise; remove seeds. Place peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain well.

Combine cream cheese, cheddar cheese and Worcestershire sauce, stir well. Place one heaping teaspoon cheese mixture on each pepper half. Sprinkle with bacon; Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

(B.D's note:)

The reason behind boiling the peppers for 5 mins. I am assuming, is to soften up the pepper. If so, you can buy your peppers a couple of days ahead of time, like I do and just stick them in a bowl for a few days. This lets the peppers age and soften up. Also, I might back off the heat to 375 or 350 and extend the time.

Hot Wing Sandwiches

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast (thawed)

Wing Sauce of your choice.

Hamburger buns or Hoagie buns

Blue cheese or Ranch dressing

Pour wing sauce over chicken breast. For best results, let set over night in refrigerator covered. Cook on the grill until chicken breast reach 168 to 170 degrees. Let them rest for 5 mins.

Place on buns and top with dressing desired, and any other condiments you like.

Enjoy your day!!!

B.D.

Simply Thursday

Oh yeah babe...

B.D.

Wordless Wednesday

This is Sweetie.

Ain't she pretty...

B.D.

More Super Bowl Recipes

Bill's Dip
1 lb hot pork sausage
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion white onion, chopped
1 32 oz can of whole tomatoes, chopped, reserve liquid
16 oz of sour cream
16 oz of cream cheese
8 chopped hot chili peppers, or substitute your favorite hot peppers to taste
Brown sausage, drain fat. In a large cooking pot, add all ingredients.
Add the tomato liquid.

Cook on medium heat for 1-2 hours, stirring frequently.
Serve in individual bowls with dip chips.
Use Tortilla Chips. (Yellow or white)

Hot Jalapeno Crab Dip
1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

½ cup chopped pickled jalapenos

¼ pound Monterey Jack cheese with jalapenos, grated

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon red cayenne hot sauce

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup mayonnaise

2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated

Chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the crabmeat, garlic, jalapenos, Monterey Jack, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt, and mayonnaise in a medium-size bowl. Toss gently to mix. Spoon the mixture into a medium-size shallow baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese evenly on the top of the crabmeat mixture.

Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving with the chips.

Go Colts!!!

B.D.

Super Bowl Party...

Here are some recipes for your party.
Enjoy!!!

Armadillo Eggs
1/2 pound Monterey Jack Cheese
1/2 pound Cheddar Cheese
1/2 pound bulk hot sausage
1 1/2 cup Bisquick Mix
1 to 2 Tablespoons of Water
15-20 canned jalapeno peppers (do not rinse)
1 egg
1 package Shake & Bake (pork flavored)

Grate both kinds of cheese and mix together. Then, divide in half. Set aside one portion. Mix together the second portion of cheese mixture, raw sausage and Bisquick mix with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water. Knead until still dough is formed.

Stuff each pepper with remaining cheese. Pinch pepper together to seal.
Then, pinch off a bit of dough mixture and pat into a pancake approximately 1/4" thick. Place stuffed pepper in middle and roll in hand to form egg shape.

Roll each ball in beaten egg and then in Shake and Bake.
Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. (These may be frozen ahead of time, and then re-heated)

B.D.'s Grilled Hot Wings
You can do up to 50 wings with this recipe.Take a bag of thawed wings (or fresh) rinse (don't pat dry) and place in a 1 Gallon Freezer Zip Lock bag. (You may want to make several bags for easy handling)

Pour in 1 to 2 bottles of Paul Newman's Own Olive oil & Vinegar. Add 1 to 2 heaping Tbs. of chopped "Old El Paso" green chilies. Mix well. Remove as much air as possible and seal.
Marinade for 2 hrs. Turn every so often.

For the sauce melt ½ to 1 whole stick of unsalted butter in a glass sauce pan.
Pour into sauce pan: 1/4 to 3/4 bottle of Louisiana Habanero sauce (the more the hotter)
2 to 4 Tbs. of Thai Garlic Chili Pepper Sauce (see note)
2 to 4 Tbs. of Cajun Sunshine Hot sauce
2 to 4 Tbs. of Cholula Hot Sauce
Mix well.

Just heat enough to melt the butter and simmer the hot sauces. (No boiling)
Remove wings from marinade, (discard) and grill on med. heat for 45 min’s.
Turning wings every ten min’s. Remove from grill. Place wings in a large bowl and pour warm sauce over wings, tossing to coat. Remove wings to a plate and enjoy!!!

Note: You can find this where the Soy Sauce and Asian foods are in the store.

I have recently started using whole wing sections and just removing the wing tip. This makes them easier to flip on the grill and still makes for some fine eatin’.

Corn-Dip
1 can MexicanCorn
1 cup Mayonnaise, regular or low fat
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 bunch green onions, chopped fine, including green part
1 can sliced ripe olives
3/4 cup hot Picante sauce
Combine all ingredients. Chill. Serve with corn chips or Tostitos.

Salsa
Ingredients: 3 medium size tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced, about 1.5 cups
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup medium or sweet onion, diced
1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon of fresh parsley or cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons of lime juice
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
a pinch of red pepper
few grinds of sea salt
few grinds of black pepper

Mix well and chill for a few hours

Irresistible Peanut Butter Chip Brownies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 pckg (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
2 cups Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 cup All-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking powder
1 2/3 cups (10-oz pkg) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips

BROWNIE FROSTING (optional)
Heat oven to 325°F. Grease bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder; gradually add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in chips. Spread batter into pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely. Frost with BROWNIE FROSTING, if desired. Cut into bars. About 36 brownies

BROWNIE FROSTING: Beat 3 tablespoons softened butter or margarine and 3 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa until blended. Gradually add 1-1/3 cups powdered sugar and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract alternately with 1 to 2 tablespoons milk, beating to spreading consistency. About 1 cup.



B.D.

Weekend Report (part II)

This is more in line with what the weather is supposed to be.

That's fine...spring will be here soon enough.

It has been raining fairly hard and steady so far today.

Got my truck worked on yesterday, cost me 600 bucks (ouch!) because I had two bad rear rotors that had to be replaced. But I can't really complain.

She has been a good pony being 6 years old and close to 64,000 miles with no major trouble or repairs. I just changed the original tires and with new brake pads she should be good in that department for awhile. Next trip will be new shocks and new battery and belts. All in all...that's about it.

Below, I posted a fresh salsa recipe. I'll post some more recipes for that big Superbowl party sometime in the next day or two. So stay tuned...

Tomato & Tomatillo Salsa

2 cups diced unpeeled plum tomato

1 cup diced unpeeled green tomatillo

1/2 cup diced green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 tbs finely chop jalapeno pepper

1 tbs finely chop fresh cilantro

1 clove minced garlic

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp coarsely ground pepper

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl mixing well.

As you can see from the post below, Julie got her wish and I got cold.

But... I love my wife and her happiness is my peace and tranquility no matter what.

Not much going on today. I've got to take the Black Stallion to the barn for new shoes. (I've got to take my truck to the shop for new brake pads.)

Why didn't you just say that B.D. I just did...try to keep up.

And try to stay warm, we got our gas bill and it ain't very checkbook friendly.

Got to go saddle the horse...

Enjoy your day!!!

B.D.

Simply Thursday...

You know...I hate being outsmarted by a woman.

Especially being outsmated by my loving wife.

Case in point...

(her) What are you going to grill for me Thursday?

(me) I don't know, depends on the weather.

(her) We could have some chicken or thick cut pork chops.

(me) I can do some in the oven if it's cold or raining.

Now...watch this, here it comes.

(her) It just tastes so much better from the grill.

( ok...I can't argue with that)

score 1 to 0-Julie

(her) You use to grill when it was cold or raining.

(damn...can't argue that neither)

score 2 to 0-Julie

Hey batter batter....hey batter batter......swing!

(her) If you love me you would grill no matter what the weather.

(damn...)

score 3 to 0-Julie

Guess what I'm doing tonight...

B.D.

Wordless Wednesday...

I'm doing Wordless Wednesday...a little early, as I won't have time to get on the computer tomorrow. So...here it is.





B.D.

Brief History of Grilling & Barbecue

The history of grilling begins shortly after the domestication of fire, some 500,000 years ago. The backyard ritual of grilling as we know it, though, is much more recent. Until well into the 1940s, grilling mostly happened at campsites and picnics. After World War II, as the middle class began to move to the suburbs, backyard grilling caught on, becoming all the rage by the 1950s.

In suburban Chicago, George Stephen, a metalworker by trade and a tinker by habit, had grown frustrated with the flat, open brazier-style grills common at the time. Once he inherited controlling interest in the Weber Bros. Metal Spinning Co, a company best-known as a maker of harbor buoys, he decided the buoy needed some modification. He cut it along its equator, added a grate, used the top as a lid, and cut vents for controlling temperature. The Weber grill was born and backyard cooking has never been the same.

If man has been grilling since the Stone Age, he had to wait a good long time before he got his first taste of 'barbecue.' Just how long is a matter of debate, but the word's etymology has been traced via the Spanish ('barbacoa') to a similar word used by the Arawak people of the Caribbean to denote a wooden structure on which they roasted meat. (The Arawak's other contribution to the English language is the word 'cannibal'.) Only the sense of a wooden framework survived the word's transition to English; the context was lost. So, in the 17th century, you might use a 'barbecue' as shelving, or you might sleep on a 'barbecue' -- but you definitely weren't cooking with one.

Like so many of the most recognizably "American" of foods and foodways—hot dogs, Thanksgiving dinners, even milk on breakfast cereals—barbecue goes back to 18th-century colonial America, specifically the settlements along the Southeastern seaboard. The direct descendant of that original American barbecue is Eastern Carolina-style pit barbecue, which traditionally starts with the whole hog and, after as many as fourteen hours over coals, culminates in a glorious mess of pulled pork doused with vinegar sauce and eaten on a hamburger bun, with coleslaw on the side.

As the settlers spread westward, regional variations developed, leaving us today with four distinct styles of barbecue.

Carolina-style has split into Eastern, Western, and South Carolina-style, with variations largely in the sauce: South Carolina uses a mustard sauce; Western Carolina uses a sweeter vinegar-and-tomato sauce.

Memphis barbecue is probably what most of us think of when we think of BBQ—pork ribs with a sticky sweet-and-sour tomato-based mopping sauce.

Texas, being cattle country, has always opted for beef, usually brisket, dry-rubbed and smoked over mesquite with a tomato-based sauce served on the side, almost as an afterthought.

Kansas City lies at the crossroads of BBQ nation. Fittingly you'll find a little bit of everything there—beef and pork, ribs and shoulder, etc. What brings it all together is the sauce: sweet-hot, tomato-based KC barbecue sauce is a classic in its own right, and the model for most supermarket BBQ sauces.

Weekend Report-part II

Somebody is getting washed out of their shorts, but it ain't us. A whole afternoon wasted yesterday because we were supposed to get a monsoon washout...

At 6:00 this morning it was still 60 degrees. Now, if it will only be that way this afternoon that would be some good grilling weather. But...it would be just my luck as soon as the meat hits the grill...the bottom would fall out and me and my trusty umbrella would become close friends again.

People going down the road would say, "who is this fool grilling out in the rain?" That fool would be me because I wasn't thinking about that stuff when the house was built.

But believe me brother or sister...next house...I ain't going to forget.

That will be top of the list priority #1.

B.D.

Weekend Report

Not a lot going on right now. I would like to do some barbecue this weekend but...Monsoon season weather is forecast for this weekend. Oh well...

At least we can look at the pictures of last time's cook and pretend that our baloney sam'ich is bbq.

Enjoy your day!!!
B.D.

Wordless Wednesday...

Calvin & Hobbes

B.D.

Which way the wind blows...

Boy, I'm telling you what, the weather changes around here more than I change underwear. And that is everyday...( by the way.)

Old man winter is trying his best to make an appearance.

But I really can't complain, it has been mild compared to past years.

So...Old man winter, you keep on pushing baby. And I'll keep on changing my underwear.

We'll see who gives up first...

(GGG)

B.D.

Weekend Report

We had our first BBQ team meeting of the year Thursday, and things are off to a good start. As Carey (Mr. Peg Leg) would say, "We have a plan..."

I can't wait.

Memphis in May is a lot of hard work, long hours, think on your feet kind of things, but the things you learn, the people you meet, the friends you make and the smell of the "Q" in the air...makes every tired bone in your body worth it.

You have got to love barbecue.
Once you get that smell in your nose, it gets in your blood, you're hooked.

Someone asked me which one I would rather cook, steak or barbecue. Well that's a no brain-er. I love a good steak, and I fix some beef that could rival any restaurant's steak, but my choice would be the barbecue. Why would I choose to cook something that takes more time to cook than anything else?

(steak 20 mins. - ribs 4 to 6 hrs.)

Once you get that smell in your nose...
It's in your blood...

You're in love...
B.D.

Wordless Wednesday

B.D.