Chicken Four Two

Hello Blog-spot, you seem to have some BBQ dripping off your shirt.  You must have tried to eat some of this BBQ grilled chicken.  Yeah I know; It was Tasty.

Never be satisfied with store bought sauce.  Never use just one.  Mix up what you get.  "Doctor it up a bit" as some people say.  Then let the chicken and sauce mix.  Don't rush the bird, or the taste might run away.

Be patient with the grill process.  Give each leg enough time to crisp up and cook thoroughly.   

We served these chicken legs for Game One of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers.  No one thought the Giants had a chicken's chance but as we all know, they ended up taking Game One and sweeping the Series.  HMM BABY!

Blake and Me celebrating the Game One Victory!

 A lot has taken place since the last time I've posted about food.  Giants won the W.S., we've gone on two retreats, finished a full season of tailgating, and even zip lined for the first time.  Tons can happen in a 3 month time period, just be sure to eat right.  Something I've challenged myself to do on a more regular basis.  (still hard with the job though....)

Stephen and Me acting all tough pre-zip lining...We were scared!

Here's to hoping you had a great Thanksgiving and an even better, Blessed Christmas!


Happy Plates

Shrimpy Isaac

I can only imagine how the shrimp handles the hurricane.  As humans, we can be hard-headed and reluctant to evacuate from the path of danger.  I hope everyone in the storms path is hunkered down and prepared for soon-to-be "Hurricane" Isaac.

A while back I took a week off work and had the opportunity to go down to the gulf for a day with my friend Alyssa.  I attempted to fish but we spent most of the day hanging out and enjoying the breeze.  One the way back we picked up some fresh gulf shrimp to grill up. (I owe her some!)

BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp.

large gulf shrimp

the mix of stuff

wrap them in love

put them on skewers

put em on the fire and slap dat sauce on dem

On the side, salad with blue cheese dressing, fruit salad with homegrown cantaloupes, and artisan bread from Kroger (whole garlic gloves)

Happy Plates.  

And may you be safe from the storm!

Happy Father's Day!!

A huge shout out to all the dad's out there!  My love for the kitchen can be attributed to my father, the person who taught me how to cook!  This Father's Day, we collaborated to grill up some shish-ka-bobs.  My dad was eager to help me take photos of the process to share with our creations with you.

There are four main aspects to a good kabob.  

1. The marinade:  we used a beef marinade from River Roads Cook Book as our guide but don't follow the recipe exactly.  The longer they can soak, the better.  Allow at least 4 hours.

You can message me for the recipe if you're not feeling adventurous.

2. The Meat (cubed):  Steak and Chicken.  Country style ribs also work well.  

3.  The Veggies and Fruit

mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, bell peps, and a pineapple

4. The Presentation:  My dad is an engineer so this comes easy I guess. 

Here's the how to:

Cube the meat. Marinate it for at least 4 hours.  Cut the veggies.  Soak the wooden skewers.  Then create the kabobs.  Alternate the veggies to ensure they take on the flavor of the meat.  Also, keep the chicken and the beef separate.  The chicken tends to cook a little longer.

Grill each skewer on medium high heat for about 5 minutes on each side.  (there are four sides)  Serve with dirty rice and a nice artisan bread from Kroger (shameless plug). 

"hey dad, can I has some?"

Sure you can, Biscuit.  Sure you can.

Happy Plates!

and Happy Father's Day!! (a little late)

Jolly Good Food and a Merry Christmas to You

     Merry Christmas Blog world!  Jesus is born!!

     If your day was anywhere near as successful as mine, you should be exhausted.  But it was all worth it, wasn't it?
   
     I've been waiting to cook this meal since Thanksgiving!
 
     Patiently I've game planned what I'm going to cook and how I'm going to cook it.  It was an easy decision really.  I received a Weber smoker about a month ago from Home Depot.  One of my friends, Ryan P., works there and told me about this stellar deal they had one day.  I decided to tell my parents about it.. (a $350 grill for $40..I tweeted it. and sent text messages about it...)  Anyways, they decided they would surprise me with it as "an early Christmas gift".  What a present!  I would repay them with some smoked meats.

  One 12 lb turkey (spatchcocked)  and a city ham smoked for roughly 3.5 to 4 hours (As you can see in the photo on the right, the turkey is on the bottom grate, closer to the coal).
     Spatchcocked turkey means cutting out the backbone so the bird will lay flat.  I used some pepper, salt, cayenne, paprika, brown sugar and butter as a marinade.  The ham is diamond cut and smoked for 3-4 hours at 250 then I put some stuff on it. The ham's final step is to put it into an oven at 350degrees for 30-40 minutes.  (All the details of this city ham recipe can be attributed here to Alton Brown.  However, I spice things up a bit with SPICY brown mustard and my bourbon of choice is Jim Beam.).   This is what it looks like after a little smokin'!

     If you're looking for something to do while the meat is on the grill, walk around your neighborhood and look for birds.  Although this probably sounds extremely lame to most people, you would be surprised at the amount of birds you will see and what they do.  A HUGE thanks to my parents for hooking me up with a 55-300mm lens for Christmas!  Here are some birds I saw while waiting for the Christmas bird to finish cooking:

Mourning Dove

Male Cardinal

Great Blue Heron

     I also saw a hawk tearing apart food, some Mexican Squealers, and some kid shooting his new BB gun into a tree at moss.  Other things might include:  Enjoying a home brew (if you're old enough), watching Season One of Big Bang Theory, or bake a dessert.  [Special shout-out to Jeff for giving me a delicious BBP Bourbon Barrel Porter to enjoy for Christmas!  It went great with the meal!]

     After 4 hours in the smoker, or when the turkey has reached 170 degrees, it should look something like this: 

it looks like a GIANT frog

     Wrap this in foil and let it rest for at least 30 minutes before carving.  While you are waiting for that, let's get the pork ready for its final destination.  Less typing, more pictures.  

Baste it with the mustard

Sprinkle on dark brown sugar, then spray on the bourbon.

then sprinkle on the broken ginger snap cookies.  I think it looks like an ant mound.  This mound of joy goes in the oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  

Ok, so now that the turkey has been resting for 30 minutes, CARVE IT UP!

Does anyone else see a face? 

After you're finished carving the turkey, move onto the HAM!

Time to dish up the plate!

     It was quite the feast!  We missed all the extended family from BR, PR and Nevada, but know y'all were on our minds the whole day.  After a long day of cooking, present exchanges and enjoying family time, I have some "quiet time" (we're watching Rise of Planet of the Apes) to reflect once again on how blessed I am with family and friends.  Thank you to everyone for reading my posts!  May God bless you with everlasting joy, peace and love!

Happy Plates!  (even though the puppy ate a dead squirrel during dinner and it brought up some entertaining conversations...)

Been a While

 













     Marinatin' has been my motto for the past week.  Soaking in all my thoughts from a long weekend retreat and a busy October. 

     I had a fun, long weekend with all my favorite junior high students on our yearly retreat and I certainly was ready to get back into the kitchen!  The pork tenderloin hanging in my fridge was SO ready to be cooked.  I used a simple teriyaki marinade and let the thing bathe in it over night.  Grilled for about 9 minutes on each side (4 sides), it came out quite delicious.  I served it with grilled squash, zucchini, and some Kroger dinner rolls.  The plating of the meal wasn't as pretty as I like, but that's because I was tired.  So deal with it. 

While shopping in good will for the junior high retreat, I found a blooming onion maker.  I had ALWAYS wanted to make a blooming onion and now for $3.00, I had the chance.  It was an easy buy.  I battered it up with some flour, cumin, and tony's.  Then fried it for approx 8 minutes (4 minutes either side....).  It looks good on the plate (notice the purple and gold) and tastes like something out of a comic book.  Not that I would know what that tastes like, but its goood!  I'll be serving some up this weekend for the LSU vs. Tennessee Game!  oh yeah, with a fried turkey and some other good stuff!  Let me know if you're in Katy and want to join!  Geaux Tigers! 

and Happy Plates!!

P.S.  I'm using the extra homemade teriyaki to seep into some chicken legs.....These are going to be the bomb!  And another thought...IMO chicken legs are better than wings....but no one has ever opened a chicken leg place.....debate.

Grilled Teriyaki Legs will be posted at another date.  Thanks for reading!

Leftover Sliders and a Review

Mushroom and Swiss Churizo Sliders. 

     For the first time in a while, my brother came over and I was able to cook for him this past Sunday.  I posted a status on facebook asking people "whatchew want for lunch?"  My good friend, Dayna Furnish said she wanted a mushroom swiss burger.  (I now owe Dayna, Scott and Stephen a meal.)  However, I decided to try something a little different with my leftover churizo so we made some swiss mushroom churizo burgers to watch during the Texans vs Steelers game.  They were pretty good.  Clare thought they were delicious; I think they will be better the next time I make them.  We ate all but one patty, and the Texans won.  That patty, I decided ,was a very lucky patty.  Eat it, and they probably would have lost...who knows?! 
     I put it in the fridge to save for a future date.  With an evening meeting at the Archdiocese tonight, I found this afternoon the perfect time to create a churizo slider.  I warmed the patty and split it in half between two small rolls (seen above).  They look like a little alien from Batteries Not Included AND have a kick and flavor that is certainly OUT OF THIS WORLD.  Happy Plate (yes, that's the Hercules plate from McDonalds with Meg on it...)!!!

One of my other goals with this blog is to offer reviews for different eateries I visit throughout the year.  Today I had the privilege of visiting
Kublai Khan with my friends Kristin and Scott.  This unique restaurant allows you to pick all the ingredients for a "special" stir fry experience. 
     Today I mixed some beef with marinated tilapia, an egg, vegetables (squah, zucchini, bean sprouts, and some other stuff) and their coconut curry spice.  I'm unfamiliar with curry and some of the spices they have available, so I tried mixing and matching.  The food was good and decently priced (althought our waitress had an issue charging me for too many bowls).  Some interesting facts:  You can order from the menu if you're not feeling creative, most of the clientele was of the male variety, and they offer "cheat sheets" for different types of stir fry. 

   The most interesting thing about this place is:  if you do not like what you make, it is your own fault.  I can see people either being challenged by this and returning to "out-do" themselves, or never going again.  All this being said, the food is fresh, somewhat healthy, and if you go with the right people, you're sure to have a good time.  Let me know if you're ever in the mood to go (especially if it's 5:00pm somewhere). 

Happy plate (because I took some of it home.  Hey, it was a big serving)!
 

Chew on This

Stuffed Pork Loin. Marinated Mozzarella Stuffed Peppadews.

Hipster View

     A few weeks ago, I bought a book as a going away gift for one of my students moving to Malaysia.  It is titled "How to Grill" by Steven Raichlen. He enjoyed grilling hamburgers with our youth group so I found  it was only appropriate to give him an ultimate guide to grilling.  It also worked out well because I'm constantly looking for new inspiration and this picture book was just what the doctor ordered.  I picked up my own copy online and the rest is history. This is my version of the stuffed pork loin.

     The tricky part to this dish is cutting the pork loin the right way.  I unfortunately cut too deep and actually punctured through the meat.  Anways, this loin of the pig is stuffed with diced onion, bell pepper, green olives, capers, salt, pepper, oregano, and olive oil.  oh, I added the tomatoes for some fun color.  All this jazz is spread on the inside of the loin, rolled up, then tied together with butcher string (which was free from my nice friend's at Kroger).  It is also laced with bacon to keep in some moisture and flavor.  Lacing any meal with bacon is dangerous, so use extreme caution.  This heap of love was grilled on my dad's gas weber for about 2 hours or until the center was 160 degrees.  It sliced up nicely and has the unique spiral effect for the plate.  Hopefully the next time I try this, my hands will be steady enough to cut the loin thinner and my brains will be smarter to know when to stop cutting!  Happy plates (except I had no side dish...which is another story in itself hehe)

mini hipster view

Now, onto those sexy red peppadews...One day while shopping at my local Kroger store, I came across peppadews on the olive bar.  I can't lie, they were checking me out.  I was planning on using them for my pulled pork pizza (which i did and it was delicious. i might recreate the pizza because IT WAS THAT GOOD).  A really nice lady working that day told me something that would forever change my list of appetizers.  "Add cheese to pepper" she said (in an asian accent.)  It took me a while to comprehend what she had said.  I would compare it to Mr. Miyagi teaching the karate kid "wax on, wax off". Anyways....Yes, she was asian and her idea ...was BRILLIANT!  They are super easy to make (stuff a mozzarella cheese ball into the pepper), look pretty cool, and even my mom likes them!  Happy plates tonight!

Spread the word and let me know something you want me to try.  Things coming soon: Boneless Stuffed Chicken, Homemade Teriyaki Chicken Legs, and Triple Stuffed Potatoes....I'm seeing a recurring theme with "stuffed stuff"

please note:  #1. if i ever use the term hipster and fusion FOR REAL when speaking about food, please slap me. I am so serious.

#2.  "hipster view" is a joke but also a camera angle i invented.  you cannot borrow it unless you give me credit.

 Thanks for reading! <3  I'll try to do better next time!