Sandhill Plum Time

One of my favorite times of the year.
I've been using binoculars to keep an eye on my favorite sandhill plum thicket by the cottonwood tree in front of my house... I finally caught a glimpse of red. :)

As I near the thicket I realize I should have worn jeans instead of cutoffs... the grass is "stirrup high."




Some of the plum bushes tower over my head...




and they are thorny lol...



there were so many green plums, the bushes were loaded with them..








and I found several ripe ones. :)

The first bite of a ripe sandhill plum brings back a flood of childhood memories for me.. spending the day with friends, riding horseback from plum thicket to plum thicket. We knew the location of every plum thicket within a 5 mile radius. :)

If I were lucky enough to make it home with a basket full, Mom would make jelly.

The pasture is so pretty, I got side tracked by the sound of the quail calling back and forth...




and the sagebrush...




I love sage... it's feather soft to the touch and smells incredible....








the yucca pods look like something from an alien world....



I'm 5'6" and these pods were almost taller than me.




my favorite shade tree... I stopped under the mulberry tree to relax. I can't resist the sweet purple berries. :)




I sat under the mulberry tree with the sun setting behind me..... watching the sage and sky change colors by the second. It was so pretty....



I made it home with purple fingers, a purple tongue and enough sandhill plums to make a batch of something. Maybe jelly, maybe wine?

I will definately go back out there in a day or two to gather more.

Some TLC for the drum

After over 2 years of pretty hard use, my little drum was looking a bit weathered....

I gave her a bubble bath, sanded and re-stained the side table... then gave her a new coat of paint.

She's ready to go! :)

Finger Food on the Drum

I smoked some finger food on my drum this weekend...
rubbed the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt and cracked black pepper.
then seasoned the boneless beef short ribs with Harley's dry rub.....

I have some new firewire that I wanted to try out.




I marinated the shrimp in evoo, garlic, sherry and soy...then wrapped in bacon.

They were fairly easy to thread onto the firewire...and the skewers held the bacon in place so I was happy I didn't have to use toothpics...

I removed the potatoes after one hour...they were still firm.

I brushed the boneless beef ribs with Smoked Bacon Chipotle sauce during the last 30 minutes of the smoke..

Then sliced the smoked potatoes.. dusted with flour, dipped in a beer batter and deep fried....









The Smoked Bacon Chipotle beef cubes....




Smied (smoked/fried) potatoes sprinkled with lots of Harleys dry rub...



I did throw the bacon wrapped shrimp on the grill to crisp up the bacon.




Served with a frosty mug of beer and plenty of napkins. It was pretty tasty stuff. :)

I'm pretty sure I need one of these....

yeah........ I'm pretty sure I could have some fun with this. :)





What girl wouldn't want a pretty red Skybolt. I'll have to start saving my pocket change. lol

Brisket on the Memphis Pro

One of my favorite things to smoke is beef brisket.... I'm actually kinda picky about my brisket. lol
I always smoke briskets on my horizontal wood burner or bury them in an underground pit. I do not even trust my little drum smoker (which I love) to smoking a brisket...

It was time to put the Memphis Pro to the brisket test... :)

I covered the deflector with foil for easy clean-up, added a drip pan containing beer and a few wild onions....then pre-heated the Pro...

The brisket was seasoned with cracked black pepper and kosher salt... I like the flavor of good beef and do not use a dry rub. The flavor of the beef should be able to stand on it's own.




I set the Memphis Pro to 225 degrees F and sat back to let it do the work...




I should have mentioned that I used hickory pellets on this smoke.




I did not weigh the brisket but at 225 degrees it smoked for about 9 hours to reach an internal temperature of 195F. I covered the meat in foil and let it rest....




The brisket was so juicy and tender......




The smoke ring was not as pronounced as it would have been on the woodburner...but it was there... and the smoke flavor came through nicely....





I could have made a meal from the sliced brisket but decided to make a quick sandwich...



The Memphis Pro smoked brisket topped with Billy Sim's Boot Kickin' Hot Q sauce....

I was very happy with the outcome! One of the benefits to the Pro was being able to set it and forget it while I did other things around the farm. I didn't have to add fuel every hour or so like I would have with the horizontal wood burner.

I am trying very hard not to get spoiled by this smoker.... but a day off once in awhile sure is nice. :)

To Grant about TenderQuick

My email service hasn't been reliable lately.....not really sure what the problem is but not all of my e-mails are getting out.
If you've tried to contact me in the last month or two and didn't get a reply... please try again.

To Grant...
Tender Quick is a curing mixture made by the
Morton Salt Company
I use it for curing hams, bacon, pastrami etc... and also use it for quick curing pork chops, loins and chicken.
For a quick cure, I leave it on the meat for about 2 hours.

Hope this helps Grant... so sorry my e-mails are not making it through to you.

Happy Father's Day

to all of the Dads out there. Hope you have a relaxing Father's Day...
You deserve it!

More Breakfast Burritos on the Campfire

This has to be the easiest campfire breakfast... even easier than campfire biscuits and gravy. :)












I brown some sausage and start frying a skillet of cubed potatoes, onions and garlic...





then I sit in my little rocker under a shade tree with a nice cup of camp coffee.....



when the potatoes have fried, I skooch them over and add a few eggs.....




I like to scramble the eggs separate to make sure they cook all the way through... (I'm not fond of runny eggs lol )




then mix the fried potato and onions with the scrambled eggs...





heat tortillas and everyone builds their own burrito....



I added cheese and salsa to mine....





It was quick and tasty!