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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Need an Idea for a Super Bowl Snack?

How about a Meat Stadium ? :)
Barry at the Char-Broil site gave me the heads up about a one-of-a-kind Super Bowl snack idea that will feed a hungry crowd. (or a small army!:))
lol I know I won't attempt one of these ....but it looks like fun. :)

Thanks Barry!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Smokey Stuffed Peppers on the Hasty Bake

I haven't made stuffed peppers in a long time... but I doooo love em. :)

I simmer the peppers in salted water until pretty tender.



drain well...



brown some burger with minced onions and garlic... then add rice. Sometimes I add cooked rice to the burger but this time I put a cup of regular rice in and let it simmer. Either way works great.



I add tomato sauce, oregano, basil, salt, cracked black pepper to the burger rice mixture..Also some shredded provolone and mozarella cheese.
I like to add some of the cheese in the bottom of the pepper too.....



I always make extra stuffing.. I love it and it helps hold my peppers upright. :)



Into the Hasty Bake with the hot coal rack lowered to the "smoke" setting. I added a few hickory pellets for the smoke....



When the peppers were almost heated through I added a pan of bread sticks.
These were really interesting. I have never used canned bread stick dough. I couldn't get all of them to separate so I smooshed some of them into buns. :)

I brushed the tops with butter and sprinkled with chopped herbs.







It was really tasty! I love the extra flavor the smoke adds.



These freeze well for quick meals when I don't have the time to cook. ( and those days when I don't feel like cooking) :)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sugar and the Speckled Hen

The title almost sounds like this could be a cookin' post. :)


My buddy Sugar is a smart little girl.... I am really glad she came to live here.
I like to watch her with the chickens. If she knows which one you want, she will go and get it for you.
She moves soooo slow and keeps an eye on the hen...










She's been a great help and an even better friend. :)

Friday, January 27, 2012

A "Mini" Crawdad Boil on the Char-Broil Grill

This is my 4th cook for the Char-Broil guest blogger series.

The First
Second
and Third

This time I made a "mini" crawdad boil on the grill. This was my contribution to Super Bowl finger food for the last couple of years, I hope to make it again this year. :)

Shrimp, new potatoes, smoked sausage, crawdads, bacon wrapped corn and smokey crab legs...









Serve with garlic butter, cocktail sauce, crusty garlic bread, plenty of napkins and your favorite cold beverage...



If you get the time, please take a peek at my Char Broil post.

Thanks! :)

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I can see how this could become a habit :)

The store had more of these pretty little flowers in a basket by the check-out stand. I couldn't resist them!







Who would have thought that a handful of little pink flowers could brighten my day..... and put such a huge smile on my face. :)

Monday, January 23, 2012

Dizzy Pig Beef Fajitas on my Fancy Little Cooker...

I recieved some sample dry rubs from the kind folks at the Dizzy Pig Dry Rub Company (Thank you!) recently and had the chance to try one this weekend.



I drizzle olive oil on a flat iron steak and seasoned with Dizzy's "Raising the Steaks" dry rub for my first Dizzy Pig taste test. :)



Started my skillet of onions and peppers first... then added the seasoned steak.



It was a nice afternoon..





Heated a few tortillas...







I decided to skip the pico and salsa so I could get a good taste of the dry rub...



It was great! The meat needed no other seasoning.



I'm looking forward to trying the other Dizzy Pig samples.
If the weather cooperates I'll try some this week.
....then again.... I got my fishing license today.. hmmmm...if the weather is nice that will be a tough decision. I guess a fishergirl needs to eat too. :)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Some Reverse Seared Burgers with Hickory Smoked O-Rings

I've made hickory smoked onion rings in the drum and on the Memphis Pro pellet smoker.. I wanted to see how the Hasty Bake charcoal cooker would handle them.

I was hungry for them too. :)

I put the onions rings on the top shelf of the Hasty Bake along with some bacon wrapped burgers.





Then cranked the hot coal rack down to the "smoke" level. Added hickory pellets to the heat and closed the lid.



I smoked the onion rings long enough to show some color but not cook through. This took about 30 minutes. I let the burgers smoke for 45 minutes then raised the hot coal rack to the "grill" position and seared them over the hot coals until they were cooked through and the bacon was crisp.





I bag the smoked onion rings while searing the burgers..



Give them a dusting of flour....



Then made a beer batter using
1 cup of flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
and about 3/4 of a bottle of beer (eyeball the batter, you can add more or less beer depending on how thick you like it)





I found some Hula Girl Chiptole Habanero sauce in Oklahoma City, so I spiced up some ketsup for a dipping sauce.





I really couldn't decide what I wanted on the burger...



I went with spicy brown mustard....



Both the burger and the smoked o-rings were tasty! The lower the temperature that you smoke the onions at, the better. I also use a fairly strong wood for the smoke.
Some woods are too light... hickory and mesquite work best.



The Hasty Bake did a great job, I was a happy girl again! :)

Monday, January 16, 2012

My Favorite Store... :)

Bass Pro.....

This is the store in Oklahoma City. I do not get to visit it often and usually spend too much cash there, but came up with a plan this time.









My plan was to shop without a cart, that would limit the amount of "stuff" I could get. Be careful if anyone offers to carry "stuff" for ya though. lol



I glanced at the boats and headed straight for the fishing goodies. There was no way possible to take pics of all the fishing supplies but I snapped a few...





Interesting how lures work on me as well as they do on the fish... I couldn't resist them. :)



Some of the reels....





I can't resist the gun/hunting section too...





target practice....



The fly tying store...



The big bear....



and the fish tank...





it's hard to get good pics of the fish....



I didn't get pics of the archery section, the hunting gear, the clothing, the outdoor cooking and a lot of other things.. my hands were full. :)



I made it out of the store with a few fishing goodies and was $71.00 lighter. (A lot better than usual!)



We went to The Billy Sim's BBQ Joint on South Meridian. It was pretty good. I use his Boot Kickin' sauce a lot so I picked up a couple of bottles.



Back to my room....



I enjoyed the weekend. It was nice to get away for a couple of days. :)