Slap Yo Daddy Popcorn Shrimp

I'm not sure if this qualifies as popcorn shrimp, they were pretty large BUT they disappeared as fast as popcorn!

Kind friend Harry Soo sent some of his Slap Yo Daddy Meat rub for me to try. (Thank you again Harry!)  I have tasted his fantastic Chicken Rub and love it, so I was really looking forward giving this rub the taste test.

I like to experiment with dry rubs, see if they are "shaker" worthy. Meaning do I love the rub on more than just BBQ.  If a dry rub pasts my taste test, I keep it in a shaker and use it on many different foods.

I peeled, deveined, and butterflied 2 lbs of shrimp. Gave 1/2 a good dusting of Slap Yo Daddy Meat Rub and dusted the other 1/2 with Slap Yo Daddy BBQ Chicken Rub.

Made a light batter of 1 beaten egg and 3 TBS of cornstarch...

fried til golden...

I fried a few slices of leeks too..

Then sprinkled the shrimp with more Slap Yo Daddy Rubs before diving in.

The Slap Yo Daddy Meat Rub Popcorn Shrimp..

and the Slap Yo Daddy Chicken Rub Popcorn Shrimp...

I tried to think of a dipping sauce to make for these, but after eating several ~hot out of the fryer~ shrimp, I knew they didn't need any sauce at all. They were so tasty!

The batter was crisp right out of the fryer but softened as they sat. The only thing I would change on these is maybe just use cornstarch alone and skip the egg.

As for the Slap Yo Daddy Meat Rub....it's definitely "Shaker Worthy".  I loved it!  Now I have both the Chicken Rub and Meat Rub sitting in shakers on my counter to sprinkle on eggs, potatoes, veggies, popcorn, etc..

Not sure if you will see this Harry, but thanks again! Both your Meat Rub and Chicken Rub are delicious. I see why you are winning so many competitions!  :)

Crazy Weather!

I went from running around in cutoffs, enjoying an 80 F degree day to freezing my hind end off when the cold front came through a couple of days ago.
Ice and wind knocked the power out for 2 days and the temps dipped down to 24 F.  It snowed yesterday and today it's back up to shorts weather.
Not sure how to dress. lol

Hope everyone made it through the cold front safe and sound!

Thank you Food Network and The Cooking Channel!

It's been an interesting week for me!

I threw a couple of racks of beef ribs into the Big Poppa drum...

Carved and bagged a few up then headed to the lake to do some thinking...

I threw a line in but didn't really pay attention to it...

Just sat on the tailgate and enjoyed being out there...

I received a nice email from the Food Network about being a contestant on the Great Food Truck Race show.
The show is hosted by Tyler Florence (whom I think is great).. and involves several teams of 3 (per truck) who travel across the US vending their culinary delights from a food truck. The team who sells the most overall, gets to keep their food truck.
I was very honored to be contacted!
Even though I love cooking, I can't see me inside of a food truck so I politely declined.
I will be looking forward to watching the show to see who the teams are. :)


A kind person from the Cooking Channel also contacted me about the Man Fire Food show hosted by Roger Mooking. I love that show! Roger travels across the US, visiting outdoor cooks like me.
While I can relate more to the Man Fire Food show than the Great Food Truck Race show, they are looking to shoot in the next two weeks. Among other things, there's no way I could wrangle that into my schedule. lol
I politely turned down that offer too.

I want to say a big Thank you to both!!  I am honored to have been given the offers.

BTW... I didn't catch one single fish.

More Bacon Wrapped Beer Battered Pickles!

I've always loved beer battered dill pickles but wrapping them in a thin layer of bacon really takes the flavor up to a new level of goodness! Beer Battered Bacon Wrapped Pickles


To make the beer  batter I use ..

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

enough beer to make pancake like batter (about 3/4 of a 12 oz bottle)

or more if you like a light batter.

Dry the dill pickles, wrap in thin bacon, secure with a toothpick at each end, dredge in flour, dip in beer batter and fry til golden.
Thin bacon works best for these. They cook fast!

Remove the toothpicks...

One or two of these hot out of the oil make a meal for me.    Yea... I probably should eat healthier meals but once in awhile I crave these things. :)

Stacked Breakfast Enchiladas... I think I'm in love.

 Think I have found my new favorite breakfast. :)

I seasoned some boneless, skinless chicken thighs with regular ole season all and threw them on the grill.
Cooked green onions in butter until tender and scrambled some eggs.

heated 6 flour tortillas.  (for 2 stacked enchiladas)

Then started building.
First one hot tortilla topped with scrambled eggs...

next some sliced grilled chicken....

A few hatch green chilies....

a sprinkle of queso fresco...

a second hot tortilla topped the same way, scrambled eggs, grilled chicken, chilies and cheese..

For the third and final layer I went with a hot tortilla, grilled chicken and cheese...

Then back into the grill until heated through and the cheese was nice and gooey..

I topped the enchilada with some green chili sauce given to me by relatives who picked it up in a restaurant in New Mexico..(Thank you again!)  I need to find out which town and which restaurant, it was really good stuff!!

Then I topped the whole thing off with an egg...

After eyeballing it for a minute, I knew there was no way I could eat the whole thing by myself...so I cut it in half.

It was soooo tasty....

I'll make this again for sure. Might be a good candidate for a campfire breakfast too.  :)

Tax Time..... :(

Anyone else up to their eyeballs in tax papers?
I can't stop day dreaming about the lake...
I'm pretty sure the fish are calling me. :)