Smokin' the Day Away...

Justin's birthday is less than 2 months away and I'm never one to give presents early...well, maybe 1 day early but that's IT!  And it's usually because I'm too excited about giving the gift and I'm about ready to spill the beans...but this year, I set a new personal record.  I gave him his birthday gift two months--yes, MONTHS--early!

We spent this past New Year's in Kansas City celebrating with Justin's college roommates.  Jabin, our host and son of a grocer, works in the milling industry and knows his food inside and out...And yes, there are days I secretly wish some of Jabin's tricks of the trade would have worn off on Justin when they lived together.  For example, when the guys came to stay with us back in October, Jabin took over the kitchen and had a HUGE breakfast whipped up--and cleaned up--in no time.  Like I said, why didn't that rub off on my husband?!

Anyhow, back to the story.  On New Year's Eve, Jabin introduced my husband to his smoker.  He had received the smoker as a gift from his parents and this thing was a gift from God...it was an electronic smoker AND had a digital thermostat!  All you had to do was load up the wood chips, throw in a pan of water (IF you wanted, it wasn't necessary), put the meat inside, shut the door, plug the baby in and set the temperature.  It was that easy!

The husband and I were never into smoking.  We bought a large Brinkmann grill several years ago and it has a smoker box on the end--but that just seemed like too much work....  In fact, back when the guys came to visit in October, we were sitting around the firepit when Jabin asked my husband, "What have you been smoking lately?"  We all sat there and our jaws just fell to the ground...and then I asked, "What the hell do you mean by that?!"  Turns out, Jabin had spied our grill/smoker box and was referencing THAT.  Not wacky tobacky....but we all got a good laugh out of that!

After we returned home from Kansas City, bellies full of smoked chicken wings, Justin decided he wanted a smoker just like Jabin's.  We priced them and they were actually fairly affordable.  Being the middle of winter, I decided I would buy him one for his birthday in June and it would be a HUGE surprise!  Because, really, would he even remember wanting a smoker for that long???

I was wrong.  For the past three months, my husband has been asking about the smoker.  Finally, I agreed to go to our local Ace Hardware just to "look" at one.  We got to the store, only to find out the company is discontinuing them--and as a result, Ace couldn't even order a floor model for us to look at!  We went to Home Depot--they didn't have any.  We went to Tru Value--they couldn't access the smoker, either.

So, what does a good wife do? I went on Amazon (duh!) and found an incredible deal on one.  Knowing the smoker wouldn't be around for much longer, I ordered it and told J-Money that his birthday gift was on its way!

If this isn't proof that my husband was a wee-bit excited about the smoker, I don't know what is...they had cut down a hickory tree at work, so they chipped it up and brought home 7 gallons of chips!  That's enough to last us, well, forever.

Anywho, the smoker arrived about two weeks ago and we've already fired it up a few times.  I have to admit, I kinda like the thing!  In a way, it's very much like a slow cooker--throw your food in, leave it all day and you come home to an incredible meal.  In fact, I think it will definitely replace our slow cooker during the Spring and Summer months!

The first weekend, we smoked some chicken quarters that we had in the freezer...we had no idea what we were doing and looking back, I feel bad for Jabin.  Little did he know that we would be calling him every 5-minutes about how to do this, how to do that...thankfully, he was a good sport and got us through the basics.

Because we were smoking chicken, we needed a brine to keep the meat from drying out--we eventually figured out a recipe for the brine and  and got the chips soaking in beer.  After 3 hours in the smoker, this is what we had!

After plating up my food, I took one bite of chicken and couldn't help but laugh!  Justin gave me a puzzled look but once he tried the chicken himself, he totally understood.  I couldn't believe we were responsible for such delicious chicken!  I was frankly surprised that we didn't kill the whole tray of chicken between the two of us, but it sure made for good left-overs :-)

That was two weekends ago.

This past weekend, we tried smoking a pork loin.  Again, we had some pork in the freezer (I promise I'm not a food hoarder!) that we defrosted and rubbed.  I had no idea how to smoke pork, so this time I went online for some information.  Luckily, I found a super awesome website full of tips and recipes.  We had struck gold!

We ultimately decided on a Memphis dry rub and a Western Carolina mop sauce.  They weren't identified as "matches" on the website and the dry rub was for pork butt (not a loin, like we had), but based on the ingredient list, I figured they'd go well together!

Much to my surprise, I was actually correct for once!  5 hours later, we took the pork out of the smoker, pulled the meat and warmed up the mop sauce.  Justin thought he had died and gone to heaven!  I can't even imagine what the mop sauce would be like drizzled over a pile of good ol' pulled pork!

For sides, I made fried cabbage and gluten-free Cheesy Garlic biscuits.  The fried cabbage was a new--and super easy--two ingredient recipe. Cabbage and bacon.  Anything with bacon is a guaranteed hit, right?! The directions said to serve it hot, so I did...but once it cooled off, I liked it even better.  Next time around, I'll just have to remember to make it early enough to chill it in the fridge for a while!  As far as the biscuits were concerned, I used the gluten-free Bisquick mix.  J-Money was CONVINCED they were something quite special--or, "off the chain" as he so Southern-ly put it.  I'm still not sure why he thought they were so great...???  Maybe he was just trying to suck up?!  Who knows!  But one thing that I thought was funny--he had no clue they were gluten-free!  I love tricking my husband :-)

So, what's on the menu for this weekend?  Smoked brisket!  I bought one at Sam's yesterday and I got the smallest piece available--it weighed in at 14 pounds!  That's a ton of meat!  But, the husband was excited--he will be eating on smoked brisket for several meals...and that excites ME--I won't have to do any cooking for a while!

Recipe of The Week: Michael Symon's 4-Meat Lasagna

Last week while I was waiting on the Sears guy to show up, some TV show called The Chew came on while I was cleaning house.  I had never seen it before but since it has Clinton Kelley from TLC's What Not to Wear I decided to stay tuned.  I have always wanted to go on What Not To Wear!  Sure, it might be a bit embarassing but I could put the $5,000 Visa card to good use and I'm sure I could pick up a few new tips :-)

Anyhow, I'm glad I stayed tuned.  One of the other co-hosts is Michael Symon...he happens to be one of Food Network's Iron Chefs.  He was making a lasagna that his mom makes every Christmas.  Of course, it looked super easy...but that's how all made-on-tv-screen foods are!  Because the ingredient list had a particularly intriguing ingredient, I decided we would try his Mom's lasagna.



His "secret" ingredient is neckbones.  Yes, neckbones.  You could not pay me enough to eat a neckbone...or a hamhock...or anything of the sorts.  But I do know they lend great flavor to dishes and Justin is Southern enough that he'll eat the h-e-double hockey sticks out of neckbones!  The only reason I considered the recipe is because you REMOVE the neckbones once the sauce is finished simmering :-)



If your house likes lasagna, you have to try this!  As it uses 4 different meats, be prepared for an increase in your grocery bill.  And make sure you have plenty of time set aside to be in your kitchen--the meat simmers for 2 hours and then you bake everything for another hour!  But hey, it's worth it.  Justin is a self-proclaimed food critic and declared this lasagna as earning a 10-out-of-10! 

Image Courtesy of The Chew

Michael Symon's Mom's Lasagna

½ cup olive oil

1 onion

4 garlic cloves (minced)

Kosher salt

1 pound pork neck bones

1 pound veal

1 pound beef

1 pound spicy Italian sausage (loose or removed from the casing)

½ cup dry white wine

4 cups chopped peeled tomatoes or 1 - 28 ounce can San Marzano tomatoes with their juice (we used the canned tomatoes)

3 bay leaves

1 pound dried lasagna noodles (Michael advised against using non-boil noodles)

2 pounds whole-milk ricotta cheese

¼ cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley leaves

¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves

¼ cup fresh oregano leaves

2 large eggs

1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese (grated)

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1.  In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and a three-finger pinch of salt and sweat them until they are translucent about 2 minutes. Add the neck bones and brown them, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add the ground veal, beef and sausage, season with another healthy pinch of salt, and continue cooking until the meat is browned, about 10 minutes. Add the white wine, tomatoes and their juice and the bay leaves, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, making sure to get all of the browned bits into the sauce.

3.  Season the sauce with salt and simmer for 2 hours over medium heat (you may want to lower the heat if the sauce is dissipating too quickly). Remove the bay leaves and neck bones and let cool--make SURE you thoroughly check the meat for the itty-bitty pieces of bone that will fall off the large neckbones. Skim any fat that rises to the surface.

4.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add enough salt so tha it tastes seasoned and allow the water to return to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until al dente. Drain well and set aside.

5.  Meanwhile, in a medium bowl mix together the ricotta, parsley, basil, oregano and eggs with a pinch of salt. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

6.  In a lasagna pan-9 x 13 inches is optimal – ladle about 1 cup of sauce on the bottom. Arrange a layer of noodles on this followed by a layer of sauce and then some ricotta mixture, smoothing it with a spatula to the edges. Repeat the process until the pan is full. Finish with a final layer of noodles, sauce, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.

7.  Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool before cutting and serving.

Super Easy Chile Verde

As the school year was winding down, I promised Justin I would put the slow cooker away for the summer. 

Truth be told, we busted it out again last week. 

We were both craving Chile Verde.  Justin had a softball game Tuesday night and I had a ton of stuff to do around the house that was going to take an entire day so honestly, there wasn't much time for a home-cooked meal.

I found this recipe this past winter at http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/.  The blogger had a recipe for homemade salsa verde but considering tomatillos can run around $18.99/lb, I skipped the recipe for homemade verde and was thrilled when she offered a much more simple version.

It's as easy as this...



A person can serve Chile Verde in a variety of ways, but our favorite way is just pouring some chile verde over steamed rice and having tortillas on the side.  It's a great meal for those days where you don't feel like eating any vegetables ;-)

Chile Verde traditionally uses pork meat...however, we most always use a beef roast of some kind and it's delicious (and a bit greasy but that definately contributes to the flavor as well).  For the best flavor, use only half the salsa during the cooktime and add the last 1/2 right before serving.

This has honestly become one of our most favorite meals...and it makes great left overs, too!

Grillin' Out

Many Americans equate Memorial Day with grilling...in our household, we try to grill as much as possible regardless of what day it is.  It's hard to beat the smoky flavor and easy clean-up.

However, I do get tired of store-bought rubs (TOO salty) and it seems that you can only make a marinade several different ways.

Ohhhh, but the Pioneer Woman changed our lives!  lol...

I've never purchased one of her cookbooks but we recently became Facebook friends and she posted a recipe for "Hot and Spicy Pork Chops."

The rub is super simple...but almost so simple that I wasn't quite sure about it.  However, we had a tray of pork chops that needed a little something something before they went on the grill so we gave it a try.

They turned out UH-mazing.  When you first bite into the meat, you get a hint of sweetness but then the cayenne pepper kicks in.  We're fans of heat--and some people aren't.  The nice part of this recipe is that you could easily adjust the amount of cayenne that you use.  We added a bit more than the recipe called for :-)

Hot & Spicy Pork Chops
by Ree Drummond

■4 whole Thick Cut Pork Chops
■4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
■½ cups Brown Sugar
■2 teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
■1 teaspoon Salt
■1 teaspoon Black Pepper

Brush pork chops with canola oil. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and then generously rub mixture onto both sides of the pork chops.


Set grill to medium-low heat and cook pork chops about 10 minutes per side or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.