Sunday, August 24, 2008

Addiction Warning!

Grilled Jalapeno Poppers

I tried making these once before and they were a flop. I think that I tried to cook them fast – like my bacon wrapped shrimp – so the bacon would get nice and crispy. So I changed my strategy – LOW AND SLOW this time and it worked well.

I sliced the jalapenos in half. Gutted them (not completely because I wanted a bit of heat) and stuffed 4 peppers with a sharp cheddar cheese spread and the other four with cream cheese with some onion and garlic powder. I put the two halves together and bound them with a piece of bacon. Now I think that most people would have maybe cut the piece of bacon in half? Seriously?? I say…the more bacon, the better!

I had the grill on low and cooked the peppers with the lid on. I had a bit of cheese bubble out but not much. I also – about half way through – turned off one of the burners and cook on indirect heat just to slow the cheese escaping.


(this is NOT my picture -- this is courtesy of 'longelegantlegs' on allrecipes)


These were REALLY good. I mean, REALLY GOOD. The peppers were hot….ya know sometimes you can’t really know how hot they’re going to be. I had tears running down my face but yet….could not quit eating them. I will definitely do this again and experiment with the flavors and cheese inside the peppers.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Bone Suckin' Good

St. Louis Style Ribs

The first time I cooked these ribs I’d forgotten to remove that nasty membrane from the back of the rack. So after thawing the ribs overnight, I trimmed off that flap of meat on the backside, successfully loosened the membrane about three ribs from the end, worked it loose to the end, grabbed the ‘handle’ I created with a paper towel and pulled it right off. No big deal! And what a difference in the end result!

I rubbed the ribs with my dry rub – brown sugar, paprika, garlic and onion powders, chili powder, dry mustard. I placed them on a baking sheet and wrapped it tight. Into a 250 degree oven they went for 4 hours. After, I threw them on the grill and basted them with Sweet Baby Ray’s Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce. They were falling off the bone tender. If I had to do all over (and I will!) – I’d lessen the time in the oven and more time on the grill. Although extremely tender I would like to pick up the rib and be able to eat the meat off the bone.


I served some Publix Southern-Style Potato Salad along side the ribs with a bit of extra sauce.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Dinner at Mom's

Since Mark travels during the week, I've gone to dinner with my Mom a few times and to her house. She made this shrimp dish for me and I've made it about 6 times since and have passed the recipe on to Meg for her to make, too.

15 Minute Shrimp

Preheat oven to 400. Place in a baking dish.

2 to 3 chopped tomatoes
1/2 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
sprinkling of some herbs - oregano or whatever
salt/pepper
1 pound of shrimp

Drizzle with some olive oil. Top with a good handful of feta cheese. And I mean a *good* handful. Place in the oven until the shrimp are done - about 15 minutes. Serve over hot pasta. Top with more --yes, more -- feta cheese.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

We Are the Beef People

Seriously.

I've been hungry for a nice, rare roast beef. So I finally worked it into my menu planning and decided I would buy a large roast and use it throughout the week - the main meal, lunches, manhattans, french dip sandwiches and then finally Shepherds Pie. And wouldn't all of those pictures been fabulous?? Oh well.... lack of camera action continues. At least I'm consistent. I did get a photo of the original roast.

Not only are we the 'beef' people, but, we are the rare 'beef' people. This roast was a little overdone for me, but, it was flavorful. The best leftover for it was the Shepherds Pie.