Oh, NUTS!

Spicy, Smoked Nuts.

We smoked pistachio nuts (with shells) using a spicy, smoked recipe from a friend.  Always READ the recipe before you go shopping!  We didn't, and bought a bag of pistachio nuts with shells, when the recipe clearly states, WITHOUT shells.  Oh well, we gave it a whirl.  Not bad, but I think the shell held in the moisture which made the nuts too soft.  Next time, we'll buy 'em without shells and write an update to this post.

See below for recipe:

Baked Stuffed shells in a tomato basil sauce served with a side salad, and diced tomato bread.







Fall is the perfect time to fire up your indoor oven and let your house fill up with the aroma of homemade meals!  One of our go-to-meals for the Fall season is baked Italian dishes.  So, on the first cool day, we opened the windows, and made stuffed shells.  The aroma of basil and garlic throughout the house had us pacing in the kitchen waiting for dinner.  

When You Need Iron...

You grill a few Sirloin Steaks, a London Broil and baked potatoes!

              We only purchase meats from our local Acme Market* -- Lancaster meats are the best!

*we were not compensated by Acme for this post.

When We Cry Fowl...

It's Time to Smoke a Whole Turkey!

Prepped & Ready for Smoker

The turkey went into a salt brine for 24 hours in the fridge before we seasoned the turkey with salt, pepper, sage, and rosemary.  Don't forget to season your pats of butter before inserting them under the skin of your turkey (around the legs, wings and across the breast).  The seasoned butter will keep your turkey moist plus add the great flavors of your spices into the meat of your turkey.  


We smoked the turkey for about 6 hours, basting every 45-minutes to keep the turkey moist during the smoking process.

We made smoked turkey (Gobbler sandwiches).  Sliced smoked turkey, turkey seasoned filling, cranberry sauce, with mayo on a kaiser roll -- Delicious!!  

Quesadillas, Philly Style

Philly Cheesesteak Quesadillas 

Quick! Easy! Tasty! 

 We used steak, cheese, onions, peppers and mushrooms.  We also cheated and made them with our Quesadilla maker!  Pump out 10 quesadillas in under 15-minutes!   

We served our quesadillas with a fresh diced salad (from our garden) tomatoes, cilantro and jalapeno with fresh made corn chips from our local Acme Market* and a dollop of sour cream. 

*We were not compensated by Acme Market for this post.

Can't Pass Up a Smokin' Hot Butt

11 lb. Pork Butt with our signature dry rub:  

• Brown Sugar
• Cayenne Pepper
• Spanish Paprika
• Salt
• Pepper
• Chili Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Cumin

This dry rub will give the butt a nice dark exterior during the smoking process, and will keep the interior moist and juicy. 

We smoked this butt at 225 degrees for 10 hours--we also mopped the butt every few hours with a mix of: Apple Juice, Apple Cider Vinegar and Hot Sauce. 

We also ventured down the path of to make our version of a homemade crock pot pork and beans.  Our first shot at this was good, but too spicy.  We added pork belly, onions, and hot longs from the garden.  

Build It, They Will Eat!

    

 Friday Night Fire Pit Dogs!   

 Perfect pre-fall weather means the perfect time to get ready for your outdoor fire pit to start blazing for warmth and for creative outdoor cooking.

We had cooler temps over the Labor Day holiday so we opted to breakout the charcoal briquettes and build a fire to grill hot dogs on our outdoor fire pit.  We placed two cement bricks inside the pit then added in the briquettes.  Once the briquettes were nice and hot, we cooked our hot dogs on the grate over the coals and enjoyed a pre-fall night around the fire with beer, dogs and some great tunes.

First Pre-Fall Fire

    

What is in Your Pocket?

You can't go wrong with this fun Friday night family meal.  Skip ordering the pizza and pack the family in the kitchen for a fun family cooking night making Calzones.  For those who are not familiar with Calzones, they're an oven-baked, folded pizza dough filled with your favorite pizza toppings or just about any fun "hot pocket" type of ingredients you can put inside a pocket pizza. 


We cheat and buy our pizza dough pre-made from the local pizza shop for $1.00 each.  Here's a tip, if you are going to buy it from your pizza shop, please keep it refrigerated until you're ready to roll out the dough.

We made three different Calzones; 

1) Ham & Cheddar Cheese
2) Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms, Garlic (sauteed) & Mozzarella Cheese
3) Italian Chicken, Roasted Red Pepper (homemade) & Mozzarella Cheese. 



Roll out your pizza dough, fill your shell, pull lid over your filling then crimp ends using a fork--place on lightly oiled baking pan. 

 Cut three small slices into the top of each clazone prior to baking in the oven at 400 degrees for 12- 15 minutes. 

Let your calzone (s) sit for about 5 minutes after you remove them from the oven--slice and enjoy!

We served our calzones with a marinara dipping sauce and a few cold Michelob ULTRA Beers. 

Yes, our calzones are inside a pizza box.  When you buy your pre-made dough from the pizza shop, they pack the wrapped dough inside a pizza box for transport.  We keep the box and reuse it to serve and store our calzones--easy clean up! 

We were not compensated by Michelob for this post. 

This is a "stick-up"...

Mark LOVES food-on-a-stick, so this past week I agreed to eat an entire meal on a stick, but it had to include steak. We picked up a buy one, get one free steak from our local Acme Market then built our entire meal around the beef using vegetables we had in our house and a few items from our garden.

We used; mushrooms, pre-boiled potatoes, onions, we also added in peppers and grape tomatoes from (The Kordes Fresh Garden).  

We seasoned each meal with salt and pepper and grilled them on medium heat for 4 minutes, then turned them for another 3 minutes.  

 Fast!
 Easy! 
Oh, So Good!

We made a total of 22 sticks to feed 4 four of us. We had plenty of leftovers.

We served this meal with a Spicy BBQ Sauce. 

We were not compensated by Acme Markets for this post.

No Food Stylist Here...

Just fresh veggies from our garden and a few items from our local Acme supermarket.

Tomato / cucumber / basil salad with grilled Italian bread, sliced mozzarella cheese and oil / balsamic vinegar dip.

 

Grilled smoked sausage with grilled eggplant and zucchini. 











A quick and easy Friday night dinner sitting poolside with a refreshment.

Cajun Spiced Shrimp Tacos

  Cilantro / Lime Slaw 

 

        Cajun Shrimp pan fried to perfection.

  The Finished Product --

  A Cajun Shrimp Taco with Cilantro, Lime Slaw topped with fresh cilantro and don't forget the cocktail: a Michelob Ultra beer! 

What Happens When South Philly Comes to South Jersey

  You get a Smoked Italian Pork Sandwich

Smoked Italian Pork Sandwich

The perfect weekend sandwich for family meals or for a large crowd.

Season the pork loin with mustard, steakhouse seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic then place in a slow cooker with apple wood for approximately 2.5 hours on 250 degrees.

Seasoned Pork Loin

Mustard is your base

  Prepped and ready for the smoker.

Pork Loin in the Smoker

After your pork loin is cooked, let it rest for about 30 minutes, then slice it for sandwiches.  Saute spinach in olive oil and garlic then add provolone cheese and roasted red peppers on a GOOD hoagie roll.  I prefer round rolls for this sandwich.  We topped on this meal with two ICE cold beers.

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

Grilled Salmon w/ Ribs & Spring Mix

I HATE Salmon but Mark loves it, so here's his Grilled Lemon / Garlic Salmon served on a Spring mix with a side of Mexican Style Pork Ribs. Yes, Mexican Style Grilled Pork Ribs.

Ribs with dry rub

We used a dry (Mexican Style) rub for the ribs and grilled them on low heat for about 2 hours.


The Dry Rub:
Garlic
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Chili Powder
Chipotle Seasoning
Lime

Yes, we did have a Margarita with our Mexican Style Ribs!  

Beer Me

It's National Refreshment Day -- July 27, 2017! 

We're enjoying Michelob Ultra® on National Refreshment Day in our Outside Kitchen/Bar

 Celebrate National Refreshment Day with us!  It's observed on the fourth Thursday in July.  For us, it's all about celebrating summer with a cold beer and enjoying a nice evening together in our swimming pool.  Since we're both into good health and eating well, we opted for a Michelob Ultra® beer.  What are you enjoying today?  Feel free to share your favorite cocktails with us.  

Here's to great times, great beer, and great food!  CHEERS!

Nacho Plate

Mediterranean Tacos. Yes, Mediterranean!

Above you'll find what we made to celebrate National Refreshment Day; a Nacho Plate and Mediterranean Tacos.  Yes, we made a Mediterranean version of a taco that was absolutely delicious.

For the Mediterranean Taco, we used the following ingredients:
Lamb, cucumber from our garden, tomato, spinach, black beans, feta cheese, cucumber yogurt dressing in a soft shell.  For added spice, we both added jalapeno slices into our tacos.

For the Nacho Plate, we used the following ingredients:
Corn chips, lamb, black beans, cheese blend, tomato, spinach, sour cream spicy salsa and sprinkled a few jalapeno slices on time.

Our meal was the perfect complement to our cocktail of choice for National Refreshment Day. 

We were not compensated by Michelob Ultra® for this post.

A Smokin' Hot Pork Butt

Dry Rub Pork Butt

We rubbed the Pork Butt with our signature dry rub:  

• Brown Sugar
• Cayenne Pepper
• Spanish Paprika
• Salt
• Pepper
• Chili Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Cumin

Resting Butt

This dry rub will give the butt a nice dark exterior during the smoking process, and keep the interior moist and juicy. 

Notice the dark area missing on the exterior?  Well, we couldn't wait--we ALL had to take a taste of it while it was resting.

    

Bear Claws and Mop

We also mopped the butt every few hours with a mix of: Apple Juice, Apple Cider Vinegar and Hot Sauce. 

We pulled the pork with our bear claws.  Not sure of the technical name for the claws, but we prefer to call 'em the Bear Claws.  

Christmas in July with Bacon Wrap

 Why wait for the Winter holidays when you can fire up your smoker and make a holiday meal in July!

 We had the itch for a holiday meal so we made turkeys for Christmas in July.  One is a seasoned turkey and the other is a turkey with a bacon wrap.

  As you can see, we always add seasoned butter under the skin for flavor and to keep the turkey moist while cooking. To see how we season our butter, please see post: So, A chicken Walks into a Bar & Grill. 

 We also added in some wings--our philosophy is: if the smoker is fired up, use all the racks!  

Yes! It smells like the holidays in our house today!  Yummy!


Happy Christmas in July! 

It's time to enjoy our holiday meal!  

Size Does Matter

Grilled Long Italian Sausage Links with Peppers & Onions

We always serve our sandwiches on long hoagie rolls. Don't cheat on the rolls--a good roll makes a good sandwich, GREAT!


Long Italian sausage links grilled to perfection then topped with grilled red peppers and onions on a toasted hoagie roll--the BEST sandwich!

Lightly toast your roll in the oven or on the grill before you serve your sandwiches.

Your New Wingman

 Smoked and Grilled Buffalo and Honey BBQ Wings with Pasta Salad and Buffalo Chicken Meatball Sandwich.

Brine the Chicken Wings

Smoke wings for 2 hours

Almost done...

Finish Smoked Wings on BBQ Grill

Homemade Buffalo Sauce

Homemade Honey BBQ Sauce

The chicken meatballs were homemade with ground chicken, lightly browned on the stove then placed in the oven to finish them off.  We served the chicken meatballs dry with the buffalo and honey BBQ sauce on the side.  I opted for the buffalo sauce with blu cheese on my meatballs, two honey BBQ wings, with a side of pasta salad and a cold Michelob Ultra®

We were not compensated by Michelob Ultra® for this post.