Rainy Day Chicken Fried Steak, tonight we had to cook inside. I know it never rains in California. But, we got so much rain our patio roof collapsed. It sounded like an artillery round going off. All that water almost washed the fish out of their pond. We have wanted to do some country fried steak and here was our chance to do a…
Smokin’ Chuck Wagon Chili, with the weather being so cold and dreary around the country we’ve been in the mood for Chili. So, I thought I would make my Smokin’ Chuck Wagon Chili, slow smoked with Texas Blend BBQ Pellets. I have been making chili for 40 years now with little or no measuring I guess you could call it a dump Chili thus the…
Smoky White Chicken Chili because Ken has been making chili for almost 40 years, but this is the first time with chicken. Patti found a great deal on boneless, skinless chicken breasts and it’s definitely chili weather. So, we came up with our own version of white chicken chili. Spicy enough for Ken and mild enough for Patti with or without sour cream. Plus,…
Uncle Bubba’s Texas Terror Chili is not for the light of heart or taste buds. This Texas chili is spicy, thick and packed with big smoked beef flavor. I love chili with big chunks of tender smoky beef and lots of chili flavor. The sauce was made from dried chipotle and ancho peppers, Texas chili powder, smoked garlic, tomato sauce, with chocolate and coffee…
Not Your Momma’s Biscuits & Gravy, It’s cold and wet outside this week, so we are doing what I call comfort food. Biscuits and gravy or SOS. This is nothing like your momma’s. Ours is loaded with garlic, sweet onions and red pepper. Then served over hot buttered biscuits, piled high with French fries… topped with a healthy dose of Tabasco sauce.
Brisket Machaca con Huevos, my mom made this for me as a kid. It has always been one of my favorites and have always loved “Big Beefy Burritos” because of her machaca. We used a few pounds of our smoked Tex-Mex brisket that we shredded and added onions, tomatoes, peppers, and eggs. Mom would have loved this one… Big, Tender and Juicy. Note: Machaca…
Easy Smoked Potatoes Au Gratin because a friend of Patti’s wanted a recipe for scalloped potatoes with cheese. That’s what au Gratin potatoes are. She also wanted a recipe she could make a day ahead without the potatoes turning black. So, we cooked the potatoes first and layered them the next day into our creamy cheesy sauce. Then, we topped them with more cheese and…
Pecan Scotch Pie was born because pecan pie is Ken’s favorite. We already have a wonderful recipe for pecan pie with chocolate, so we wanted something different. Patti had an ‘aha” moment and remembered we had butterscotch chips from a recipe we apparently forgot all about. This pie turned out crunchy and creamy with an extra whisper of pecan smoke because we used Mountain Maple pellets in a wedgie for that “Kiss of Smoke”.
Southwestern Chicken Skillet because we had friends visiting and they wanted something different made with chicken, cheese and bacon. Patti and I kicked this recipe around for about a week. Doing different skillets, pans, peppers and sauces. When we came to what we wanted to do I was a bit excited to “Get er Done”, thinking this was going to be good! Using 3…
We love Dump Chili and have been making it from scratch for over 45 years. Over the years I have picked up many books in my research on the history from the very beginning. The oldest known chili recipe in print dates back to 1700 and it belonged to a Spanish priest. That said I wanted a good smoky chili to warm us up…
Easy Chili Nachos, Ken loves all types of nachos and after a really busy day Patti wanted easy and not having to do a trip to the market. Happily everything we needed was in the pantry. With the help of our 10” Lodge Cast Iron Griddle and our Pacific Living Outdoor Oven we had a hearty, fun and delicious dinner. We especially love our…
Reverse Sear what is it? After talking with a few folks there seem to be 2 schools of thought here. 1. Do a sear on your meat then smoke it. 2. Smoke your meat, and then do your sear. I got 1000’s of responses on both options so I thought I would do some research on it. I am not going to go into the…