Another Meals Monday here (and the other pics I was going to post and blog about disappeared), so here we are with a couple of quick almost Italian dinner ideas.
First is an easy Italian Meatball sandwich:
It’s an easy fix; toast some pre-purchased bakery rolls, add smoked gouda and some pre-made meatballs:
Never had this brand before but man they’re as good as homemade. I did have to cook them in the air fryer though, which took about 10 to 12 minutes.
Add the meatballs, warm up some decent bottled marinara (there are a couple of store bought sauces that are edible) and add that… You’re good to go in 15 minutes. 😀
DIY Quick Pizza:
Another fast option. Start with a quality frozen cheese pizza. Digiorno and Screaming Sicilian are really the only two brands I like
The big slices of whole mozzarella are part of why I like them too. 🙂
Anyway, from there, just throw on your own toppings of choice, pop in the oven for 20 minutes, and viola! Quick dinner!
With any pizza I do at home, I pat it with a paper towel after it comes out of the oven to absorb some of the grease, as the above pic shows.
Relatively quick, and cheap. Very easy.
As with any meal, quality ingredients make the difference. I picked quality meatballs and one of the few good brands of frozen pizza. The rolls were from a bakery also.
Don’t try this at home with $1 frozen pizzas and wonder bread. 😀
As always, ZERO affiliate links or reimbursements of any kind here. I simply recommend what I enjoy.
Today’s food post turned out to be one where I had to improvise. I got a couple of ceramic “roasters” for making “beer can chicken”.
Beer Can Chicken???
I suppose I’ll have to divert for a moment and explain beer can chicken. It’s a (mostly) Southern thing. 🙂 Beer Butt chicken among the classy folk, lol. At it’s simplest, beer can chicken is standing the chicken upright with an open beer can stuffed in the body cavity. The beer steams the inside of the chicken, keeping it moist, tender, and adding flavor.
Since it’s hard to get the chicken to stand up on end, there are wire racks that you can use to hold the can, and thus keep it upright, OR you can get a ceramic one like I did:
The ceramic is the best option IMO, because you can use anything to “steam” the inside of the chicken. Refined aluminum (ie from the can) has been linked to Alzheimer’s and other health problems, then there’s the whole paint on the can too, so yeah… ceramic for me. Too many other bonuses on top of being able to use something other than skunky beer.
Back to the Meal!
So, I brined the chicken about six hours, then rinsed it off, dried and seasoned it:
The seasoning was a combination of Sucklebuster’s SPG and Clucker Dust:
1836 is Sucklebuster’s signature beef rub; and the year Texas became a state.
SPG is just salt, pepper and garlic. Easy to do yourself but handy to have in a single bottle and Sucklebusters really is a top notch spice company. Clucker Dust has a few more seasonings; primarily a little brown sugar and chipotle pepper. Not enough to make it sweet or hot. It’s just enough to make the flavor profile more complex.
OK, so after I got some rub on the chicken, I filled up the “roaster” (some BBQ folks in the South call them thrones), with water, apple juice, garlic, rosemary, basil and oregano. Then I put the chicken on the throne, lol.
At this point is where I hit my problem and had to improvise. The original plan was to smoke the chicken slow and low on the Rec-Tec 680. HOWEVER… the throne was too tall to fit in the smoker.
Improvise, adapt and overcome… Into the oven it went instead:
I cooked it at 275 F (or 135c ) so as to keep the meat tender. I was being cautious there since this was the first time doing chicken this way. If I had it to do over again, I’d cook it at 325 or 350 so that the skin got a little crispier. All in all, it turned out really well though:
You can see the juice running off the chicken onto the cutting board.
Add some steamed and seasoned green beans and some cheddar biscuits:
Half a yard bird to go. 😀
No, neither of us finished a full half a yard bird either, LOL. Leftovers are all part of the madness here at casa de silk. Here’s a look at how tender that chicken was also:
That meat just pulled right off the leg.
Flavor was there also. The diluted apple juice and seasonings added some mild flavor while still allowing the flavor of the chicken itself to come through. Higher heat might have steamed more flavor into the bird though. 🤔
Anyhoo, we’ve ordered the standard (not tall) size roasters from Amazon, which will shorten the height by 3 inches (7.62cm).
That should give us clearance to use the smoker next time. Probably get a slightly smaller chicken too. This one was fairly big. Overall a successful experiment. I’m looking forward to doing it again and adding some smoke flavor.
An Added Note on These Ceramic Roasters or Thrones:
The nice thing about these is that you can use anything to ‘steam’ the chicken with. Beer and Coca-Cola are the most popular options in the South, but you can use anything from Champagne to dark ale to fruit juice… even sauces. You MIGHT want to dilute stronger liquids with water though, or your lemon chicken could be REALLY lemony. Then add any seasonings you want into that liquid, and viola! Moist, tender chicken flavored any way you chose to do it. And you can use it in the oven, or with a smoker or grill.
They clean up pretty easy also.
There are also ‘throne’ models for turkeys, but that’s going to stand pretty tall…
I threatened it, and here it is, just in time for a late in the day Meals Monday.
As the title says, first, I started with the whole chicken breasts that I grilled a couple days ago:
Preserved in a ‘Food Saver’ vacuum bag, so still perfectly fresh. 😉
Then we add fresh pasta, and cheeses for the sauce:
The cheese in the ziploc bag is Parmigiano-Reggiano. The recipe for the Alfredo sauce is in my post on my vaguely Italian, redneck nachos, LOL. By the way, if you’ve never had fresh pasta like the Buitoni above… Well, once you do, you’ll never go back to the dry stuff again. Soooooooooo much better.
After cutting up the chicken, cooking the pasta and the sauce, then mixing it all together, we have a couple of delicious plates of pasta:
The other half wanted mushrooms also, so there you are. 😊
I made these the day before yesterday. Slow posting, but I’m trying to make up for it now. 🙂
We bought some chicken breasts from the grocery store, and when we finally got a clear weather day, I brined them for eight hours, then I smoked them on the Rec-Tec.
There were actually five total, but one I cooked about 80% of the way to done, cut it up and then sautéed it in a store bought chipotle sauce. That finished the cooking and still left it tender.
After that, it was just a matter of assembling the nachos. I’m not going to do a recipe here. Nachos are easy; it’s just tortilla chips topped with meat, cheese and whatever else excites you. 🙂 If you can get them though, I would recommend Santitas brand tortilla chips:
They’re more affordable than the big name brands, and have great flavor. Less artificial ingredients too.
And the end result here:
M nachos had four Mexican cheese blend, tomatillo salsa (my fave!), sour cream and green onions along with the smoked and seasoned chicken. If only i had guacamole…
As an added note, since I’m tossing out recommendations… The chipotle sauce I used for the chicken was Wicked Tasty Taco brand. It came as a paste I had to add water too. This was one of those rare instances where I had good luck with a pre-made food item from the grocery store. Be warned though, if you like bland food, this does have a moderate amount of heat. It’s authentic chipotle flavor.
As always, no endorsements here either. I’m recommending brands here strictly because I used and like them. 🙂
One of the bad things about getting married on a holiday is that there’s nothing open to celebrate. Well, I’m as good a cook as most restaurants anyway, and my food handling practices are certainly far better than most. Ergo, the first anniversary dinner was grilled steaks, potatoes, corn and a salad:
I put some fresh grated parm on the corn to make (Italian?) street corn, lol. There were two salads also. Somebody just started eating theirs before I got this picture. 👀🐱👤
Yes one steak smothered with portabella mushrooms sauteed in butter and garlic also. 👍 Mine was the plain one. Having Texas ancestry, I know good meat doesn’t need fancy toppings, and these were Prime grade Ribeyes. 😁
The color *might* look a little odd to some folks because I slow cooked them on the smoker and got a nice red smoke coloring all through them. Since we’re not allowed to have open fire grills at the apartments, I got the char marks via use of a HOT pan on the stove top. Here’s the steak cut open:
Tender and moist all the way through with great flavor.
Afterwards, we had a 1 year anniversary cake made to offset the wedding cake being screwed up. Why not? How often is our anniversary going to fall on the Fourth of July after all? 🤡😁🎂
Pink Champaign cake with buttercream icing and raspberry filling… How our wedding cake was SUPPOSED TO be. Cake courtesy of Nashville Sweets. I didn’t have the time or ability to whip up a cake with all the therapy stuff going on. Even if I did, I can’t decorate on that level by any means. 😊
For you vegetarians, here’s a closer look at the salad.
Beyond that, it was a quiet day. We did get to watch people shooting off fireworks in our honor from the comfort of our back porch though, LOL.
During the summer months we like inviting friends round for lazy Sunday lunches. You could call it a picnic on the terrace except that I can serve dishes I wouldn’t necessarily take to an extenal picnic, largely because of logistics. In keeping with the warm temperatures, I like to offer a selection of cold appetisers, main courses and desserts most of which can easily be prepared in advance, particularly the day before.
This spiced caramel tart recipe is simple to make, but the beautiful just-set texture of the filling elevates it to showstopper status. It looks innocent enough but really packs a flavour punch. Be sure to properly caramelise the sugar to achieve the required rich, deep and nutty flavour.
Ingredients (serves 10)
Sweet shortcrust pastry
300g (2 3/4 cups) all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
200g (2 sticks, less 1 tbsp) ice-cold, unsalted butter
A belated ‘Meals Monday’ Post and it’s going to be a two for one! First there’s the brisket sandwiches.
OK, the plating isn’t as pretty as my usual pics, but I was in a hurry to eat. 😀 Can you blame me with the smoke ring showing on that overhanging meat?
So how does one create the prefect brisket sandwich? Fresh smoked brisket on a warm hot cross pretzel roll, add a tiny pit of mayo to the bottom and a little BBQ sauce on top of the meat; just enough to add a little flavor and moisture. Then top with smoked gouda cheese. 🙂
Devour immediately.
Fun story here also. That is not MY brisket. We finally found a good BBQ place here. You wouldn’t think it would be that hard in Tennessee, but that’s a story for another time.
So we’re out driving along, running errands and we stop at a traffic light right next to this old gas station. Windows are up, and we still smell something heavenly. It was coming from the gas station, which had been converted into a little restaurant tailor made for Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. We just had to whip in there and check it out.
We’ve actually tried three different restaurants recommended on Triple D, and this was quite a bit better. The guy had two stick burners (some BBQ lingo for y’all) out back and was cranking out some amazing ribs, brisket, pulled pork, chicken and sausage. Well, the brisket was so good we bought an extra pound to take home. Hence the Sandwiches. 🙂
What Makes Great BBQ?
Opinions vary there, but I’m going to give you a couple of competition judging standards. No, I’m not a competitor, but I’ve networked with several and a judge or two also. Personally, I’ve found the closer I get to these guidelines, the better the meat tastes too, so there you go.
A Smoke Ring:
It doesn’t matter what you’re cooking; ribs, brisket, chicken even turkey (which isn’t normally a competition item), you have to have a good smoke ring on the meat. This is the indication that the wood fire flavor has permeated the meat.
This IS my brisket. A 16 hour labor of love.
That red ring around the outside of the meat is the smoke ring. If you want to learn the science of what creates a smoke ring, there’s a great article at BarbequeBible.com. For everyone else, I’m just going to continue.
Bark!
Bark, quite simply, is a combination of a modest surface char AND surface seasonings darkening during cooking. A good bark will be on the crispy side and add texture to the meat. Getting a good bark is tricky, and all but impossible with a pellet smoker like I use. Sugar as part of the rub is a common way to get a “good” bark, as it readily darkens and hardens with the heat of the BBQ. NOT something I personally advocate.
Moisture
Rather obvious here, but you want any meat to be moist and tender. Not too dry.
Tensile Strength
I’m not sure what they proper judging term here is, but the idea is that the meat should stay together, not just fall apart. If ribs or brisket just fall apart, it means they were overcooked. Too tough: not cooked enough.
Perfect competition standard is that the meat should come apart with a light tug.
For ribs, that means the meat stays on the bone until bitten, or gently pulled upon. Then it should be tender when chewed.
Brisket has a bit more ornate standard, but Texans take their brisket seriously, LOL.
A slice of brisket should stay together if draped over a finger or held by two fingers at one end of the slice. If it can do that and is still tender to eat, you got a good one.
Similar ideas hold true with chicken or pulled pork. Chicken should stay on the bone, but come free easily when pulled, and pork shoulder roast should stay together until it’s pulled apart (hence the name pulled pork).
Flavor:
Another obvious one, but it merits a note. Ideally when smoking meat, you should be able to taste the smoke flavor, not just see the smoke ring. Some BBQ places use oak for example. Fairly common wood and easy to get ahold of. BUT it leaves very little flavor in the meat compared to something like hickory, mesquite or maple.
Maple is considered ideal for pork, as it adds a sweet smoky flavor to the meat.
There you have it though; a basic guideline to determine if you’re really getting top notch BBQ, or you’re missing out. 😉
Want to know the likely reason you’re having trouble losing weight? It’s because many foods are drowning in hidden carbs. Sometimes they’re NOT so hidden also and food companies depend on people not understanding labels. After seeing the nuclear terror that is my nephew hopped up on sugar, I’ve renewed my personal war on carbs.
First, let’s acknowledge reality. Our bodies need SOME level of Carbs to function. They’re fuel. Everything I’ve read says that an average person with a moderate level of physical activity should have about 50 carbs per meal. If you’ve got a sedentary lifestyle, that could and should go down (actually your activity level should pick up for the sake of your health). If you’re The Rock, and work out 6 hours a day, you’re gonna need an insane amount of carbs.
We’re talking the average person though. Just how easy is it to go over that 50 carb guideline? Well, let’s take a look at the label on a package of BallPark hot dog buns:
40 grams of carbs, just in ONE bun, and that’s before you even add the dog or sausage, and any condiments or cheese. Note also that includes 6 grams of added processed sugar. It’s actually the fourth ingredient!
Carb counts can vary wildly between brands also, so it pays to comparison shop. Case and point; a package of “Bunny” brand hot dog buns from the same store:
Only 21 grams of carbs there. Half of what the Ball Park brand buns have. Also only 2 grams of added sugar (which is still too much IMO).
One of my big pet peeves in this area is nutrition bars and breakfast cereals. Usually the more they’re marketed as healthy, the worse they are. Clif Bars may taste wonderful, but that’s because some flavors skyrocket over 50 carbs for a single bar.
Breakfast Cereals… Here’s a few examples:
One typical “healthy” cereal, that even brags about having beta cerotene right above the nutrition label. Go down to the total carbs row though, and you’ll see 56 carbs before you’ve even added milk or anything else to the cereal. Right off the bat you’re over 10% into your next meal’s allotment of carbs.
Want irony? You know how these folks always market their cereals as a healthier alternative for kids? Take a look at the label for a box of TWINKIES cereal:
Yes, God help us all, there’s a breakfast cereal made to look and taste like Twinkies. That cereal has roughly 40% less carbs than the “Healthy” cereal though and 2 grams LESS added sugar per serving also.
Is that a fluke, you wonder? Take a look at Apple Jacks:
34 Carbs with 13 grams of added sugar. Less added sugar than both the other cereals and 22 carbs less than the “healthy” cereal. You can go through the kids cereal section and see this with Cocoa Pebbles and other cereals too.
It’s Everywhere:
I wish I could say this was confined to cereal and baked goods but it’s everywhere. Food manufacturers put sugar and high fructose corn syrup in almost everything, knowing it’s addictive. Sadly, regulations allow for them to often hide these and other sweeteners or nasty additives under the terms “natural or artificial additives” or something similar in wording. Read the nutrition label and look at those carbs. There’s really NO reason for a can or bottle of pasta sauce to have high carbs (as an example). A medium tomato only has roughly 4 1/2 carbs. Pasta sauce doesn’t need to be anymore than tomatoes, water and seasonings (salt pepper, oregano, basil & garlic).
Even some meats aren’t exempt. Look at the carb counts on sausages, processed sandwich meat, and similar products. It’s one thing if that Brat is loaded with cheese, but if it’s plain and has 50 carbs, guarantee you there’s sugar or HFCS added.
If you really want to know how pervasive this is, I’d HIGHLY recommend picking up the book “The Case Against Sugar” by Gary Taubes. It’s a fascinating investigation into the food industry’s use of sugar to keep people addicted to their products.
Fair Warning; you’re likely to become pretty disgusted by both the practices you’ll learn about and how long it’s been going on.
Portion Sizes and Dietary Fiber:
Two quick last things before I wrap up here. The first is portion sizes to manipulate data. Soft Drink manufacturers used to pull this regularly to hide total calories and carbs. They’d say a single can was three portions and print the data for one third of the can to make it look less unhealthy. Other parts of the food industry have caught on to this trick and use it. Make sure that portion sizes are the same so you’re comparing similar data. If not, you’ll have to do some mental math or bring a calculator to accurately compare.
Dietary fiber is something you’re not likely to know about unless you have at least one diabetic in the family. Between my two marriages, I’ve had four. Long story short, one of the many benefits of dietary fiber is that it helps the body process carbs. SO, for every gram of dietary fiber you see on the nutrition label, you can subtract one gram of carbs from the effective total.
A great example here is a favorite cereal of mine; Kellogg’s Cracklin’ Oat Bran. It fools you by looking healthy. With all the brown sugar on it though, a 3/4 cup portion has 44 grams of carbs, without milk. HOWEVER, since it has 7 grams of fiber (one of the highest in a major brand cereal), the effective carb count becomes 37, which isn’t too bad. It’s still dangerous though because they taste so good it’s hard to eat just one bowl or avoid snacking on them. 🙂
Conclusion:
Hidden carbs are everywhere. It pays to be an educated consumer and avidly read nutrition labels. Calories wrongly get all the attention. It’s carbs that are the bigger danger to your waist line and long term health.
With so much processed food containing either sugar, high fructose corn syrup or some similarly heinous sweetener, I’d strongly advise my readers to make more of their food from scratch also. It is time consuming, but it’s rewarding and nothing compares to homemade. 😉
Yesterday was my normal food related posting day, but the move has me busy. So we have a belated Meals Monday on the subject of food handling.
Just a short tip this time. I last got reminded of this at the State Fair last summer. The current virus reminded me this could be a valuable topic here. I’ll assume my readers are smart enough to understand cross contamination and know to wash a knife or cutting board before reusing it for a different food item. Yes, wash your hands constantly also. 🙂
This tip is less thought about, and that’s to wash cans and bottles before you use them. Not just drinks, but canned vegetables and such also. Remember, these cans and bottles sit around dirty warehouses and shipping trucks, then on store shelves where they’re handled by who knows how many people before you buy them.
If you just take a can opener to that can of veggies or chili, who knows what you’re letting come into contact with your food.
Here, its easy to remember. Stuff feels grungy just coming off the store shelf half the time. At any rate, with the virus now making it’s rounds, AND the conflicting reports about how long it can live on various surfaces, this tip is all the more important.
Bonus Tip:
ALWAYS check expiration dates. I’ve pulled dry goods off the shelf here and found 2 year old expiration dates in a couple of cases. This was at the “premium” grocery stores too.
Bonus Tip #2:
Check your take out food before leaving the restaurant also, otherwise you can end up with a salad like THIS when you get home:
Today is Meals Monday so it’s time to get this recipe posted. 🙂
First, credit where it’s due. This recipe is from the “Fix It and Forget It Cookbook” that focuses on cooking things in a slow cooker.
That’s the same wire-bound version I have. Many tasty and easily thrown together recipes in it. This particular recipe was contributed to the book by one Becky Harder from Colorado. 🙂 Proper credit given, let’s jump to the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
4 – Boneless Chicken Breast Filets
2 – 15 ounce cans of black beans, undrained
2 – 15 ounce cans of Mexican stewed tomatoes or Rotel Tomatoes
1 – Cup of your favorite salsa
1 – 4 ounce can of chopped green chilies (I prefer Hatch chilies)
1 – 14.5 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 – bag of tortilla chips
2 – Cups of grated cheese (Mexican blend, Jack, Cheddar or whatever)
PREPARATION:
Combine all ingredients except chips and cheese in large slow cooker.
Cover and cook 8 hours
Just before serving, remove chicken breasts and slice into bite sized pieces, then stir back into soup.
To server, put a handful of chips in each individual soup bowl. Ladle soup over chips. Top with cheese
PERSONAL NOTES:
First, this is simple and very flavorful. It really is a classic crock pot “fix it and forget it” meal. It’s one of my favorite meals in the cook book, and great on cold days.
This recipe makes a TON of soup. It’ll feel more like a thick stew when you stir the pot. I typically have to add a mix of chicken broth and tomato sauce after the first meal so that the remainder is a soup instead of chili. 🙂 Doing that, you can get 12 to 14 bowls of soup out of this.
I cut the chicken up ahead of time instead of fighting with it after cooking and making a mess. It’s worked out fine. Just remember the chicken pieces will shrink a little in cooking and size your pieces accordingly. If you like shredded chicken vs neat pieces, then you’ll have to shred it after cooking obviously.
There are tons of options and variations to the basic recipe. Some people add corn. Some people put avocado slices on top with the cheese. Some people put a quarter of a lime on the side to squeeze in some extra flavor. Another personal favorite is to top with a dollop of sour cream.
Normally I have a picture of the food up, but it’s been a while since I’ve made this. Chicken Tortilla Soup will show a million search engine hits anyway, LOL.
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