Cucumber sandwiches

Hey y'all!!

Every Monday I try to participate in meatless monday.  I say "try" because I do fail on occasion, specially on grilling holidays...aka, memorial day!  I make all sorts of things from black bean tacos to salad sandwiches.  One of my favorites being cucumber sandwiches.  They remind me of summer in the south.

I'm using french bread today but do as I say, not as I do.  You want plain soft white bread.  The softer the better, it should melt in your mouth.  I unfortunately did not have any and I refused to leave the house.  But I did get a surprise when cutting my bread....it formed into a heart! hehe

I cut all of the crusts from the bread, you should too.

I like a peeled cucumber, having to bite through the peeling when eating the lil sandwich does not work for me. You also want to slice it pretty thing, 1/4" or so.

I like mayo, cream cheese and what I have in the jar is my homemade ranch spice.  You can use the packet, I just prefer to make my own.

Mix it all up. I really just eyeball here.  Roughly I use 2 tablespoons of cream cheese to about 1/2 tablespoon of mayo and probably 1/2 teaspoon of the seasoning.  Give it a taste, adjust as you like.

Spread some of the mixture on your crust less breads.

Top it with a cucumber slice, a little salt and a little dried dill.

A nice little snack!  Monkey wishes she was getting at least one!

Sunday Ribs

Hey Y'all!

I've been itching to smoke some ribs and what better time than now with my rec tec mini.

I went by Ole Timey Meat Market yesterday to get my baby back ribs.  They always have the best meat.  I get all of my meats here that I put in the smoker. I've tried spare ribs more than a few times but I just do not care for the fatty nature of the spares.

I washed them well to get any pieces of stray bone from the surface and started removing the membrane from the back of the ribs.  If this silver skin is not removed, you end up with a pretty chewy rib.

I use yellow mustard as a binder for my rub. I do not find it changes the flavor at all.

My friends over at Lets Talk BBQ kept talking about this rub called "Fine Swine & Bovine.  One of the members there is the creator of Savor Spices, so I thought I would give it a try!

I like a good coating on both sides.

They would go back into the fridge to hang out for a little while.  I happened to be making my beef jerky this same day....so the jerky was taking up the smoker space!

I finally got the ribs in the smoker!

I wrapped the ribs in foil after two hours, cooked for an hour and then removed the foil.  Back on the smoker.

Almost done!

It's really hot today, 98 right now, but my old girl Mia seems to be enjoying the sun!

The rec tec mini smokin' it up.

Ribs are done.

Great bite!

They were deliciously moist.

 Thanks for reading!

Beef Jerky

Hey Y'all!

I've been wanting to try my hand at my own beef jerky for a while now.  It seems like the right time since I just got my Rec Tec Mini!

I found this eye of round at the grocery store.  It's not quite as thin as I would like it but we'll see how it goes.

These are the stars of my marinade.  Soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Sriracha, garlic, brown sugar and pineapple juice.

I whisked it all up together.

I cut the slices of beef into some manageable pieces and adding it to my container.

I poured the marinade into the container and stuck it in the fridge to hang out over night.

I took the beef out this morning and layed it out on my rec tec grate.  I find it much easier to do small stuff like this in the house.  Look at that, it fit perfectly!

I took the meat out after about three hours of drying...some of it still looked a little wet but I needed the smoker!  I stuck the jerky in a 170 degree oven to finish it up.

I took the jerky out about an hour later, and it was tasty!  

Thanks for reading!

Gosh it's HOT, so Margaritas

Hey Y'all!

So it's 93 degrees here in the South and about 137% humidity.  UGH.  So it begins, the summer season in the south can be brutal.  What better way to deal with a brutal summer than a nice cold homemade margarita!  First off, none of that bottled neon yellow margarita mix...gross.

I start by making a simple syrup:

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water

Bring to just boiling letting the sugar melt.

You need a bunch of limes...like, 10-12.  

I'm aiming for 1 cup of fresh lime juice, so I got to squeezing.  Looks about right!

Mix the lime juice with the cooled simple syrup and voila!  Margarita mix that tastes awesome.  There should be no excuse for that bottled yuck stuff.

I use about a shot and a half of tequila, half a shot of triple sec and about half a cup of mix. Yum!!

Also, since I was drinking tequila, I figured some good greasy dinner was in order. I threw some bacon on the rec tec, cut some maters, washed the lettuce, sliced some french bread and got the Duke's mayo out.  As far as I am concerned, if you are not hovering over the sink with bacon and tomato juice streaming down your arms, you are not eating a BLT the right way.

ThermoWorks ChefAlarm and Spatchcocked Chicken

Hey Y'all!

So over the past ehhhh 10 years, I have went through a ton of meat thermometers. Cheap ones, not so cheap ones, handhelds, remotes. I've never gotten great results from most of them. I finally bit the bullet and got a thermoworks.

To say the least, they are not in the category of cheap thermometers. For most of my smoking meat years, I have used a maverick of some sort.

Most recently I've used these two:

Maverick Redi-Chek BBQ Thermometer Set - Maverick ET732

Lavatools Javelin/Thermowand

This came in the mail today!

I've always taken issue with the short cord on the probes, not this one!  They also include a pot clip, which I can absolutely use.

 It also comes with a little handy temp guide.

I tested the accuracy in a glass of ice water, 32 degrees spot on!

I just happen to have a large chicken in the fridge waiting to be smoked, so what better time to do so.

I start by washing my chicken and rubbing it with salt to get the surface nice and yellow skin free...I don't care what anyone says, I wash my chicken! Back bone side up!

I use my kitchen shears to remove the backbone, turn the little guy over and press down to get a flat bird.

I soften some butter and add salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Mix that all up and place it under the skin.  I also oil the top with EVOO and sprinkle the same spice mix.

The bird goes on the Rec Tec!

I pulled it off the smoker when the thigh was 165ish.  Good lookin bird!

I ate it too fast for pictures...ha.  As far as the thermoworks is concerned, it appears to be a quality product that I will get many uses from.

Thanks for stopping by!