Baptism BBQ Ribs

Coated eight racks of baby back ribs perfectly.

Two 6oz bottles Grill Mates Maple BBQ rub

Two 6oz bottles Grill Mates Applewood rub 

One shot glass full onion powder

One and a half shot glass full garlic powder

Mix well

Open rib packages, cut into portions. We did not rinse or wipe them at all. Dip all sides into rub mixture, it will stick in a thick coating.  Layer rib portions into foil pans. Refrigerate at least 24 hours.

Boil portions in 75% beer and 25% water, with liberal amounts of quartered onion and jalapeños halved lengthwise. Boil four hours, adding water as necessary. Grill immediately or refrigerate for up to 12 hours. Grill and apply bbq glaze of Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey Bbq Sauce. 

Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers

From:  From Valerie's Kitchen

6-8 Bell Peppers (use eight and take dinner to your neighbors.  The filling here makes a lot)

1 to 1.25 pounds spicy sausage (Spicy Pork or Italian works well)

2 Tbsp (or one packet) taco seasoning

1/2 cup diced onion

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 can (14.5 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes (like RoTel)

1.5 cups cooked white rice (any cooked rice.  Use leftover rice if you have it, even fried rice from last night's chinese take out!)

1 can (4 oz) diced green chile, I didn't drain it

1 cup frozen corn (I used 1 can of corn, drained)

1 can black beans (15 oz).  Drained and Rinsed

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper  (I used one pizza packet from dominoes!)

1.5 to 2 cups shredded cheese (divided)

Toppings if you like:  Sour cream, cilantro, onion, tomato

Preheat oven to 400.

Slice tops off of peppers, remove seeds and ribs, place into a baking dish and add 1" of water.  Bake 20 minutes until slightly tender.Remove peppers and pour off water. Return peppers to baking dish.

While the peppers are in the oven, make the filling.  Brown sausage, drain fat if necessary.  Add onion and garlic and cook to soft.  Reduce heat and add taco seasoning, tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans, rice, chiles, corn, crushed red pepper, and 1 cup of cheese.  Cook to combined and cheese melted.

Fill peppers with sausage mixture.  Turn oven down to 375.  Cover with foil and bake 25-30 minutes or until peppers are tender and filling is heated through.  Remove foil, Add remaining cheese to top, bake another 5 minutes uncovered to melt cheese.  Serve!

Comments:  SO DELICIOUS!  Leftovers heat up very well.  Also, I can't see why you couldn't make these ahead of time and reheat.  Kids will frown at the bell pepper "container" but they will like the filling.  Do yourself a favor and remove the bell pepper and give the kid a tortilla and ranch for dipping... it will work, trust me!

Bake that Bacon!

I'm sure everyone on earth knew this, and I had heard it several times but finally had opportunity to try making bacon in the oven as opposed to fried on the stove.  It is wonderfully easy, less messy, and much less smoky to bake it.  Turns out flat and perfect.  Use thicker bacon, the thin just doesn't stand up as well to any type of cooking, really.

Fit a cookie rack on a jelly roll pan.  Place bacon on the rack so it is sitting above the base of the pan, so air can get to the top and bottom of the bacon.  Try not to stretch it out.  Do NOT preheat your oven, I repeat:  NO PREHEATING.  Place the bacon in the baking sheets on the oven rack (I use two sheets fitted with racks for one pound of bacon),  If you are using two baking sheets, place one on each oven rack.  Close the oven door and turn oven on to 400 degrees.  Bake bacon for 16-20 minutes, watching it close after about 15 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn.  My top rack cooks the bacon faster so it should have come out at about the 16 minute mark, it got a tad crispy, and then the bottom rack took a bit longer, I had to extend that slightly over the 20 minute mark, I just checked it each minute.

Remove when the bacon edges are starting to get golden, keep in mind it will still continue to cook as it cools so don't overbake it.  Also, remove the bacon immediately to plates lined with paper towels, don't let it sit on the rack in the pan because the grease in the pan will have enough heat to continue actively cooking and the strips will burn.  Then, of course, scrape the fat drippings into a jar so you can make soft ginger cookies with it later.  Mmm.  Bacon. 

Pork Chops Supreme

Trent's new favorite pork chops.  Baked in a sauce that is kind of sweet, really tangy, and really good.  Best of all:  Really EASY!  I think you could do this in a crock pot as well, can't see why not.  I wouldn't try cooking the rice with it though, you'd have to really adjust the liquid and I'm not sure how you'd do that.

Pork chops, enough to cover the bottom of your cooking pot with a lid (how I ever lived without the Food Network cast iron enameled dutch oven that I got from Shea, I don't know.)

1 1/2 cups tomato ketchup
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 onion sliced (or substitute about 2 heaping tablespoons dried minced onion, Trent actually like that better)
Lemon slices if you have them

Place chops (I prefer pork sirloin boneless) in a single layer in your pot.
Season chops with salt and pepper, place onion slices on top of chops
In a bowl, mix the ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire.
Pour this sauce over the top of the chops.

Cover and bake for 1 hour, then take the lid off and bake another 30 minutes. Serve over rice.  I start my rice cooker when I take the lid off the chops, then my rice is done about the same time as the chops.

Best with fried zucchini or corn on the cob!

Zelma's Authentic Green Chile

Again, from a dear old co-worker of mine, this is her GREEN CHILE recipe, which I have not tried.  It doesn't state the number of green chiles to use to make this recipe, but I imagine it is at least a dozen or so, maybe even up to 30, depending on how much chile you want to make. 

Zelma's Green Chile - Zelma Savage

Once, again, you will need the right kind of chile to make this dish come out right.  Buy the long green variety, Anaheim are the most available here.  I get mine at Hatch, New Mexico.
Heat broiler in oven, place chiles on a flat surface, cookie sheet, or other similar surface, as many as I usually roast, I have to throw the pans away, they pick up the heat of the chiles and are unusable as cookie sheets ever again.
Place chiles under the broiler and let skin brown and bubble up.  Turn chiles at intervals so all chiles are browned fairly evenly.
Remove from pan, place in a wet dish towel and let stand and steam for a while, you can start peeling them when the peels come off easily or wait until they are completely cooled off.  You must peel them before using them.
After peeling the skins off, cut them into small strips and then take your knife and roll, cut, roll, cut, roll cut, until you have very small pieces, or instead of a knife you can squeeze the chiles through your fingers, but wear gloves.
Crush several pods of garlic with the handle of a butcher knife or run through a garlic press.  Add salt to taste, and garlic to chile.  I like chile sandwiches and at this point you can use the chile as a relish over most anything you want.  You can also add fresh cut tomatoes to this and have another fine tasting dish.

My favorite recipe and most of yours is as follows:

Green chile as prepared above
1 round steak or 3-4 pork chops (cut into small pieces 1/4" to 1/2")
1 cup flour
salt to taste
garlic to taste
Sharp cheddar cheese, use as you like it, shredded or cut into small cubes
2-4 tomatoes depending on size of the tomatoes

Flour the meat in a bag.  Cook meat in a heavy skillet or sauce pan, making sure the meat is done.  Add chile and water to cover the whole mixture.  Add tomato if you are going to use them, let simmer together about 30 minutes.  When chile is about done, add the cheese to the mixture and simmer until cheese is melted into the chile.
Serve with potatoes, beans, tortillas, bread, pie, cake, or anything.  It goes well with anything, except strawberry jam.  Henry could have told you exactly how sick that mixture makes you.  I am joking about the pie and cake but I like this dish well enough to eat it almost every meal.  Just think if I had been born a Mexican!
And now dear friend, can I have my kidnapped mug back?  And, I really think after this  second recipe you should reveal yourself.

Zelma Savage's Real Mexican Red Chile

MY FRIEND FOUND THE RECIPE!  I'm so grateful!  Here it is, typed exactly as Zelma wrote it, with a few comments from me in [.....].  I LOVE THIS so much, I make it with pork and eat it with warmed tortillas, it's so delicious.

REAL MEXICAN RED CHILE - Zelma Savage

In order for either of these chile recipes to come out right, you HAVE to have the right kind of chiles.
Most grocery stores carry cellophane packages of dried red chiles.  It is in the Mexican section of the grocery store and hangs by a hook, usually.  [there are so many now!  I use NEW MEXICO CHILE PEPPERS, DRIED.  They are large and very flavorful, they are what Zelma herself told me to use.]
It is up to you how much chile to buy, I never measure, but I usually use 20-30 pods for my recipe.  It makes 1-2 quarts of sauce.
20-30 Red Chile Pods
6-8 Garlic pods (whole, peeled)
1 Tbsp salt
then:
1 round steak or 3-4 pork chops
1 cup flour in a plastic or paper bag for shaking meat pieces in
To prepare the chile pods, take the stem off the top, and if you like hot chile, preserve as many seeds in the pod as you can, if you like milder chile, shake the seeds out into a container [or garbage]. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE OR YOUR EYES AFTER STARTING TO HANDLE THE CHILES [I wear latex gloves for this, and I leave a little over 50% of the seeds in, I like it a little hot].
Put the chile pods in a large glass bowl or container.  DO NOT USE METAL, put salt and garlic in with the chile pods.  Bring three quarts water to a boil and pour over the chiles.  Place a heavy object on top of the chile to hold it all under the water so it can soak, this process softens the meat of the chile.
Cut beef steak or pork chops into small pieces, I cut them anywhere from 1/4" to 1/2" square.  Place meat into the bag of flour and shake to cover well with flour.
Remove meat from flour, shaking as much flour off of it as possible.  Place meat in large heavy bottom [soup pot] pan with the oil and cook until as done as possible without burning or making it crisp.  Stir often.  I cook mine covered so it will be as soft as possible and not burn.
While meat is cooking, remove chile from the bowl of hot water and drop into a blender [or food processor] about enough to make it half full, be sure to keep the lid on and hold down very tightly.  If you don't, it will shoot up to the top and you will have a stained red kitchen and clothing for a very long time!  Hit PULSE.  Let blend for a while and then add more chile, keeping enough water added to make it easy for the blender to work.  Continue this process until all the chile is blended and all the water is used.  Or, if it is getting too runny, save the water to rinse your blender into your strainer.
You will need a large strainer, not a colander, the holes are too large.  Place the strainer over a bowl and pour some of the sauce out of the blender into the strainer, using a wooden spoon to help push the sauce through the strainer, leaving the pulp behind, it will be the chile skin and seeds.  Continue this process until all sauce is strained, then rinse with the remainder of hot water, rinsing blender and strainer to get all the sauce.
Drain all the excess cooking oil from the meat, add the chile sauce to the cooked meat and let it all come to a boil, turn on lowest heat setting and let simmer.  Simmer long enough for flavors to blend, if you still have any left after smelling and tasting it, put in a large bowl and serve as a condiment or main dish [with tortillas].

By omitting the meat, I use this sauce to make enchiladas:
Place a corn tortilla in a small amount of hot oil in a skillet, immediately flipping the tortilla over, take out of pan and place in a pan of the red chile sauce, which I keep warm on another burner, turn the tortilla over so as to coat both sides with chile.  Place tortilla flat on a dinner plate or shallow bowl, sprinkle shredded cheese on the tortilla, spread a small amount of chopped onion on the tortilla, and repeat the process until you have a stack, each individual can have the size he or she wants, I usually take three tortillas. After completing the stack, place in a warm oven, 250 degrees, and leave there while you finish making enough for everyone.
The last step is to fry eggs, again a personal preference as to how many, I don't eat eggs on mine, Henry always took 3 eggs, runny yolks seem to be preferable to most people who eat them, put the eggs on top of the stack of tortillas, pour more sauce over everything and sit down to enjoy a delicious meal. 

Thank you Zelma, I know you're up there watching over all of us making your fantastic recipe, we miss you!

Pork Chops, Fried and Oven-Finished

Best pork chops I have ever made!
In a plastic bag mix:
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp Paprika
1.5 tsp Sage
1 tsp Creole Seasoning
1/2 tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp Garlic salt

Heat oven to 400, place a 13x9 dish in the oven to preheat with the oven.  Get potatoes peeled, cut, and started boiling if mashed potatoes is what you want to serve it with (delish!)

Take four boneless chops, place in an egg wash of 1 egg and a couple of tablespoons water, beaten well.  Coat chops with egg wash, then drop into the plastic bag of flour coating mixture.  Shake each individually and set aside on a paper plate for 15 minutes to set the flour coating.  Heat 4 Tbsp oil, shortening or bacon fat (whatever you have) to hot in a skillet and add chops.  Get a hard sear on each side, add more oil/fat if you need to but don't cook through, this is just a hard sear (brown) on each side then take it out of the pan.

Transfer to the hot dish waiting in the oven, bake 20 minutes or until no longer pink when cut in center.  In the meantime make the gravy for the mashed potatoes, and make the mashed potatoes.

Gravy:
Use same skillet as pork chops were fried in, add 1/2 cup flour and make a roux (add more oil or fat if needed).  Cook until raw flour smell is gone, then add 2 cups chicken stock.  Cook until there are no lumps, stir A LOT, add some milk, either canned or regular, and whisk while boiling to thick.  Add pepper and Accent, more salt if needed, cook to desired consistency and wait for the chops to be done.  

Rod's Famous Baked Beans

Beans and Frank! Rod Frank that is!...Good. Feeds a crowd...is also a great main dish because it has a lot of meat in it. Takes 3-4 hours in the crock pot.

8 regular size small cans pork and beans

1 lb of bacon, fried and chopped

1 lb jimmy dean sausage, fried and crumbled (we used elk sausage from my friend Matt Leatham)

1 large onion chopped very fine

4 tablespoons garlic minced well (I use the bottled kind)

4 generous splashes worcestershire sauce

2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoon dry mustard

Jalapeno powder or habenero powder to taste.

Mix all together and crock pot for 3-4 hours...longer the better. Thanks Rod!

Southwest Pork Chops

Mix 4-5 tablespoons southwest seasoning mix (previous recipe) with three tablespoons olive oil, two teaspoons vinegar, about three to four tablespoons water in a ziploc bag. Place one to two pounds pork chops in the marinade and seal the bag. Marinate at least an hour, the longer the better.

Grill on the barbeque or fry.

To fry, heat cooking oil in a stainless steel pan (nonstick is ok too but you won't get the nice browning). Heat until pan is very hot and oil is slightly shimmering. Place chops in, they should sizzle. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side, checking to make sure they are browning and not burning, adjust heat down if necessary. There will be a lot of marinade sticking to the bottom of the pan, this is ok. Meat is done when the thickest part of the chop is not pink at all. Remove chops and keep warm by wrapping with foil. Use 3/4 cup of chicken stock to deglaze the pan and make a sauce to serve with the chops. With pan still hot and heat on, pour chicken stock into the pan all at once and scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Continue scraping and stirring until a reduction is made that is a thin sauce consistency. Place chops back in the pan with the sauce and mix them around in it.

Serve with a potato side dish, vegetable, or salad!

Southwest Marinade Seasoning

Trent's favorite marinade is McCormick Southwest Seasoning packets. Whenever we could find them, we would buy a whole box because sometimes they were there at the store and sometimes not. But now, we can't find it at all. So, I made one using Emeril's recipe on the Food Network site, but I added onion powder Used it on pork chops last night. Delicious!

Make seasoning mix and use 4-5 tablespoons of the seasoning, mixed with a few tablespoons of olive oil, two teaspoons of vinegar, and a little water for two to three pounds of meat. We like it on pork, beef, and chicken.

Southwest Seasoning for Marinade:

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons paprika

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Sausage Gravy

This is my take on a Paula Deen Milk Gravy recipe, but I add sausage. It's so good. I bake Grands Biscuits from the pop-open tubes for biscuits and gravy. This makes enough for 2 or 3 people, I will double it for more.

1 package Jimmy Dean hot sausage, browned and drained
1/2 cup bacon grease (reserved from the last time you cooked bacon! Never throw that stuff out)
2 Tbsp Butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups warmed milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Seasonings: ground thyme, cayenne pepper, ground rosemary, and Accent

Heat grease and butter and whisk in flour. Cook on medium heat until the raw flour smell and taste has cooked out, stirring constantly. It should be smooth and bubbly. Add milk slowly and stir it in, continue stirring until the gravy thickens. Add sausage and season with the seasonings...start with 1/4 tsp of each seasoning and add more to taste. I usually season with about 1/2 tsp of each spice listed. Serve over warm biscuits.

Ham

HAM! Love ham. I had four calls from family members this Easter.."How do I cook my ham? The same way I cook a turkey?" The answer is Nooooo!
Just remember that ham is waaaay different than turkey because ham is pre-cooked and cured. Whether it is smoke cured or honey/sugar cured, it can be eaten directly from the package cold. Therefore, all you want to do with a ham is heat it through. My family hates an overdone ham!

I always buy a spiral sliced honey ham with a glaze packet. I heat the ham through at 325 degrees for 2 hours, check it, and usually go another hour. Then I glaze it.

I have tried a few different glazes and always come back to one that I made up. Take the glaze packet and empty into a bowl. Add up to a cup of brown sugar, a pinch of cloves, maybe a little allspice, and about a quarter cup of pineapple juice. Mix up to make a sort of paste. Baste your ham with the juices in the bottom of the pan, then remove most of the "ham juice". (Reserve it for your gravy OR freeze it in ice cube trays to use later in recipes as ham broth).

Smear the glaze paste all over the ham and return to the oven for at least 10 minutes. It will heat up and melt and will ooze down into the spiral slices.

If anyone has figured out a crunchy glaze, let me know. This paste glaze is what I came up with while trying to make a crunchy glaze that stays crunchy on the ham surface, but I haven't been successful.......YET. :) Happy hamming.

Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork

Could this be any easier or yummier? Uh....nope. (and pretty dang cheap too, to feed a crowd). I'll write this recipe for a crock pot, but you can also do this in a dutch oven when camping. I've also supersized this and made it for 50 people in a catering setting, I used a big portable turkey oven. Makes a great casual meal served with baked beans, chips, and potato salad.


One pork roast, however large you want, depending on how many people you are feeding

2-liter bottle of either root beer or dr pepper (store brands are ok)

One onion, quartered (optional...ok if you don't have one)

1-2 bottles of barbeque sauce (I use Famous Dave's or Sweet Baby Ray's. Kraft is ok too)


Place the pork roast in the crock pot along with the onion. Pour the pop in over the roast until it's well covered, about an inch over the roast. You may or may not use all the pop, depending on the roast size.

Put the lid on and cook on low for 8-12 hours...meaning, it will be cooked through and acceptable at 8 hours, fall apart delicious at 10 hours, and still good at 12 hours if you get delayed at work :)

Pull the meat out and discard the liquid (pop). You can keep the onions if you want, but I usually throw them out too. Pull the meat apart with a fork and shred it. Return to the still-warm crock pot. Add 1-2 bottles of barbecue sauce, to your desired consistency.

Cook on low until warmed through (30 mins to an hour), stirring occasionally.

Serve on warmed sandwich buns.


TIPS: Tips for this recipe...if you have a lower quality bbq sauce like Kraft, you can use things to season it up like cayenne, jalapenos, brown sugar, and honey to taste.

I fry the sandwich/hamburger buns for this recipe (and all hamburgers that I serve) with margarine and garlic. Spread margarine on the bread and sprinkle with garlic salt and fry buttered side down for a few minutes in a frying pan until toasted and golden.

Pork Ribs

I hit a great sale on country style boneless pork ribs a while ago. Found a fantastic recipe, made it for the family. Then I lost the recipe. Trent threatened divorce unless I found it again. Ahh, I feel the love. Glad I found it so my husband will stay with me now. *pssshhh! whatever!* Who would feed him :) Love you honey.

Boneless Pork Ribs (also works with bone in Spare Ribs)

6 - 9 lbs pork ribs, boneless
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 cup salt
2 1/2 Tbsp black pepper
3 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne
2 Tbsp garlic powder

Combine these ingredients and rub liberally into ribs, place in roasting pan (do yourself a favor and use a disposable one). Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours. Longer is ok too.

Preheat oven to 250. Bake ribs uncovered for 3-4 hours. Start the sauce (below), it has to simmer 1 hour.

Sauce:
5 Tbsp pan drippings
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 cups ketchup
3 cups hot water
4 Tbsp brown sugar
2-3 drops liquid smoke
1/2 tsp accent (optional)
2 Tbsp chili powder
To Taste, Add (what we add): Cayenne (1/2 tsp), salt (we don't add here), pepper (1/4 to 1/2 tsp) t

Remove drippings into saucepan, saute onion in pan drippings until brown and soft. Stir in ketchup, heat 3-4 minutes. Stirring constantly, mix in water and brown sugar. Season to taste with cayenne, salt pepper, liquid smoke, accent, and chili powder. Simmer one hour to reduce, add water if necessary to thin.

Grill ribs. This is the man's job, but what he tells me he does it heats the grill on high to dlean it and get it nice and hot, then scrapes it for anything left-over from last time, turns grill to LOW, sprays with Pam (careful here, we don't want any Micheal Jackson hair-flaming episodes here), puts the ribs on, bastes with lots of the sauce, cooks for 5-7 minutes, flips, resauce, 5-7 minutes. done....... Sticky, spicy, sweet ribs.

Breaded Pork Chops in Gravy

This is one of my family's favorite meals. I usually make this the night before and put it in the crock pot, keep it in the fridge, then take it out and start it before I leave for work. When I get home, all I have to do is peel and mash potatoes to go with it, make a salad, and done.

Breaded Pork Chops in Gravy

4-6 pork chops or cutlets (bone in or boneless, doesn't matter). Not frozen, they have to be thawed.

Milk

Seasoned bread crumbs

2 family size cans or 6 regular size cans of cream of mushroom soup**

Rinse pork chops with water and pat dry. Place a small amount of milk on a plate or bowl, and some bread crumbs on another plate. Dip the chops first in the milk then dredge in bread crumbs. Heat some oil in a frying pan and lightly fry the chops on both sides so the bread crumbs are golden brown, this only takes about a minute or so on each side. Set aside.

In the crock pot, mix the soup with enough milk to make a gravy-like consistency, and mix well with a wire whisk. The more chops you make, the more gravy you'd want, so make enough gravy to coat and cover the chops in the crock pot.

Place the chops into the soup mixture and spoon it over to cover the chops completely. Cook all day on low. When serving, just "fish out" the chops, they fall apart, and serve it with mashed potatoes.

** If you love mushrooms, throw in a can of mushroom stems and pieces. If you hate mushrooms, you could do this recipe with any cream soup, cream of chicken makes a good gravy and so does cream of celery.