Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Detroits Best Barbecue
Thursday, July 22, 2010
How to Barbecue on a Budget!
For those of us who wouldn't dare let a little snow and cold get in the way of outdoor grilling or smoking, we're now faced with an even more daunting adversary; a tightened food budget! With all the sad economic news on television, it's no wonder that folks are afraid to spend extra money in such troubled times.
Barbeque though, is not one of those things we should cut back on, because great tasting meat cooked on a smoker or barbeque grill actually improves your mental health. It's a fantastic morale booster in that you have once again stood up against the elements and was successful in bringing home the grilled bacon.
Usually leftovers leave me cold, but by using some of the meat from your grilling, you can turn sad, unappetizing dishes into something unique. I've used the following recipes for years and they are easy to make and wonderful to eat, simply by using a little of the barbeque from the day before.
We all have to make meals go a little farther these days. Here's how I do that with chicken for instance. You can find a barbecue chicken recipe easily on the internet, so I won't include one here. After cooking the chickens thoroughly on the grill, I set aside about 1 ½ pounds of the freshly cooked meat and put it in a storage bag for the next day when I will make a chicken stew.
There are many chicken stew recipes on the internet, but I like the simple one that I threw together for the family one day:
1 ½ lbs of chicken cut into cubes, a mixture of white and dark meat. Leave the barbeque sauce on the meat.
2 cans of chicken broth
3 cups of Potatoes; cube and peeled.
1 cup Celery; diced 1 cup of Onion; chopped
1 cup Carrots; chopped
1 ts Paprika
1/2 ts Pepper
1 teaspoon Rubbed sage
6 ounce tomato paste
3 tablespoon flour, dissolved in one cup of cold water, then stirred into stew.
Mix all of the ingredients except the flour into a large cooking pot and stir. I use a slow cooker that I set for four hours. At that point I add the flour and cook for another 30 minutes. You will have such a unique taste due to the smoke and barbeque sauce, you will have to bar the door to keep everyone out of the kitchen. It's that good!
One of my favorite dishes made with leftover barbecue pork is Pinto beans. After I have cooked a Boston Butt for nine to eleven hours in the smoker, I pull it from the bone, hence the name pulled pork. I set aside about ½ pounds of lean meat for the beans, complete with barbecue sauce.
I'm too impatient to let the dried beans sit in water overnight, so I put a 2 lb bag of Pintos in a pot of boiling water and let them cook for 10 minutes. Then they'll sit in the water for an hour, after which I will pour off the old liquid and add enough new water to cover the beans about 2 inches. To this I will add the following:
2 chopped onions
2 tablespoons of granulated garlic
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning
Salt to taste
Add water if necessary
Cook until the beans are tender.
The transformation of the Pinto bean into a gourmet dish is due to the smoky flavor of the barbecue pork and the barbecue sauce. These are just two ways to stretch your food dollar and enjoy a southern delicacy at the same time.
I buy most of the meat I cook on Mondays. Most grocery stores get their meats toward the last of the week. Any that hasn't sold over the weekend usually goes on sale at the beginning of the new week. You have to save money where ever you can these days.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Delicious and Simple Recipes
If you have a crock pot gathering dust in the back of your kitchen cabinet, there are plenty of recipes that can help you make easy meals that are not only delicious, but inexpensive to make as well. The greatest crock pot recipes are simple to make- just toss the ingredients in and let them cook all day while you're at work. When you walk in the door, you'll be greeted by the warm and inviting smell of a home-cooked meal. Here are 5 easy-to-use slow cooker recipes to try out. Most use very few ingredients, and less tender cuts of meat, so they are cheap to fix but they taste great!
With the this handy kitchen piece of equipment, simple recipes produce the best results. Soups are about the easiest thing to make, and most only require simple ingredients. For example, the tomato soup you can make in your slow cooker is so much better than the stuff that comes in a can. Just take a pound of chopped tomatoes, a pint of stock, and a chopped onion. Simmer on the low setting for about three hours, then puree it in the blender. If you like you can add fresh basil during the cook time. For creamy tomato soup, add milk before you serve. There are many more soup recipes that are ideal for the crock pot.
Most slow cooked chicken recipes can easily be made in this special pot. Also, when you make chicken this way, you get a lot of delicious chicken broth that's so much better than store-bought. Freeze it in small batches to use in other recipes that call for chicken broth. To make chicken for a slow cooked recipe, put chicken, celery, onion, carrot, and garlic in the crock pot. Cook overnight or for at least ten hours. Remove chicken, skim the fat off the top, and cool the broth to be frozen later.
Here's a yummy pulled pork recipe: In your crock pot, combine 2 cups of barbecue sauce and a four pound pork roast. Coat the meat with the sauce, and cook, covered, for six hours. You'll get enough delicious pulled pork to feed a crowd!
Chili recipes lend themselves especially well to crock pot cooking. For inexpensive chili, use dry beans (they cook especially well in the crock pot). Simmer a bag of beans and onion in chicken broth for three or four hours on the low setting. When the beans are cooked, add chicken or beef, chopped peppers and onions, and simmer for another hour or so.
There are quite a few stew recipes for the crock pot, too. Beef stew is a delicious and relatively inexpensive way to feed your family with not a whole lot of effort. Just take a pound of cubed beef, some chopped carrots, onions and potatoes, cover them with beef broth, and cook them on the lowest setting for up to ten hours. Add herbs, garlic and thyme or rosemary for even more flavor.
With these easy and cheap crock pot recipes, you can cook a tasty meal with a minimum of effort. Try one of these delicious recipes today!
Related : Good bbq sauce At Amazon.com