For my Veggie Daughter-in-law

My Daughter-in-law, Tonya & her son Gavin, our only grandchild, spent the past week in their bare house in S.C. & eating out in preparation for their move to Las Vegas. Their furniture was loaded on a van last Mon. Our Son Jason has been in Las Vegas at his new job & getting a house rented for them the past month. I liked to visit in Fort Mill S.C., just a day’s drive plus there were some good BBQ places there to try out. They turned vegetarian on me but did take us to a good BBQ place when we were there in March. When they came up for visits the past couple of years I tried to cook some vegetarian dishes they would like. I remember once I tried some veggie burgers. I think they were made with black beans & grains, but they were terrible! I did find this dish “Garden full of Goodness Lasagna” by Paula Deen. It is great & satisfying even for this meat lover! Tonya & Gavin came Sat afternoon, I had the Peaches & Cream Cheese pie baked for them and made the lasagna. You can find the recipe on Foodnetwork or Paula Deens site. I thought it was worth posting a photo of it.

Sunday for lunch I fixed a Bacon & asparagus potato crust quiche for them, minus the bacon. I found the recipe on “For the Love of Cooking” blog, a link is posted. I should have taken a photo of it, turned out nice & was all gone! After lunch Tonya & Gavin headed to Toledo for a few days with her family then she & her Mother are driving to Las Vegas w/the family dog Macy. We are keeping Gavin then my wife is flying out with him. They didn’t think he would hold up for the long drive out there. Nancy & Tonya’s mother are flying back together. It will be great to have the grandson a few days, he will keep us busy & I probably will not get a post in for awhile!

Paula's Garden Full of Goodness Lasagna

Peaches & Cream Cheese Pie

I was telling my 89 yr. old Mother about my cooking blog. She said put that peach pie recipe on there. So this is dedicated to her. She will never see it since, she has no computer, & only knows the on/off button & channel up/down button on her TV remote control! She does not go out of Ohio City anymore, and very seldom leaves her home except for short walks & special occasions for her grandchildren in Ohio City. Mother was a great cook & she could whip up a delicious meal in an hour & a half. She was also a good baker of pies & everyone loved her sour cream cookies. She does not cook that much anymore, between my brother, sister, & I, we keep her supplied with meals she can just heat up in the microwave or her toaster oven. I am not a very good baker but found this Peaches & Cream Cheese pie, that looked good & easy enough for me to try. The first one I made I took a piece to Mom & she wanted the recipe. She has made it a few times. Until I learn how to post a printable recipe page you can copy the following.

Peaches & Cream Cheese Pie

Printable Recipe

3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 box vanilla pudding (not instant)
2 tbsp. butter
1 egg

Combine above ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Pour into a 9 or 10 inch pie pan.
Instead of using a mixer I just blend well with a fork. Then use hands to mix well until it looks like a pie dough consistency. Place in pie pan & Use fingers to spread evenly in the pan. A 9 inch is probably better to work the dough up the sides some. With a 10 inch I find the crust gets too thin to work it up the sides but comes out great.

Drain 15-20 oz. can of peaches. Arrange over mixture in pie pan.

TOPPING:

Combine: 8 oz. cream cheese, 1/2 c. sugar 3 tbsp. peach juice Spread over peaches in pie pan.

Combine: 1 tbsp. sugar & cinnamon (optional)
Sprinkle over cream cheese mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.


Some of the ingredients

Dough ball

Dough spread out

Peaches added

Topping added & ready to bake

Finished pie

Finished pie

Brats & red potatoes

Yesterday I mowed grass early in the day & planned a simple cook on the Traeger for the wife & my dinner. One of the harder parts of cooking on the smoker is trying to do it all on the smoker instead of have part of the cook done inside. I had planned on doing Cajun brats for me, Italian brats for my wife, caramalized onions & green peppers, and roasted red potatoes. I figured one & a half hrs. for the potatoes & brats at 225 deg. then I thought about 45 min. for the onions & peppers in a cast iron skillet. I got everything on but when the brats & potatoes were done my onions & peppers were not ready. Another nice thing about the smoker is just turn down to smoke mode 180deg & you can hold the food well. So did this & took the cast iron skillet in to the stove to finish the onions & peppers. Brats were great served in brat buns w/ the onions & pepers on top & a little mustard. The red potatoes were seasond w/olive oil, California garlic powder & a little salt.

Peppers & onions

On the smoker

Finishing peppers & onions

Sandwich & potatoes plated

My Chicago Style Beef

A favorite sandwich of mine is Chicago style beef. I bought a eye of round roast at Sams, about 4 lbs. Decided to do some Chicago style beef. I mixed up a rub of 1 TBS salt, 1 TBS oregano, 1 tsp thyme, 1 TBS garlic flakes & some grinds of black pepper, rubbed into the roast, wrapped in saran wrap & in the fridge a few hours until ready to smoke. When ready to smoke placed it on a rack in a foil roaster pan w/a sliced onion, 2 TBS sliced pepperoncini peppers w/some of the juice, a few shakes of red pepper flakes & 1 quart of beef stock. I injected the roast w/beef broth. Did it on smoke setting for 1/2 hr then 225 deg & about every 15 to 20 min upped the temp by 25 deg, wanted to get the roast to 140 deg without drying out. I basted it w/the broth several times. After 2 hrs & 15 min it was up to 140 deg, pulled & tented about 1/2 hr then wrapped in foil & in the fridge overnight before slicing. Sliced it thin on a slicer, it was a nice med rare & juicy. Placed half the meat in a Crockpot, a sliced up a green pepper & half the two caramelized onions I did up. Repeated with the other half meat, a sliced green pepper & rest of caramelized onions. Added the reserved broth I had saved from the foil pan along w/ any pepperoncini peppers. Then another quart of beef stock & 2 tsp Better than Beef Bullion turned it to high for 3 hrs & was done. Served it on brat buns along w/oven baked fries, Ore Ida, & cheese sauce, w/cajun seasoning. The cheese sauce was a can of Campbells cheddar soup, a little beer, about 1/8 cup, a TBS of Worcestershire, & a tsp of mustard.

Printable Directions

On the smoker

Done

Slicing up

Caramalized onions

In the Crockpot

My sandwich & fries

Fresh Pork Picnic Shoulder

Pulled pork is one of my favorite cooks. It makes great sandwiches & you can save & use in many dishes. I have a Food Saver vacuum sealer to save leftovers. This was probably the longest cooks I have done & the largest hunk of meat. I think I prefer pork butts for pulled pork but I had never done a picnic w/skin on & wanted to try it out. I found a 10 lb one for $14. I decided to trim most of the skin & fat except a layer to place down in the smoker. I seasoned w/just my favorite rub, saran wrap & in fridge overnight. I got up at 4am, injected w/apple juice & worcestershire sauce. Added a little more rub & let sit while I got the smoker ready. Preheated to 300 deg then down to 180 deg & added the pork skin side down at 5 am & went back to bed. Finally looked at it at 11am & added two temp probes & went to 225 deg. It misted rain & drizzled some all morning & finally quit about noon & added more pellets. About 2:30 it made IT at 170 deg so double foiled w/some of the apple juice & sauce I had injected with, went to 250 deg. I also misted it a couple of times before I foiled. About 3:30 it was IT 180deg & decided to finish in oven inside set at 300 deg. Was looking like rain so wanted to get my smoker cooled down & covered. It didn't take long to hit IT 205 deg, let it cool awhile, about an hr total, unwrapped & pulled & chopped some. I liked the way it turned out, I added the pan juices after I poured off the fat. I served it w/a little Bone suckin sauce, my cole slaw. on a COWB,(cheap old white bun). For a side we had my Tex Mex corn pudding. Ranked among my best pulled pork.

TexMex Corn Printable Recipe

Trimmed

Marinated & injected.

170 deg & ready to foil

Ready to pull

Some pulled

Pulled & chopped

My Plate

More thoughts on Pellet Smoker Cooking

Most people who go from a wood, (stick burner) smoker to a pellet smoker find it does not give them the smoke flavor they were used to. Some of them add a smoke daddy, a small smoke generator for additional smoke. I went from water smokers to my Traeger so the smoke flavor I get is right for me. Hickory, mesquite, & cherry are some of the stronger flavor pellets. Most of the other wood is milder & I don’t see much difference in their flavor. I think most people will agree that a thin blue smoke is better than white smoke. Too much white smoke will give a more acrid taste. On a pellet smoker you get the most smoke flavor between 160 & 180 deg.
Some meat cuts that are suited to low & slow cooking are Pork butts & shoulders, pork ribs, beef briskets, and beef chuck roasts.
I find that most poultry, pork loins, and meaty beef roast are better cooked from 250 to 350 deg. You don’t get as much smoke taste but I think it is a unique flavor you get from being cooked over a wood fire. I brine most all poultry, unless marinated, and pork loins before smoking, this insures you get a good moist meat.
Even though the Traeger will get to 500 deg on a hot day, I find it takes too long & you burn up a lot of pellets to sear a steak & do a 10 min. cook. For steaks I use my Weber Q100. Although I do like hamburgers done on the Traeger, 300 deg for ½ hour, turning half way through. Those grill marks are pretty, but when you get it on a bun with all the fixins I don’t think you could tell if it had grill marks or not!
Last summer I tried about everything on my Traeger, pulled pork, beef brisket, pork ribs, braised pork belly, corn bread in a cast iron skillet, chili w/cornbread & cheese topping, pizza, beans, brats, sausage, mush, fish, meatloaf, potatoes, corn on the cob, veggies, jalapeno poppers, boudin balls and even cured my own bacon & smoked it.
Most all the meat I get from my local butcher less than ½ mile away. I also bought my smoker from him. He makes some of the best fresh brats around, at least 6 types. I also know I am getting fresh local meat. Some people are not that fortunate & must buy from large chain groceries. If you buy any meats in cryopaks & it does not say fresh but says packed in a solution, it contains salt. I would recommend soaking in water for a period to remove some & don’t use salt based seasoning or rubs.
My favorite cooks are pulled pork & pork ribs. For new years day I always have to have my pork & kraut for good luck, I do up some kind of pork roast or ribs, add sauerkraut & onions. Then my wife usually makes some knopfles, drop noodles to add near the end & serve over mashed potatoes. I did manage to do it on my Traeger this year. I did a rack of baby back ribs & some bratwurst, then added all to a large foil roast pan on the smoker & had the best New Years meal ever.

Marinated Chicken, & sweet potatoes

My first post I am trying to get the hang of this. I cooked cut up chicken marinated in Stubs Chicken Marinade for two hrs. Started the smoker & put chicken directly on the grill for 1/2 hr at 225 deg. Meanwhile I cut two sweet potatoes in half w/butter & brown sugar in the middle, then wrapped in foil & added to the grill. After 1/2 hr upped the temp to 250 deg. After one hr. 15 min the chicken was up to 180 deg for legs & thighs & about 170 for breasts. Turned the smoker down to smoke setting 180 deg to hold while I fixed some grilled lettuce on my Weber Q100. Cut lettuce in half, sprinkled w/olive oil, salt & pepper & placed on the grill a few minutes, until I had nice grill marks. Served the lettuce w/balsamic vinegar.

Marinated Cut-up Chicken

Ready to plate

My Plate