My Sisters Buttermilk Pie

I do make some desserts once in awhile. I saw somewhere a buttermilk pie and it sounded good to me. I searched for a good recipe and settled on one by Emeril from food network. I ended up baking it 10 minutes longer than the recipe called for. It did not want to set up. When it cooled it was pretty good, but I wasn't happy with it.

I gave my Mother a piece of it when we visited and took her some food. I save a lot of leftovers for her so she can just heat them up; she is 91 and doesn't like to cook anymore. She told me my sister, in Texas, bakes them all the time. I said tell her to send me the recipe. She had the recipe and gave it to me.

I fixed it the other day and it was good, set up nice too. I always liked sugar pies but I think a buttermilk pie has a better flavor.

You will note in the photo I do not get fancy with the crust edge, so I call this a rustic buttermilk pie.

Printable Pie Recipe


My Pie

Lea Perrins Chicken and Buttermilk Chive Potatoes

Apr 25 2013

Lea Perrins marinated chicken with buttermilk and chive potatoes, a Vidalia onion and green beans. It all sounded good to me and I had some nice fresh chives from my garden to use for the potatoes. I wanted to do two breasts for the wife and I. My grocery didn’t have packs of bone in breasts so I bought a whole chicken and would cut my own.

I cut the breast half out of the chicken and was going to save the hind half for later. I had five hours to marinate the breast and decided to brine the rear half; I had room on my pan to do up both halves. I got them in the fridge to set 5 hours.

I had figured on smoking the chicken and Vidalia onion a half hour then another hour to finish. I would put the green beans on for the last 45 min. and put the potatoes on to cook. I was wrong on the chicken it took another 1 ½ to finish. I took the brined rear half out after 4 hours rinsed and air dried in the fridge for an hour.

We didn’t eat until 7:00 but the wait was worth it. I took the green beans out early, covered with foil and on a burner set on low to hold. It didn’t hurt the potatoes to simmer longer. The chicken was moist and tender but I didn’t think the Lea & Perrins marinade was that great; not enough flavor.

The Vidalia onion I cut out a cone from the center, then cut around the onion to make petals and let the goodies in. I spoon in some granulated beef bouillon and top with butter. I cut enough root off just to set flat and leave the skin on. By not wrapping in foil you lose the outer layer anyways.

Buttermilk chive potatoes:

1 ½ to 1 ¾ pounds small redskin potatoes, 1/2 inch dice
1 ½ cups buttermilk
3 Tbs butter
¼ cup chopped chives, save some for garnish
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix all together in a pan and bring to a boil, turn down to simmer and cook 35 to 45 minutes; stirring at times. Serve with some fresh chopped chives for garnish.

Chicken


Vidalia Onion


Getting the potatoes ready


Potatoes On


All on the smoker


My Plate

Plain Old Cheeseburger

Sometimes I get hungry for just a plain ole cheeseburger on a plain ole white bun with a little mustard, no salad on top! I had some Ore Ida fast food fries to have with them.

I had 1 ½ pounds of ground chuck from my butcher to use. I made up five patties and got them in the fridge about 2:30. I made one as thin as I could in case the grandson wanted to eat before his Mom picked him up. He likes McDonalds but I can’t make them that thin! I did my best.

He got home from school at 3:00 and off to play with friends, said he would be home at 5:30. His Mom usually gets here at 6:00 to pick him up.

I have been doing my burgers low & slow at 300 deg. on my Traeger for a half hour. I decided to try 275 deg. for 45 minutes. I seasoned them with some Penzey’s old world seasoning and also added mustard on top while cooking; I got the idea from Wing Commander. The last five minutes I added the cheese & melted for 3 minutes then topped with buns for two minutes.

The grandson was home just before supper time. I passed the thinness test; he ate the whole thing. He takes the plain a step further than I do; he doesn’t even want mustard or ketchup on it.

I enjoyed my plain ole cheeseburger, no grill marks or char, just done medium and juicy. I had a dill spear on the side and Lawry’s seasoning salt on the fries.

Wing Commander suggested I flip them with the mustard. Next time I will flip them after 25 minutes.

On the smoker


Ready for the cheese


Cheese melted, ready for the buns


My Plate

Meatloaf and CP German Potato Salad

Apr 21 2013

I wanted something easy and slow for our Sunday supper. I thought a meatloaf, Crockpot German potato salad and glazed carrots would fit the bill.

I did some pickled eggs this morning after a couple of fellow members of LTBBQ turned me on to steaming the eggs. The easiest eggs I ever peeled. I got the meatloaf mixed up about 12:30 and in the fridge. I diced up some bacon and browned to add to the potato salad later. I could then have a little beer sippin time until I put the meatloaf in the smoker at 4:00.

For the meatloaf I decided to use my meatball recipe plus about 3 Tbs. Ketchup, a Tbs. mustard and some garlic flakes. I used a pound of ground chuck and a pound of ground round; that may be why it was a little dry. It needed some more liquid.

I preheated the smoker to 250 deg. put the meatloaf on and went to 275 deg. Grill level temp ran close to 300 deg. A little before 5:00 I put the carrots in a skillet almost covered with water; simmered for 10 min., poured off the water and added two pats of butter and some brown sugar to glaze. They went in a wire basket & on the smoker at 5:15. I added the bacon to the potatoes and stirred.

The meatloaf was done at 5:45, 160 deg. IT. I tented with foil while I got the sides ready and on the plates. We had some buttered rye bread with the meal.

It all tasted pretty good, even though the meatloaf was a tad dry. The Crockpot German potato salad I would say just so so but not bad for an easy prep. The carrots are my favorite method lately.

Link to Potato Salad Recipe

Meatloaf ingredients


Ready to mix up


Glazing the carrots


Potato salad is done


Meatloaf and carrots on the smoker


My Plate

Pellet Fried Chicken

Apr 12 2013

I have wanted to try a fellow member of LTBBQ, pellet fried chicken recipe. It looked good and sounded good. I bought my favorite chicken, Miller Bros., a whole cut up bird Thursday. I decided I wanted to brine it so got it on just after midnight brining; it would be in the brine just over 12 hours.

My brine was a quart of water, ¼ cup salt and brown sugar, A Tbs. of Penzey’s old world seasoning and some dried garlic. Penzey’s says the seasoning is their answer to Lawry’s with less salt. Hand-mixed from: paprika, salt, sugar, celery, garlic, onion, black pepper, parsley, dill, caraway, turmeric, dill, bay leaf, marjoram, thyme, savory, basil, rosemary.

I used the seasoning in the flour mix too and used buttermilk instead of condensed milk. Other than that I used Smokes recipe for the cooking method.

After lunch I made a batch of Red Lobsters cheddar garlic biscuits. I couldn’t taste any garlic, and neither could my daughter in law. From now on I will just make them from Bisquick; I know I will get some garlic taste.

I preheated my Traeger to 350 deg. and would get 375 deg. at grill level. I also used just over a half stick of butter and added veggie oil to cover the bottom of my foil pan. I preheated the pan on the smoker for 10 minutes before adding the chicken. When I turned the chicken it was not over brown so left the temp where it was for the second half hour.

For my sides I used Bob Evens buttermilk red skin mashed potatoes, some peas and some Pioneer brand country gravy; and we had some of the biscuits warmed up.

This all tasted darned good on a cool spring evening. The chicken was tender and moist; I lost some of the good crispies when I turned the chicken but what I had was nice. I think a little bit larger foil pan would have been better and next time I will use my large cast iron skillet. Smokes recipe is a keeper, thanks.

Link to Smokes Recipe

The chicken


In the brine


Prepping the chicken


On the smoker


Ready to serve


My Plate

MP Teriyaki Chicken Stacks and White Yams

I hadn’t made any of my muffin pan chicken stacks in a while and I was hungry for some. My favorite so far is teriyaki chicken. It is simply using a six hole muffin pan, spray with a little olive oil, crisscross two slices of bacon in each hole, a layer of chicken, a slice of sweet onion, a slice of red pepper, a slice of pineapple, a slice of chicken and then fold over the bacon and secure with toothpicks.

Before I had marinated the chicken but this time I thought just assemble them and let them marinade in the muffin pan, saves a step. For these I used chicken breasts on the bottom and thighs on top, I sliced the breasts ½ inch thick and cut both to fit.

My sauce was La Choy’s teriyaki stir fry and marinade. I brushed some between each layer as I made them up. They were in the fridge about 4 hours before cooking. I had some white yams to have; I love those things, and some frozen broccoli and green beans. I had some of my cheesy pull bread left to throw on the smoker the last 15 minutes.

I did them at 225 deg. for 45 minutes; took them out of the muffin pan and direct on the grate; then went to 275 deg. I had put the white yams on too, cut in half, butter and a little brown sugar and wrapped in foil.

I added some honey, sesame oil and garlic flakes to teriyaki sauce to glaze at the end. After an hour I went to 300 deg. then finished at 325 deg. the last 20 minutes after putting the glaze on and put the cheese bread in. 90 minutes total cook time.

It tasted great; I think doing the marinade in the pan and adding sauce to each layer helps keep the stacks moister and tastier.

Note: Another idea I had was to use summer squash, zucchini, tomato and Italian dressing to make some Italian stacks.

Making the stacks


Ready for the fridge to marinate


A white Yam


After 45 minutes, ready to remove from the pan


About done


My Plate


Sliced

Pork Chops and Haluski

April 02 2013

Thanks a fellow LTBBQ member for his idea of using cottage cheese for haluski. It would be part of my meal tonight. I had two thick cut pork chops from my butcher, Kah Meats to have with it. Each one weighed just over a pound.

I brined the chops overnight in salt, brown sugar and molasses. At noon today I rinsed them well and dried then in the fridge to air dry. I have had luck with the thick brined chops with doing an hour on smoke then going to 275 to 300 deg. to finish usually another 45 min. to an hour to get to an IT of 160 deg.

Just before I put them on I cut a pocket in each one, inserted a good teaspoon of Ohio pure maple syrup and a slice of bacon. I did just a little coarse salt and pepper on top. I got them on at 4:30 and planned on eating at 6:30.

I wanted to use bacon and some onions in the haluski but since I had been sick I just used olive oil and butter. For my noodles I used some German spaetzel style noodles.

My chops were at 160 IT early so I let them rest awhile and did a 2 minute sear on each side in a cast iron skillet to brown up a little.

It got a little hectic at supper time, my daughter in law came home from work and wanted to stay and try the haluski. Just as I was trying to serve, in pops our son & their dog, he said he already ate. I cut one chop to divide with my wife. I didn’t get a great plate photo. Before we were done in pops the grandson from the neighbors and sat down to some chops and haluski. We had some good crusty bread with it.

Chops were tender and moist with great flavor, next time I will take the time to put a maple syrup glaze on them at the end. My son ended up taking a few bites of the chops and said they were great.

Thanks again Sam I loved the cottage cheese in the haluski, my veggie daughter in law ate two helpings. This is the first night after the stomach flu over the week end that I have not had heart burn. I think the haluski must have a healing effect.

Chops after brine and air dry


Stuffed with bacon and maple syrup


A little coarse salt and pepper on top


After 1 hour of smoke on my Traeger


Cabbage cut up


Spaetzel noodles cooking


Chops about done


Browning in a skillet


Cottage cheese added to the haluski


Chops browned and ready to serve


Too much for me to eat


My Plate minus some chop for my wife

Russian Meat and Cabbage Soup

Mar 29 2013

Before long soups and stews will wait for next fall and winter and we will be cooking summer food. I found this recipe at Saveur and knew I had to try it. I didn’t think I would like the sweet and sour so I left that out, changed some of the ingredients and altered the cooking method to use my Traeger and get some smoke flavor in the meat.

The original recipe can be found at Saveur.com and was called Russian Beef Sweet and Sour Soup.

Last night I mixed up a batch of Cajun crackers and smoked them to go along with my soup. After they were done I smoked the meat for the soup.

I fixed this for myself since my wife was gone but she may like it. I left it pretty mild and will take some to my Mother tomorrow.

It took me about 45 minutes to get everything sautéed and in the stock pot simmering. My wife called and made it to Chicago OK.

I had a bowl for my supper, added some more cracked pepper and some Cholula hot sauce. The Cajun crackers were good with it but the broth was so good I wished I had some good crusty bread for dipping.

Printable Soup Recipe

Ingredients


Korean Crackers


Onions, peppers and celery


Cabbage diced


Meats on the smoker


Bacon browning


Beef diced up


Meats browning


Onion, peppers and celery added


Tomato paste added


Soups On


My Supper