Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken

Oct 10 2013

This is not the traditional stuffed chicken. The cream cheese and herbs were stuffed under the skin. I got the idea from a Kraft recipe and changed it some; it called for rosemary.

I softened 6 oz. of cream cheese to room temp. and added 1 teaspoon of Italian herb mix, 1 teaspoon of dried garlic flakes and a few grinds of 4 pepper blend. I separated the skin from the breast using a wooden spoon handle to get down to the thighs and legs. I stuffed half the cheese mix under each side.

I used a long handled ice tea spoon to get a spoonful back as far as I could and then worked it under the leg on each side with my fingers pressing on the outside of the skin. The rest went under the breast skin.

I cut a lemon in half and coated one with the Italian herbs and the other with the dried garlic. They went into the cavity and I trussed the legs with a silicone rubber band. I placed the chicken on a wire rack in a pan and in the fridge to air dry for 3 hours.

I pre heated my Traeger to 325 deg. placed the bird on some sliced onions in a foil pan rubbed on a light coat of Hellman’s mayonnaise and added more Italian herb mix then into the smoker. It took 2 hours to get to 170 deg. breast temp.

I tented the chicken with foil while I heated up some left over parmesan noodles and peas. I served my wife a nice slice of the breast and I had some breast and a leg. It tasted good, chicken was very moist. I poured the fat off the pan juices and had some over mine. My wife said it tasted like chicken divan.

The Kraft recipe had some roasted potatoes with the pan juices over. That sounded good but I had left overs that needed used up.

Cheese and herbs

Separating the skin

Lemons for the cavity

Ready for the smoker

All done

My Plate

Thoughts on my Traeger after Cooking 3 plus years

I have a Traeger 07E and after using for over three years I love this smoker grill. During the second summer I built a small covered deck and cook year around. For safety if you use your smoker or any grill on a wood deck it should be on a fireproof mat or pad. You should also have a class III fire extinguisher close by.

Using the Traeger is like using any other smoker or grill the most important thing is to know your pit. Know how it cooks on all the temperature settings; have knowledge of any hot spots or one side being hotter than the other. I have found my right side is hotter than the left. I have the Traeger 180 deg. controller and I have learned to maintain temps I want.

My RTD, (real temperature device) is located on the center left side and my grill level temps at the center are about 25 deg. hotter than my LED readout. If temperature is important in my cooks I am aware of this. In the smoke mode setting the temperature is determined by the P# settings, P0 thru P9.

P0 is the hottest and P9 is the coolest, I very seldom go above P5; and only use P6 on extreme hot days.

Each P# should vary the temp about 10 deg. A more detailed use of the P#’s should be in your manual or I have an article under INFO here. Ambient temps and wind will have the most effect on maintaining a temperature in the smoke mode. I never let mine get below 160 deg.

At first I had a lot of trouble with large temp swings above and below the set temp and after reading, a lot of people were adding firebricks in the bottom of the pit. They act as a heat sink and do help temp swings some. The Traeger 070 and 07E will hold 5 bricks. After learning more about my pit I only use the firebricks in the winter and remove them in the summer.

In the second year my heat shield warped and would not set flat. To remedy this I bolted ¼ inch plate to the underside and that straightened it out.  This also acts as a heat sink.

I have a hard time maintaining temp settings 180 thru 250 deg. and find I can usually get less temp swings by using the smoke mode and the P# settings. For temp settings of 275 deg. and above I can usually hold within plus or minus 5 deg. I found if you go directly from smoke mode to say 300 deg. you will get a large overshoot; sometimes as high as 50 deg. and then it takes some time to settle down. I found if you ease it up to temp in the 25 deg. increments and let it settle out before going higher, when you reach your desired temp it will only overshoot 5 or 10 deg. I can go from smoke mode and ease up to 300 deg. in about 20 minutes. I usually want my smoker to preheat about a half hour anyway so this does not take any more time or use more pellets.

I have used my Traeger from smoking meats to baking desserts. Anything you can bake in your inside oven you can do on a pellet smoker; they are a convection oven. I have found that with the addition of grill grates I can do some good steaks and burgers. The right side gives good grill marks to steaks and I like to use the back side for burgers that is like using a flat iron grill that browns the burgers all over.

A pellet smoker does not give you an overpowering smoke taste; it’s more like a kiss of smoke and that’s what the wife and I like. For some meats especially pork butts and beef briskets I do like a little more smoke and A-Maze-N Products makes a tube smoker that provides extra smoke. The tube smoker is perforated stainless steel that you fill with pellets, place it in your smoker and light. I have their 12 inch tube and it will provide about 4 hours of smoke.

There are a lot of good pellet smokers out there now to choose from. Traeger started it all and after a few others got into it the Traeger was still the most reasonably priced one. Their quality did suffer after moving their manufacturing process to China. Considering that I think it still is a good smoker for the money.

There are a couple of aftermarket controllers that offer better control for Traeger smokers. One is the Ortech Controls unit, they manufactured the original controllers for Traeger and now offer one that is an upgrade and does a better job of controlling the Traeger. The other one is a Savannah Stoker PID digital controller. Many who have bought the Savannah Stoker rave about it. As long as my controller works I can’t see replacing it but if it ever goes out I will probably get the Savannah Stoker.

After using gas fired water smokers over 25 years, I went through two Master Built, round bullet type and had a Smokey Mountain chest type when I got my Traeger. I love the pellet smoker; it’s so easy to use and clean. I usually clean mine every cook or two. That consists of removing the grate, drip pan, and heat shield and vacuuming out the bottom and burn pot.  I change the foil on the drip pan. All this only takes 10 to 15 minutes. Spring cleanup is just a simple scraping the barrel with a putty knife and vacuuming out. I clean the outside and wipe down with a coat of mineral oil.

Over the 3 plus years of using my Traeger I probably average cooking on it 3 times a week. It is suited to my way I like to cook, almost just set the temp you want and let it cook. I have a Maverick ET 732 remote temp probe. I cook almost all of my meats to internal temperature and can remotely keep track of the meat temp and the pit temp.

This turned out longer than I thought. Just hope there is some good info someone will use. 

Italian Sausage Patties and Spaghetti

Oct 05 2013

With taking care of my wife now and trying to keep the house in the same way she did has been a chore! I am busy from the time I get up until after supper. I am praying for her to get well SOON!

Our son was down in Fort Mill S.C. for some chores at the home they own and rent out; they are trying to sell it. The grandson had a soccer game, and we were dog sitting so I told the daughter in law I had some angel hair pasta bird nests to try and I would fix supper.

I had a pound of Bob Evens Italian sausage so I made four sausage patties to do on my Traeger on the grill grates. I did them at 325 deg. for a half hour & flipped half way thru.

While they were cooking I made up some salads, heated a jar of Classico tomato and basil sauce that I added a little oregano to. I had water on to boil the bird nests. The bird nests did not hold their shape well but was easy to serve proportions up that way.

The grandson is not crazy about tomato sauce so just put a little butter and parmesan on his pasta. I served the rest of the pasta with some mozzarella balls and the sauce over with a couple of the mozzarella balls and grated parmesan on top. Our daughter in law being a veggie did not have a sausage patty. I had a take home and bake baguette to serve too.

This all tasted pretty good for a fast and easy meal to make. It felt pretty nice to have the daughter in law clean everything up and run the dish washer!  She said they had to get home so sent some black raspberry pie home with her. Later the wife and I had the pie with some vanilla ice cream.

Sausage patties

My Plate

Simmered BBQ Chicken over Rice

Oct 01 2013

I had a split friar I wanted to fix tonight and wanted to do it a little different. I remember eating some at the National Black Powder Shoot in Friendship, Indiana back in the 80’s. A guy had two pots set up on gas burners; one with water and one with BBQ sauce. He was selling half chickens as fast as he could; transferring them from the water to the sauce. They were fall off the bone and good!

After reading several recipes I came up with this for my Traeger. I cut up the chicken into eight pieces, separating the wing and wishbone from the breast. I seasoned them with Penzey’s Galena street rub and in the fridge for about 3 hours before cooking. My BBQ sauce is my favorite from my butcher Kah Meats. It is sweet with a little sour and just a touch of heat.

I put the chicken on at 3:00PM at 225 deg. After 45 minutes I went to 250 deg. for another half hour. I had preheated my Lodge cast iron chicken friar on the stove top. I placed the chicken in the skillet; added about a half a bottle of IPA and poured the sauce over. I would guess I used about 15 oz. of sauce.

I went to 275 deg. for 15 minutes then covered with the lid for the last 1 ½ hours.

For my rice I used a box of Zatarain’s garlic and herb; added a slice of chopped onion and some chopped green pepper. I did it in my rice cooker and was done at 6:00 when the chicken was done. We had a small green salad of mixed Romaine with the last ripe tomato from my garden. I toasted some garlic bread to have too.

I served my wife a breast and I had a wing wishbone and a leg on the rice with some sauce over. The chicken was fall apart tender and the sauce went well with the rice. My wife and I both loved this and I will be using this method again.

Chicken seasoned and ready for the fridge

On the smoker

In the Pot

Ready to serve

My Plate

Fall apart tender

Baked Steak, Scalloped Potatoes and Corn

Sept 29 2013

My wife is finally home after three days in the hospital for both knee replacements and two weeks in rehab therapy. She is doing well for being 70! The first day we were both tired from moving her back home so we got carry ins. I asked her what she wanted for our first meal and I said I had baked steak in mind. She said that’s what I had in mind, after 47 years together sometimes we are on the same wave length!

Saturday I had to mow the grass then we had company in the afternoon. I was tired again so we had carry ins. I would fix the steak Sunday. I am finding doing her usual work too; the dishes, the wash and the cleaning keeps me busy all the time!

Baked steak was one of my Mother’s great meals and she had cheesy scalloped potatoes and scalloped corn as sides most of the time. She usually used sirloin, browned it then baked covered with Campbell’s mushroom soup. You can make your own gravy but as a step saver I have been using a jar of Heinz’s savory beef gravy.

I don’t have a set recipe but just eyeball most of the ingredients. I bake all at 350 deg. The potatoes I bake covered for 1 ½ hours and remove the cover the last 20 to 25 minutes. As soon as I get the potatoes in I brown the steak, add the gravy and bake for 1 hour covered and remove the cover the last 20 minutes. The corn goes in for 45 minutes.

For the potatoes I peel about 2 pounds and slice about 3/16 inch thick. In a bowl add 1 can of Campbell’s cheddar cheese soup, 1/3 to ½ cup of half and half cream or milk and a handful of shredded sharp cheddar. Mix well and pour into a greased baking dish, bake covered. Add more shredded cheese after removing the cover.

I like to use sirloin but I had four pieces of round steak frozen I used. When I use round steak I add a little Adolf’s tenderizer, a little salt and pepper. Dredge in flour then pound with a meat mallet a little on each side. I don’t overdo it but I like that it gets some of the flour in the meat. Brown in a skillet with a little olive oil remove the meat, pour off the excess grease and deglaze with a little water. Add the meat back in and cover with the gravy. Bake covered for one hour; remove the cover the last 20 minutes.

My basic scalloped corn recipe is 1 14 oz. can of whole kernel corn and 1 can of creamed corn, a half cup of milk, 1 or 2 eggs, a cup of saltine cracker crumbs and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix all together and pour in a greased baking dish. Cut 2 to 4 butter pats in half and push down in the corn mix. Bake at 350 deg. for 45 minutes.  With one egg it will be runnier and with two it will set up more.

For my corn this time I had a pound of frozen fresh sweet corn to use, I added an 8 oz. can of creamed corn, a 1/3 cup of half and half, 2 eggs beaten, 2 tablespoons of sour cream, a cup of saltine cracker crumbs and a teaspoon of sugar.

Start preparing your potatoes 2 hours before you want to eat and this meal will be ready in just 2 hours.

I had baked a loaf of Pillsbury crusty French bread to serve with the meal. My wife enjoyed her first home cooked meal she had in a while. The steak was not fork tender but easily cut with a kitchen knife and all tasted good.

Before I finished I went back and added some bread and gravy to my dish, I love gravy bread!

Potatoes ready to bake

Steak seasoned

Steak ready to brown

Steak browned

Steaks done

Potatoes done

Corns done

My supper

A Quick Good Chili

I was hungry for some chili and had some smoked tomatoes to use in it. I had some Jacobs Cattleman’s beans I wanted to try. I forgot to soak them overnight so after visiting my wife I stopped and bought some canned beans to use. I took her some of the chicken breast and rice I had for supper last night. I, and my wife, was pretty happy we think she gets to come home Friday. She had double knee replacement Sept. 9^th.

Thursday morning I take her to get her staples out.  After lunch her therapist is coming down to see how she does getting in and out of the house with her walker. If she does OK she can come home Friday. After she gets home I will have to take her 2 or 3 times a week for more therapy for a while.

When I got home I got my chili on, put it on simmer and covered with parchment paper while I went to see my wife in the evening.  They had given her the OK to get up and walk by herself without a nurse there so she got up for a short walk while I was there.

After the visit I added the beans to my chili and turned up the heat some. I then sat out with a beer to celebrate and relax a little. I added the smoked paprika before serving.

I had some shredded cheddar, sour cream and some dried chives to garnish. I had some buttered saltines with it and a Yuengling black and tan. The chili hit the spot! I thought the chili recipe was worth saving so I wrote it up.

Printable Chili Recipe

Ingredients

Smoked Tomatoes

My Supper

Mititei, Romanian Garlicky Sausages

Sept 21 2013

Lately I found a new food and recipe site, food52.com, viewers and a lot of good chefs post recipes there. I found this Romanian recipe for a sausage made without stuffing into casings that sounded good. I liked the seasonings and a little different was it called for sparkling water and baking soda!

I was going to get some carry outs for supper tonight but decided to take the time to have these sausages. I enjoy home cooking better than anything else I can get. I bought some cheese rolls that are like hoagie buns for my sandwich. I have done a lot of sandwiches lately but there is a reason; a lot less dishes to do up! I will be glad when my dishwasher gets back to normal!

I mixed up the sausages and formed them after a visit to my wife and lunch. It said sparkling water but I didn’t buy any so was going to use plain water. Then I thought about the Ice my wife had bought. I checked it and it was sparkling water and I chose the black raspberry. I was not sure it would work but raspberries are used in a lot of meat sauces and glazes so I tried it. It worked and can’t really say I could taste it. My sausages would have about 4 hours in the fridge.

After my evening visit to see my wife I heated my Traeger to 300 deg., 325 deg. at grill level.  I have done hamburgers on the grill grates at that temp with good luck. I had some Ore Ida olive oil and sea salt potato wedges I put on 10 minutes after the sausages. I did the sausages for 20 minutes; flipped and another 15 minutes. I put my bun on for 2 minutes to heat up. After I put the sausages on I caramelized onions for my sandwich.

I served my sandwich with mustard and the onions, the potatoes and a small tomato on the side. I loved the sausages and will do them again. I can see more sausage flavors done this way. Those of you who like to grind your own meat and stuff the sausages you might want to try this recipe.

Printable Sausage Recipe

Seasonings

Ready to mix

Ready for the fridge

Caramelized onions

About done

My Supper