"Two and to the BBQ"

Growing up my family was a "Baseball family". All of our summer vacations were to cities that hosted my brother's baseball tournaments - Both of my brother's played baseball through college - And I have probably had a heat stroke at every baseball field in the Gulf Coast region. Growing up in a baseball household I have heard all the baseball sayings that exist. I can define a worm killer, a Texas leaguer and a frozen rope to name a few. Although I have an arsenal of many ready at any time I need to flaunt my baseball knowledge I do have a favorite. My most beloved baseball saying is "Two and to the BBQ". I don't know if this one is as common as the ones I mentioned earlier, but it is one that my Daddy always used and I think it is the greatest. "Two and to the BBQ" is another way of saying double elimination. If you are playing in a tournament and your team will be eliminated after two loses than this would be an appropriate phase to describe that disappointment.

Forrest had never heard this phrase until he met my Dad and it has quickly become one of his favorites. This weekend my Alma Mater LSU was playing in the College Baseball Super Regionals and as we watched the game last night I asked Forrest if it was over if they lost. He quickly replied, "No, it is two and to the BBQ". I love it! One of my favorite things my Daddy says has made an impression on my husband and I know we will carry the tradition on in our own home. The phrase got me thinking about BBQ and since we don't have a grill I decided to make BBQ pulled pork sandwiches using my crock pot. This recipe was so so easy and Forrest loved it. In general, men love BBQ and this recipe was perfect for pleasing his BBQ sauce loving palette.

By the way - LSU won their game tonight so they are still in it - no BBQ for the Tigers just yet!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Modified from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

1 (4 pound) pork shoulder (Boston Butt)
1 (20 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
8 whole wheat hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted

Directions

Create a spice rub by combining 2 teaspoons of pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.
Rub the Spice rub on the pork shoulder. Place the pork shoulder in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat.

Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours.

Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well.
Pull Pork using two forks.

Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.

Simple Quality Ingredients = Simply Delicious

One thing I have learned since I started cooking is that quality ingredients really pay off in the end result of the dish. I try to use fresh herbs, imported olive oil and I only use Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in my dishes. It really makes a difference and the extra money for the quality ingredients truly equates to extra flavor. I was attracted to the following recipe because of its ease of preparation and incorporation of some of our favorite ingredients. Despite its bold flavor, I would not make this dish as the main course again - I felt that it was more of side dish. Forrest went crazy for it though and it was great for throwing together after work with minimal effort.

Campanelle with Prosciutto and Parmesan
Cooking Light September 2007

Ingredients

1/2 pound uncooked cavatappi (I used campanelle b/c I couldn't find cavatappi)
Cooking spray
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ounce very thin slices prosciutto, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shaved fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation
Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 3 tablespoons cooking liquid. (I used probably 1/2 a cup of the cooking liquid to make the pasta more moist)

Heat pan over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add garlic to pan, and sauté 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add reserved 3 tablespoons cooking liquid and pasta to pan; let stand 2 minutes. Stir in parsley, oil, salt, pepper, and prosciutto; sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately.

The Perfect Party Appetizer

This past weekend I was going to a party at one of my work friend's home and I wanted to bring something I had prepared in my own kitchen. Not wanting to relive the Lime Tart experience from my last work party, I decided this time I would not bring a dessert. I had remembered seeing a recipe that was advertised as the "perfect party appetizer" in one of my magazines. How could I wish for anything more? If I was going to cook something, it should be "perfect" right? Well knowing that perfection is hard to achieve I didn't set my hopes too high. The recipe required me to make dough and I hadn't really ever made dough in a savory dish before. I was a little nervous about the final product but these little shrimp puffs did not disappoint. They were unique, tasty, easy to transport and fun to prepare. Everyone at the party seemed to really enjoy them and in actuality that is all I could really hope for!

Shrimp Toast Puffs with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce
Cooking Light April 2008

Ingredients

Puffs:
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
2 bacon slices, diced
1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
1 1/2 teaspoons bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1 cup water
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
Cooking spray

Sweet chili sauce:
6 tablespoons sweet chili garlic sauce (such as Taste of Asia)
4 teaspoons seasoned rice vinegar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. To prepare puffs, place shrimp in a food processor; pulse until finely chopped.

3. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan (reserve bacon for another use). Add shrimp to reserved drippings in pan, and saute 3 minutes. Add 1/3 cup green onions to pan; saute 1 minute. Stir in ginger.

4. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine 1 cup water, butter, and sugar in a large heavy saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Reduce heat to low; add flour, stirring well until mixture is smooth and pulls away from sides of pan. Remove from heat.

Add egg whites and egg, 1 at a time; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Gently stir in shrimp mixture.

5. Drop dough by level tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° (do not remove puffs from oven); bake an additional 10 minutes or until browned and crisp.

6. To prepare sweet chili sauce, combine chili garlic sauce and 4 teaspoons vinegar in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Serve sauce with shrimp puffs.

My Shrimp Sweetie

My husband did the sweetest thing - he cooked me dinner. This is a big deal in our home. He never cooks, that is my thing. Don't get me wrong he is by no means lazy. He is so helpful around the house and every night after I cook and make a mess out of the kitchen he cleans the entire kitchen without a peep. We never reverse rolls and that is just the way it is. As long as we have been together we have operated on that standard and neither of us have ever challenged it. I had already purchased shrimp over the weekend and I was running late at work. We had to cook the shrimp tonight so that is where Forrest's kindness plays in to this story. The recipe I chose to make was one I have prepared several times before and it is really a breeze. There is actually very little cooking involved - it is more of assembling. But that really doesn't make a difference. Forrest has never even assembled me a meal before so I am not trying to steal his glory.

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp is one of the most delicious things created in my hometown. It is a misnomer for sure because New Orleans BBQ Shrimp have nothing to do with BBQ Sauce or BBQ grills. New Orleans BBQ Shrimp are prepared with primarily two ingredients: Butter and Worcestershire Sauce. And to do it like they do back home you need A LOT of those two ingredients, especially the former. You can only imagine how unhealthy (i.e. delicious) something prepared with this much butter can be. Never would I have enough nerve to cook something in my household that requires around 8 sticks of butter, so of course I was elated to find a Cooking Light version of this New Orleans Staple. I have to love Cooking Light for giving so many nods to the Big Easy. This recipe is really easy, very flavorful and a crowd pleaser. I have made this particular recipe several times and it has always been a success. I must warn you though - if you haven't had the real thing this is very different. It focuses more on the herbs for flavoring than on the butter. That is a good thing for the waistline but a bad thing for your first New Orleans BBQ shrimp experience.

Since I have made this several times. I am pretty familiar with the desired end state and let me just say that Forrest did an amazing job. Out of all the times we have had this dish in our home, tonight was my favorite because my husband surprised me with dinner and he even cleaned the kitchen as he went (now I am hoping he doesn't expect the same from me in the future)!

New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp
Cooking Light April 2007
Ingredients

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 pounds unpeeled large shrimp
2 lemons, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
4 teaspoons butter, divided

Preparation

Combine first 11 ingredients in a large bowl; toss well. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425°.

Fold 4 (16 x 12-inch) sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil in half crosswise. Open foil. Remove shrimp mixture from bowl; reserve marinade. Place about 2 1/4 cups shrimp mixture on half of each foil sheet. Drizzle remaining marinade evenly over shrimp. Top each serving with 1 teaspoon butter. Fold foil over shrimp; tightly seal edges.

Place packets on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Place on plates. Unfold packets carefully; peel shrimp, and serve immediately.

Shape Up or Ship Out

Shape magazine dedicates about 10 pages of each issue to food, nutrition and recipes. I have gotten Shape magazine for quite a few years now and have tried several of their healthy recipes. In the last year I haven't even seen a recipe in the magazine that I have wanted to try. It is so bad that I am at the point of reconsidering my subscription. The magazine hasn't always been such a let down - I do have one recipe from Shape magazine that I make on occasion that is actually pretty tasty. The recipe is from one of their issues from about two years ago. I held on to it because it is an easy go to lunch or weeknight meal. It is surprising that I find this recipe enjoyable because I really don't like turkey and even though I eat it from time to time, I don't ever crave it or prepare it as part of a meal. This sandwich is really flavorful, healthy, and a breeze to make. I wish that Shape Magazine would feature more recipes like this one!

Sweet Onions

Saute one medium red onion, sliced, in 2 tablespoons olive oil until soft and translucent, about 7 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and continue sauteing for 7-9 minutes. If the onions begin to stick, add water, one teaspoon at a time. Remove onions from heat and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.


Spicy Relish

In a food processor, combine 1 red bell pepper, 3 tablespoons Sweet Onions (recipe above), 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes. Pulse to form a chunky relish.

Panini with Turkey, Spicy Relish and Parmesan
Shape Magazine

Ingredients

3 ounces roasted turkey breast, sliced thinly, or 3 ounces low-sodium deli turkey
1 whole-wheat English muffin
1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, thinly sliced
1-2 tablespoons Spicy Relish (see recipe above) or a store-bought red-cherry-pepper relish

Directions

Preheat a panini grill. (If you don't have a panini grill, use an outdoor grill or frying pan. Then wrap a brick in foil and use it as a weight for pressing the sandwiches.)

Place the turkey on the bottom half of the English muffin, then cover with the sliced cheese. Spread the top half of the muffin with the spicy relish.


Grill until the English muffin is golden brown and sandwich is heated through, 2 to 3 minutes, and serve.

Above is a picture before grilling.

Thai Fish Sauce - Take Two

In an attempt to reuse the famous Thai fish sauce from my Pad Thai, I decided to make another recipe this week that used the same ingredient. Too often I buy ingredients for one recipe and then they sit in the back of my pantry never to be reused. I had tagged a recipe in one of my Cooking Light magazines several months ago that also required Thai fish sauce so it was perfect for my ingredient repeat I was going for. This was a really fun dish to prepare and it was a change of pace for us -we rarely eat red meat and Thai Tacos are very unordinary.

Thai Beef Tacos with Lime-Cilantro Slaw
Cooking Light April 2007

Ingredients

Steak:
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (such as Lee Kum Kee)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound flank steak, trimmed (I could only find 2pd flank steaks at the grocery so I doubled the recipe)
Cooking spray

Slaw:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups packaged angel hair slaw
2 cups packaged matchstick-cut carrots
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Remaining ingredient:
8 (6-inch) fat-free flour tortillas (We used whole wheat tortillas)

Preparation

To prepare steak, combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add steak to bag; seal and marinate in refrigerator 20 minutes, turning occasionally.

Prepare grill or broiler.

Remove steak from bag; discard marinade. Place steak on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray;

cook 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices.

To prepare slaw, combine juice and next 6 ingredients (through 2 garlic cloves) in a large bowl. Add slaw and next 3 ingredients (through cilantro); toss well to combine.

Divide steak evenly among tortillas; spoon about 1/2 cup slaw onto each tortilla. Fold in half; serve immediately.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 2 tacos)

Forrest really liked this meal, I wasn't a big fan of the Slaw. The meat was amazing and had so much flavor though. I enjoyed the meat alone the next day for leftovers. I wouldn't make the slaw next time - too many ingredients for not a big enough pay off. Note: if you make the steak, it seems like it is way to small of an amount for the marinade but it isn't. The fish sauce and the ginger and the garlic chili sauce are all really strong ingredients so they go a long way.

As American as Corn on the Cob

When I was planning my Memorial Day menu, I knew I wanted to make something patriotic. I could make star-shaped cookies or something of the sort but that seemed a little too cheeky. After further thought I remembered the saying, "As American as Apple Pie" - well after the Great Lime Tart Debacle of 2008 I knew that attempting dessert of any kind was out of the question for quite a while. I pondered my American Menu Item issue for a little longer and contrived the answer through a bit of stretching. Corn was as American as Apple Pie - I mean the Indians and the Pilgrims served it at the first Thanksgiving after all! And I happen to love corn on the cob so this seemed like the perfect solution. I have a recipe for roasted corn and since we don't have a grill it is my only option. I wanted to prepare it using a recipe that I use often and even though Chipotle Chile Powder isn't the most American spice the end result is delicious so I ignored that fact.

Chipotle Lime Butter:
recipe courtesy me!
1 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature ( I used I Can't Believe it's Not Butter)
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

Put the butter in a mixing bowl and, using a rubber spatula, mix the lime juice, salt and chipotle. Use immediately or refrigerate.

Roasted Corn on the Cob with Chipotle Lime Butter
recipe courtesy me!

6 ears corn, shucked
Chipotle Lime Butter, recipe above

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Coat each ear of corn in 1 tablespoons of the chipotle lime butter

and wrap individually in foil.

Roast until hot and steaming, about 25 minutes. Serve with extra butter on the side.

In the picture above you can see the flecks of chipotle and the butter and lime juice at the bottom of the foil packet. This is truly a delectable side dish and awesome for the coming summer months!