Texas Brisket!

Texas Brisket all done!  Nice and JUICY!

It's Memorial Day!  A wonderful day to honor our dear troops who have paid the ultimate price for our FREEDOMS!  NEVER FORGET!  Today we are having some friends over, and cooking up some Texas Brisket!  Very easy, and VERY GREAT!!  My boys help out by keeping the wood chips going!  Keeping it SMOKIN'!!!

We put a layer of sliced onions down into lined pan before the brisket, to help the bottom from getting too dried out~

Salt and pepper entire brisket with Kosher, course salt and course cracked black pepper~ sometimes we add a bit of cajun spices (a SIN for Texas Brisket, so SHHHHhhhh~  :)

All ready for the smoker-grill, cook with fat side up, so it naturally bastes the brisket~

SMOKIN'!!  The neighborhood smells VERY, VERY good!

Halfway through cooking!  Can't wait!

10 pound brisket, cook at 200 degrees in smoking grill (apple and hickory wood chips do the job well!)   COOK 1 hour per pound with lid shut.  (so if you make an 8 pound brisket you would smoke 8 hours,  10 pound would be smoked 10 hours, etc...)  DO NOT PUNCTURE!  After the proper cooking time, take pan off of grill, and cover tightly with aluminum foil for 1 HOUR!  After that, take brisket and transfer onto a platter and cut it across the grain into strips of meat about 1/2 inch thick~  Enjoy it's JUICY GREATNESS!!  Texas doesn't get much better than this~ :)

Irish STEW! SUNDAY SUPPER!

'McKeel's Original Irish Stew' night!  I LOVE stew, and my family's Irish Stew, I LOVE the MOST!     Sure, I could make it with lamb, as many Irish stews are made with, but we prefer to make it with good old American beef!  :)  (YOUR CHOICE~ you can cut the chuck into pieces, flour them and saute in batches or you can go SIMPLE, like I have learned to do, and 'pot roast' style it whole!)  I was having too much fun with the family tonight, so I FORGOT to put peas in near the end of baking, like I usually do. (I highly recommend putting in the peas the last hour) GREATEST thing about stew, besides how TOTALLY AWESOME it tastes, is that you so easily throw it all together, then go and RELAX!  Got to sit on back deck with my hubby and a bottle of red wine, watching the Texas sunset, a family of Hawks (that have taken a kindness to our back yard) fly about searching for food, and our boys throwing the football around as the Stew simmered away for the 'easiest, relaxing' of hours in the oven!  SO SIMPLE!   Rah-Rah~ GO STEW!!


                                                          Best ever, IRISH STEW!

Made this again, so took a pic with the peas in it! The peas add a lot to the stew~ a slight bit of sweetness!  LOVE the flavor of the sauce, the tender meat, and all the vibrant, great veggies in this awesome stew!  

Fry up bacon til opaque in saute pan, then place into Dutch oven~

Lightly flour all sides of chuck Roast~

Braise both sides of Roast in the bacon grease released from bacon~

Add roast to Dutch Oven~

Add Bay leaves~

Saute carrots, then mushrooms in bacon grease for a bit~

Put slightly sauteed carrots and mushrooms into Dutch Oven~

Saute fingerling potatoes in bacon grease for a bit, as well~

Add potatoes to Dutch Oven~

Make up beef broth, wine, and spices then pour over all~  COVER, and BAKE at 350 for 3 hours~ (put thawed peas in for last hour - 30 minutes of cooking.  The peas are so great in this!)

Remove the greatness out of oven!  Transfer roast to a platter~

Slice against the grain into slices the size you like!

Transfer meat back into Dutch oven, and stir to combine.  May want to taste sauce to adjust flavors, or add more beef broth if too thick!  YUM, YUM, YUM!  It's THAT good!

8 Strips of bacon
3-4 pound Chuck Roast~ lightly floured
1/2 stick butter, when needed as bacon grease is used up
1 pound whole mushrooms, cut in half if too big
1 1/2 pound baby carrots
about 10 fingerling potatoes~ cleaned

2 cups beef broth, plus more as needed

1 cup burgundy, or any red wine

1/4 cup Brandy or Irish whiskey

2-3  Bay Leaves

1 tsp thyme

1tsp Marjoram

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt- or to taste

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1 pound of petite peas~ added last hour

After assembled like above pics, cover Dutch Oven and place in a 350 degree oven for 3 hours!  You do NOT have to saute veggies in bacon grease before putting into Dutch Oven!  It just gives them a more caramelized taste if you should choose to go the extra mile!  Irish Blessings your way!! :)  ENJOY!!

CANDIED BACON!

My sleepy teen boys woke up late, wanting our 'Candied Bacon'!  We make that with the same sauce I made to glaze the Jalapeno Stuffed Chicken I posted on Friday.  It's so simple to make, and GREAT tasting!  You HAVE to try it!  The bacon tastes great on BLT's too!

Place THICK SLICED bacon down on cookie sheet~ then evenly, and heavily coat each piece with the sauce!  Top with fresh cracked pepper!

Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  Depending on how crisp you like your bacon!  I like mine crispy, so I do around 30 minutes.  Watch near the end as it can burn fast at this stage.  (bits of burnt still taste good!)

All finished, draining on paper towels!   Had to stop my boys and hubby from taking the last ones, so I could get a pic!


Sauce recipe~
1/2 cup maple syrup
3Tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar


You can cut that recipe in half for this recipe, though!  

Whole stuffed Jalapeno, Stuffed Chicken, Wrapped in Bacon!! Texas Weekday, WOW factor!

      OK, I was feeling like it's a weekend, even though it's only Thursday~  Wanted to make a special meal..... JUST because!  Mission accomplished!  Yes, it includes BACON!

  Whole Stuffed Jalapeno, STUFFED Bacon Wrapped Chicken!  (now, does that sound Texan, or WHAT??!!)    A RedheadWhite&Food original recipe!

Flatten chicken breasts, salt and pepper~

                              

Put shredded parmesan down, stuff the seeded jalapeno with chive and onion  cream cheese and place in center of chicken breast~

Wrap up best you can...it seems messy and like it will not close because the chicken is not big enough, which is  right, it's NOT big enough,  however, the bacon will come to the rescue and hold it together!  It actually looks great that some bits are sticking out!

Now, take your sauce you made up and carefully pick up each piece to coat the bottoms, then the tops~

All coated, and I will put cracked pepper over all, then bake!  375 for 35 minutes!

ALL BAKED UP!  Even threw in some extra sliced, stuffed jalapenos half way through cooking, because I COULD!  :)  (I'm all powerful like that!) 

LOOKS GOOD, DOESN'T IT?!!!

Recipe~

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts~ flattened a bit
6 whole, fresh Jalapenos~ tops cut off, sliced in half and seeded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese~ shredded
12 pieces of bacon
8 ounce tub of onion and chive cream cheese~ use as much as you need to stuff jalapenos


Sauce~
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 Tablespoons dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Combine all for sauce and coat over prepared chicken before you bake!  Follow directions from above! :)

GOT (Breast) MILK???

Of course most of you have seen or heard about the Time Magazine cover pic out today with a beautiful , young mom standing there while her 3, going on 4 year old son stands on a chair nursing as they both look at the camera all pretty. Hmmmmm~ this one gets me. I am ALL for breast feeding, but I do believe there is an age when it needs to be 'retired' for the KIDS sake! You hear about all the flack some parents get, simply for letting their 2 year old still have a pacifier, yet some ladies breast feed till their kids are 6-7 years old! I have to say, these moms have separation issues and can not let go. I've been at many photo shoots, and I can tell you that this boy couldn't have been nursing for all of the pictures taken. He had to have been told to 'latch on' to mom and 'look this way at the camera." How is this sweet boy going to feel in the future, when he is a teenager?? As the cover asks, 'Are You Mom Enough'~ well, are you mom enough to LET GO?? Just a thought, and something on my mind I wanted to share!

There is the above that troubles me, only because of age of the child, then there is the Obama NANNY state of elites, who are MULTI_MILLIONAIRES, if not BILLIONAIRES, telling  200Kers THEY are 'TOO rich', and should 'give' more!  (HOW, after they take HALF, and you still have taxes for local, state and everything else, are you supposedly 'RICH' after this, with kids to raise and a retirement to save for??)  200Kers are put in the SAME Tax bracket as billionaires!  (yet 50Kers are eligible for FOODSTAMPS under Obama!) Billionaires and millionaires ARE STILL  RICH, and FEEL rich,  after the government raises THEIR taxes...it IS the upper middle and middle class that are HIT HARD!   CRAZY!    

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Spring Football, Team Dinner night!!

Sauce simmering~

Flo Mo FOOTBALL offensive Line coming over for Team dinner tonight!  Need to get some CARBS into these guys!  Making up a BIG pot of my great Grandma's family recipe Mostaccioli~ it is not Italian, it is Irish-American, and is made with BACON!  These varsity big boys will be HUNGRY, so I am making a quadruple batch, with lots of 'flaky layer' biscuits!!  LOVE our O-line boys!!

Noodles cooking~

All mixed up~

READY for the Team!

Sorry, this is the only recipe I'm not posting on my blog.  All the rest I will!  This is a super easy, super great family recipe!   It's not an Italian sauce in flavor, at all!    It's made with a 'surprise' ingredient!  Maybe, some day I'll share! ;)  Wink, wink!

Hot Chicken Salad! EASY weekday meal, yet GREAT!

Football practice ends at 4:30, and boys will be coming home HUNGRY!  I'm going to make them Hot Chicken Salad for dinner.  (of course, I have to DOUBLE recipe!)  Easy to make, lots of protein, and they down it!!  Perfect weekday dinner!  :)


                                                   
                                    RedheadWhite&Food's Hot Chicken Salad!!


2 cups cooked chicken breast meat, shredded OR 1 cooked rotisserie chicken from your grocery store, shredded and deboned!  (that is my preferred way to make this!)
1 medium onion, minced
1 cup minced celery
1/2 can sliced water-chestnuts, rinsed well (optional)
1/2 cup slivered almonds- toasted
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup mayo
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
2/3 cup crushed potato chips
1/4 cup cooking sherry
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 pound thawed peas (optional)



Combine all ingredients in large bowl, except for cheese and potato chips.  Stir well.  Spray a 13x9 glass pan with Pam and then transfer chicken mixture into the glass pan.  Top with cheese, then potato chips.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until bubbly.  Tastes great served with a cold salad!

Mix all, but cheese and potato chips!

Transfer to glass cooking dish~

Top with cheese and potato chips, and BAKE!

READY TO DEVOUR!!  ;)

EASY~  YUMMY!!  :)

...the FUN continues!

Yea! Got off easy, and didn't have to make any meal after all! Dinner out with the fam tonight! CHILLIN'!! It's a Rockfish night! Boys loving the volcano shrimp!! :)

Sunday, FUN DAY!

Going to a 2:45 movie with all my guys!! The Avengers! Will have to make something quick for dinner tonight, instead of our more fancy Sunday Suppers! Hmmmm...thinking~

Scallop, Lime Ceviche and Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad!

WhoooHooo, it's Friday!!   Getting ready for a  night out on our boat!  Going to watch the Texas sun set, which is beautiful!  NO teen boys allowed!  Just my hubby and some friends~ going more fancy with the 'boat food' tonight.  Picking up some sushi, and made up some scallop ceviche.  Watched Barefoot Contessa yesterday and got inspired to make her roasted tomato caprese salad, so made that too!  I love the roasted tomatoes, BUT I snuck a taste, and next time I will make it with less sugar on the roasted tomatoes than she says to use.  I will correct this in the recipe I write down for y'all!  The scallop ceviche is great tasting and so easy!

                                           Scallop Ceviche~


1 pound sea scallops, cut into 6-8 pieces each
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup orange juice
20-25 cherry tomatoes sliced into pieces
3/4 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
1 small red onion, minced
5 freshly cut pineapple squares, chopped into bits
1 serrano pepper, minced
2 tsps sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste


Mix all the above and marinate in bowl in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  Can marinate for up to 16 hours.  Enjoy!!


Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad~ (Barefoot Contessa, BUT my pics!  :)

Tomatoes, seasoned and ready to go into the oven!

all cooked up~

All nicely plated! 

12 plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise and seeded, but keeping core (I used Roma tomatoes)
High quality mozzarella cheese ball, cut into slices (16 oz.)
12 Fresh basil leaves, rolled and cut into strips
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
2 tsp sugar (I would only use 1tsp, as I thought they were a bit too sweet using 2)
Kosher salt and pepper

Take your seeded tomatoes and put them on a cookie sheet, and sprinkle them all with the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper.  Roast them in a 275 degree oven for 2 hours.  Take them out of oven, and let sit to cool.  When cooled down, plate by pitting mozzarella slices between tomato slices.  If mozzarella pieces are too big, cut in half.  Top with julienned basil and sprinkle with a bit more olive oil.  Enjoy Ina's creation!  So Great for summer!!