Clay's Whole Grilled Beer Can Chicken!

One of my triplet sons, Clay,  has taken a liking to grilling and is getting really good at it!  He told me this afternoon he'd make dinner tonight!  Wooooo hoooo!!!!!  LOVIN' IT!  He told me he is going to grill up 'Beer Can Chicken'!  (he doesn't drink the beer, the chicken does, as it cooks! The beer steams and flavors it from the inside!)  Clay actually went shopping for the food, and seasonings...we had the beer!  It turned out AWESOME!!  We all loved it, and Clay said it was really easy!  Music to my ears!!  Easy, and great tasting=WINNER!!

Whole Grilled Beer Can Chicken!

You can use any seasonings that you like, or prefer~

Clay used 2 Tbsp of Char Crust seasoning (new to us, this was Hickory and Molasses flavor...we liked it), 1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp Slap Ya Mama (white Pepper Blend)~ he put these all together in small bowl, mixed it up, then rubbed it all over chickens

These chicken were 5 1/2 pound birds~

All you'll need, except a pan to put them in, that can go onto grill~ Clay made up 2 chickens for this BIG family of ours! :)

Open the can of beer using a can opener~

Cans with tops removed, 1/3 of beer poured out or drank up...we gave our beer to my hubby in an ice cold mug!   He liked it! Ha! Cans are just waiting on the chickens to be put onto them!

All seasoned up, and standing on beer cans...put it like a tri-pod.   Clay made sure to push the chicken all the way down the beer can, so 'butt' was sitting on pan! 

Looks like the chicken on the left is already drunk!  LOL!  :)   Now, spray chicken, all over, with Pam!

Clay carrying out the 'drunk' birds!   Be careful, they can 'tipsy' over! :0

Put onto a grill (ours is gas, with 3 burners)  after you have first heated up grill to high, then turn off middle burner, leaving only the 2 on the sides on, and lower those two burners to med, med-high heat.  Put birds onto grill in the middle area, that has the  burner off.  Needs to cook on indirect heat~ Grill for 50 minutes to 1 hour with lid closed.  Clay did 1 hour for 5 1/2 pound birds.

Waving, HI!  Saying, "I'm perfectly 'Charred' and ready!!"  Pull chicken off grill, remove beer cans and discard- careful not to burn yourself on hot cans,  and put chicken onto a platter.  Tent with aluminum foil.  Let sit 5 to 10 minutes before you cut into it to serve.

Take pan drippings and put onto stove top on medium heat, if you'd like to make a gravy. We are gravy freaks, so Clay was not going to blow this part off!!  Remove some of the grease, and add milk and wondra powder, bits at a time, while whisking.  

 Whisk it all up til you have the right consistency~ play with it, til it is to your liking.  Add salt to taste!  The gravy from this ended up tasting wonderful!!

The Beer Can Chicken was moist and juicy, and the flavor of the skin was very good!   I'd have to say, I'd give Clay an A!  We'll be making him grill these guys up more often!!  We were all SPOILED!!  Thanks, Clay!!  I love and adore you!! He's going to become a Texas Grill Master!!  I can see the future, now! :)

Asian Chicken Skewers!!

Can't get more 'summery' feeling then grilling chicken skewers outside by the pool!  They are a bit spicy, yet nice and sweet! These are easy, and so very yummy! I serve them with Knorr's curried rice you can buy at the grocery store and with a cold, crisp salad!  Simple, weekday, throw together meal!

Almost done!

Asian Chicken Skewers!
About 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs~ cut into 1 1/2 -2 inch pieces
6 oz mild sweet chili sauce
1 Tbsp ponzu sauce, sold in Asian aisle in grocery store (or substitute 1 tsp soy sauce)
2 tsp fish sauce, sold in Asian aisle
1Tbsp Red Curry Paste
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Skewers, metal or wooded (if wooden, soak first for 30 minutes before you skewer the chicken)

Marinate the cut up chicken pieces in the stirred up sauce in a large bowl, or large zip lock bag for about 15 minutes, then skewer the chicken, sometimes folding up pieces. Put as many pieces as you'd like on the skewers, close, but not too pushed together. Take marinade and put into saucepan and bring it to a boil. Put skewers on an oiled grill at medium heat.  Grill them for about 7-10 minutes, turning them, and basting with the marinade you just boiled up.  I had a lot of chicken pieces on these skewers, so I cooked them about 10-11 minutes with grill lid open, then 2 more minutes with grill lid shut.  That worked out well!  Take them off grill, and put onto platter, and tent with aluminum foil for about 4 minutes, then serve!  Really easy!

Bacon Wrapped, Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Jalapeno Cream Cheese!

Trying to spice things up a bit, and put a fun twist on a pork tenderloin!  I usually grill them, but wanted to try and bake one up, after stuffing it, then wrapping it all up in bacon!!  It was fun to make with my boys~ they were very helpful, handing me the bacon pieces so I could wrap the tenderloins faster!  This was EASY, EASY, but everyone thought it was some fancy, hard to make dish I had slaved over!  NOPE! It was FANTASTIC tasting, however!! :)

2 or more 1 1/2-2 pound pork tenderloins (if you do more than 2, remember to get more ingredients)
8 oz. Tub of Chive and Onion Cream Cheese~ (use as much as you'd like, a tub is more than enough for 2 tenderloins)
1 jalapeno, seeded, cut in pieces (1/2 a jalapeno for each tenderloin)
About 8 pieces of bacon, per pork tenderloin
Slap Ya Mama, cajun seasoning~ white pepper blend
black pepper and a bit of salt
Sugar~ about 1/2 a tsp, so 1/4 tsp per tenderloin

Can make this with a pork loin, as well! Details about that at the bottom! :) 

Season tenderloin with a bit of salt and pepper, and cajun seasoning~ Cut pocket into pork tenderloin, lengthwise.  Make sure not to cut all the way through, but pretty deep, so you can get lots of cream cheese and jalapenos in there!!

Wrap up tenderloin in bacon, but be sure that the ends of the bacon come together near the bottom of the tenderloin, not the top, so when they bake, they don't pull away from tenderloin! Top the bacon wrapped tenderloin with a bunch of the Slap Ya Mama cajun seasoning, and sugar!

Put into glass pan (cream cheese pocket side up), and bake for 45 minutes, to an hour at 375. (Internal temp. should be 160)

Ooooo~ looks so nice!  After you take tenderloins out of oven, tent them with tin foil, and let sit 5-10 minutes.  After that time, place them on a platter, and cut them into pieces~ the cream cheese inside, with the jalapeno is divine!!  This is a great recipe~ I'll be making it, often, because my boys loved them, and so did I!! :)

Tried this recipe with a 3-4 pound pork loin roast, and it came out GREAT, as well!!!  Just make a slit down the center, lengthwise, about 3/4 of a way down  roast but not cut all the way through.  Added a whole tub of the onion and chive cream cheese, 2 seeded, sliced jalapenos, then made the same way with the bacon wrapping around it, coming together at bottom of roast. Seasoned it up just the same.  Baked at 375 for 1 hour 20 minutes.  Was so juicy and yummy!!! 

LOOKS GOOD, doesn't it??!!  :)  Another great option to add to your repertoire!! 

TEXAS Shrimp Dip~

My, oh my~ Great stuff!! 

This is the PERFECT Texas Summer, 'poolside' dip for parties!!  Nice and CHILLED, but spicy!!  SOoooo easy to make, and so very yummy!! This is another recipe I make where people always ask for the recipe!!  Sometimes my teen boys ask for THIS for dinner, and nothing else!  Dip for dinner, poolside, while we all chill, and talk!  Can't get much better than that!!  (OK~ it's not JUST 'perfect' for Texas folk, but any backyard party!! I promise~ you'll love it! :)

Texas Shrimp Dip

2 pounds frozen, cooked, peeled salad shrimp- thawed and picked through

12 Oz. bottle Red Devil Hot Sauce- or any other Louisiana hot sauce

1 small red onion, diced very small (almost minced)

2 large ripe tomatoes, diced into smaller pieces

1/2-3/4 bunch of cilantro, minced

The juice of 1 large lime

4 ripe avocados, cut into nickel size chunks

3 Tbsp of sugar~ YES, 3 Tbsp with a capital T!

After you thaw shrimp, put them into bowl with  all other ingredients, except for the avocado! 

Stir well, and chill in fridge for 30 minutes, if you have time.  When ready to serve, cut avocados up, and stir into shrimp dip!  Careful not to smash avocados~ 

This is big enough for a nice size crowd, so sometimes, when it's a smaller get together, we keep half of the dip chilling at home, and only serve the other half with only 2 avocados tossed in.  We eat the rest the next day, adding the other 2 fresh avocados in when ready to eat!!  We serve this awesome dip with Tostitos Hint of Lime Chips!  It's AWESOME!  A marriage made in dip heaven!! :)