BBQ Plate (pulled pork)

Yesterday was BBQ Pulled Pork, Coleslaw, Potato Chips, and a Chocolate Chip Cookie! Apple sauce instead of coleslaw for the younger kids.

Little Valley Academy

Valley Fellowship Christian Academy K5-12TH Grade

Slow cooked, pulled pork video I posted awhile back explaining how to do it:

BBQ Chicken Sandwich, Baked Beans, Potato Chips

I am going to try my best to start taking pictures of each meal served here at Valley Fellowship Christian Academy and Little Valley Academy! For those of you who are local and have connections to our school please spread/pass this around to parents and kids. This will give parents an idea of what is being prepared, how its done, and what the presentation looks like. Hopefully providing some positive feedback and encouraging more parents to order our meals for their students!

LVA (K1-K4): For Little Valley Academy we prepared Lays Potato Chips, Baked Beans, and the little version of a BBQ Chicken Sandwich (which is two chicken tenders on a bun with BBQ sauce on the side). * A lot of the little kids frown on grilled (or other forms of) chicken so we stick with the tenders. 

K5-2ND Grade: As the grade get higher and the kids get bigger we increase the amount of baked beans and graduate them to a grilled chicken sandwich where it has been lightly based with a BBQ sauce at the end of cooking. In addition we add a BBQ sauce condiment cup for them to "control" the sauce.

3-6th Grade and High School: Not much difference between 3-6th and High School except the portions. More chicken on the sandwich, more baked beans in the bowl! Both sets of these grades get a Tomato & Lettuce Set-Up (that's what we call it).

Some days you may see me at the grill smoking up the outside parking lot...sorry if I smoked you out, but know that I am preparing and cooking to make your child's lunch delicious and this is just one way of doing it!

Fourth Day Lunch Menu

Pulled pork BBQ sandwich, coleslaw, and oven-fried tators. (or, potatoes if I must)

I didn't have a commercial smoker to pull off this feat. But about 15 hours in the oven at 200F was enough to break these Boston Butts down to fall apart, melt in your mouth, fatty goodness! You can still achieve a good 'smoke' taste by applying certain spices and herbs BUT NO, do not use liquid smoke! A lot of times that will make the products taste acrid and the meat ends up tasting like a fake smoke. But I am not going to give up all my 'tricks' and techniques in one posting!

Now I will stop the lunch menu count...I feel the first week kickoff was a success. I will leave you with a few pictures my friend P Dub took on day four. I think I might use the pulled pork picture to use as wallpaper on my iphone!

Hope you enjoy your weekend!

TX Smokehouse BBQ...in San Jose, CA?

I have tasted some BBQ here & there, of this and that...and it really just seems people want to cook meat any old kind of way and put some BBQ sauce on it, then call it BBQ.

At the Texas Smokehouse BBQ, it tasted like a real BBQ, which means the meat is cooked a certain way (at least to me, and I am from the South) and it's got to have an element of smoke or outdoor grill to it!

Here there is no valet parking, servers/waiters, reserved seating, or pretentiousness.

Nope, 2 parking spaces, 3 tables, and a fan outside to keep the 'smoke' from filling up the main restaurant area through the screen door.  Just the type 'Hole-n-Wall' place I love to check out.

Being in California this Texas BBQ place reminds me of back home...in Alabama.  So until I make it back home to visit in 'Sweet Home Alabama' I'll be stopping by to order, or call ahead to pick up my BBQ from here & any of the 'Down Home' style sides (that is, unless I am having/cooking my own BBQ).

You order you pay at the register, they are polite, and you WAIT if someone calls in order...they can only do so many things at once.  AND YES you are going to smell like smoke/a smoker if you are there for a while eating or waiting for your food.

Here is all the information and a copy of the menu: Texas Smokehouse BBQ

Comment and/or write about your favorite BBQ place, or let me know of another good one in the San Jose area.  I'll go check it out!

Thanks to Rudy R. for the photo!