Soaking wood chips for smoker

Quick tip: A long time ago I figured out it was easier to soak all your wood chips, pieces, and/or small blocks of wood all at one time. Then you strain them with a colander and freeze them in a ziplock bag for the future. Why? Because most instructions on smoking with these size wood pieces tell you to pre-soak them up to an hour or more! And who wants to suddenly be slowed down by this last minute realization? No one ever!

My Thoughts on Wine

Not everyone has a taste for wine and even if they did, not everyone partakes in drinking. Nor should they just for the sake of appearing "cultured". But as a person steeped in the personal and professional development of a culinary education I have been called on to pick wines and/or pair them with food.

In the past I have been asked about my favorite wines for drinking, pairing, cooking, and how to tell the best! Repeatedly I would say "the wines YOU like the most!" because taste is subjective with wine as well as food and the pairing of both. 

Do you remember Two Buck Chuck? Sold only at Trader Joes? Those cheap wines that a lot of people just loved and raved about? According to The House of Mondavi it was surplus wine bought by the barrels at a discount from the Mondavi winery back in the day! The funny part is Robert Mondavi made fun of the guy but didn't realize the wine came from the over abundant harvest of his own grapes!

On a wine tasting tour in Napa Valley I partook in a class that was part of the tour experience at the Mondavi wineries. There is a technique, science, and steps to really "taste" a wine BUT the outcome of that experience is purely yours and not a "review" that everyone has to accept just because someone published it.

Robert Hodgson, a winemaker from California, conducted an eight year experiment at the California State Fair’s wine competition. Hodgson had this to say about the results..."The results are disturbing. Only about 10% of judges are consistent and those judges who were consistent one year were ordinary the next year. Chance has a great deal to do with the awards that wines win." ~ Wine-tasting: its junk science  

If your just looking to cook with wine, take the advice of your friends favorites or the flavor notes on the back of the bottle. Please don't use or buy "cooking wine" because they have salt in them and it will make it hard for you to balance the taste when you can't control the salt in the wine.

Leave wine snobbery to the "experts" if your just looking for a "take home" bottle suite your own tastes! If you want to wine taste and/or food pair wine, do what the experts do, "SPIT!". Wine tasting and/or judging was not developed for you to swallow every sample...but to narrow it down to the best! And then maybe enjoy a glass with dinner or special occasion.

by madelinep.
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Grilling with Cooling Racks

Here's a quick tip about grilling vegetables, small pieces of meat, fish, and anything you are afraid will fall thru the grill 'grates' or cracks. Use a cooling rack.

I like to grill thick slices of red onion rubbed with garlic, salted, and coated with olive oil. But if you ever have a problem flipping them...they fall thru the cracks easily. Small pieces of marinated salmon is another grilled item I like because not everyone wants a whole filet or they want 'just a taste'. And of course, another great grill item is hot-dogs.

You can buy some fancy special made high price 'gadgets' to use on your grill for these things or maybe you just need to order one or two cooling racks for around $15 to $20? (and sometimes you can find a 2 pack of nonstick cooling racks for around $10 at Walmart or Target).

My hot-dogs always come out great and they don't run away or get burnt! Unless of course, you leave them unattended for a long time as with anything over a fire.

**UPDATE - I bought two non-stick racks at the Jeff Road Kroger grocery store last week for $7.99 on sale. August 2020**

Small Bits

If your in the Huntsville Alabama area my church, Valley Fellowship, is having a picnic this Sunday and everyone is welcome! Service starts at 10am and the picnic is immediately afterword. 3616 Holmes Avenue NW, 35816. It's like potluck but we make sure enough meat is available: pulled pork, burgers, hotdogs...

I received my second 99 score from the health department! They just can't give me that last point! LOL! So far we have stayed 95 and above. I am NOT complaining!

Here's a picture of the small kids (preschool) lunch below. It's an Italian flat-bread sandwich with salami, pepperoni, ham, herb infuse extra virgin olive oil, and I bake the bread myself...But really it's probably the chips and cookie that sells it! We put it in a small to-go container because they feed them in the class room instead of trying to get them all in the cafeteria. Smart thinking. 

Pizza, Aluminum Foil, and Parchment Paper

*UPDATE: I went back to parchment paper. 2 reasons: 1, because it is more forgiving than foil, and 2, because I now own a pizza steel as well! And its cool!

I am not going to revisit how I do pizza at home, but you can find all the posts that are involved here: Pizza. Rather, how I might switch over to foil from parchment paper.

Last Saturday night I was out of parchment paper, so I did the next best thing I could think of...foil? For years I used parchment paper for sliding my pizzas from the peel to the stone but now I think I might be switching to foil.

My original concern was that the dough would stick to the foil, but after several pizzas and breadsticks Saturday night I realized that was not the case. 

The whole reason I use parchment paper in the first place is because the heat from the stone goes straight thru (unlike a pan) and because (besides the dough) I use a no-mess no-flour *technique and the parchment lets the prepared pizza dough slide from peel to stone with no semolina, flour, or cornmeal. 

After using the foil shiny side up and spraying with cooking spray before putting the dough on it, the pizza crust came out of the oven even better than before and I could pull the foil out from under (like the magic trick where you quickly swipe a table cloth out from under dishes on the table without breaking them) the pizza and quickly cut the pizza still on the peel before sliding it off on a rack. 

* As stated in other posts, I wait till the dough has rested enough to use my hands or a rolling pin to shape the dough using just (non stick) cooking spray. It avoids hard rolling with a rolling pin and using lots of flour. No mess, no fuss. 

Oven Potatoes or Hash Browns?

Really the 'hash browns' I am talking about are the kind you get at chick-fil-a. Round and flatter than a tator-tot these hash browns complete a breakfast plate we offer for lunch at VFCA. The picture is an elementary grade plate of scrambled eggs, hash browns, biscuit, and sausage gravy!

Today I decided to use real potatoes to do some oven 'fried' potatoes to go with breakfast for lunch. I have some tough critics! They wanted the processed hash browns more than the potatoes! I said, 'Look, these are REAL potatoes!'. Unfortunately they were not impressed...Sigh.

It reminds me of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution where the kids could not identify a real potato but they knew a crinkle cut fry was a 'potato'.

Marshmallow Crispy Rice Treats

I wanted to make crispy rice treats using up some odd and end pantry supplies but I had things to do! So I was thinking...how can I get these treats made without having to keep a steady eye on them?

Why not use the chafing dish warmer on high? Melt a little butter, add the marshmallows, slowly stir into a smooth creamy mess of melted marshmallow and then add the crispies...since the warmer works like a double boiler or baine-marie the temperature is around  boiling or 212* Fahrenheit.  I even put a lid on the pan and when I got busy an came back to it later. 

I used a standard recipe x2 which yielded a half-sheet pan of crispy treats. 

6Tb of butter (3oz)

20oz of small marshmallows (two 10oz bags from grocery store - about 4 cups)

12 Cups of crispy rice cereal (3 quarts)

Melt the butter down, add marshmallows, melt/stir till smooth (you can take your time on this part), fold in crispy rice cereal, use non-stick food spray to cover half-sheet pan and then smash down mixture to fill in the shape of the pan. Probably will also need to spray hands to keep mixture from sticking to them. If needed, spray the bottom of another pan and put on top to smash down evenly. 

Tytus 1st movie @ theater!

I took Tytus to see the movie "Planes" by Disney. Along the same lines as "Cars" which he loved!

I was still surprised at how many previews ran before the movie! (5 or 6) Next time I think I would show up about 10 or 15 minutes past starting time and it would be about right.

Tytus is 3 and he did well! There was a point in the movie where I thought he was not going to make it but then the excitement of the race towards the finish captured his attention once more and reeled him in till the end!

Bring something to drink and plenty of snacks if your child eats like mine! And a small jacket or long sleeve shirt, the theater gets cold for small kids and old people! (Yes, I brought a hoodie) LOL I brought a small backpack to store all the 'possibilities'. Coats, snacks, pull-up, water...

Oh, by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and had an excellent time just father and son!

* Tip - sit far enough back so your child can see everything on the screen without hurting his neck or making him dizzy trying to keep up with the action. 

Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil?

Now available at our local Sam's Club! Hmmm, it's interesting the things they decide to carry. This is used as a substitute to butter, a moisturizer, and it makes an incredible soap (mixed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil)!

Strawberries & Peanut Butter Granola

Found a new flavor combo I like! Yeah, yeah, I know some of you out there will probably say "that ain't new!". LOL!

Those of you who may not know, my wife can hold her own when it comes to cooking. And her specialties are usually along the dessert line. She also makes a chewy peanut butter granola that's pretty brilliant! She toasts the oats In the oven then uses honey (local is probably best), natural peanut butter (and perhaps a smidgen of butter) pinch of salt, and brings it to boil on the stove top then mixes in the toasted oats...ah yeah, that's delicious. I may have left out an ingredient or step, but you get the gist. 

Tonight after dinner I was thinking about something sweet and knew we had strawberries because the boys eat them like candy. I put a little bit of that peanut butter granola on top and right away after tasting it I knew it was going to be a favorite of mine. 

Now I am just thinking about how to incorporate them together like a one bite dessert/snack. Maybe chocolate dipped?

Watermelon Fun!

Super Cool presentation idea! ~ I'll use this one!

Cute Cars

Good idea. Teddy Graham cars made with small candy bars, M&Ms, Teddy Graham's, and a little melted chocolate.

Chafing Dishes

I need about four of these for both school and church events. My electric ones keep blowing the circuit everywhere, EXCEPT in kitchen. 

Pros- indoor/outdoor. Position anywhere. 

Cons- storing them. Fuel/sterno use...potential hazard because of 'fire'. 

Pros outweigh the Cons. Budget for them. Cost saving purchase.