I'm PACKIN' and it's LOADED!

I pack my boys lunches for several reasons but mainly because they eat a lot! And they love a variety of things. This topic comes up a lot with other friends of mine both parent and non parent when chatting socially on twitter or Facebook.

[ You can catch me on twitter @tyronebcookin or Instagram @tyronebcookn. Without the "i".]

My boys lunches have a lot of small portions and they are based off things we know they will eat. In the pictures/diagrams listed in this post it doesn't say but the apple sauce is no sugar added, the peanut butter granola bar and mini pumpkin muffins are home made(made by my wife, she also is an excellent cook). The fruit snacks are all natural with no corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. Sometimes we even make the apple sauce when we get a good price on some tasty apples. 

Most of our food is purchased through Aldi's which is the parent company for Trader Joes (which is not in our area yet) and we recognize a lot of the food as the same products and quality. 

We interchange the food components as stuff goes on sale or is available. On the weekends I usually make big batches of waffles and pancakes that we eat then freeze for use all during the week. Lunch meat can be changed, restaurant take home and supper leftovers can be used...sometimes we just throw a couple of pieces of pepperoni pizza in there!

Tytus' Lunch - 3 1/2 years old:

Ezra's Lunch - 15 months old:

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.

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.