The Adams & Myers Visit Almost Heaven South

We had met Betsy (Joyful Reflections) and George a couple of years ago while RVing in Crossville and of course the Myers are good friends so when Betsy expressed interest in meeting Dave (Big Daddy Dave), we invited both over for an afternoon on the dock.  Betsy agreed to be the official get-together photographer and blogger so I will only post about the food and her post will be up on 9/1 so please drop by her place.  The previous day, I had smoked some ABT’s for our wine group and decided I’d also smoke up some ribs for the dock meal and the menu was:

Appetizer - ABT’s  (stuffed jalapenos)

Main course – Ribs, pulled pork, slaw, chipotle baked beans, buns

Dessert - Tres Leches Cake, provided by the Myers

For the ABT’s, I used my normal recipe, which I doubled for the two events, and added 1½ pound of smoked pork in place of the little sausages that normally go on top to get this recipe:

25-30 Jalapeno peppers (3”-4”), halved and seeded

2 pack of cream cheese, softened

2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 T. finely diced onion

1 tsp your favorite rub

2 tbsp mustard

2 tbsp mayo

2 tbsp BBQ sauce 

1½ lb. pulled pork, chopped

50-60 slices of bacon, room temperature (larger peppers will use an entire slice of bacon)

1. Mix cheeses, garlic, onion, rub, mustard, mayo and BBQ sauce together and incorporate well.

2. Mix in the pork and combine well.

3. Fill each pepper half with mixture.

4. Wrap the bacon around the pepper, trying to cover as much of the pepper as you can.

Use a tooth pick to hold bacon in place.  I tried using a half slice on the smaller ones, but it wasn't quite enough to cover them well.

5. Cook in the smoker on a sheet of foil for about 45 minutes to 1 hour at about 250 degrees till bacon is crisp. (may take 1½ hr. to crisp bacon).  No finished shot but here is one from a previous post.

I decided to try cooking the second batch of ABT’s on the grill using a sheet pan but, as expected, the grill was too hot for them and some of the cheese ran out, but they were still good.

I just served the ribs from the foil in which they were reheated as they were falling off the bone tender – just like Bev (and most folks) like them.

I used a double boiler to reheat the pulled pork and Bev made some of her good slaw to go with it.

For the beans we used the recipe from Kathy at A Spoonful Of Thyme as the name really caught my attention when I read it as I like all thing chipotle - please pop over to her blog for the bean recipe.

I thought all of the food was very good, but a caution about the beans – don’t add the cayenne until they have cooked for a while and you have tasted for the heat level as they might be a bit spicy for some folks.

While the meat and beans were a hit, the star of this meal was the extra Chipotle BBQ Sauce (from the beans) that we served on the side for the meat – we thought it was outstanding and the remainder of the can of chipotles was turned into it the next day.  Here is Kathy's recipe for it:

Chipotle BBQ Sauce - Yield:  3 cups

Half of a 7-ounce can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

2 cups sweet, mild barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp molasses

1. Place the chipotles and half of the sauce in a blender or food processor.  Puree until smooth. 

 2. Add the remaining ingredients and puree, again, until smooth.  Using a fine-mesh strainer, strain the mixture to remove all of the seeds.  Pour the sauce into a jar and set aside until ready to use.  (I just left the seeds in as I like that look)

Thanks Kathy for both recipes and your delicious contribution to our fun afternoon.

After a brief rest, we enjoyed the moist, light, and delicious dessert, which I had never had before.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/24/14 event date

Our Birds

We have been feeding the birds for many years, but due to our planned travels this year, we didn’t want them to become feeder dependent then quit feeding them.  As it turned out, the travel plans got cancelled so we decided to begin feeding them again.  I’ve always been in awe of the variety of birds visiting Betsy’s feeders (Joyful Reflections), so I ask her to send me some shots of her feeding area then we had a couple of conversations about the details.

Before getting into the songbirds, I’d like to tell you about our Hummers – I believe Bev has four feeders for them and one is on the bedroom deck and visible from the living room.  This is the window we look through with the feeder on the left side of the middle window and it’s fun to watch them fly right up to the window if they arrive in spring to no feeder or if it runs out of food, as it did last week.

During a recent visit from Betsy and George, they gave me some instruction on how they set their cameras for various shots and I shot these from inside the bedroom using my long lens, a tripod, and the Av camera setting (5.6) which provide a 1/320 shutter speed.  They definitely turned out better than my normal shots.

Now for the songbirds feeding station, which we’ve located in the new landscaping next to the patio and visible from the kitchen window.  The area contains one of the hummer feeders, a birdbath and four hanging feeders – two with sunflower seeds, one with thistle, one with meal worms, and two suet feeders.

After this shot, I moved the meal worm and thistle feeders to various places around the yard as I need to slowly lure the bluebirds and gold finches around to where the new feeders are located.

Thanks Betsy and George for the camera and feeding advice.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/25/14 event date

A Little Time With Roz – Italian Cheesy Tomato Pie with Buttermilk Biscuit Crust

As soon as I saw Roz’s post on this with the yummy photo and advising that she had won a competition in Charleston, SC with it, I knew it had to be tried – especially since we love tomato pie – please pop over to La Belle Vita Cucinafor the recipe and nice how-to photos.  We made it per her recipe, except we used a 12” dish to cook it in and since it was larger and my tomatoes were perhaps a little thicker, it took longer to get everything bubbly.

This is it hot out of the oven and resting.

Since we could not get out a clean piece, I waited until the next day and cut this piece cold then reheated to have this for breakfast – way better than Wheaties for a champions breakfast. 

I loved it both times and can only say if you plan to eat only one tomato dish this summer, this is the one I recommend.  The crust was so flavorful, we plan to try it as biscuits and when I threw away the paper recipe, Bev retrieved it and stuck it in her recipe drawer, commenting she may want to make it again soon.  As for the leftovers, it tasted about the same but as expected the bottom crust was moist but not soggy.  Thanks Roz for great meal number two and I’m looking forward to the next three or four.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/21/14 meal date

Our First Stromboli

When we made the Pizza Margherita yesterday, we had an extra ball of pizza dough that needed using and decided to make our first ever Stromboli.  Even though this is “Time With Roz”, I couldn’t find a Stromboli recipe on her site but the dough needed to be used.  At least it's Italian and includes tomatoes in the sauce.

I looked around the net and opted for an Emeril Lagasse recipe then adapted it for our dough amount and some things we had on hand to add to it – his recipe is for two Stromboli while the one below is for one that is a little larger than his.

Ingredients:

1/3 pound hot Italian sausage, removed from casings and crumbled

3/4 cup diced yellow onions

3/4 cup diced yellow bell peppers

2 tablespoons diced, seeded, and stemmed jalapenos

10 cremini mushrooms, halved and sliced

6 oz. marinated artichoke hearts, drained and rough chop

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Sliced ham to cover the dough

Sliced provolone to cover the ham

1/2 cup sliced black olives

1/4 pound diced pepperoni

Italian 5 cheese blend to cover the toppings (this is what we had on hand)

1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water to make an egg wash

3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat until browned and the fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well on paper towels. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan.

3. Add the onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and jalapenos and cook, stirring, until very soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cool.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a large rectangle, about 12 by 14 inches.  

5. Add a layer of ham, overlapping the edges slightly and leaving a 1” border then top with a layer of provolone.  

6. Spread the cooled sausage, onion mixture, pepperoni, artichokes, olives, and cheese blend over the top. (As we often do, we had a little too much topping but managed to get it all inside by doing a little dough stretching).

We had a heck of a time rolling out the dough as it kept springing back, so we stretched out the front two corners to a rectangle to start rolling then did the same on the other side to finish it.

7. Using a pastry brush, paint the border of all but one long edge with egg wash. Starting at the side without egg wash, roll up the dough into a cylinder, pinching the edges to seal.

8. Place on the prepared baking sheet and brush the Stromboli with egg wash.

9. Bake until nearly completely golden brown and starting to crisp, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle the Stromboli with Parmesan cheese and return to the oven until the cheese is melted and the dough is golden brown, about 5 minutes.

10. Remove from the oven and let stand 5 minutes. Slice thickly and serve with pizza sauce.

We both thought it was very good, especially for a first try.  It seems that Stromboli is basically a rolled up pizza and while it was delicious, we both prefer a pizza so this may be our last one – but I’m glad we made it.  

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/19/14 meal date

A Little Time With Roz – Pizza Margherita

As I’ve said before, I don’t read recipe books and use very few (although Bev will on occasion), as I prefer to let you who love them do the reading, make the meal, and post the recipe on your blog along with your comments and improvements.

We like both tomatoes and Italian food and this summer, Roz from La Bella VitaCucina has been posting some dishes we wanted to try, so I decided to just devote a week or so to them - first up is Pizza Margherita.

We made the recipe as she posted it, with a few deviations, and rather than recopy it here, you can click on the link above for the recipe and some hunger inducing photos.  This was a joint effort between Bev and I, where she handled the crust and I did the topping.

Now for the deviations.

1. We used Publix made-in-store pizza dough

2. We made a pizza sauce using The Best Pizza Sauce Ever recipe and really liked it as it was, so we omitted Roz’s sauce amendments.  This will now be our go-to pizza sauce.  

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

1 T butter

½ C onion, chopped

¼ C celery, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

8 oz. tomato sauce

6 oz. tomato paste

2 T grated parmesan cheese

1 t basil, dried

1 t oregano, dried

½ t salt

½ t sugar

¼ t black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 t fennel seed

Instructions:

       Melt butter and heat olive oil in a large pot over med heat.  
Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute until soft

             Remove to blender and puree until smooth then return back to the pot
Add in tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir
Add the rest of the ingredients and allow it to simmer on lower heat for 30 to 60 minutes
Remove the bay leaf before using on your pizza

      3.  I ran the sauce and toppings out to the crust edge rather than leaving a 1” edge - just because it never made since to me to do it that way.

4.  I adjusted the baking to suit our oven (I thought), using convection/bake and this was a mistake as the pie ended up spending too much time in the oven getting the crust bottom done – next time, I’ll do what Roz tells me.

Here are some shots but check Roz's site for some good ones.

I thought the pizza was outstanding and would make it again in a heart-beat – the dark sauce on the edges (due to the long oven time) tasted fine, as did the very dark basil (but both kept it from being pretty).  If you are looking for a Pizza Margherita recipe, this one is hard to beat – thanks Roz for a fine supper.

Tune back in for the another offering during Roz week or so.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/18/14 meal date

Fish On The Grill Ala George

I follow several RV blogs, mostly full timers, and one I read daily is Our Awesome Travels which follows the journeys of George and Suzie, a full time Canadian couple who split their time between Canada and the USA.  George writes about their travels and his daily dinner creation (he was a restaurateur), which is nearly always cooked on a Weber Q – I once commented that he could be the poster boy for this grill.

He frequently cooks fish using an easy method for the grill by making a foil pan, seasoning the fish, topping with lemon slices and cooking with the lid closed (I assume) - I don’t know if he cooks over direct or indirect heat.

I wasn’t sure how it would work with this method but it’s a mild white fish and we were having a southern meal, so I used catfish – hey this is the South you know and I’m making a major departure by not frying it.

I decided to do a little taste test while I was at it and cooked four different filets – two spread with soft butter and two without and one of each with a different spice – toothpicks and whole or halved lemon slices tell me which is which.  Ready for the grill.

Since this was a southern meal, we also had fried okra and fried corn – thereby offsetting any health benefits of the non-fried fish.

I cooked them over indirect heat to an internal temperature of 140*.

I tasted a bite of all four but couldn’t pick a clear winner and I liked them all, telling me I don’t need to add butter in the future.  Bev had a preference and it was the one that had gotten a heavier coat of spice than I had intended – another lesson learned.  I will definitely use this method again and while they were not as good as fried catfish (is anything?), they were still very good and way healthier.  Thanks George for the inspiration and the technique.

Oh, and did I mention that Bev turned the last of our blueberries and some peaches into a pie that went down awfully easy with a scoop of Bluebell peach and vanilla ice cream.  So if the corn and okra didn't blow the diet, this sure did.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/15/14 meal date

Seafood For The Roden’s

In addition to the fried potatoes, the Roden’s also requested seafood while they were here – their dad is a meat and taters Texan who doesn’t eat anything that swims so they don’t do much seafood at home.  For this meal, I decided to kill two birds with one stone by allowing budding griller, Lauren, to expand her repertoire beyond beef and help me cook the seafood.

The menu was to be shrimp, king crab legs, and scallops all cooked on the grill, plus another batch of the fried potatoes.  We decided to make this an event meal over a period of time and began it with some lobster bisque that we had bought at the Palm Beach Gardens, FL Green Market back in January and frozen - it was still very good.

We followed this with king crab legs heated on the grill and then Lauren and cousin, Riley, cooked the scallops and shrimp.  I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the things I’ve learned about grilling seafood is that butter is a key ingredient and in this case, garlic butter – made with garlic powder.  Riley started the scallops and got a hug from Aunt Kathy.

After the scallops were flipped, Lauren started the shrimp and learned how to get the char-grilled flavor from the basting butter flame-ups.

The final products, along with the potatoes, were delicious - they did very well for their first try.

We had ten diners and there was not a single leftover.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/3/14 meal date