Texas Brisket

This past weekend the whole family made our way out to the lake (along with our entire pantry, it seemed) to celebrate July 4th. We do some of our best cooking out there, and this weekend was no exception!!! We planned on making a brisket (what better way to feed a cajillion people, right?) in the oven, but my mother-in-law found a recipe for grilled brisket, and we decided to give it a go. As usual, I did not even THINK about pictures until we were chopping the tasty thing up, but I did get a few. Both of us were fretting over the brisket all day, which was incredibly ridiculous because I am pretty sure someone without a day of cooking experience could have made this thing. Seriously, y'all.... people actually called this meal "memorable".

So, without further ado....

Paula Deen's Texas Brisket

1 (5 to 6-pound) brisket, trimmed but left with a layer of fat about 1/4- inch thick
6 tablespoons House Seasoning, recipe follows
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 cups hickory wood chips, soaked in water for 30 minutes

House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
**Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups

**We used a 13lb brisket (I guess I was really hungry when I bought that sucker at the grocery store....) so we doubled the amounts of everything above.

1. Soak hickory chips in water for about 30 minutes..

2. Mix all seasonings together in a bowl and set aside.

3. Trim brisket. We completely trimmed one side of the brisket, and then left about 1/4"-1/2" of fat on the other side. This is going to be the top of the brisket, and what provides the moisture as it cooks. I promise, all the calories combust in the high heat of the grill. :-)

4. Rinse brisket under cool water, then pat to dry.

5. Rub 1/2 of spice mixture on the bottom of the brisket. Flip over into a large foil pan and rub the remaining mixture on the top. Try to cover sides as well.

6. Create a foil pouch for wood chips and place chips inside.

7. Place foil pouch under grill grate (we did one pouch on both sides) and place brisket on the grill. Cook on low heat (between 275 and 325F) for atleast 6 hours, or until meat thermometer reads 190 degrees. (or, if you are like us and do not have a meat thermometer, grill until the meat is falling apart when you cut into it!)

8. Replace wood chips as necessary, and baste with juices in the pan if desired.

9. Remove from grill and allow brisket to rest for about 10 minutes. Cut against the grain and serve.

I hereby promise this recipe to be lifechanging. This is my solumn vow to you.

Recent Cakes (sorry, no recipes...)

Here are some pictures of a few cakes I have done recently. Several of them I have done with my friend Joyce.... it is WAY more enjoyable when you have a partner in crime!

This is a cake for a friend's vow renewal ceremony.

This is for Joyce's Baby Shower. If I had a profile shot, you could tell it is a little preggo lady holding her belly!

This was a cake for a little girl's first birthday. It was an underwater theme, and the cake was made to match the invitations.

This was for a little girl's 3rd birthday. I donated a gift certificate to the CWJC auction for a free cake, and the winner chose this for her cake. It was a fun one to make!

12 Layer Cake

Recently the hubby and I ventured to the coast of Connecticut with his parents and his sister and her husband to visit his Grandmother, Uncle, and extended family. We had a really nice time relaxing and vegging out, but had to do some celebrating because it was my hubby's 30th birthday! We stayed in an old beach cottage that has been in the family since it was built back in the 50's, and had slim pickin's when it came to cooking tools. Sooo, we got creative and made what turned out to be a pretty impressive cake! It was SO easy (I am pretty sure an 8 year old could do it...). The best part is that you do not have to have ANY cake decorating supplies to do it.

12 Layer Cake

- Disposable 8.5" round foil pans (**see note below**)

- 2 boxes Yellow Cake Mix & ingredients to make mix

- 1 large package vanilla instant pudding

- 1/2 c Buttermilk

-1 1/2 Sticks Butter or Margarine

- 4 heaping Tbsp cocoa

- ~1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla

- Chocolate Icing (I actually used CANNED icing... 2 cans!)

** We only bought 6 pans and resused them... all we could find were pie tins, and we made do. However, if you can find foil tins with sides that are completely vertical, you will have cleaner edges. If you don't want to resuse the tins, just buy 12. They are cheap anyway!

1. Spray foil tins with PAM or grease with butter. Set aside.

2. Prepare 1 box of cake mix according to the directions on the box. Add 1/2 package of instant pudding powder.

3. Pour about 2/3 c batter in each foil tin. 1 box of cake mix should fill 6 pans.

4. Spread batter out as evenly as possible. I found that if I just banged the pan on the counter top over and over, it spread out nicely.

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 11 minutes or until golden brown. I was able to bake 6 at a time, 3 on each rack. They baked fairly evenly, but you may need to just do 3 at a time if your oven doesn't bake evenly. When finished, allow cakes (that actually look like pancakes!) to cook on wax paper.

6. Repeat steps 1-5 with second box of cake mix. If you are reusing pans, there is no need to clean them out. Simply re-grease thoroughly.

7. Now it is time to prepare the filling. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.

8. Add cocoa. Then stir in milk. Finally, stir in vanilla.

9. Add 1 lb of powdered sugar and stir until most of the clumps are gone. Add more sugar until the mixture is about the consistency of chocolate syrup. (We added about 1/4 lb)

10. Now the fun part!! On a wire rack (we didn't have one, so we just used the serving platter, but it required lots of wiping up chocolate... so I thought I would make it easier on you!) place one layer of cake.

11. Spoon chocolate sauce on top of cake so that it completely coveres the top. It is ok if it drips over the edge! Then place another layer of cake, and repeat with more icing. Continue with all layers of cake. (We ran out of chocolate sauce and did not have ingredients to make more, so we ended up only using 9 layers. So... you may need to make more chocolate sauce...!) Top with the remaing chocolate sauce.

12. With a knife or cake spatula, spread the dripping sauce around the sides of the cake to cover as much as you can. It's ok if it looks messy... you are going to cover it with more icing!! Allow to sit for 15min or so to let sauce thicken and set.

13. Cover cake with chocolate buttercream icing. As I mentioned before, we just used Betty Crocker icing from the grocery store because we did not have an electric mixer to make our own icing. If you want to make your own, one recipe should work. Homemade chocolate buttercream is pretty amazing....

You are done!! You can always decorate the cake if you want, but people will be impressed enough when they cut it open... We used a can of decorating frosting that had a few tips with it so the birthday boy would feel like it was a real birthday cake... :-)

Enjoy!

Green Goddess Dressing

We were out at the lake this weekend, and as usual, we did some fabulous cooking. There is a fairly large kitchen out there, 3 women who love to cook, and plenty of time to do so....

My favorite thing we came up with this weekend was a homemade Green Goddess dressing. We tweaked the original recipe a bit, and now I can not imagine making it any other way! The flavor is fairly mild, so it can be served with a fairly intense main dish if you desire. We served ours with BBQ chicken and baked beans. It would also really be good on a Taco Salad with a southern-seasoned chopped chicken breast. Hope you enjoy as much as we did! Oh, I forgot to mention the best part... it is CRAZY easy.

Green Goddess Dressing
-1/2 cup mayo (we used light)
-1/2 cup sour cream (we used light)
-1/4 cup green onions lightly chopped
-1/4 cup cilantro
- 1 avocado
- 2-3 Tbs White Wine Vinegar (you could use any type of vinegar)
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- salt & pepper to taste
- milk (as needed to thin out to desired consistency)

Add all ingredients into a blender or food processor. Start with only 2 Tbs of vinegar and with no milk, and puree until all ingredients are fully pureed and mixed. Add milk 1 Tbs at a time until desired consistency is reached. If you add more than 2 Tbs of milk, add an additional Tbs of vinegar.

It is as easy as that!! We had quite a bit of this left over, and used it the next day as a dipping sauce for Chicken & Cilantro Quesedillas. It was fabulous!

Garlic, Lemon, and Rosemary Steelhead

Can you tell Micah and I really enjoy eating fish during the summer time? Luckily, most of my food aversions are GONE!!! and I can handle fish now.

We typically eat Salmon, but Steelhead Trout was on sale at Sprout's this week, so I decided to give it a whirl. (If you haven't shopped at Sprout's, I HIGHLY recommend it!!! They have excellent prices on produce, organic meats and fishes, and a great bulk section. If you go on Wednesdays, it is double ad day, so you get twice the sales!!! Check out their website for the weekly specials. We are talking GREAT specials, people...)

OK, now on to the yummy fish. Just an FYI... Steelhead Trout looks incredibly similar to Salmon. I think it is a little fattier, which means to me a little tastier. :-) Remember, you can always ask the butcher to skin the fish for you after they weigh it... it makes for much easier cooking and eating, and eliminates the possibility of losing a finger due to a very sharp knife.

Broiled Steelhead Trout

- ~1lb Steelhead Trout (will serve 3-4 people)
- 1/4 C olive oil
- 1/2 - 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
- 2 Tbsp fresh Rosemary, coarsely chopped
- Lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
- Lemon Zest (1 whole lemon)
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to Broil (550 degrees). Line baking dish with foil, and spray foil with Olive Oil Pam or brush with olive oil. Place fish fillet on top of foil, skin side down if it still has skin on it.

2. Combine olive oil, garlic, rosemary, lemon juice and zest, and sea salt in a small bowl. (I just used the glass measuring cup I used to measure out the olive oil.) Combine into a thick paste.

3. Spread paste evenly over the top of the fillet. Top the fillet and paste with pepper, to your liking. (I chose to cut up the other half of the lemon that I zested into thin slices and lay them at the sides of the fillet, just so they were slighly under the fish. I think it gave the fish some extra flavor...)

4. Broil the fish for approximately 4 minutes on the second rack from the top until the top is lighlty seared. Our oven got pretty smokey and the edges of the fish got a bit crispy (which was actually VERY yummy) but 4 minutes was perfect.

5. Move the pan down to the 4th rack of your oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until fish is flakey and no longer translucent in the middle.

***I think you could easily do this on the grill as well. Prepare the fish the same way on top of a large piece of foil, and fold up the edges to create a little foil pan/boat. Cook on medium heat until flakey.***

Teriyaki Salmon Kebabs

I love summer time because I end up planning most of our meals around cooking out on the grill. I love not having to heat up the oven and get the kitchen warmed up (it is the warmest room in the whole house... with no windows that we can open... HORRIBLE planning on Mr. Architect's part).

I found the recipe at a grocery store a few years ago, and after some small modifications, it has become my FAVORITE salmon marinade ever. The recipe below is for kebabs, but I will make a note at the end on how to alter it for fillets. It works well with either one, and is SURE to be a hit the next time you venture out to the grill.

Teriyaki Salmon Kebabs
- 3/4 cup bottled Teriyaki Sauce
- 2 tsp ginger (I just use ginger powder, but fresh minced ginger would be great)
- 2 Tbsp minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2lbs Fresh Salmon, Cubed in 1 1/2" pieces
- wooden kebabs, soaked in water
- 1 bunch of green onion, cut into 2" pieces

1. Mix Teriyaki sauce, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes in a large plastic baggie. Add Salmon and coat. Allow to chill for at least 45min (best if chilled for up to 2 hours).

2. Soak wooden kebabs in a shallow pan for at least 20 minutes to avoid burning of the skewers.

3. Prepare skewers, alternating between salmon and pieces of green onion.

4. Prepare grill to medium heat. Place skewers on a well greased cooking grate or foil (I like PAM for high heat/grilling on my grill pan like shown below).

5. Cook covered for about 4 minutes. With tongs, turn skewers and cook covered for an additional 4 minutes. Fish is done when brown on the outside an no longer translucent in the center. If it is flaky and falling apart, it is done!

*** To cook Fillets***
- Chop green onion into small pieces, and add to marinade. Before adding meat to marinade, reserve about 1/2 cup and set aside to allow for basting while grilling. Cook at low-medium heat for ~6 minutes/side, or until brown and flaky.

Ziploc Omlets

How fun is this???

Ziploc Omlets

You will need:
-2 eggs/person
-1 large ziplock/person
-cheese
-fillings (bacon, sausage, onions, tomato, etc etc etc!)
-Sharpee Marker

1. Write name on the outside of a Ziploc bag so everyone knows who's is who's.

2. Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag and shake to combine them.

3. Add choice of ingredients: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc.

4. Seal bag and shake for 15-30seconds.

5. Get all air out of the bag and zip it up.

6. Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.

7. Cut open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily.