Filet Mignon, Parmesan Egg Noodles and French Cut Green Beans

You have got to be clinically insane to not love a good filet mignon. This is the most tender, juicy cut of beef you will ever bite into (if cooked properly). I seasoned these with some essence, adobo, sea salt and worcestershire sauce. After marinating for a few hours, the weather was not on my side so I had no choice but to pan sear them. You wanna get your pan really nice and hot so when the meat hits it, a nice crust is formed and all of the juices are locked inside. I do this on both sides of cours and even turn them on end to get the sides of them seared. Here's how they look when done and rested for 10 minutes. Notice the juices running from the steaks!

Tangy Cucumber Salad

Here's an idea for a quick snack on one of those really hot summer days, or as a side dish when you have company over. This is my exact recipe I use at home with just me and the mrs so you will have to double the recipe for more than two people.

1 large cucumber
1 1/2 tbsp mayo
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
2 caps apple cider vinegar
1 tsp fresh chopped dill

Wisk all of these ingredients together in a medium bowl and add the sliced cucumber. You can either cool in the fridge for an hour or so or serve right away. Enjoy!

Enormous Grilled Chicken Brests w/Savory Cous Cous and Sliced Carrots

I have never in my life seen chicken breasts this size. I pounded these out a little bit so they didnt take 40 minutes to cook on the grill and waste all my propane :) I began by seasoning them with my poultry rub and marinating them with some state fair bbq sauce. I know what you are thinking right now (bbq sauce?!?!). This is not your typical sauce. It actually acts like a brine for the chicken in the fact that it is a vinegar based sauce. It is clear in color and extremely flavorful. So I grilled these baby's up, basted them with some fresh sauce and served 'em up with some herbed chicken cous cous and sauteed carrots. What an incredible lunch this turned out to be. Take a look. . .

Mouth Slappin Meatloaf!

I am always trying to come up with new crazy ideas to try. And purchasing the new toy (grill/smoker combo) made me wanna get even crazier. So I came up with the concept of stuffing a meatloaf with some ABT's (Atomic Buffalo Turds aka Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers). Here's what I did. I took a pound and a half of some ground chuck and flattened it out into a large square on the cutting board. Then I grabbed some feta and fresh mozzarella cheese and covered the bottom of it. Next, I stuffed the peppers with the feta cheese and wrapped them with bacon. I placed them on top of the beef and rolled it up. I smoked this baby low and slow at about 250 for 2.5 hrs. Let me just tell you, those peppers gave it a hell of a kick! This thing was burstin' with incredible flavor from the smoke, all the bacon, the cheeses. I highly recommend trying it and it is something I will definitely be doing again. Here is a pic of the process and then an after pic.

Simple Stroganoff

This idea came to me as I was wondering what in the world to make for lunch. I have always been a fan off the classic beef stroganoff, so I decided to put a little spin on it. Here are the ingredients used.
Sauce= 2 tbs butter 3 tbs cream cheese 1 tsp flour 1 1/2 cup milk salt+pepper

Melt the butter on medium high heat, then add the flour. Stir and cook together for a couple minutes. Add the cream cheese and blend together. Pour in some chicken stock to cover the mixture (just enough for the ingredients to blend). Cook for 5 minutes so the sauce thickens. Next season with salt and pepper. Add the milk and stir. Simmer for 20 minutes while you prepare the rest of the meal.


In a skillet, brown a pound of ground beef and season to your taste. Meanwhile, boil a lb of whole egg noodles. Once you drain the fat from the beef, add to the sauce and continue to simmer. Once noodles are done, drain and rinse. Place noodles on plate, spoon sauce mixture over top and sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese and parsley on top. Here's what we have. . . .

Grilled Chicken Wings-Two Ways

I must say, I am a chicken wing eatin' s.o.b.! There is just something about 'em that I guess I can't describe. I really enjoy the classic fried wing with the buffalo sauce, celery and bleu cheese dressing. However, due to the recent grill purchase I have been coming up with new ideas and ways of doing things. So I got the HUGE pack of whole wings at Sams Club, brought 'em home and separated them. I seasoned them with my poultry rub and let 'em sit overnight. While waiting til it was time to preheat the grill, I couldn't really decide on how I wanted these things done. I knew that Sophia wanted hers done with barbecue cuz she can't take the heat :) So I figured there was only one way left to go. I had her mix up a buffalo sauce for me using some butter, texas pete HOTTER hot sauce and some cholula hot sauce. I fired the grill up and man I gotta say that thing did one helluva job on those wings. Anyhow, here's how they looked. . . . wish you coulda tasted them!

Vermicelli w/ Robust Tomato Sauce & Crumbled Italian Sausage

Living with a Sicilian woman, I have absolutely NO choice not to like pasta. Ok I'm lying, I love pasta anyways so it is definitely a must have at our household. Here is an extremely classic italian dish that everyone is sure to love. Pair it up with some cheesy garlic toast and you have a hit! Enjoy the pic!

Chicken Philly w/Jus & Old Bay Seasoned Curly Fries

I gotta give props to my cuz Dave on this one. I have been a HUGE fan of bowling ever since I can remember. Dave and I bowled on the same team in our hometown in VA a while back. All bowling alleys as you know must have a snack bar, and this is where Dave introduced me to the Chicken Philly. I never in my life heard of that before as I was a huge fan of the original cheesesteak. So with that in mind, here is my spin on the sandwich: Instead of chopping the chicken, I slice the chicken breast and rub it with my own poultry rub and let it sit overnight in the fridge. You don't have to do this, 15-20 mins will work just fine. Then I dice some bacon and set aside. Next I julienne some fresh green pepper and set that aside as well. I get two bakery fresh sub rolls and split them and set aside, and prep some lettuce and whatever cheese I wanna use (usually pepper jack and monterrey or mozzarella). Now its time to cook. Get a large frying pan and set the heat to medium high. Add your bacon to the pan and cook until crispy, set aside. Next you want to cook the chicken in the bacon grease. Get it browned really nice and turn down the heat to medium. Add about a cup and a half of chicken broth and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the chicken and put the broth or jus in 2 bowls. Drizzle a little oil into the pan and add your green pepper. Sautee for a couple minutes, season with salt and pepper and turn off heat. Now you are ready to build your sandwich. Take some lettuce and place on bottom of the roll. Next place 2 slices of cheese on top of the lettuce, followed by mounds of steaming hot chicken. Add the chopped bacon and green pepper on top of the chicken and drizzle some honey mustard on top! This is a sammie that is sure to set you back in your chair :)

Jumpstart Your Day With an Energizing Fruit Smoothie!

Just about every single morning after a shower I head to the kitchen and grab a few ingredients for an incredible smoothie. If you haven't had one or thought about having one but just think it is too time consuming before you head off to work, you're wrong!! Every time I go to the grocery store, I always pass through the frozen section. Well, they have these awesome time saving things called "frozen fruits" :) So, I pick up whatever variety I feel like having that week and I'm ready to go. This morning I used frozen peaches and strawberries with some fresh sliced banana. I added about 2 cups of whole milk and set the blender on the liquify option. If you use only fresh fruit, you will need to add crushed ice to the smoothie. Once it is blended to perfection and poured into glasses, just top with a little whipped cream and you are ready to go. Here's what you'll come up with.

Grilled Angus Ribeye Steak w/ Maple Beans

Hello again everyone. Today I am going to share my recent experience with the Angus Ribeye. Once a month, the girlfriend and I will take a trip to our local Sams Club and stock up on meats. Since I do have experience in meat cutting, we just buy our meat in the cryo packs and save a tremendous amount of money in doing so. Continuing on. . . . we get the whole ribeye home and I immediately process it, leaving out two HUGE steaks to season and marinate for the grill that night. After about 4 hours of marinating ( I used a sea salt, adobo, essence and chipotle pepper rub topped with worcestershire sauce), it was time for these bad boys to hit the grill. Since these steaks were cut so large, I didn't really want too many sides to go with it. I decided on doing some maple beans. Those are just simply a couple cans of pork n beans with some pure maple syrup and diced bacon. Here's a look at what I ended up with. . . . . .

Pan-Seared Pork Chops, Sauteed Asparagus and Homemade Scalloped Potato's with Breadcrumb Topping

Looking for a super-fast, yet irresistable meal for your family? This beauty, prepped correctly, will only take you ten minutes when your family is ready to grub down.
Start by making the scalloped potato's an hour and a half ahead of time. I used 8 medium size russet potatos but you can use whatever you like. Slice them thin after peeling and place in strainer with cold water running over them. Meanwhile, slice a medium white onion and set aside. Get out a glass baking dish (I used 13x9) and butter the bottom of it. Layer the bottom with sliced potato, then onion. Sprinkle seasoned flour over the potato and onion and repeat those layers until pan is almost filled. Dot with butter. Heat up 2 cups of milk (not boiling) and pour over potatos. Cover with aluminum foil and place in PREHEATED 375 degree oven for 45 mins. Once they come out, remove foil and generously top with colby jack cheese. Place back in oven for 15 minutes. Take out and sprinkle with breadcrumbs and put back in oven for another 10 minutes. Set these aside for when you are ready to eat.

So now that the potatos are done and still nice and hot on the inside, you have yourself some starving family members who think it is going to be forever til dinner is ready. You tell them to go chill in the living room and "it'll be done when it's done" You go to the fridge and grab the porkchops that have already been seasoned as well as the fresh asparagus. You heat up some garlic infused oil til it just starts to smoke and you now know that the chops are ready for action! After putting them in, you blanche the asparagus in some hot water for a few minutes while they await the already seasoned pan the chops were cooking in. You then grab some plates and everyone is wondering what in the world is going on? You spoon some potatos on everyones plate and serve up the chops. Then you put the asparagus into the frying pan and begin to sautee them for just a minute or two. A dash of salt and pepper and, voila! You are done :) Here is what you have created with such little effort. . .. .

My First Overnight Smoke- Boston Butt

I have been wanting a grill for the longest time. Not just a regular grill, but one that I could be proud of. I have never owned one, but have always had one available to cook with. So this year when we got our tax refund, I talked with the Mrs and decided that this was the year to make my dream come true. I went to Lowe's and immediately fell in love with the Chargriller Duo. It is a gas grill and smoker combination (side by side) and also purchased a side firebox for it to be used for true Texas style barbecue. I followed a few forums and got some tips on how to start smoking and jumped right in. I decided that for my 3rd smoke I should do some pulled pork bar-b-que. I went to the store and got a boston butt as well as a shoulder picnic. I rubbed them down with some seasonings I put together (rub) and let them sit in the fridge overnight. Here is what they looked like when they came out of the fridge.




Not too bad right? So I put these bad boys on the smoker during the middle of the day and used some mesquite and pecan wood for smoke. They were injected with apple juice and I also mopped them with apple cider vinegar and apple juice. This was an extremely slow cook and after about the 12th hour they hit the stall for 2 hours. The internal temp just would not go up. I stayed calm and just grabbed a couple more beers. Keep in mind it was now 4 in the morning. I couldn't go to sleep because unfortunately the charcoal I was using (Kingsford Hickory) burned up really fast so I wanted to keep an eye on it. Finally after 18 hours of labor, they were ready to be pulled. Here is a look at the finished product.