original recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
• 1 (10-ounce) bag of frozen spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) goat cheese
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat cream cheese
• 4 (4-ounce) center-cut pork chops
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 lemon, zested
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Directions

Warm the 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook until combined, about 2 more minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Add the goat cheese and the cream cheese. Stir to combine and set aside.

Use a sharp knife to cut a pocket into the thickest portion of the pork chop. Stuff each pocket with 1/4 of the spinach and sun-dried tomato mixture and close the pork around the stuffing. Season the outside of the pork with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl combine the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice, and mustard.

Warm the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the pork. Cook until golden and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the pork to a side dish and tent with foil to keep warm. Add the chicken broth mixture to the skillet over medium-high heat. Scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan as the chicken broth simmers. Reduce the broth by half to make a light sauce, about 8 minutes. Spoon some sauce over the pork before serving.

INGREDIENTS

(4 SERVINGS)

4 very ripe plantains

1 tablespoon melted butter

4 slices of guava paste ½ inch thick

4 slices of mozzarella cheese ½ inch thick

DIRECTIONS

OVEN

1. Preheat the oven to 400°, cut the ends of the plantains and peel.

2. Place them in a baking dish and brushed with the butter, bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Remove from the oven and slice the plantains lengthwise but not go all the way trough, stuff them with the guava paste and cheese slices.

4. Return to the oven and bake 10 more minutes until the cheese melts and serve.

BBQ GRILL

1. Wrap ripe plantains in aluminum foil and place them on the BBQ grill over indirect heat on medium for 20-30 minutes.
2. When soft to the touch split the plantain ¾ of the way through lengthwise and to expose the center
3. With the center exposed place thinly sliced strips of Mozzarella cheese and Guava paste.
4. Let the plantain cook for another 5-10 minutes to allow the cheese to melt

The only thing I would caution anyone about is this: If you make this as a two-layer cake, treat both layers separately. Don’t marry them until they’ve cooled off a little. The recipe calls for the application of the pineapple and pudding while the cake is still hot. But, if you try to move one of the layers while it’s hot, it will fall apart. Then your wife will laugh at you. So, coat them both before you refrigerate them, then slide on onto the other and ice it. That coconut just sets off the icing perfectly. Good job, Paula, and it’s not even deep fried!

Ok so let’s get to the ingredients. I don’t think that there could be an easier recipe that can equal the taste of this cake.

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare
• 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 (3.4-ounce) box French vanilla pudding, plus ingredients to prepare
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup flaked, sweetened toasted coconut

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Prepare yellow cake mix as directed on the box as well as the cooking time.
• While cake is baking, combine the pineapple and 1 cup of sugar (I would recommend ½ cup) in a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
• Remove cake from oven and using a fork, pierce holes into cake. Pour pineapple mixture over hot cake and set aside.
• Prepare pudding according to package directions. Spread pudding over cake and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
• Whip heavy cream and remaining sugar until stiff. Cover top of cake with whipped cream and sprinkle toasted coconut on top.

Although chicken wings are not the most common item you see on the BBQ, These grilled chicken wings are great tasting, easy to make, and make a great appetizer.  Another benefit from adding chicken wings onto your menu during a BBQ is that they are cheap (usually around 1.99lb). SO what you need to make these tasty treats is a package of chicken wings. Now ones you get the wings you will need to break them down into three parts as shown below.

After you have cut the chicken wing into three separate parts you can discard the wing tips, or freeze them to use as a base for a chicken broth.

Now comes the seasoning, this is enough for approximately 5-6lbs of chicken wings, so if you are making fewer wings I would suggest either halving the recipe or making the stated amount and place it in a container for future use.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon ancho chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Link to the actual spice blend page

Ok so now that you have created your spice blend and have your chicken wings you want to place your wings into a bowl and provide a generous amount of the spice blend. Cover the container and shake well to evenly distribute the spice blend.

I would recommend allowing the wings to marinate in the spice blend for at least 1 hour. Next step would be to place these perfectly seasoned wings on the grill for approximately 10 minutes.

The key to having a good tasting beef kabob is the marinade. Now depending on your individual taste buds you can play with marinating time as you please.  I would recommend marinating the meat for at least 4 hours; I normally leave the beef in the marinade for approximately 15 hours. A simple trick if you want to marinate the beef for an extended period of time is to prepare the marinade and place the meat in the night or day before you BBQ. Pre-planning will allow the marinade to penetrate deep into each cut of beef, leaving behind great flavors when you are done.  Also another tip is when using bamboo skewers to let the skewers soak in water for at least an hour. By allowing them to soak in water, it will prevent the exposed portions of the skewer to burn.

Ingredients for marinade

This marinade is good for approximately 4lbs of beef.

Serves: 6-8

• 1/2 cup oil (vegetable, or canola)
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 cup light soy sauce (less soy if you only have regular, you do not want them so salty)
• 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 3 garlic cloves (crushed, minced)
• 1 lemon juiced

Ingredients for construction of beef kabobs

• 3-4lbs of top sirloin beef
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 large onion

You can really add whichever vegetable you would like.

DIRECTIONS

Ok now that you have all the ingredients lets start off with placing your bamboo skewers in water and allowing them to soak in water for approximately one hour.

While you let the skewers soak in water take all the ingredients and place them into a bowl. Mental note you want to have a bowl large enough for all the ingredients for the marinade and the meat.

Next step is to cube you meat in large pieces 1”x1”. Place meat in the marinade in a covered bowl and allow to sit in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours depending on taste.

To assemble chop up your chosen vegetables into large pieces and alternate vegetables and meat, and place on a cooking sheet, backing rack, dish, ect

Now it is time to place them on the grill. Make sure your grill is pre-heated at a medium/high heat. Length of time on the grill will vary depending on how you like your meat cooked.

Hope you guys enjoy.

The spice blend was taken from a recipe by Bobby Flay.

So being that this is my first actual post that I followed through from beginning to end with documenting the process I wanted to show you what I started off with. Show below are the spices that I used to make this spice rub come together

Ingredients

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon ancho chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

below is what it will look like once you measure out and place all the items into a bowl for mixing.

After the mixing of the spices is completed your end result should look like this.

I hope you anjoy this spice blend and would love to hear new way on how you used this spice rub.

below is a link to a video which demonstrates a fast run down of how to cut a pineapple from start to finish. how to cut a pineapple

Chocolate Truffle Tart

For this recipe I believe that the biggest hurdle seems to be finding the proper pan size. Most of the pan sizes that you will have in your home or even the premade cookie pans are 9-inch and not the 8-inch in which the recipe requires. Here are two options which can solve this problem. The first option is increasing the proportions by 50% and use the 9-inch pan. But please keep in mind this is a very dense sweet tart and unless you are making this for at least 10 people, or enjoy eating chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The second option is just using the larger 9-inch pan and uses the ingredients for the 8-inch pan and deal with a little thinner tart and more crust around the top. If you choose the second option you will need to reduce the baking time and would start checking it out around 10-15 min. Also remember you want to stop baking when the edges are puffy but the center of the tart looks a little wobbly. Taking the tart out at this time will give the tart a pudding-esk texture.

For crust

• 28 chocolate wafers such as Nabisco Famous, finely ground in a food processor (1 1/2 cups)
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled completely

For filling

• 1/2 lb fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), coarsely chopped
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• Special equipment: an 8-inch (20-cm) round springform pan
• Garnish: unsweetened cocoa powder for sprinkling

Make crust:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap a sheet of foil over bottom of springform pan (in case of leaks). Lightly butter side of pan.
• Stir together ground wafers and butter in a bowl until combined, then pat mixture evenly onto bottom of pan and 1 1/2 inches up side. Bake until crust is slightly puffed, about 10 minutes, then cool completely in pan on a rack, about 15 minutes. Leave oven on.

Make filling while crust cools:

• Melt chocolate and butter in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth, then remove from heat and cool 5 minutes.
• Whisk together eggs, cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a bowl. Whisk chocolate mixture into egg mixture until combined well.

Assemble and bake tart:

• Pour filling into cooled crust and rap pan once on counter to eliminate any air bubbles. Bake until filling 1 inch from edge is set and slightly puffed but center trembles slightly when pan is gently shaken, 20 to 25 minutes. (Center will continue to set as it cools.)
• Cool tart completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours. Chill, uncovered, until center is firm, about 4 hours. Remove side of pan and sprinkle with cocoa to serve.

Cooks’ notes:

• Tart can be chilled up to 3 days. Cover loosely after tart is completely chilled (covering before may cause condensation).
• Crust, without filling, can be made 1 day ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.