Sunday, August 16, 2009

Florida Orange BBQ

I went to make BBQ chicken last night only to discover that I was out of sauce. A quick look through the refrig & I was able to come up with the following sauce that my family went crazy for.

 

1 TB butter

1 med yellow onion

1 TB liquid smoke

1 Medium Orange (Navel)

1 Tsp Red Hot sauce

1 TB Worchester sauce (Lea & Parens)

4 Cups ketchup (Heinz)

2 Cups Light Brown sugar

 

In a sauce pan, melt butter and thinly sliced and chopped onion, & Liquid Smoke. Saute until onion get soft. Zest ( the finer the better, as it’s all about the oil in the skin ) the entire orange and add to pot. Juice the orange directly into pot. Add ketchup and the remaining ingredients. Simmer for 30 mins. Sauce thickens as it cooks. Cook chicken on the grill or in the oven with just a little salt & pepper on the skin. in the last 10 minutes of cooking spoon BBQ sauce over the chicken ( or pork ) reserving half. 5 minutes later cover the chicken with the remaining sauce.

 

Serve with tomato salad, NJ white corn, and baked potatoes.

Enjoy! A wonderful summer meal.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

just another day – By Wil Wheaton

 

I don’t normal blog another blogger personal post, but this one is just to close to home not to… It reminded me of how much I love my wife and though we don’t always have a meeting of the minds, we have a good sense of humor in common and that smoothes the rough edges of my personality.  Love you My Girl….

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Just Another Day – By Wil Wheaton

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wwdn/~3/Nq-GyEtYF34/just-another-day.html

The Sun reached out from 93 million miles away, pushed against the curtains in my bedroom until it found a small gap, and poked though it. As it moved across the sky, it crept silently down the wall behind me, then deliberately down the headboard until it landed on my forehead. Once there, it took careful steps until it found its target and blazed relentlessly into my eyes.

I was jarred from my wonderful dream, forced to trade my viking garb for the Wheaton college T-shirt I sleep in, and my trusty wolf companion for my dog, who thumped her tail against the bed and licked my face when she realized I was awake.

I scratched her head and then my own, sat up, and got out of bed. She jumped down behind me and trotted down the hall toward the living room. I heard movement behind me and turned to see my cat, stretched out on his side next to Anne's pillow.

"Morning kitty," I said.

"Mrrow," he replied, but what I heard was "I again chose not to kill you while you slept. You're welcome."

I stretched, blinked my eyes several times, and made my way toward the kitchen, where I hoped I'd find coffee.

When I got there, I found not only coffee, but my wife.

"Is there coffee?"

"There is coffee," she said. We always ask each other if there's coffee, whether we know the answer or not; it's part of our morning routine.

"I like coffee," I said. I kissed her on the shoulder while I stepped around her and poured myself a cup. I took it into the dining room, and sipped it.

Ten minutes and half a cup later, I was officially awake. I became aware of the birds singing on the patio, the distant drone of an early morning lawnmower, and then the smell of something familiar on the air. I looked into the kitchen, expecting to see pancakes or waffles on the stove, but it was empty. I shrugged and went back to my coffee. When it was empty, I returned to the kitchen to refill it, and while I stood in front of the coffee machine, Anne took a loaf of banana bread out of the oven.

"Banana bread!" I said, excited. "I thought I smelled it, but I didn't know you were making it!"

She put it on a cooling rack and said, "I told you that I was making banana bread when you were getting your coffee."

I put on my best Homer-Simpson-is-exasperated voice and said, "I was tuning you out. Jeeze!"

She poked a toothpick into the center of the loaf. "Oh, that's sad."

I waited a second, and then I said, ". . . what?"

She looked at me and slowly shook her head as I giggled.


just another day

Monday, August 03, 2009

Jersey Corn on the Cob – Grilled

Every summer its a race for the farm to get corn. Tomatoes from the pots out back. This year we’ve had to purchase as the June rain slowed everything down. It’s not summer till We have a dinner of only Grilled corn on the cob with tomato salad.

Corn on the Grill

Peel back the husk and leave attached to the bottom of cob. Remove all the silk by gently rubbing in finger tips. spread ear with soft butter and add a pinch of salt. wet the husks by dipping into a bowl of water. pull up hush and spread leaves around to cover the kernels. Roast on upper warming rack with a grill temp of 350-400F for 10 mins and then roll over the ears and grill for another 10 mins. Check if ears are done by pulling back a leaf of two and if a few kernels have a light brown color, you are ready to eat.

 

Tomato Salad

Slice tomatoes across their sides like you would for a sandwich about 1/3-1/2 inch thick. Take a large plate and drizzle on some balsamic vinegar and place  tomato slices on it. drizzle with EVOO (olive oil), a little oregano, parsley and pinch of salt. Thin slice yellow or red onion (my favorite) and break apart and spread over tomatoes. Slice fresh mozzarella cheese cut the same thickness as the tomato and place a slice on each tomato slice. drizzle more balsamic vinegar and olive oil. A pinch of pepper and refrigerate for a few minutes to cool everything down. Serve with a crusty bread.

 

Enjoy Summer’s Bounty