Im in the other room checking the weather on the computer when I hear…… “Plooooop !”       “awwwwww man….. honey, guess what happens when you open an old bottle of blueberry stuff…..”

blueberry grenade

Went to the kitchen and there are fermented blueberries on the ceiling,  the wall, the counter, my wife,  the floor….!

Naturally I grabbed the camera instead of a towel.

“Uh…… Honey, you got a little uh….thing right here”  I said pointing to my chin,  ear, cheek….

The wife has threatened my life if I post the photos (she was in her jammies)  but I will see what I can do and not end up sleeping in the garage.   

(photo doesn’t do justice to the amount of goop on the ceiling and wife ! )

Looks like its going to be a good day,   well a funny one at least !

To date,  I have kept the posts professional and limited them to things regarding food and the show……  Boring!  We got some excellent input about the show/blog and I have decided to expand the blog.

For those  of you who know me from  “back when”  many of my posts were humorous rants and stories about silly stuff.     After many requests,  I am going to start   Letting er Fly !  The Rants are Back !

We will still be posting recipes and stuff from the show, but now the gloves come off and all the goofy stuff is fair game.

Buckle up.   Some posts will be fun and silly,  some will be instructive and educational, some will be controversial, but  HOPEFULLY none will be boring.

Feel free to jump in with your $ .02

This week she was feeling Fall-ish and decided to try making some pumpkin donuts.

Now you gotta understand,  this plays right into my weaknesses.   I love a good donut and I love pumpkin.

They turned out great!   But like always, I can’t leave well enough alone and modified the recipe a touch.  Here is the modified version.

Pile of pumpkin donuts

Recipe

2 Table Spoons Butter Softened

2/3 Cup Sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg or dash of ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

vegetable oil suitable for deep fat frying

Spiced Sugar For dusting (1/2 cup sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg or 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on high for 30 seconds.  Add 1/2 Cup sugar, baking  powder, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and cloves.  Beat until combined scraping sides of bowl.  Beat in pumpkin, buttermilk, egg+yolk, and vanilla.  Using a spoon, mix in flour until well combined.  Cover and chill for 3 hours.

On lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with floured donut cutter.   Reroll as necessary but try not to let dough get too dry.

Punkin donuts frying

Fry donuts 2-3 at a time in 365 degree hot fat.  About 2-3 minutes per side until golden.   Using a slotted spoon, remove, drain and place on papertowels.   Sprinkle warm donuts with spiced sugar.

This morning I had one sitting outside.

Chickens contentedly clucking in the yard.

A big dog leaning against my chair with his head on my lap.

The smell of bacon wafting from the kitchen as a yellow gold light played across the farm.

The first chill marking the end of hot summer and the approach of fall on the slightest of breezes.

And a moment of stillness inbetween moments.   No air conditioners running,  no cars passing down the road, no phones, no radio.   Just peacefulness.

A perfect moment that felt like the tingle of the first kiss of autumn, smelled like bacon, and was lit with a gorgeous sunrise filled with promise and peace.

Then a dog barked,  a car drove by, and the world started grinding its noisy gears once again.

But for a perfect moment, it felt like god sat down beside me and put his feet up and shared a moment together.

Actually,  I must admit to being one of the worst cub scouts in the history of  the organization.   I was such a spastic little punk that my own mother (den mother) regularly threw me out of meetings.   It was only later when I graduated to the Boy Scouts and calmed down enough to read the manual that I discovered there was no  “Throwing stuff at other kids”  and “Making fart noises” merit badges.

Davids’ scouts were nothing like me as a kid.    Those young men really knew their stuff and were rightfully proud of it !    They pulled out all the stops for the show and had several tents set up and a really nice fire pit/ring that was built by one of their Eagle Scouts ready to go.

David Cooks with the Boy/Cub scouts

Like a lot of people,  the Your Plates or Mine crew like to camp but don’t go enough to get very good at it.  We jumped at the chance to learn how to make some great food over an open fire from someone with a LOT of experience.

Great stuff that covers everything from Breakfast to lunch to dinner and even dessert!

Dutch Oven Scrambled egg omelets and biscuits

Ingredients:

1 red onion

1 white onion

Bell peppers (any kind colored peppers work great and look awesome)

1 dozen eggs (plan 2 eggs person)

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Shredded cheese

1 tube store-purchased biscuits

Optional items: mushrooms, crumbled bacon, pepperoni, anything you like in your eggs!

Prep:

Heat the Dutch oven on the coals or fire with vegetable oil.

Chop the onions, and peppers.  Scramble eggs in a separate bowl.

Cooking:

When the Dutch oven is hot cook the onions and peppers a minute or so.  Add the scramble eggs and any optional ingredients.

Place the lids on the Dutch oven add additional vegetable oil and place the biscuits on the lid.  A tented sheet of aluminum foil over the top will help the biscuits cook faster.

Don’t forget to keep stirring the eggs.  Depending on how hot your fire is, you can move the Dutch oven off the fire and it will still cook the eggs.  After 5 minutes turn the biscuits over and brown the other side.  If the eggs are cooking faster then the biscuits you can remove the lid and let the biscuits finish cooking.  Sprinkle on the shredded cheese put the lid back on for 1 minute to melt the cheese.

Serve from the pot and enjoy a great campfire breakfast!

Dutch oven cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

1 can store-purchased cinnamon rolls

8 inch pie tin

10 inch pie tin

Prep:

Place the 8 inch pie tin inverted in the Dutch oven.  Place the 10 inch pie tin on top.  Place the cinnamon rolls in the 10-inch pie tin.

Cooking:

Place the lid on the Dutch oven and place on the fire.  Use the “rule of 3” if your using some charcoal in in your campfire.  Bottom=size of Dutch oven -3 = number of charcoal bricks.  Top = size of Dutch oven +3 = number of bricks on top.   (For a 12″ Dutch Oven you would put 9 bricks on the bottom and  15 on top )  Check in 10 minutes for doneness.  At right temperature this should take only 15 minutes.

Remove the entire 10-inch pie pan with the rolls; add icing and enjoy.

What a way to impress someone while you are camping!

Hobo Lunch packs

Hobo Pack ready for the fire

Ingredients:

Ground beef, chicken, or even a pork chop, you choose

Carrots

Onions (if you have some left over from breakfast use them)

Peppers (if you have some left over from breakfast use them)

Potatoes (1 per person)

Options: Corn, fresh squash, green beans, anything you like.

Heavy duty tin foil

Salt, pepper, desired spices

Prep/Cook:

In about an 18 x 18 inch square of foil, place the meat, season with spices, whatever fillings you like.  Wrap tightly in the foil, there is no one method, it all cooks the same.  Cook on a grate or in the coals of a fire 15 minutes each side.  Check to make sure meat is done and vegetables are soft.  Eat from the foil and clean up is a breeze!

Corn on the Cob

Ingredients:

Fresh sweet corn

Butter

Foil

Prep:

Wrap each cleaned ear of corn in foil with 1 tablespoon of butter.

Cook:  Cook in the coals or on a rack 5 minutes, turn cook 5 more minutes.  Enjoy!

Easy Cheesy Meat And Potatoes

Easy Cheesy Meat N Potatoes

Ingredients:

Meat (prepare at home to make things faster and easier at camp)

2 lbs. extra lean ground beef

1 large yellow onion; diced

7 cloves garlic; minced

salt and pepper to taste

2 bags frozen tater tots

4 cups Colby jack cheese shredded

Sauce:

(2) 10 ½ oz. can cream of mushroom soup

(1) 10 ½ oz. can cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 cup sour cream

2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbs. soy sauce

Salt, pepper, garlic to taste

1 1/2 tsp. thyme (if you don’t have these items while camping omit turns out great!)

1 1/2 tsp. marjoram (if you don’t have these items while camping omit turns out great!)

Prep:

Meat cooked at home with garlic and onion and drained stored in a zip loch bag in the cooler.   Empty meat mixture into a bowl and add sauce ingredients and stir.

In  a 12 inch Dutch lined* oven Layer 1 bag of tator tots in bottom of oven (lined for easy clean up).   Spoon the ground beef sauce mixture over the tater tots. Sprinkle one half of the cheese over the sauce, Layer again with the second bag of tater tots and the remaining cheese.

Cook:

Cover and cook 45-60 minutes using 9-12 briquettes bottom and 15-18 briquettes top heat rotating oven and lid every 15 minutes.  This should serve 10 campers or 5 extra hungry campers and is a great filling meal.

*Dutch oven cooking liners (Parchment paper liners) can be purchased and used for super easy clean up.  If you don’t want to purchase them you can also line your Dutch oven with foil.  Foil sometimes sticks to the bottom if it gets to hot so spray some non-stick spray in the bottom if using foil.

Peach cobbler (with Blue Berries)

Peach Blueberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

2 large cans slices peaches

Any 1 box cake mix ( we used Blueberry Muffin mix)

2-3 tablespoons butter

Prep:

In a 12 inch Dutch lined* oven pour in the 2 cans of peaches, sprinkle the cake mix on top add 2-3 tablespoons of butter diced on top.   Sprinkle with  blue berries and cook.

Cook:

Cover and cook 45-60 minutes using 9-12 briquettes bottom and 15-18 briquettes top heat rotating oven and lid every 15 minutes.  Top will be brown and crispy.

*Dutch oven cooking liners (Parchment paper liners) can be purchased and used for super easy clean up.  If you don’t want to purchase them you can also line your Dutch oven with foil.  Foil sometimes sticks to the bottom if it gets to hot so spray some non-stick spray in the bottom if using foil.

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

3 cans of apple pie filling

1 bag apple crisp topping mix

Cinnamon to taste

Topping (prepared at home stored in a zip-lock bag in the cooler)

1 cup of quick oats

1 cup of flour

1 cup of brown sugar (packed)

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of butter

-mix together until crumbly-store refrigerated

Prep:

In a 12 inch Dutch lined* oven pour in the 3 cans of apple pie filling,  sprinkle apple crisp topping on top

Cook:

Cover and cook 45-60 minutes using 9-12 briquettes bottom and 15-18 briquettes top heat rotating oven and lid every 15 minutes.  Top will be brown and crispy.

Had a bit of an added bonus filming this months show.    Richard Bennet invited us to come to his little cabin in the woods to film some outdoor cooking.  The cabin is really beautiful with a rustic feel.

Richard earned the nickname “RichmanBBQ” for all the outdoor cooking he would do on weekends back home.   In fact, he became so well known for his weekend cookouts that neighbors began spontaneously showing up to see what was on the grill.

One of Richards favorites is Carne Asada.   Versatile and easy to make.  Cooks fast and you can make Tacos, Burritos, or just a plate of steak & fixins.

Carne Asada

1 skirt steak   trimmed of fat etc.

1 bottle of light American style beer with lime

1-1/2 Tablespoon of Chili Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Salt

3-5 Green Onions

half bunch of Cliantro

Juice of half a lime.

Add all to gallon freezer bag and massage to mix well.  Marinate in Refrigerator 4 hours to overnight.

Grill quickly on hot grill  1-4 minutes per side depending on how hot your grill is.

Serve with Mexican Rice, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, and refried beans.

But wait… its a ton of work…  Seriously.

You would hate it.  Don’t try.

Watch our show instead.   I will do all the hard work for you.  

This months show is another favorite.     Got a tip on a great eatery through the grape vine.    Silla’s Spoon Cafe  is a little spot located in Jackson TN.    I love small “mom and pop” style Restaurants where you feel like family.

David and Barbara cooking at Silla's Spoon

Barbara shared some of the Cafe’s most popular recipes and boy o boy are they good.  Best of all, they are really easy to make so you have no excuse for not trying these at home.    Just for fun,  throw down a plate full of Buffalo Chicken French Fry Salad at your next picnic or dinner party.    Yeah… you heard me right.   Buffalo Chicken French Fry Salad !

Silla’s Spoon  Buffalo Chicken French Fry Salad.

Ingredients

Basic Salad mix

2 pre-breaded chicken tenders

1 large potato sliced for home style French fries

Buffalo wing sauce

Grated cheese.

Directions

Slice potato into home style French fries and put in bowl of water until ready to fry.

Buffalo Chicken French Fry Salad

Fry in hot oil until desired doneness.

Fry pre-battered chicken tenders until cooked through.

Slice chicken tenders into bite size pieces and drizzle with wing sauce.  Stir to coat.

Add a pile of fries to the top of your plated salad mix.  Top with buffalo chicken tenders and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Serve with a  side of salad dressing.  Barbara recommends Honey Mustard.

Stuffed Sweet Bell Pepper Soup

2 Lbs Ground Beef

2 Qt.  Water

1 Qt. Tomato juice

3 medium sweet red or green peppers, diced

1-1/2 cups chili sauce

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

2 celery ribs, diced

1 large onion, diced

3 chicken bouillon cubes

2 cloves garlic,  minced

½ teaspoon salt.

In large kettle or dutch oven,  cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink.   Drain

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour or until rice is tender.

Oreo Ice Cream Balls

Oreo Ice Cream Balls

½ gallon Vanilla Ice Cream

1 Package Oreo Cookies

2 Squares Semi-Sweet Bakers Chocolate

1 small can Evaporated Milk  (5.33 oz)

1 stick butter

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

Scoop out ice cream balls and roll into shape with your hands.  Roll in oreo crumbs that have been crushed in a blender.   Place on cookie sheet in freezer until ready to serve.

In double boiler, heat chocolate squares, milk, butter, vanilla, and confectioners sugar.

Stir constantly until chocolate sauce is silky and melted together. (15 minutes)

Pour chocolate sauce over ice cream balls and serve.   Garnish with Whipped cream and cherry on top. (optional)

Silla’s Spoon Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cake with Home Made Icing

1 package white cake mix

1 tablespoon four

1 package strawberry gelatin

¾ cup cooking oil

½ cup water

½ cup fresh or frozen strawberries, crushed

4 eggs

Put cake mix, flour, and jello into mixing bowl and blend well.  Add oil, water, and strawberries.   Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Bake in two 9-inch pans for 30 minutes at 350’.

Icing

1 stick butter (1/4 lb)

1 box powdered sugar

½ cup crushed strawberries.

Combine all ingredients and beat until you get a smooth consistency to spread on cake.

*note, icing will be a little runny.

First rule of Chicken Fight Club, Don't talk about Chicken Fight Club.

Well the city boy has learned a new country lesson this week.    Chickens stink and they are mean.     And no, I’m not talking about the “ha ha, pull my finger” kind of stink.

Its more of a  ” who’s idea was it to put 42  incontinent Stank Pigeons in my hot stuffy garage ? “  kind of stink.

I never would have guessed that a cute little peeper could turn into a mean spirited little poop factory in 2 short weeks.

It was decided that the birds would be moved out of the garage to their “condo in the country”  aka the Poultry Palace,  Hen-a-tentiary,  Pullet Prison, also known as the barn which is located an olfactory pleasing distance from the house.

We thought they would be happy and excited in their new luxury home featuring 4 custom bedrooms (nest boxes)  a deluxe kitchen ( watering device with 4 watering nipples ), an eat in kitchen ( feeder holding 5 # of feed) and a groovy great room complete with natural hand carved furniture (big cedar stick for a roost).   The new climate controlled (heat lamp) condo even features a private fenced in yard (chicken run)  complete with swimming pool ! (chicken run flooded with all the rain last night).

Ahhh but alas,  the petulant peckers were not pleasantly pleased.   Perhaps it was the thunder storms ?  Perhaps it was running out of food in the middle of the night ?   Perhaps I shouldn’t have let them watch  Re-runs of   Fight Club before bedtime ?     Apparently there was a big bar fight in the  Chateau de chicken last night and now the hospital box has 3 patients recovering from wounds received during a free for all.

Naturally, the birds who took the worst beating were 2 of our favorites.    Why do we like this little chick so much?  Is it because it is very sedate?  Is it because it likes being held and fed treats?    Or is it because I had a bad haircut like this back in my punk rock phase?    Ill let you decide.

Not the winner of the chicken fight

Diana Guzman invited us into her home to share some of her traditional family recipes.    Enchiladas with home made enchilada sauce,   Mexican rice,   Pico De gallo, and Flan.

Enchiladas with Mexican Rice

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons Chili powder

3 Tablespoons flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Cocoa

½ Teaspoon garlic salt

½ Teaspoon ground cumin

3 cups water

1 (8 oz) can of tomato sauce

Directions:

Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl.  Add about half a cup of water and mix.  It will be thick like paste.  Pour the paste into a sauce pan and cook on high heat.  Wait for the paste to bubble.  While stirring, slowly pour the remaining water into the pan.    Bring to boil and reduce heat.    Simmer about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.   Add the tomato sauce,  stir to mix.   Simmer 5 minutes longer then remove from heat.   Sauce can be used for enchiladas and burritos.

Enchiladas with Mexican Rice.

Enchiladas

12 Corn Tortillas

½ cup Olive or Canola oil

2 Large Yellow Onions

4 cups Grated Colby/Jack or Longhorn Cheese

Directions

Lightly grease 9×13 Pyrex dish and preheat oven to 400’.

Chop the onions and sauté lightly.   Grate cheese and set aside.

Heat oil in skillet, and have corn tortillas ready.

Place corn tortilla in hot oil for 15 seconds. (softens the tortilla)

Remove and allow oil to drip off.

Dip Tortilla in enchilada sauce, coating both sides.

Put a handful of grated cheese and sautéed onion on one edge of tortilla and roll it up.

Place the seam side down in one end of dish.

Repeat process for all remaining tortillas.

Pour remaining sauce on top of the enchiladas.

Sprinkle enchiladas generously with remaining grated cheese.

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees until cheese is bubbly.

Serve at once.

Mexican Rice

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1-1/2 cup long grain white rice

½ cup sweet yellow onion diced

3 cups hot water

3 tablespoons Orrington Farms Chicken Soup Base

¼ to ½ cup tomato sauce.

½ teaspoon cumin

Heat skillet over medium heat,  add oil, rice, and onion.  Stir constantly with large spoon until rice is golden brown in color.

Heat water in microwave.  Add hot water to skillet and stir.

Add chicken base, tomato sauce, and cumin.  Stir

Heat to boiling, reduce heat to low and cover.  Cook for 20 minutes without opening lid.

And let us not forget desert!!

Dianna’s Custard Flan 

Custard Flan

4 Eggs

½ Cup Sugar

1 Teaspoon of butter

1 Table Spoon of lemon juice

1 small can of Crema

1 can condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 325

Let eggs warm to room temperature

Add Butter and sugar to skillet and melt over low heat, adding lemon juice and cook until light brown.   Stir constantly.

Transfer to glass pie dish or small individual dishes/foil pans

Add vanilla, condensed milk, evaporated milk, crema, 2 whole eggs, and 2 egg yolks to the blender and mix on low until blended.

Add mixture to dishes or pie plate.

Set glass dish(s) into a big baking pan and add water to the outer pan so the glass dish sets in the water about ½ way up the sides.

Cover with foil and cut slits so the steam can escape.

Bake for 1 hour.

Remove pan and let cool.   Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Flip over onto plate and garnish with fresh berries and whipped cream.

Let me “Lay” it out for you.  (yes you can expect bad chicken puns )

The chicken plan necessitated a place for them to stay, and since the dog has claimed the house and back yard, that meant building a coop.    Enter the Poultry Palace.     Since we had a bunch of left over materials from a house renovation,  I was able to make a nice 4×6 chicken coop out of salvaged materials.   I am particularly excited that we FINALLY came up with a use for the bi-fold closet doors that had been cluttering up the garage.

Chickens need food and water so that necessitated getting chick starter, a metal garbage can (to keep critters from the feed) and rigging up a watering device.    Ordered some nipple waterers from QC supply that should make watering easy and a LOT less messy.   Now I have to engineer some gutter on the barn, a 55 gallon drum, and an automatic watering valve from a toilet valve kit.   ( are you starting to get the picture that nothing is as simple as it seems? )     Making a tube feeder out of left over PVC pipe so that should minimize the food and water chores.

After all this,  I discovered that baby chicks don’t like cold.  With no electricity to the barn, that meant that the chicks get to live in the house for a couple weeks until they feather out.     Hello guest bathroom tub.

Now we have 20+ chicks peeping and pooping in a rubbermaid tote in the guest bathroom tub.   Good thing they are cute, clumsy and goofy as heck.

So here they are……

Simon the Wonky eyed chicken.

Simon the wonky eyed chicken

Random chicken gang

Baby chicks

The Colonel. "Listen up troops!"