HEY! Got food? (Ridiculous 4th of July Vanity)

The kitchen, usually ^ | July 4, 2015 | me

[Liz]

WATERMELON ICE CREAM--CHOCOLATE "SEEDS"
served up in chilled watermelon bowl.

Must use alcohol--1/3 c Passoa Passion Fruit liquor (Chambord, port wine, or vodka).
Watermelon's high water content ices up; alcohol disperses ice crystals.

METHOD Simmer 20 min 2 cups watermelon puree, cup sugar, tb corn syrup, 1/8 tsp salt
Offheat, add liquor, tsp vanilla. Mix into 2 cups plain watermelon puree.
Chill thoroughly. Add 2 c light cream; fridge 4-24 hours to meld flavors.

Freeze in ice cream maker to soft consistency.

Spoon into airtight container, sprinkling w/ 2 oz shaved datk chocolate as you pack.
Freezer/harden several hours before serving. When refrozen, thaw a bit til scoopable.

[HotHunt]

I am on the Adkins diet. Absolutely no sugar or starches on this diet. But I can have lots of meat, eggs, fats, cheese and a minimal amount of salad-type veggies.

So, at the 4th of July get-together later today at my wife's uncle's place, I won't be indulging in the potato salad or chips or cakes and cookies but I will have a couple of cheeseburgers without the buns, some deviled eggs, and a small portion of green salad with real mayonnaise. And drink lots of water. Life is good down 20 lbs already.

Count our blessings that Obama's EPA hasn't issued more regulations yet that would ban BBQing and fireworks, which you know he has up his sleeve. Just to poke some more fingers in the eyes of patriotic Americans, which he loathes and disdains. So everyone out there, have a great 4th of July Independence Day while we still can.

[Vinnie]

Doing a pork loin on the smoker/grill.
Pierce the loin about every 1 1/2 " stick a piece of garlic in the hole, Salt and pepper, rosemary . several slices of bacon on or wrapped .
Place on the upper rack in the charcoal grill on one side, drip pan below on the lower rack. Built a small fire on the opposite side. Occasional hickory or other chips.
Look for 275° ∓ . Should take about 3 hrs.

With that cut up some veggies in 1" pieces. Usually Red and green bell peppers, mushrooms, yellow squash, zucchini, onion. Toss in olive oil and garlic salt/Emeril's Bam or the like.
Place in grill basket, upper rack in grill. Stir occasionally. About 30-45 min
Oh, corn on the cob too. Wife is also making herbed roasted potatoes.

Dessert.. My July 4 tradition, homemade ice cream. This year, banana/strawberry

[mrs. a]

We are grilling some brats on the deck tonight.

If that doesn’t make ‘em behave, we’ll take away their iPhones.

[DAC21]

Did the big meal yesterday. Going to relax with some take out tonight.

Smoked up a large rack of spare ribs last night using a modified 3-2-1 method. The last hour in the smoker is eliminated, instead finishing them up on the grill for a little char + adding some bbq sauce.

I usually make my own rub but got lazy and used both the Trader Joes rub and their Hickory bbq sauce. I highly recommend both. The rub has most of the ingredients that you would usually use in a home made recipe, but less sugar and TJ adds ground coffee! The wife made her home made baked beans and some yummy garlic sauteed spinach.

[outofsalt]

"Count our blessings that Obama's EPA hasn't issued more regulations yet that would ban BBQing and fireworks"

I might just light the grill and not cook anything.

[moovova]

Bookmarked for all the GREAT recipes. Thanks and Happy Independence Day!

[dmz]

For reasons that I’m sure are obvious, given the pic, beer can chicken, a summertime staple in my household since the mid 90s, was renamed dancing chicken by my youngest daughter.

[SamAdams76]

Most people hate brussels sprouts but almost everybody likes roasted brussels sprouts on the grill.

Lay out a sheet or two of tin foil

Cover middle section with some olive oil
Drop onto to it a pile of brussels sprouts
Put a slab of butter (not margarine) on top
Sprinkle on kosher salt, garlic powder, pepper and bacon bits
Fold the edges of the tin foil around everything
Place on a grill on low heat for about 45 minutes

Every now and then, open the tin foil and turn over the sprouts so they brown evenly.

Dump into a bowl and serve. There will be no leftovers.

[JoeProBono]

[who knows what evil?]

There will be no leftovers.

My wife (who used to HATE brussels sprouts) makes these. You are right; there are never any leftovers.

[MomwithHope]

Thanks - I bookmarked that banana pepper recipe, I’ll have plenty in a couple of weeks. I LOVE banana peppers!

[MomwithHope]

Now that’s a funny picture right there!

[pugmama]

FYI-make sure your bananas are really ripe. I used three of them and I mashed them after I cooked them.

Banana Pudding Cheesecake

Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings

Southern Living

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, melted
17 vanilla wafers
2 large ripe bananas, diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons light brown sugar

3 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarsely crushed vanilla wafers
Garnishes: sweetened whipped cream, vanilla wafers, sliced bananas tossed in lemon juice

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together first 3 ingredients in a small bowl until well blended. Press mixture onto bottom of a greased and floured 9-inch springform pan. Stand 17 vanilla wafers around edge of pan (rounded sides against pan), pressing gently into crust to secure. Bake 10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack (about 30 minutes).

2. Combine bananas and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, 1 minute or just until sugar has dissolved.

3. Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer 3 minutes or until smooth. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Gently stir banana mixture into cream cheese mixture. Pour batter into prepared crust.

4. Bake at 350° for 45 to 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove cheesecake from oven; gently run a knife around edge of cheesecake to loosen. Sprinkle top of cheesecake with coarsely crushed wafers. Cool completely on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Cover and chill 8 hours.

[Feckless]

There’s not even much real cooking involved... :)

[CARDINALRULES]

Just doing burgers, fried potatoes and onions and probably a veg. Maybe open a can of baked beans and cook down to where some are almost mush. The brats can have the Ballpark beef hotdogs I got as they usually won’t eat burgers.

For the burgers I got ground chuck for $2.89/lb and I also bought over 5 lbs of ground beef for the same price. I am making my own summer sausage with that. I bought the mustard seeds and the Tender Quick last year right before the prices for beef went over $3 a pound and I never got around to making any.

And a chocolate cherry coffee birthday cake with really good frosting. It’s one of my nieces birthday. This is the only chocolate cake that I like. Uses a can (or 2) of dark sweet cherries and Michigan cherry coffee. If anyone wants the recipes for the cake or frosting I can post them.

[SaveFerris]

Keep me up on your progress. I’m thinking that for myself real serious.

[SaveFerris]

lol

[SaveFerris]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Hope this was of some help to folks out there and good to hear what was happening in FReeperland.

I’m bookmarking it, too. There’s a few more things here I want to try one of these days!

I wound up getting almost 6 hours sleep, finally, after my last post this morning.

All grilling went well; ham steaks had a nice sear but reduced by at least 1/2 (lotsa water leeched out). Coals were dying so corn finished in boiling water and chicken I finished in microwave as it was going too slow and low on what few coals had survived.

It’s all good. And looks like I’ll be making burgers tomorrow. I added sliced almonds to the pecans in the ham recipe. It all turned out great. Adding the cinnamon last worked perfectly.

[Dacula]

Dinner is done. The pork butt is nearly gone and won’t make it through the night. A casualty of two teenage boys.

Tried the stuffed banana peppers and we found a new appetizer now that our peppers are coming in on a regular basis.