Time for a Recipe

Remember that entry I had prepared? I lost it. I'll redo it, pictures and all and post later. Stephen and I went to the park, located behind one of our fire stations. The last one that my brother worked at before he retired. Which is also across the street from where my daddy works. Cute pictures and I can't wait to post them.  

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I was thinking,  it's been a while since I made a recipe entry and since it's grilling season, I thought I'd post one of our favorite ways to grill chicken. You've probably all tried, or at least heard of "Beer Butt Chicken"  We made this the other day at my mom and dad's house. They'd never had it before, and when I mentioned that it involved a can of beer, daddy kind of perked up and said, "Hey, that sounds good!"  While the chicken was on the grill, one of my aunts called and asked mama what we were doing. Mama, not fully understanding the name of the recipe, replied. "We're cooking some recipe of Mia's.  Butt-Hole chicken. Sounds nasty if you ask me."  I swear, I laughed so hard upon hearing this, I fell out of the kitchen chair and had a hard time catching my breath! From that day, I vowed to never call it beer-butt-chicken again. The following is my version::  

Butt-Hole Chicken  

Here's what you'll need::  

A whole chicken  That means, a chicken that hasn't been cut up. But, if you didn't already know that, maybe you should just skip this and go to your local grocery store and just buy a rotisserie chicken.  

Some type of dry rub I usually just make one of brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, onion powder, paprika, a litte bit of Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt. ...Whatever... Some folks like Cajun seasoning and the like.    

Olive oil  for basting the chicken  

A 12 oz. can of beer (a couple of extra if you wish, for basting the grill master)  

Fresh garlic, minced (as much as you like)    

Here's what you do::  

Be sure to use a grill with a lid tall enough to cook the chicken, standing upright. Prepare your grill for indirect grilling.  

Mix the rub together in a bowl.   

Remove the giblets from the cavity of the chicken.  [My cat, "Patches" swears this is the best part, so I let her have them instead of wasting them.]  

Wash chicken,  inside and out and dry with paper towels. Spray some olive oil on the chicken. Season the chicken inside and out with the rub of your choice. I also like to put some under the skin.   

Pour about 1/2 of the beer into a glass or a chilled mug; then add your minced garlic and any remaining rub to the can of beer. I like to open the can with a can opener or poke about 2 more big holes in it for the steam to escape while it's grilling.  

Now you'll want to lube the can with some olive oil and lower the chicken over the can so it looks like the chicken is sitting on the can. It is hard to balance a big chicken over a small can of beer. If you have a really big chicken, you may need a tall boy for this part. Or you can buy a ChickCan making balancing a lot easier. 

 Place over indirect heat, cover and cook for about an hour and a half to 2 hours. Till the juices are clear and the skin is transparent and crisp.  (if chicken isn't browning enough, you can spread a few coals under the chicken toward the end of cooking time)  

Note:: check often for flare ups. Use caution removing the chicken from grill and the beer can from the chicken, don't burn yourself with the hotbeer like I did, the first timeI cooked this! Use oven mitts! Let cool for about 15-20 minutes.  

This will be the most, moist grilled chicken you've ever had!   Enjoy!

From Mama Mia's Kitchen

Cola and Rosemary Pot Roast with veggies ~ (One of my many ways of preparing roast beef) I get very bored cooking the same recipes over and over. I experiment in the kitchen a lot. I almost never follow a recipe myself, so if you wish to take away from or add to this recipe.. Go ahead I don’t mind J In typing this, I realize that I am getting more like my grandmother. I do a pinch of this and that and almost never use measuring spoons and cups. Wow! It just occurred to me, I am a seasoned cook! Maybe I’ll write a cookbook some day, who knows? Anyway, if you like the looks of last night’s dinner and want to cook it yourself, this is what you’ll need:

A roasting pan (unless you desire to just lay it on the oven rack, but I wouldn’t recommend it.)

Beef Roast, any cut that suits your fancy

1 can of coke (why coke? It adds flavor and it’s a great tenderizer)

A few sprigs of rosemary

Several cloves of garlic

Baby carrots

1 small onion

Russet potatoes, cut in fourths

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Wash meat and dry with paper towels. Place it in a 9x13 pan, lined with foil for easy cleanup. Make holes in roast with a sharp pointed knife and push little pieces of garlic in them. Pour almost a full can of coke over the top. (you may add rum to the remaining coke and sip while roast is cooking) Salt and pepper to taste. Take a pair of kitchen shears or playschool scissors, whatever you have, and cut the leaf tips off of 1 or 2 sprigs of rosemary, all over the meat. Cover with foil and cook for 1 hour at 350° . Remove from oven, add the veggies; spray with olive oil; salt and pepper them, then repeat the procedure of cutting rosemary leaf tips all over the veggies. Replace the foil and cook for 1 more hour or until your veggies and meat are cooked the way you like them. note:: I tuck the leftover rosemary stems under the roast as it cooks for more flavor

Enjoy!

A couple of my favorite Christmastime recipes

“Mia, will you bring that cheese ball?” Recipe

This is probably the most popular cheese ball I’ve ever seen. Every party we’re invited to,  I don’t even ask, “what can I bring?” anymore. It’s always the following cheese ball. So, you will need the following if you want to make this. Be ready to be bombarded with requests everywhere you’re invited, for this one. In fact, they may invite you, just for the cheese ball. The original creator of this recipe was a dear client of mine, almost 20 years ago. I can’t take credit

2-8 oz blocks of cream cheese

6 oz grated cheddar (I use sharp, and grate it very fine)

1-4 oz can deviled ham

½ c chopped green onions

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp poppy seed

Mix thoroughly, you’ll need to get into it with your hands and mush it up really good. (I like to use disposable gloves for this part) shape into a ball and chill. Serve with your choice of crackers.

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Also, we love these: 1-2-3 appetizers (easy, and great for Christmas breakfast!)

3 c bisquick (sp?) In fact, this recipe is on the box J

2 c grated, sharp cheddar cheese

1 lb sausage (mild or hot, whatever you like)

Just like you’re making the cheese ball, you have to get your hands into this and mash it together really well. Shape into balls (I use a melon ball scooper) Bake in a preheated 400° for about 15-20 min.

My daddy expects these on the table Christmas morning! Last year, I used turkey sausage, he and my husband both ate them anyway, but said, “don’t make those again.” They like venison sausage very much though. Ugh, barbarians!