Monica’s BBQ Sauce

We made this by starting with the Carolina Vinegar Sauce and adding some store bought sauces to get the flavor we wanted. We keep empty whiskey bottles to store the sauce. This recipe made enough to fill six 750ml whiskey bottles. 

To a large stock pot add:

8 cups white vinegar 

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 

2 cups water

1 15oz can tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups of whiskey

2 bottles of Open Pit Original BBQ sauce

2 bottles of Lillie’s Hot Smokey BBQ sauce

1 bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s Hickory & Brown Sugar 

1/4 cup dark molasses 

1/4 cup of salt

1/4 cup red pepper flakes

1/4 cup Franks Red Hot sauce

1/4 cup of bbq rib rub

1/4 cup brown sugar

Slowly warm to a simmer. Simmer low, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Allow to cool a little before filling clean whiskey bottle. Keep refrigerated. 

Gumbo - to make Indy tolerable

Whew, it’s been a while since I have added a new recipe, but it’s getting cold in Indy and we needed something to keep us warm and in love. We love gumbo and creole food in general, so this seemed fitting. I have made gumbo for years, but never wrote down a recipe till now. Gumbo, like jambalaya and chili and chicken soup, can be made a lot of ways with lots of twists. This is what I have found suits my taste cravings for gumbo. It’s rich, warm, salty and slightly spicy. 

Grocery list at the bottom.

In a large stock pot add the following:

3-4 pounds of bone in chicken pieces. I use thighs and split breasts. 

1 stick of butter

1 tablespoon of Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning

1 tablespoon of Old Bay’s seasoning

2 whole bay leaves

1 Dark beer 

Add the enough water to cover the chicken and give plenty of room room to cook and stir. 6 cups at a minimum. 

Bring stock pot to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat slightly and keep a low boil for 10-20 minutes until chicken pieces are done. Check after 10 minutes, then every 5 minutes. Overcooking makes the chicken tough and rubbery. Once the chicken is done, remove from pot and allow to cool. 

While the chicken is cooling, return the stock pot to a full boil and add 2 pounds of large easy peel shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes. Cooking the shrimp in the stock adds flavor to the shrimp and the stock. 

Remove shrimp from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside. Peel them when you have time, we’ll add these to the bowl just before we eat, instead of adding to the pot. You can add them back to the gumbo as well, but add them just before serving so they don’t get over cooked. 

I like to keep the kitchen mess to a minimum, and try to cook with as few dishes as possible, so here’s how I do the rest... you can use a second stock pot if you have it, or a cast iron Dutch oven. I pour the stock off into a large mixing bowl to save and use the same large stock pot for the remaining cooking. 

In the stock pot, over medium high heat, sauté 1 pound of smoked sausage. Brown both sides and set aside. Add chopped veggies and sauté till tender. Set aside to add later. 

In the empty (not cleaned) stock pot, I make my roux. 2/3 cups of oil heated up and add 1 heaping cup of white flour. Stir continuously over med heat until the flour is roasted and the roux turns dark brown. If this is your first roux, do some more googling for better instructions. 

Once the roux is dark brown, reduce heat to low, stir in 4 cups of the stock we saved earlier. Bring to a simmer and add 1 pound of okra and 2 cans of chopped tomatoes. Allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes until the okra is soft. 

Start a pot of water for rice. Cook rice according to the package. I like extra long grained white rice best. 

Next add the pulled chicken, the sausage, and the sautéed veggies back to the gumbo and turn to low heat while the rice finishes cooking. You can add additional stock if needed to get the right consistency. 

Serve the gumbo in a bowl over the rice and top with 4-6 shrimp. “The Bread” makes a great side. 

Grocery list:3-4 pounds of bone in chicken pieces. 1 stick of butter

1 tablespoon of Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning

1 tablespoon of Old Bay’s seasoning

2 whole bay leaves

1 Dark beer 

2 pounds of large easy peel shrimp

1 pound smoked sausage, Conecuh is possible

3 sticks of celery, chopped

1 Large sweet onion chopped

2 bell peppers chopped

2/3 cup of oil

1 cup of white flour

1 pound of okra, cut bite sized. Frozen works. 

2 8oz cans of chopped tomatoes.  

1 pound of extra long grain white rice

Grammys White Chicken Chili - with few minor adjustments.

White Chili with Chicken or Wild Turkey Breast!

1 whole cut up chicken

OR

1 Side of a large wild turkey breast (equivalent of a whole chicken)

4 Quarts water

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon of Everglade's Seasoning or poultry season

1 stick of butter

(optional smoked ham hock added to the stock for flavor)

1/2 cup oil (or bacon grease)

3/4 cup flour

2 med onions finely diced

4 stalks celery finely diced

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you like it hot, less if your heat intolerant)

3 Tablespoons chili powder

1/2 Tablespoon of Cumin powder

1/2 Tablespoon of Garlic Powder

1/2 Tablespoon Creole Seasoning

1/2 Tablespoon of Black Pepper

3 cans Bush's navy beans

Rinse Chicken. Put chicken parts, water, salt, Everglade's seasoning and butter in a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Slow boil for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken to a plate to cool and save the broth. Once Chicken is cool, debone and cut/tear into small bite size chunks.

Put oil in skillet on Medium-Low Heat, add flour to hot oil, stir constantly for 20 minutes (don't let it stick and burn) You want to roast the flour before adding the onions and celery, get the rue to a nice golden brown before going on. Then add onions and celery and cook for 8 more minutes. Add a couple of cups of broth to the mixture to thin and release rue.

Pour rue into a large crock pot and add chicken, stir well, add spices, slowly add broth (as much as needed) to reach the desired thickness. Add beans, cover and cook on low setting for an hour or so.

If using wild turkey, cook till the meat starts to get tender. If the meat isn't tender, keep cooking... Once the meat starts to get tender, add beans and cook on low setting for an hour or more until the turkey meat is fully tender.

Options: Cook a pound of bacon and use the bacon grease in place of the oil for the rue. Chop the bacon into small pieces and use as a topping for the chili. If you use bacon grease for the rue, omit the teaspoon of salt in the soup stock.

A dollop of sour cream on top is very good too!

MawJets Chicken Dorito casserole

One of my favorites as a kid, and still love it. I'm writing this because my daughter is moving out and this is the first recipe she asked for.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a deep casserole dish, debone an entire cooked chicken torn into bite sized pieces. We usually buy a large rotisserie chicken but you can boil and debone a whole cut up chicken as well.

Crunch up a bag of your favorite flavor of Doritos and pour on top of the chicken.

In a sauce pan, add the following and heat to a boil:
1 can of cream of chicken
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 can of Rotel tomatoes
1 cup of milk
(Optional 1 block of cream cheese)

After bringing to a boil, pour the mixture over the top of the chips and chicken.

Cover with shredded cheddar cheese, the more the better, but 3-4 cups should be plenty.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. 

Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

This is a great summertime frozen cocktail. Make a couple blenders full and store in the freezer. Just scoop out a cup full and add a little rum, sprite or ginger ale to thin it to a slushy consistency. 

Fill an 8 cup blender pitcher with ice and add the following:

1 cup of Strawberry cocktail mix

1 12oz can of frozen concentrate lemonade

1/2 cup of Rose’s Lime Juice

1 cup of vodka

1 cup of dark rum

Blend till slushy and delicious. Enjoy. 

BBQ Shrimp

First off....New Orleans Barbecued Shrimp are not BBQ'd. No BBQ sauce, No charcoal, No grill required.

If you have never had these, you have not yet fully lived. Even if you do not like shrimp, you need to eat a few of these just to be sure. If you still do not like them, your taste buds are defective.

New Orleans Barbecued Shrimp are cooked a little different by every cook that makes them. There is no wrong way, per say. Some are better than others though. If you google New Orleans Barbecued Shrimp you will find no less than a couple hundred recipes. I have tasted many different styles and I think I liked every one of them. I did decide that I like this way better than the rest though. For me, the real enjoyment and they way these are meant to be eaten is, the messier the better. I cook them whole, heads and all. Just tails works fine. Peeled is ok, so long as you make a couple adjustments.

THESE ARE EASY TO MAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T BE SCARED BY READING THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BE BRAVE AND TRY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will give the recipe for 2 pound of shrimp, you can adjust for the amount of shrimp you have. However, about 2 pounds is the most you should cook in the pan at one time. If you need 4 pounds to feed the family, just cook 2 pounds at a time. It only takes about 5 mins to cook the pan full of shrimp. There will be sauce left in the pan, just drop the next load and keep cooking. Add a little more butter or beer if needed, probably won't be necessary. If you need to cook more than 4 pounds, you will need to add more butter, seasonings, and beer to make enough sauce. Just eyeball it.

You will need a large saute pan for this recipe. Big wide flat bottom, straight walls. Frying pans don't make great saute pans. You also need a wooden spatula or spoon. Plastic is dangerous. It melts and explodes in your face! Plastic is for milk jugs, not cooking utensils.

2 pounds of JUMBO whole RAW shrimp. Never buy cooked shrimp you plan to cook! Frozen is fine, just put them under COLD running water and they will thaw in about 10-15 mins. Try to get whole shrimp with heads and shells. If you can't find them, just get the JUMBO tails with shells on. If you want to eat the finished product with a fork and not your fingers, then peel the raw shrimp before you start. Keep the shells!!!! Please try this the first time with the shells on, please.

2 sticks of real, salted butter. Do not substitute butter flavored vegetable spunk. If you can't eat butter, stop here and go fix a spinach salad.

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. EVOO from here on.

1/2 a sweet onion, chopped

1 tablespoon of minced garlic, more is good

1/2 tablespoon of Creole Seasoning, I use only Tony Chachere's in the green can.1 tablespoon of Paprika

1 tablespoon of Old Bay's Seasoning

1 tablespoon of Rosemary, I used dried, but fresh is better.

2 Bay Leaves - Not required, but I always use them

1 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper - more if you like to sweat.

1/4 cup of Worcester Sauce

1/2 a good beer - or a cup of white wine. Both give good results. I like beer better.

2 lemons, peeled and sectioned, like you would do an orange.

Prep:

Peel the lemons and section them

Chop the onion

Measure dry spices and mix together in a bowl

measure out Worcester sauce

Wash the shrimp, peel if your a sissy. Save the shells

Drink 1/2 the beer

*start a pan of water for corn on the cob, if you're gonna eat that with the shrimp.

Weenies read this:

If you decided to peel the shrimp, your gonna need a couple more beers. I hope you bought enough.

Take the shells and heads if you have them and put them in a small sauce pan with a 1/2 a beer. Bring them to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 15 mins. Remove from heat and allow to cool 15 mins. Strain liquid off the shells and heads and save for later. See, you just took like 45 minutes extra to keep from peeling your shrimp while eating them. I guarantee it would have been faster to just peel them as you ate. I hope you at least drank a couple beers during this time.

OK, now on to the good stuff:

Add the EVOO to the saute pan on high heat

Add the onions and garlic and rosemary, saute for a couple minutes

Add the Worcester Sauce and continue cooking on high heat, stir like hell! You want to reduce the sauce, but not burn it!

After a minute of bubbling, add the butter and melt. Keep stirring like hell! Keep reducing, keep stirring, don't burn it!

Add the dry seasonings, lemons and beer. Weenies, use your shrimp shell flavored beer stock here.

Bring to a boil and add your shrimp.

Stir and shake the pan, keep the shrimp moving, keep coating the shrimp in the sauce. Make sure you get the ones on bottom off the bottom and the ones on top to the bottom.

Cook on high heat for 5-7 minutes. 5 minutes for peeled or small shrimp, 6 for shell on tails, 7 for head on whole shrimp.

Take it straight to the plate, spoon some sauce over the shrimp.

(OK Weenies, here is one way you redeem yourselves. Since you have peeled shrimp, after the first 2 mins of cooking, reduce heat by half, add a cup or more of heavy cream slowly, ever so slowly while stirring like hell. Cook 3 more mins or a little longer to thicken. This will make a wonderful creamy sauce. If you just dump the cream in, it may curd up and ruin the whole pan. Go slow and you will be fine. This is excellent served over linguine noodles.)

Careful now, these suckers will be freakin' hot! I have burned the ends of my fingers badly trying to eat these too fast.

Use French Bread to soak up the sauce. This is almost as good as the shrimp. Don't even think about serving this dish without french bread to go with it.

I make corn on the cob to go with the shrimp. I just roll the corn in the shrimp sauce left on the plate, no need to butter or salt it. Using the french bread and corn to soak of the sauce is usually deemed more acceptable than licking the sauce off the plate. But, do whatever you have to do to get all the sauce your arteries can withstand.

Jason’s Chicken Salad

Jason’s Chicken Salad 

1 Rotisserie Chicken - deboned approx 3-4 cups of chicken meat

3/4 to 1 cup of 50% Mayo and 50% Sour Cream - add half and check consistency. 

2-3 stalks of celery - chopped

1/2 to 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts

1-2 Granny Smith Apples - diced smallish

1/2 cup Dried Cranberries

1 cup of grape halves

1 teaspoon of Dijon or brown mustard

1/2 Lemon - squeezed juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Serve chilled on Wheat Ritz Crackers with pieces of iceberg lettuce or baby spinach