Tag Archives: BBQ

Oct15

Smoked Stuffed Cabbage

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Smoked Stuffed Cabbage

  
Y’all remember from my last post about smoking meatloaf and how delicious it was. Well this time we decided to smoke some stuffed cabbage, which again was inspired by seeing it on a restaurant menu at a BBQ place. It was so good and I hope you’ll give it a try the next time you’re considering sides for your next BBQ.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large head of cabbage
  • 1 lb bacon
  • 1 sweet onion
  • 1 jalapeño chopped (with seeds if you like it hot)
  • 2 T butter divided 
  • Olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove chopped
  • Salt and pepper

1. First prep your cabbage head by peeling off and discarding the outer leaves. Then core it by using a sharp knife to dig out the core and scoop out enough room to stuff it.

   
  

 
2. Slice your bacon into bite size pieces and cook in your skillet. Then take out the cooked bacon and place onto a plate with a paper towel to allow it to drain and remove all but a couple spoonfuls of the bacon grease from the skillet.

   
    
 
3. Now add your chopped sweet onion, jalapeño, salt, pepper, and 1 T of butter and sauté for about 15 minutes allowing the onion to caramelize. Then add your garlic in and cook another 5 minutes or so.

   

4. Turn the heat off and add your bacon back to the mix. 

  

5. Drizzle the inside of your cabbage head with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and add your other T of butter. Then begin to fill with your stuffing.

   

  

 6. Now wrap it all up in foil and put it on your smoker at 225F about 3 hours. Your cooking time might vary depending on how hot your fire is and the size of your cabbage, but you’ll know it’s done when the cabbage turns very soft.  

  
7. Once it’s cooked bust that puppy open like a bloomin’ onion and chow down!

  

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Jul15

BBQ Chicken

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BBQ Chicken

BBQ Chicken

This is hands down the best BBQ chicken you will ever have! That’s right, I’m that confident in this BBQ chicken recipe and its deliciously sticky BBQ sauce. Mmmmm 🙂 While reading Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman)’s facebook page, I noticed she had put up a recipe for her BBQ chicken. She does hers with peach preserves and her favorite BBQ sauce (which happens to be one of my favorites as well), and I decided to change up the recipe a bit to make it my own. So essentially, it’s a mix of recipes. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup mesquite/smoky/spicy bbq sauce (I used Head Country Orignial here because I love it and also because Ree Drummond used it in her original recipe)
1/3 cup sweet/mild bbq sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s here and Original or Honey BBQ would be delicious)
1/4 cup apricot preserves
1-2 garlic cloves finely chopped
salt and pepper
2 1/2 – 3 pounds chicken thighs/wings/legs

1. Whether you’re doing this on the grill or in your oven, you’ll need to spray a piece of foil with non-stick cooking spray to keep the chicken from sticking throughout this process. If you’re doing it in your oven, you can either spray a jelly roll pan with or without foil, or use a grilling rack. I used the grill for my chicken because the wind wasn’t trying to blow my house down that day, and it was nice to be outside.
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2. Salt and pepper both sides of whatever chicken you’re using.
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3. Combine both BBQ sauces, apricot preserves, and chopped garlic in a small sauce pot and place on the stove on low. Stir until combined, then you can turn off the heat once it’s all married up nicely.
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4. You’re going to cook your chicken on the grill/oven for about 20-25 minutes before you start basting it with the sauce. If you’re using your oven, the first 20-25 minutes the temperature should be around 350. Once your time is up, turn up the heat to about 400, or just crank up your grill and baste the first side of the chicken, flip over, then baste the other side. Then allow it to cook another 7-8 minutes before repeating the process. You’ll do this several times until you run out of sauce and your chicken is done. Make sure you’re closing the lid of grill after each basting and also make sure not to lose any of the skin during the flipping process.
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Doesn’t that look delicious? It’s ready to eat! Those apricot preserves and their plump juicy apricots really make this chicken amazing!

Jun12

Duke’s Jalapeño Havarti Sliders

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Duke’s Jalapeño Havarti Sliders

Duke's Jalapeño Havarti Sliders

You may or may not have drawn the logical conclusion that I’ve had a thing for sliders this pregnancy. It’s true! I’m currently obsessed with sliders and have made them several different ways, but I think this one is my favorite! This recipe uses ground turkey and deliciously creamy Havarti cheese, and they’re heavenly. Can’t find Havarti cheese? Pepper jack would work great here too.

Ingredients:
1 package ground turkey (the one I bought was 19 oz, so slightly over a pound)
1 chopped jalapeño (seeded and deveined)
About 1/4 c cubed jalapeño Havarti cheese
Your favorite burger seasoning
1 heaping T Duke’s mayonnaise

1. Combine mayo, ground turkey, jalapeños, cheese, and seasonings in a mixing bowl. I added about a tsp of seasoning into this mix, then sprinkled a little more on each patty after they were assembled. It’s important to note that every Southerner knows that Duke’s mayo is the best mayo you can buy and blows Hellman’s out of the water, so I highly suggest that’s what you use. However, if you can’t find it, any mayo you find will work.
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* That one on the top right is plain for my 2 year old 🙂

2. You can either grill these or cook them on your stovetop. You may have heard me mention I live in a wind tunnel with a vortex that threatens to suck me up every time I step outside to approach my grill, so I did these on the stovetop. Don’t forget to spray your pan like I did, because these puppies stick!
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3. Prepare yourself for the juiciest and most delicious slider ever! I highly recommend serving on a toasted slider bun with a kicked up creamy coleslaw and sliced garden tomato. For a quick coleslaw that’s only semi-homemade I used a creamy coleslaw mix and added a spoonful of Duke’s mayo to the mix, a splash of white vinegar, cayenne pepper, and salt & pepper. It really made it taste like it was totally from scratch and incorporated the Duke’s mayo theme I was going for. Yum! Duke's Jalapeño Havarti Sliders

Jun4

Pork Chop Grenades

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Pork Chop Grenades

Pork Chop Grenades

This is one of those summer hits that people will be wanting your recipe for. A few years ago, I saw a recipe on one of those recipe chain Facebook posts for stuffed chicken breasts that used these same stuffing ingredients, and thus, eventually the pork chop grenade was born. At first, I made this recipe using chicken thighs, but it has expanded to the “other white meat”, and I’ve gotta say it’s pork perfection! But feel free to sub chicken or even pork tenderloin in place of a pork chop here – it really is versatile!

Ingredients:
Pork chops or pork steaks with bones removed
BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays here)
1-2 strips of bacon per grenade
1/2 jalapeño sliced per grenade
Your favorite grilling seasoning or just plain salt and pepper
About 1 T cream cheese per grenade

1. This recipe graduated from chicken to pork because these bone-in pork steaks were on sale for a steal at the store. See what being a savvy shopper can do for you? 🙂 I just cut out the bones of the steaks before using them. Obviously, the easiest thing would be to buy thin cut boneless pork chops.
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2. Sprinkle your favorite grilling seasoning on your meat and put about a tablespoon of cream cheese on each chop.
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3. Using either the back of a spoon or your fingers, mush the cream cheese out a little bit and place 1/2 a jalapeño on each. I like to keep a few seeds and stems in mine to keep them spicy! Please excuse the blurry pic 🙂
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4. Now here is the messy part! You’re going to wrap these up into grenades using 1-2 slices of bacon each. Try to seal them up with the bacon because it helps keep the stuffing inside. I like to do a little fresh cracked black pepper on top of the bacon because it’s delicious and it looks pretty.
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5. Now you can decide to either bake or grill these. Normally, I grill mine but now that I’m living in Amarillo AKA the US’s windiest city , I don’t particularly enjoy grilling in gale force winds, so I bake them. I use a grilling sheet I’ve sprayed with non-stick spray on top of a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan lined with foil for easy cleanup. Bake at 375 for anywhere from 45-60 minutes based on the thickness of your meat. Then take them out and turn the heat up to 400 or crank the grill up.
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6. Now you’re going to baste them with your favorite BBQ sauce and put back in for 10-15 minutes. Again, you don’t want to overcook them, so keep in mind the thickness of your meat before you cook it.
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7. Your grenades are ready to eat! Let’s cut into one of these babies and check out that creamy spicy perfection!
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May23

BBQ Sliders With Caramelized Onions

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BBQ Sliders With Caramelized Onions

BBQ Sliders With Caramelized Onions

Hello! I am so glad to get to post this yummy recipe just before Memorial Day Weekend! I’ve been so busy lately with our big move to Amarillo I’ve hardly had time to cook anything worth posting a recipe for, but we are settled in now, so hopefully I can get back in the swing of things. Ok, let’s get started!

First, I want to be honest up front and say I bought the patties for these sliders from the butcher in our grocery store. A) I’m tired and need all the help I can get and B) They looked delicious. They’re jalapeño cheddar sliders, but any kind of slider you want to use here would be delicious. Just be sure to sprinkle a little of your own favorite seasoning on both sides before you use them. Also, tell everyone you made them from scratch and throw away the evidence before anyone else eats them. It’ll be our little secret 😉
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Ingredients:

2 large sweet onions (1015, Honey Sweets, Videlia, whatever…)
1/2 stick of butter
7-8 sliders seasoned with your favorite burger seasoning
Your favorite BBQ sauce (for this recipe I used a spicy one)
Salt and pepper
Water
Slider buns

1. Dice up your onion and throw it into your large cast iron skillet. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, consider yourself scolded and just use a normal skillet for now, but buy one as soon as possible. Season with salt and pepper and throw your 1/2 butter stick in there. Sauté about 15 minutes on medium to high heat.
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2. After the onions are mostly Caramelized and smelling delicious, add your patties to the skillet right there on top of the onions and add about 1/2 cup of water. It’s going to steam those yummy patties.
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3. I like to put a lid on at this point because it helps the steam. Check out my beautiful silicone flower lid! (You can use any lid that doesn’t seal)
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4. Flip the patties after a few minutes and place the lid back on. After about 8-10 minutes, they’re essentially done with the high heat. Take the patties and set them aside for a minute on a plate.
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5. Now stir those onions around and give them a give them a few healthy squirts of your favorite BBQ sauce. Turn the heat on low and after the BBQ sauce has been incorporated, add your patties back in and let them simmer in that yummy deliciousness for at least ten minutes before serving.
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6. Serve these little medallions from heaven on toasted slider buns and top with your onion mixture. Personally, we like to add my Texas Coleslaw recipe on top and serve with a side of
favorite beans.
image Notice I somehow ended up with the two bun bottoms instead of a top and bottom. Typical.

May23

Texas Coleslaw

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Texas Coleslaw

Texas Coleslaw

Y’all this coleslaw is so delicious and so good for you. Unlike creamy recipes, this one is vinegar based and has some heat. This is probably my most asked for recipe of anything I’ve ever made for a crowd. Here is the recipe for a single batch, but you can easily double or triple everything for large parties.

Ingredients:
10 oz bag of coleslaw mix (I’ve used broccoli slaw, original coleslaw mix, and even the new kinds with all kinds of different stuff in it like Brussels Sprouts and cranberries. But my favorite one is the mixed bag with original slaw and broccoli slaw mixed together.)
1/4 c white wine vinegar (No, this is not the same thing as white vinegar. No, you cannot sub other vinegar.)
1/4 c oil (olive, canola, or vegetable)
2 tsp – 4 tsp sugar
Juice of one lime
Salt and pepper
Pinch of cumin powder (optional)
A handful of those sweet baby bell peppers sliced into rings (yellow, orange, and red)
One sliced jalapeño with seeds
2-3 sliced green onions
A handful of chopped cilantro

1. Combine mix and all chopped ingredients into a mixing bowl.image

2. Whisk together white wine vinegar, oil, lime juice, seasonings, and sugar. Give it a taste and see if you like the sugar content in it. It should be sweet and tangy. Start off with 2 tsp and go from there. Once it’s whisked together, add to mixing bowl.
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3. Allow it to sit in the fridge a while before you serve it. I like to allow at least an hour. It’s delicious by itself or on top of sliders 🙂
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Mar24

Pasta Salad

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Pasta Salad

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Hey y’all! I bet you’ve been wondering where I’ve been and why I haven’t posted anything in a while. Well, that’s because I just finished my first trimester of my pregnancy and I am just now able to begin to look at food again. Seriously, looking at or smelling food in any way was a big no no up until now, so slowly but surely I’ll be coming back to post more Blonde Bitchin West Texas Kitchen recipes!

Here is my go-to pasta salad recipe whenever I’m going to a BBQ or even packing a picnic. It’s so yummy and kids love it too because of the string cheese surprise in there! Who puts string cheese in a pasta salad? I do 🙂

Ingredients:
1 box of pasta (spiral or penne works best)
1 cup Italian dressing (my favorite is the original Wishbone kind in the green bottle)
4 sticks of string cheese cut up into slices
1/2 bunch of green onions chopped
1/4 sweet onion finely chopped
1 cup total red and yellow cherry tomatoes chopped in half
*I also like to add whatever I have in the fridge that looks good and these are optional – chopped marinated artichoke hearts, chopped marinated green olives, sliced roasted red peppers marinated in oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. First chop up all your ingredients and add them to a large bowl and add your Italian dressing and let that sit in the fridge while your pasta is boiling according to the instructions on the box.
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2. Add your cooked pasta noodles to the yummy mixture you have in your bowl and add salt and pepper all over and stir together.
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3. Place your pasta salad in the fridge and allow it to chill at least 1 hour prior to serving. So good!
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Feb19

Doritos Burger

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Doritos Burger

Doritos Burger
Nacho Cheese Doritos + Burgers = Doritos Burgers. Let that sink in… Ok, I’ll tell you how these burgers came to be: Years ago, I was moving into my new apartment and my mom had bought everything we needed to grill burgers at the pool. However, we quickly realized all the seasonings were still packed away, so my mom said “No worries!” And took out handfuls of Doritos chips and mixed them up in the hamburger meat. We all looked at her like she was crazy, but let me tell ya, those burgers were delicious!!! So, I’ve been making my burgers with Nacho Cheese Doritos ever since!

Ingredients:
Nacho Cheese Doritos (duh)
Hamburger meat
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tsp your favorite burger seasoning

1. I put my Worcestershire, hamburger meat, and seasoning all in a bowl. Then, grab your Doritos.
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2. Take a few handfuls and crush the chips up in your hands, then place those in the bowl.
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3. Shape your meat into hamburger patties. image

4. Grill burgers to desired doneness. Mmm, smells good!
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5. Oh ya, I forgot to tell you about my favorite pickles. These are amazing on a burger! image

6. Serve up your burger with your favorite toppings and serve with seasoned sweet potato fries for a yummy side!
Doritos Burger

Oct19

Pulled Pork Tacos

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Pulled Pork Tacos

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I love shopping on Mondays at our local grocery store, because that’s when they put all of their meat on sale they’re trying to get rid of before their new shipment comes in. I have an extra freezer at my house for this very thing because the deals they offer are just too good to pass up. Earlier this week one of my purchases was pork shoulder blade roast for $7. My family of three has been eating pulled pork every day for a week and I still have some leftover! Needless to say, I had to get creative with how I prepared it every night so we didn’t get tired of eating the same thing. So after preparing pulled pork sandwiches, pulled pork enchiladas, and pulled pork breakfast sandwiches, I decided to make tacos with it one night. It has definitely been our favorite way to eat it! Pulled pork tacos aren’t anything new, but here is my recipe for them:

Ingredients
1.5 – 2 pounds pulled pork
1 can black beans drained
1/2 sweet onion chopped
2-3 tablespoons of your favorite BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray’s Original)
1 garlic clove
Salt and Pepper
Handful of chopped cilantro
Tortillas (I use white corn, my husband uses flour)
Olive Oil
2 roasted green chiles or 1 small can diced green chiles (optional)

1. In a saute pan or cast iron skilled heat chopped onion over medium to high heat with a drizzle of olive oil and cook until it begins to caramelize. Season with salt and pepper and add garlic cloves. Saute for a few more minutes at medium to high heat.

2. Add pulled pork, drained black beans, chiles (if you’re using them), BBQ sauce, and cilantro. Turn heat down to low and stir until it is entirely heated through and ready to eat.

3. In a separate skillet on high heat drizzle olive oil in there and heat tortillas on both sides. Stuff with pulled pork filling and top with your favorite taco toppings. My favorite is to top with my homemade salsa.