Smoked Croc Pot Turkey breast

I decided to try making a turkey breast in the croc pot after many many years of having to gravy soak the bird on Thanksgiving Day. I enjoy the fried turkey but I try not to eat too much fried foods, especially around the holiday time of the year when only unhealthy food is made.

So I purchased a bone in 6lb turkey breast, then seasoned it with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder.

Then I smoked the breast at 175 degrees for about 2 hours.

Please do not try to eat any meat off, the short smoke period was just get a good flavor throughout the meat.

Next I put the bird in breast down to be sure it would be tender. I also sliced an onion and stuffed that along with garlic in the cavity. I then poured about 24 ounces of chicken broth into the croc pot to add moisture so that the meat will just fall off the bone. Then I set it on low for 6 hours.

It had smelled like I opened up a bbq restaurant inside the house.

Be careful when removing the bird from the croc pot, it may fall apart on you.

Let it cool for about 15 minutes then it will just fall apart, serve and enjoy.

Bacon wrapped Venison backstrap

This appetizer is always a pleaser and it's really easy to make.

Ingredients:
Meat of your choice, the amount is dependent upon how many you want to make, I used venison back strap seasoned with Fiesta brand fajita seasoning and seasoned salt
Sliced orange bell pepper
Sliced cheddar cheese, some of it will melt off in the cooking process but the majority will stay intact
Sliced jalapenos, I quartered mine, didn't want it to be too spicy
Thin cut bacon, I don't like to use the thick cut when I wrap food because it the thick cut takes too long to cook

Then begin to wrap up the ingredients inside the bacon and I like to use at least 2 toothpicks to keep it together.

Once you are done you can immediately put them on the fire and begin to cook or soak them in Italian dressing for a few hours.

When you are cooking over an open flame be careful of flare ups, it will happen, when they are done cooking to your liking serve and enjoy!

Fish Taco's

Fish Taco's made with grilled Mahi Mahi, sauteed yellow bell pepper, sweet onions and shitaki mushrooms, fresh sliced avocado, cheese and my homemade cilantro jalapeno ranch dressing (you can find that on my blog in the recipe section), on a HEB cook at home flour tortilla.

Ground Turkey Parmesan

This is something I tried on the fly, it turned out to be pretty good. This is a variation of the chicken parmesan and it's pretty easy to make.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey patties, seasoned to your liking, I used one egg, bread crumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, basil, and oregano.
1 red bell pepper sauteed
1 package mushrooms sauteed
1 jar marinara sauce heated
1 tub Pillsbury Italian bread cooked, the toasted on both sides
1 package mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Cook all of the above and then being to build: bread, patty, vegetables, half the cheese, all the sauce, then top with the rest of the cheese

 Then put in the oven on convect until the cheese has melted and browned.

Deer in a Blanket

 This is a quick and easy recipe.

Ingredients:
1 tube croissant rolls of your choice
1 lb meat of your choice, I went with venison breakfast sausage
cheese to your liking

Directions:
Cook meat and add cheese to the amount of your choosing.
Separate crossiants into 4 pieces opposed to the usual 8, so stop before you tear them into triangles.
Lay the dough onto a cookie sheet and pour meat in equal on to each piece.
Roll up tight but not so much as it can tear the dough easily.
Bake to specifications as per the instructions of the croissant package.

This morning I served mine with fresh sliced avocado.

Mexican Hashbrown Casserole

This is something I came up with and being pretty proud of how it turned out.

Ingredients:
1 pound hatch chili ground pork (It was hatch chili festival here recently so I was able to use this, but you can use whatever protein you choose)
Green Bell Pepper
Sweet Onion
1 can Rotel
1 bag shreaded cheddar cheese
2 cans cream of chicken
1 bunch cilantro
Avocado and sour cream to dress

Chop onion and bell pepper, cook with meat until done, then add in rotel until warm. You may need to drain everything because of the liquid from the rotel.

Then in a large bowl mix the meat mixture, cream of chicken, half the cilantro and half of the cheese. Then put it into a greased casserole dish, top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour until cheese is golden brown, let cool for 10 minutes. Serve with sliced avocado and a dollop of sour cream.

Southwest Cobb Salad

Southwest Cobb Salad

Ingredients:
Homemade Chipotle Ranch Dressing
Black beans
Tomatoes
Boiled Eggs
Grilled Sweet Corn
Avocado
Grilled Chicken
Hatch Chile Bacon

Pretty self explanatory here on how to make

Oven Fried Chicken Tenders

Oven fried chicken tenders with hatch chile polenta and gouda cheese, with sauteed mushrooms and spinach.

New York Strip with Rock Crab Claws

New York strip steak, rock crab claws with a mustard sauce, tater tots, and a salad.

Ranchero Sauce

Ranchero Sauce

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter - I like to use sweet corn butter
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups chicken broth
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Prep:
Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add next 6 ingredients and saute vegetables until they are soft. Then add in the broth and cook until sauce thickens, stirring frequently, this will take about 20 minutes. Once it's done add in the cilantro and serve on your morning steak and eggs.

Venison Stir Fry

Venison Stir Fry with egg noodles and naturally fortified by pot stickers.

Roasted Garlic Aioli

Ingredients:
3 whole heads of garlic
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
Dash Worcestershire sauce

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Cut the heads off the tops of the garlic cloves, then place on a large piece of foil, drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Wrap the foil into a tight pouch and cook for 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Then squeeze the pulp from the skins.

In a food processor combine all the ingredients and pulse until well combined.

 Then refrigerate at least for one hour to let the flavors meld together. Then serve it with whatever your heart desires.

Tonight I put mine on a burger with swiss cheese, monterrey jack cheese, apple wood smoked bacon,  sauteed onions, arugula, tomatoes, pickles on a jalapeno cheese bread.

Turkey Nest

This is a turkey pattie with a fried egg in the middle.

You're welcome to cook the egg as long as you like, I like my eggs fried medium.

First make a meat pattie and season to your choosing, it helps to make a pattie somewhat thin so it will cook fairly quickly.

Then take a cup and with it's top use it as a cookie cutter to remove the center of the pattie.

Then add the pattie to the skillet and begin to cook. After a few minutes go ahead and add the egg to the center.

Cook the pattie about 3/4 of the way through then flip, be sure to flip quick so the egg yolk stays in the middle.

Then top it with your favorite cheese to finish cooking and serve with whatever you so please.

Shrimp with a mushroom white wine sauce....okay more of a gravy!

This dish is usually made with chicken opposed to shrimp but since it was Good Friday no meat for me.

Tonight I decided to have asparagus with it as a side, but you can have whatever you like on the side.

Ingredients:
1 lb. peeled shrimp
White wine of your choice (if you're unwilling to drink it then don't cook with it)
Vegetable Oil
Garlic
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 sweet onion diced
Flour
Cajun seasoning
Chicken Broth
White Rice for this I used Orzo Rice

 Season the flour with your cajun seasoning of choice and add the shrimp to cover them lightly.

 Just cover the bottom of the bottom of the pan with oil, you don't really want to submerge the shrimp. Cook all the shrimp adding oil as necessary, set cooked shrimp to the side.

 Once you have cooked the shrimp add in the garlic, mushrooms, onions, and about a cup of white wine and cook down.

 Once you have cooked it down then add the chicken broth and about another cup of white wine and let simmer. It's up to you how much broth and wine to add, it all depends how runny you want your sauce to be.

 Once you cook down your sauce add in the cooked shrimp, because the shrimp is floured you may have to add more liquid(broth or wine) to make it more runny as it will thicken up a bit. Once the shrimp is heated up again serve over the rice with an optional piece of french bread.

Chicken Fried Venison

Who doesn't love anything that is chicken fried, this is my recipe I like to use for chicken frying just about anything.

First you will need to figure out how much you are going to need to cook, this is just for the lady and my self so we don't need too much meat.

I like to soak any wild meats in buttermilk for at least 48 hours prior to cooking it. The buttermilk takes out any blood that is left in the meat which will take away that gamey taste. The buttermilk also makes the meat become really tender.

Not long ago I discovered the Louisiana brand chicken fry, it makes a really good batter. All you need to do is half is used for a dry dip and the other have the mixture is your wet dip. The directions call to add water, but I like to use milk so it makes it a much thicker batter. No more having to make an egg wash and seasoning your flour. They call it spicy but I like to think it has more of a warm flavor.

I drained as much buttermilk as I could, some will remain but it won't hurt anything. I like to use a cast iron pot to fry in because it keeps the splattering to a minimum. Before you get to frying be sure you heat up your oil to 375 degrees. I like to bread it then drop it strait into the oil.

MMMMM frying.....Depending on how thick and how crispy you like your food to be, I like to cook my meat about 3-4 minutes on each side.

While the first round is in the fryer turn your oven on to about 150 and use a cooling rack to keep your cooked meat warm and crispy. Putting fried food on a paper towel to cool only makes it soggy, now who would want that.

You can make whatever sides your heat desires, tonight I made brown gravy, macaroni and cheese, and sauteed asparagus. (finish product above)