Broccoli Soup with Rotisserie Chicken on Ciabatta bread

Tonight I made a broccoli soup. I boiled the broccoli for 4 minutes and drained in a colander, but kept the broth. I put the broccoli in a blender and added some of the broth back into it, about half full but not cover the broccoli.

I chopped the broccoli into a smooth texture and added some salt and pepper. I sliced some herb goat cheese and place two slices and some walnuts in the center of a soup bowl. I then poured in the soup.

The rotisserie chicken is from Sam's Club and I just sliced it up and placed on some buttered ciabatta bread. I placed the chicken on the bread open face, topped with a slice of provolone and toasted in the oven for a few minutes.

I topped my sandwich with a slice of roma tomato, honey mustard and raspberry chipotle sauce.

I also made up some fresh squeezed lemonade to drink.

It was a nice light meal and full on flavor.

Enjoy!

Mary Lou's Birthday Dinner

I asked Mary Lou what she would like for her birthday dinner. She answered with crab, prawn and fish.

Oh boy! I have never cooked any of those things. I needed to come up with something that would satisfy her birthday request as well as not go to far over my ability.

So I did some research and decided on the following menu:

Appetizer: Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Main Course: Rib-eye steak, Crab and Asparagus Fettucine Alfredo, and Honey Walnut Prawns.
Desert: I asked my mother to help and she made chocolate fondue

I spent the whole week planning and finalizing my ingredients. I sat down and planned my time based on the prep time required for each element of the dinner. I was able to follow it pretty well, but I did get started later than I wanted. It turned out ok as the dinner guests also arrived a little bit later than originally planned.

Thanks to my Mom, Dad,  and cousin David for helping with the preparation of the meal.

Hope you had a happy birthday Babe!

Pulled Pork and Teriyaki Chicken for Church picnic

Last weekend I was asked to provide the meat for the Loveland Nazarene Church. I was told to plan for serving 200 people which is more than I have ever cooked for in my life. I was nervous that something would go wrong.

So my wife and I set out on a mission to provide the most amazing meat we could.

The first problem I had to tackle was with my smoker. I only had one rack in my drum which is clearly not enough space to do all the pork in one shot. I needed to add another rack. The problem was that meant I needed to find a new lid in order to have the space for the meat on the top rack. I was able to obtain an old weber 22" kettle grill so I took that and pounded out the rim so that it would sit on the smoker barrel.

Now I have 2 racks in the smoker with enough rack space for at least 6 pork butts.

My wife and I headed down to Restaurant Depot in Denver on Saturday morning to pick up the pork and chicken and a few other items needed. We got 60 lbs of pork butt and 80 lbs of chicken thighs.

When we got home we got to work prepping the pork as I needed to get that in the smoker by 7pm in order to give them enough time to finish before the picnic the next day. I worked on trimming the fat while Mary Lou prepared the injection and injected the butts as I finished trimming them. Once that was complete, I spread some yellow mustard over the pork while Mary Lou sprinkled the dry rub all over them.

In the meantime I had started my smoker. I used a full bag of Stubbs charcoal, I really like how this brand burns for smoking. I added some hickory and applewood chunks to the fire for my smoke.

The smoker was ready, the pork was ready so it was time to put them in the smoker. I loaded all 6 butts in the smoker, 3 on each rack and inserted a remote thermometer into each butt to monitor the internal temps. My goal was to reach a temp of 200 before taking them out of the smoker.

I set my watch to check in on the pork every 3-4 hours or so just to make sure all was well. I also wanted to rotate upper and lower racks to make sure they all cooked evenly if I needed to. I did rotate them at about 5am based on the difference between the top and bottom rack temps.

While the pork was smoking, Mary Lou and I prepared the teriyaki marinade for the chicken. The marinade had a mixture of vinegar, molasses, garlic, soy sauce and some other ingredients. The marinade is Mary Lou's creation. We put the chicken in some iced coolers and let them marinade overnight. We planned on grilling the chicken at the picnic site.

When I checked on the meat at 7am I was worried. The fog had rolled in, it was dreary outside and the temperature in the pork was not where I wanted it. I stocked the fire just a little bit  and hoped for the best. At about 9am they finally reached the 200 mark and I pulled the butts off the smoker and wrapped each one in tin foil, and placed them in a heated cooler wrapped in towels. I wanted to let the pork rest and let the juices redistribute.

We packed up our equipment and headed off to the picnic site. We got the grills going and started grilling the chicken. About 15 minutes before serving, I started pulling the pork...it literally fell apart in my hands it was so tender. It smelled awesome and tasted great.

The chicken turned out really good as well. Thanks to those helpers who helped grill the chicken while Mary Lou and I chopped and pulled the meat for serving.

All in all it turned out great. Everyone was served and appeared to enjoy it. It was really nice to hear the positive feedback.

Thank you Loveland Nazarene Church for asking Mary Lou and I to help out with the picnic. It was an honor and we were glad to help out.

Until next time,
Koopdaddy and Koopmommy

Pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, and caramelized onions grilled sandwich

Words do not describe the amazing feast this is for the eyes. But just wait till your taste buds experience it.

I pre-made the macaroni and put into a pan to chill in the fridge. This helps in keeping its form when putting it on the sandwich.

I layered the sandwich in this order...cheese, mac n cheese, pulled pork, onions, another layer of cheese. I toasted it like you would for a normal toasted cheese sandwich.

Yum!

Quinoa crusted Pork chops and OMS sauce

Pork chops on the menu tonight....

I had some left over quinoa so that was already prepared. I sauteed some onion and garlic and added that to the quinoa. 

I sprinkled the pork chops with garlic pepper blend and some salt. I then coated the chops with an Orange Marmalade sauce and sprinkled the quinoa over the top of each chop. I baked it in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes.

The pork tasted ok, but it was overcooked and a bit dry. Next time I will have to pull it out a little quicker.

Enjoy!

Orange Marmalade Sriracha Sauce

Equal parts brown sugar, honey and sriracha mixed with a 15oz jar of orange marmalade, brought to a simmer.

Burgers and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Tonight I made burgers and quinoa stuffed bell peppers.

For the burger I just mixed in some diced onion, worchestershire, egg, garlic powder, salt and pepper and a little candian steak spice blend.

I sauted onion, garlic, celery and added canned corn, tomato and black beans and mixed it with the quinoa. I added a little fennel seed, cumin and salt and pepper to taste.

I lopped off the top of the peppers, removed the seeds and inside and stuck them on the grill for a few minutes to char a little. I then stuck them in the oven to soften up some more while I prepared the quinoa and veggies.

I then stuffed the mixture into the peppers and put their "HATs" back on and let them bake for about a half hour. I sprinkled a little mixed shredded cheese on top of my serving.

I sauteed some mushrooms in raspberry chipotle sauce and served those on top of the burger.

It turned out pretty tasty.

Enjoy!

Edited for spelling errors

Tomater based pasta sauce

I realize it has been a awhile since my last post. My family and I were able to spend some time in California visiting family and friends. I did do some grilling and cooking out there but unfortunately I do not have any pictures.

So therefore...the other night I decided to make some pasta sauce. I wanted to make the sauce the night before so that it would be ready for dinner on Monday and also have some time for the flavors to meld.

I followed a very simple recipe I had in one of my cookbooks, with a few modifications due to not having everything int he recipe.

I used 3 cans of dice tomato's, one yellow onion, one carrot, red pepper, mushrooms and garlic. I ended up not using the zucchini or roma's in the picture.

I chopped up all my veggies and put them into a pan to saute them in some olive oil. I also added 2 bay leaves, some italian seasoning and salt and pepper.

Once the onions are translucent and everything smells really good, I added in the cans of tomato, some tomato paste and a little bit of ketchup.

I let that simmer for about 45 minutes and added more salt and pepper to taste.

The next day for dinner I browned some ground beef and mixed that in with the sauce. It turned out pretty tasty.

Enjoy!