Trust me...you may want to double the recipe.

This grilled chicken chowder is a simple comfort food…straight from the grill. Add smoke to the fire if desired. Like many comfort foods, there are no rules. Throw in the kitchen sink if desired. I often add a cup or two of frozen corn or a couple of diced jalapeno peppers. Add shrimp, crab meat and some clams to the pot and BAM!…a great seafood-chicken chowder!

Serves 4 as a main dish or 6 as an appetizer

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans (10-3/4 oz) condensed mushroom soup
2-2/3 cups milk (2 soup cans)
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 sweet onion, diced
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 medium carrot, sliced
4 strips bacon, chopped
cheddar cheese, shredded for topping
oyster crackers, if desired.

Instructions
1.In a mixing bowl whisk together the milk and soup.
2.Combine soup mixture, vegetables and bacon, in a dutch oven or disposable aluminum pan.
3.Cover with aluminum foil.
4.Build a medium fire for indirect heat (275-degrees F).
5.Place pan on grates opposite the fire.
6.Sear the chicken breasts over the fire, turning once and move to the cooler side of the grill. This is the time to add a handful of wood chips for a smokey flavor.
7.Cover grill and allow to cook for about 20-30 minutes or until a thermometer in the chicken reads 165-degrees F.
8.Remove breasts and allow to cool until safe to handle. Dice or shred chicken.

With the chicken added, it's just a matter of time now. I'll bet you can smell it from your house!

9.Remove foil from pan and mix in chicken pieces. Leave off foil, but cover the grill and continue to cook an additional 30-45 minutes or until vegetables are soft, stirring once.
10.Season per taste with salt and pepper.
11.Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheese. Serve with oyster crackers.

I’d be forced to pack my bags and move if I ever made this recipe without grilled cornbread. The two go so well together!

If you’d like to give Gary Glen’s Easy Grilled Cornbread a try, you can get it here.

Technorati Tags: chicken chowder, chowder, comfort food, seafood chowder

Easy, but tasty!

If you love cornbread, you’re going to love grilled cornbread. I love cornbread! Everyone knows how well cornbread goes with barbecue, especially barbequed chicken. The only problem I have is that I suck at baking. Now Momma could make a mean cornbread, but unfortunately her talent failed to pass down to the next generation. Therefore, something had to be done. I had to come up with an easy solution to satisfy my cornbread cravings until my next trip to Dixie. Of course, ovens hate me so the recipe had to be grill friendly. I needed to come up with grilled cornbread In addition, if you’re lazy like me this recipe is perfect since laziness is one of the key ingredients. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 pkgs (8.5 oz) Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
  

  A sucessful cornbread use to be a blur to me

• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cream style sweet corn

Instructions

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine sweet corn, milk and and eggs.
2. Slowly add corn muffin mix while whisking. Continue to whisk until well blended.
3. Set aside for 5-10 minutes.
4. In the meantime, prepare a hot fire (325-degrees F) for indirect cooking.
5. Whisk batter once again until smooth and not lumpy.
6. Pour into a well greased 8” dia. cast iron skillet. Bacon grease is my preferred grease. It works well and gives the cornbread an additional flavor. Note: Well greased is the key word here if you’re to get the whole thing to release from the pan.
7. Place on the center of the grill grates and cover grill.

It's up to the fire and the good Lord, now!

1. Cook for 60 minutes. Remove and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving. I watch the edges of the cornbread. There is a point where it gets a darker brown. After some experience, that color will tell you that it’s done.
2. Cut slices right from the pan or remove to a plate. Some coaxing may be required to get it broke loose from the pan. A butter knife inserted along the edges with a very slight upward motion should help. Place a plate on top of the pan. Flip over and with some luck, the cornbread should plop onto the plate. Otherwise, you failed the “well greased” part of the assignment. Repeat with a second plate so the cornbread is right side up.

Don’t be disappointed if your first one goes to hell on you. I messed up on my first two attempts. Once you understand your grill’s limitations for this recipe, you’ll soon be cranking out cornbread in your sleep.

Serve from the pan or download to a plate. Get out the butter!

 A match made in heaven is to pair the cornbread with this Grilled Chicken Chowder. It’s one of my favorites.  Give it a try…you’re going to love it!

 You can get the recipe…here.

Technorati Tags: bread, cornbread, grilled cornbread, side dishes

BBQ sauce, bacon and smoke...it's a perfect world after all!

Although I love deviled eggs, I find one thing troubling with them…the majority of the ones I’ve tried are somewhat on the bland side. I need some zip when it comes to appetizers. These smoked devilish eggs are guaranteed to cure the “ho hum deviled egg syndrome”. The flavor of smoke and bacon complement the eggs quite well. Add a hint of barbeque sauce and a little bit of heat and you’ll find yourself with a well rounded deviled egg.

Of course unsmoked eggs will still produce a great deviled egg, you’ll just miss out on one of the main taste ingredients. See how I smoke my eggs…here. (They’re great for so many reasons!)

Ingredients

• 6 smoked, or regular hard boiled eggs
• 3 strips of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• 1/2 teaspoon barbeque sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• Smoked Chipotle pepper powder or Hungarian Paprika for garnish
• Salt, per taste…I find that the salt content of the hot sauce is sufficient

Instructions

1. Peel and cut eggs in half, lengthwise.
2. Using a teaspoon, remove egg yolks and put in a small mixing bowl. With a fork, mash yolks well.
3. Add remaining ingredients and blend well.
4. Carefully fill the egg whites with the yolk blend.
5. Sprinkle lightly with the Smoked Chipotle pepper powder or Hungarian Paprika.
6. Allow eggs to “age”, if possible. Store in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours or overnight. This allows time for the crisp bacon to soften and impart a nice balance of bacon flavor.

Egg yolk tip: Turn the carton of eggs upside-down for 15-30 minutes before boiling. This will center the yolk within the egg for a better looking deviled egg, or so I’ve been told.

See how I smoke eggs…here!

Technorati Tags: appetizers, deviled eggs, hard boiled eggs

From Moodtapes. Visit their YouTube Channel for more great stuff. Click Here!

From everyone here at the coop, have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Technorati Tags: christmas classic, great stuff, holidays, Hollywood Chicken

The two-month extension for the effective date of enforcement of the “Nutrition Labeling of Single-Ingredient Products and Ground or Chopped Meat and Poultry Products” final rule will provide retailers with a much-needed opportunity to properly implement and comply with the new requirements. The extension will also provide retailers with additional time to collect the necessary nutrition information from suppliers for 40 of the most popular cuts of meat and poultry products, either on the package labels or at the point-of-purchase, as specified by the forthcoming new meat labeling law.

A coalition of organizations representing food, agriculture and retail members, including the Food Marketing Institute, National Grocers Association, American Lamb Board, American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Chicken Council, National Pork Board, National Pork Producers Council and the National Turkey Federation, applauded FSIS’s announcement to delay the effective date.

“The mandatory nutrition labeling rule will have a significant impact on the regulated entities, and we commend FSIS for recognizing the challenges we face and for extending the effective date,” the coalition remarked. “When FSIS announced this final rule last December, we began working to understand the new requirements to ensure implementation. Over the past 11 months, we have worked with FSIS to fully understand the rule’s requirements, but we still have questions that need to be answered before a smooth implementation can occur.

“While we support efforts to educate consumers about the nutritional profile of meat and poultry products, it is crucial to get it right. Delaying the effective date for two months will give retailers and others in the food production chain additional time to implement labeling systems, to obtain necessary software and scales to properly label the products and to educate employees about the new requirements. We look forward to continuing to work with FSIS over the next five months to find the least disruptive and most cost-effective way to implement the rule.”

The nutrition facts panels are expected to include the number of calories and the grams of total fat and saturated fat a product contains. Additionally, any product that lists a lean percentage statement, such as “76% lean” on its label, will also list its fat percentage, which is intended to make it easier for consumers to understand the amounts of lean protein and fat in their purchase.

Technorati Tags: food agriculture, national chicken council, national turkey federation, nutrition label