Orange Mojito.

I just ran across this recipe for orange mojito's and was happy to let the husband make us a couple tonight. Normal people drink mojito's sitting outside in the summer, but being far from normal I think mojito's can & should be enjoyed year round. Plus citrus is in season right now!

The husband didn't add any mint because it's buried under snow and I apparently didn't freeze any for winter use. I thought it needed something else in it, so he added some cranberry juice which seemed to do the trick. These were very tasty and will likely make an appearance alongside the pineapple mojito's at the lake this summer!

Alien Beer.

Getting stuff for dinner one night, we came across a smiling green alien staring out from the beer case. For sure the Roswell Alien logo is catchy & touristy, which is exactly why we picked up a six pack. Brewed by Sierra Blanca Brewing Company in New Mexico and described on their website as, "we have blended eight different styles of barley with a variety of domestic hops to create this medium bodied amber ale with a mild hop finish. The taste is out of this world!"

Personally, I think this is a beer you'd buy for the label/bottle only. Taste wise, I thought it was an ok beer. Something about the flavor wasn't doing it for me, and at times I thought it tasted pretty flat. I haven't seen this beer in our area, so I'm not sure if it's available for sale outside of the southwest.

A Birthday Feast.

Tomorrow is the husband's 30th birthday and we celebrated tonight, as we have all weekend, with the husband's favorite foods - meat & beer, this time in the form of steak & Guinness. It was a fabulous meal, better than the vast majority of steak houses we've been too - certainly much cheaper. We've got some extra steak which will make a great steak salad later in the week. There aren't any real recipes, just some minimal flavoring which enhanced the natural flavor of the meat & vegetables.

The husband grilled some thick NY strip steaks, which were perfectly seasoned with some seasoning from Old Hickory (a steak & rib place in Dayton). Accompanying the steak was grilled asparagus seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, pepper and chopped garlic, baked potato, salad and some olive oil bread with a dip of olive oil, Kosher salt, basil & red pepper flakes. For dessert, which may be eaten tomorrow as we're pretty stuffed, I made the classic Southern banana pudding layered with 'Nilla wafers & banana's.

Our meal was washed down with several different kinds of beers, one of which has already been profiled on here & another that any true beer connoisseur should already be intimately familiar with. The new beer of the evening was a Red Hook Long Hammer India Pale Ale (6.5% / $7 six pk.). Brewed in Portsmouth, NH, this IPA has an incredibly smooth & mild flavor, which went well with dinner. The vast majority of IPA's have a distinctive bitter aftertaste, which this one did not. We both agreed it tastes a little watered down, but overall I think it's a great beer that will at some point be worked back into the rotation.

The history of the India Pale Ale is an interesting one, it's also fitting to mention here because not only did we sample some tonight but I've just finished up a unit with my 8th grade American History class on the early colonists, British mercantilism, triangular trade, etc.. I'm sure many of you are wondering what this has to do with the history of the IPA, so I'll boil it down for you. The British had somewhat of a problem when it came to transporting beer around the world. Their beer didn't do well on long voyages, especially in more tropical locations such as the East Indies. As you can see from the map to the left (obtained from On Tap), it wasn't a short trip from England to India and as a result the beer was often sour & flat, and likely didn't make for a happy crew. I know I'd like to enjoy a beer after a journey that long! Many experimental tries later, it all came down to some tweaks on a recipe and a way was finally found for beer to make these long voyages and for eventual retail sale in the East Indies. George Hodgson, of Bow Brewery in London, altered a recipe and began shipping Hodgson's India Ale in the 1790s. Considering the sun never sat on the English Empire, this likely made British sailors, explorers & merchants very happy. Falling out of favor in England, the IPA has made a tremendous comeback in the U.S., with many micro brews producing new and distinctive flavors all their own.

Vacation Wrap-up.

The husband & I, along with six of our friends headed down for a week on Lake Cumberland last week. We all had a great time lounging in the water, skiing, tubing, wake boarding and of course drinking! The Grandparent's came over a few nights for dinner & to hang out around the campfire. Everyone had a great time and we're already starting to look forward to next years trip!

I was a bad food blogger and only took a few food related pictures, but my excuse was I was on vacation! So using pictures & recipes where I have them, here's the food wrap-up for the week.

Monday

The Grandparent's came over to the cabin and we had brats & sauerkraut, baked beans, and Paula Deen's pasta salad. I think the pasta salad needed to sit a lot longer, which was our fault for not making it earlier, and I thought it needed more of the sauce.

Tuesday

We had the Grandparent's over for dinner again and had steak, macaroni & cheese, marinated cucumbers & tomatoes and grilled French bread.

Wednesday

I made Paula Deen's overnight French toast casserole, it was really good and easy to make.

It's somewhat of a confusing drive through Deliverance territory to make it back to the cabin, combine that with it being pitch black & no cell phone coverage and we thought it best to meet our other two friends at a restaurant in town. We were the only people there at the time and everything seriously took for-ev-er! We should have just went to McDonald's. Some liked their dinners & other's didn't; the Grandparent's have eaten there before and never had that problem. Oh well.....

Thursday

K & J made awesome breakfast biscuit muffins with sausage, cheese, egg and tomato. This recipe is pretty similar to what they did. The muffins seemed easy to prepare and were delicious to eat!

For dinner they grilled pork chops and we had baked potatoes & corn. A delicious meal!

Friday

E & M made one of my favorite breakfast's, bagel sandwiches with scrambled eggs, cheese and ham. If my metabolism would allow it, I could eat one of those everyday!

Their dinner was delicious and is going to find a new spot in my 'go-to' meals! They made grilled blackened chicken, which for some reason I've never made before, Spanish rice and chili beans. Personally, I thought this was the best dinner of the week!

Saturday

B made another one of my favorites, sausage breakfast casserole. This isn't the exact recipe, there was also a can of cream of mushroom soup, but it's pretty close.

For dinner the husband & I made grilled ham & Swiss burgers, herbed potato salad with green beans & tomatoes, sauteed squash & zucchini and marinated tomatoes (which we had at every meal, since we had about 30 pounds of tomatoes).

Aside from your bathing suit, which I forgot to pack - thank the lord for Kmart, stocking up at Liquor World, or the Sam's Club of beer & liquor as a friend calls it, is the most important thing to bring to Lake Cumberland. All of the counties surrounding the lake are dry, though some restaurants are starting to serve alcohol. Stopping here, to stock up for the week is always a production and this trip was no exception! Needless to say we had many bottles of liquor - including a new favorite Sailor Jerry Rum and lots of cases of beer. We even picked up a few cases for the Grandparent's! The important thing is we didn't run out. This story doesn't involve Liquor World, but it's amusing.

Many of the drinks we made were random concoctions of various liquors & mixers we had on hand. We did have Bloody Mary's one morning and a batch of pineapple mojito's one night - they were both delicious. For the mojito's just add pineapple juice to your regular mojito recipe

Sometimes, the Best Things Do Come To Those Who Wait.

I printed this recipe off in December 2001 and for some reason waited almost six years to make this pasta dish. It's been pulled several times and added to the "make" pile, but it's never made the final cut and I have no idea why after finally making it! It's one of the simplest & most flavorful pasta dishes I've made. This was a great meal to welcome us home after vacation and allowed me to put off going to the grocery store for another day. I really liked the simplicity of this dish and decided to make this pasta my first entry in the Presto Pasta Night event, hosted by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast. I've been eyeing this event for awhile now, but was always intimidated by all the fabulous entries. This dish isn't the most elaborate or complicated of pasta dishes, but you know sometimes you just want to eat right now & that's what's so great about this dish. It allows for quick & delicious pasta, without opening a can!

I re-discovered The National Pasta Association's website after making this dish. It is a great source for learning about all things pasta, including finding great recipes.

Angel Hair with Pink Tomato Sauce, Peas & Roasted Peppers

4 oz. Angel Hair or Cappellini, uncooked

3 md. or 2 lg. Ripe plum tomatoes (about 1/2 lb.), cored and quartered

1/2 Tbs. Olive or vegetable oil

1 Clove garlic, thinly sliced

1 Large pinch hot red pepper flakes

1/2 c. Frozen peas, thawed and drained

1/3 c. Diced roasted red peppers

1/2 tsp. Dried basil

3 Tbs. Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Place tomatoes in a blender or food processor and blend until very smooth and light pink, about 1 minute. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for 30 seconds. Add the peas, roasted peppers and basil and stir 1 minute. Add the pureed tomatoes and heat just to boiling. Remove sauce from heat.

3. Drain the pasta and transfer to skillet. Stir over medium heat until pasta is well mixed with sauce. Divide pasta between two serving bowls. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings

Recipe obtained from: National Pasta Assoc. (the original link does not work anymore -original recipe written above)

Nutritional Information: 370 calories, 15g. protein, 60g. carbohydrates, 8g. fat, 2.5g. saturated fat, 24% dietary fiber, 22% iron, 15% calcium, 220% vitamin C, 70% vitamin A.

What I did: I doubled the garlic, olive oil, basil, peas & red pepper flakes. Red pepper flakes do add a significant punch to the pasta, so use sparingly or omit completely if you don't like things on the spicy side. The recipe as written does not call for salt & pepper and I really think it needs it, especially if you're using fresh tomatoes. I didn't use roasted red peppers either, because I didn't have them on hand and the husband doesn't really like them. Personally I think I like this dish without the red peppers.

A few weeks ago the husband randomly picked up some wine and some flowers for me, isn't he nice?!?! We got around to drinking the bottle of wine he picked up with this meal. Fetzer Riesling Valley Oak (2005, $9) was a great wine on it's own and paired well with this pasta dish. The wine was light, bright & crisp and had just the right amount of sweetness - almost a perfect Riesling, especially for the price. I'll definitely add this one to my list of 'go-to' wines.

mmm...Grilled Meatloaf.

Meatloaf is one of those foods that done right is beyond fabulous & of course done wrong, is bad - real bad. I assume that for those of you who do not like meatloaf, you've been exposed to the bad variety - since essentially it's nothing more than a variation on hamburgers. Meatloaf certainly isn't pretty, and this grilled version wouldn't win any food porn awards - but for what it lacks in beauty it more than makes up for in taste. Nutmeg provided the glaze with a nice subtle smokey flavor, which really enhanced the meatloaf. Meatloaf being a comfort food and all, demanded being paired with the King of All Comfort Foods - the potato, who in this meal took the form of the best French fries ever. That's right, you read that correctly - I said best ever. Zucchini again makes an appearance on our plates, hey what do you expect -it's summer!



Grilled (glorious) Meatloaf
2 lbs. Ground beef
1 Egg, beaten
1 Onion, chopped
1/2 c. Cracker crumbs
1/4 c. Ketchup
2 Tbs. Light brown sugar
1 tsp. Prepared mustard
1/4 c. Ketchup
3 Tbs. Brown sugar
1 tsp. Dry mustard
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

1. Combine ground beef, egg, onion, cracker crumbs, 1/4 c. ketchup, 2 Tbs. brown sugar & prepared mustard in large bowl; mix well. Shape into loaf; place in lightly greased 10-inch baking pan.

2. Combine 1/4 c. ketchup, 3 Tbs. brown sugar, dry mustard and nutmeg in small bowl; mix well.

3. Grill over hot coals for 15 minutes. Place double thickness of foil on grill. Remove meatloaf to foil.

4. Grill for 10 minutes longer or until cooked through, basting with ketchup mixture.


Yield: 4-6 servings
Recipe obtained from: Quick & Easy Grilling: Over 100 Fast & Furious Timesaving Recipes

What I did: I cut the recipe in half and there were two decent sized portions, and a little bit leftover (which made an excellent sandwich the next day). The only other thing I changed was substituting dried onion for fresh. Transferring the meatloaf to the foil is a critical step on the grill, if you don't the meatloaf gets all wet, oily & just generally gross. I think these would make fabulous meatballs too.

Now, in the case that you don't have any foil on hand - as we did, do not despair. Think to yourself, "what would MacGyver do?" Thinking like MacGyver, the husband used the trusty fish griller turner thing in place of the foil and tragedy was averted just in the nick of time. Further proof you can indeed grill anything.

Perfect Golden, Crispy Chips

1 lg. Potato

Vegetable oil, for frying
Cubes of bread, to test oil temperature

Salt

1. Scrub the potato in clean, cold water and cut into fingers as thick or think as you choose. Wash well to rinse off the excess starch and help prevent them sticking together during cooking. Dry thoroughly with paper towels.

2. Heat 2 inches vegetable oil in a small, deep frying pan. Test the oil temperature with a cube of bread - it should take 60 seconds to turn brown. When the oil has reached the right temperature - do not let it get too hot - cook the fries for 5 minutes of until pale golden.

3. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Raise the heat slightly and, w hen the oil is hot enough to brown a cube of bread in 30 seconds, return the fries to the pan for 1-2 minutes until crisp and golden. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with salt, splash with malt vinegar and eat immediately.

Yield: 1 serving

Recipe obtained from: Gourmet Express by Ainsley Harriott

What I did: I doubled the recipe and there were more than enough fries for two. The bread test is the key, follow it and you will indeed have perfect golden, crispy fries - crunchy on the outside and fluffy in the center.

Golden Zucchini

1 1/2 lbs. Small Zucchini, halved lengthwise

1 tsp. Grated Lemon Zest

1 sm. Clove garlic, finely shopped

3 Tbs. Fresh herbs, chopped (such as parsley, cilantro, or basil)

2 Tbs. Bread crumbs

1. Heat 2 tsp. of olive oil in large skillet. Season the zucchini with 1/4 tsp. salt & pepper. Cook, cut-side down, covered, until browned and tender, about six minutes.

2. In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest, garlic, herbs, bread crumbs, and 1 tsp. oil.

3. Cut crosswise into 1/2" pieces and divide among individual plates. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the zucchini.

Yield: 4 servings

Recipe obtained from: Real Simple/August 2007

What I did: essentially I just used this recipe as a guide. I forgot to add the fresh herbs and the 1 tsp. of oil. The husband didn't think the zucchini tasted like anything, but I thought it came out well.

As the husband pointed out, the ideal drink for this meal is a good beer - not really red wine. He's right, next time we'll have beer. Tonight's wine of choice: Gala Rouge Pinot Noir (2004 - France, under $12). I find lot of red wines to be somewhat over powering, but not so much with Pinot Noir. This wine had a lighter, slightly woodsy taste and doesn't assault your senses. We both enjoyed the wine, though the husband is more of a red person than I - so I think he enjoyed it a little more. Overall, Gala Rouge Pinot Noir is a good wine at a great price and one we'll probably have again.

A Nice Night For Leftovers.

One of the great things about having parties at your own house is all the leftover food & beer! Though it can be a bad, especially when I come face to face with cookies & brownies first thing each morning! Which is why it's important to have the husband take that stuff with him to work first thing Monday morning! There was way too much food leftover from the party to even think about cooking something else for dinner, so leftovers it was. I was most looking forward to trying the smoked pork, since all but what the husband saved for us was devoured! The pork shoulder was delicious, very tender & incredibly moist - another score for the husband & his smoker! Now the only reason I'm telling you about this is to show the food, since I failed to take food pictures during the actual party.

Bass is one of my favorite beers, but for tonight I decided to go with a Leinenkugel Honey Weiss. The husband choose to have a Bass. There isn't much I could say about Bass that hasn't been said before, it's a classic British pale ale - wonderfully smooth and according to the makers, "anything else is rubbish." I wouldn't say the Honey Weiss was rubbish, but I'm not going to add it to my short list of favorite beers either. Well not yet anyway, I'll have to give it a few more tries. The Honey Weiss was enjoyable, it had a smooth taste and was a just a tad sweet, but not overpowering. While looking around the website I found recipes using Leinenkugel, I'm sure we'll be trying some of these out soon.

Turkey Tenderloin - Take 2

Continuing in the cleaning out of the freezer campaign and simply because I never remember to separate tenderloins before I freeze them, I needed two meal ideas this week using turkey tenderloins. In fact, most of what's left in the freezer is some form of turkey so hopefully the ideas keep on flowing and we don't get tired of it! For tonight's meal I decided to make some turkey scaloppine over angel hair pasta with asparagus. Scaloppine is a super easy & fast dish to make for a weeknight dinner and it's something you could also gussy up for guests. Likely you have the majority of the ingredients already, which makes it even better! Scaloppine is one of my favorite dishes and tonight's dinner didn't disappoint! For dessert I decided on roasted peaches with raspberries, since I happened to have both on hand and it seemed like a good dessert for a hot summer evening.

Turkey Tenderloin Scaloppine
1 turkey tenderloin
1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 c. white wine
3 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. fresh Italian parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. capers


1. Cut turkey into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/8 inch thickness, using a meat mallet or rolling pin.

2. Combine flour, salt, and pepper, and dredge turkey in mixture.

3. Melt 2 Tbs. butter with oil in a large skillet over medium - high heat. Add turkey; cook, in batches, 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove from skillet, and keep warm.

4. Add remaining 1 Tbs. butter, wine, and juice to skillet, stirring to loosen bits from bottom of skillet. Cook 2 minutes or just until thoroughly heated.

5. Stir in parsley, garlic, and capers and spoon over turkey. Garnish, if desired with lemon wedges and fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

Note: Serve over hot cooked angel hair pasta, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings
Recipe obtained from: Southern Living - June 2002

What I did: the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds turkey breast tenderloins. Scaloppine is one of those dishes where you really don't need to follow a recipe, though I include one for reference. Essentially you just add as much lemon, white wine and garlic as you like and you're good to go. My garlic was bad, so I used a lot of garlic powder instead and I didn't think about it until we were already eating but I should have added some crushed red pepper for some extra kick.




Vanilla-Roasted Peaches with Raspberries
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice (one lemon)
2 Tbs. sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped, or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 firm, ripe peaches (1-1 1/2 lbs. total), halved and pitted
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 package (5-6 oz.) raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 400. In a large, shallow baking dish, combine butter, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla bean (seeds and pod). Add peaches, and turn to coat with butter mixture; arrange, cut side down, in a single layer.

2. Roast until peaches are tender and cooking liquid is syrupy, 15-20 minutes, brushing with cooking liquid halfway through. Serve peaches (warm or at room temperature) with ice cream and raspberries drizzle with cooking liquid.

Yield: 4 servings
Recipe obtained from: Everyday Food - July/August 2007

What I did: Since it was just the two of us and we ate this at 10pm, I thought it best to halve the original recipe. I didn't have a vanilla bean on hand, so I used the vanilla extract option. This was also a simple summery recipe that you could add any variation of fruit and or spices to. It would also be good with a sprinkle of granola on top or with yogurt instead of ice cream.

We were out of white wine and I was only stopping at Walmart, so their wine aisle had to do for this meal! Actually, Walmart doesn't have that bad of selection - they don't have a big selection but they do have a couple of solid & cheap choices. For the scaloppine I choose Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc ($11), which I'd never tried before. Someone told me about this brand recently and I figured I'd give it a shot. For a cheaper wine it wasn't that bad and blended nicely with the lemon juice and other ingredients.

Quick & Easy Turkey Tenderloin

In a continued effort to try and use up all the food we have in our house, I pulled out some frozen turkey tenderloin's for dinner. Wanting to also use up the grilled corn, cilantro and tomatoes, the path of the meal seemed to be heading down the ol' Southwestern highway. The turkey tenderloin was extremely simple to prepare, which was a plus since we spent most of today looking for a puppy. Along with the tenderloin, I threw together some zesty rice & beans and a few tortilla chips and our meal was served. This meal was simple & quick, delicious and pretty healthy - ole!

Southwestern Stuffed Turkey Tenderloin

approx. 3/4 -1 lb. turkey tenderloin (two tenderloins in package, weighing close to 2 lbs. total - I only used one)
1 tomato, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
salt to taste

Butterfly tenderloin. Combine tomato, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice and salt in bowl. Stuff tenderloin with mixture. Roll up and secure with string. Grill for 30 minutes, or until done.

*This recipe was originally for a 3 pound pork tenderloin, with a grilling time of 25 minutes.

Recipe obtained from: Quick & Easy Grilling: Over 100 Fast & Furious Timesaving Recipes.

Zesty Rice & Beans with Corn

1 can rice & beans
1 tomato, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
approx. 1/2 c. corn
handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
kosher salt
cumin

Combine ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.

What I did: I used Eden Organics Caribbean black beans & rice. You could add or delete any of the ingredients, I just threw together what sounded good at the time. This would be good heated as well and think I might do that with the leftovers. Would also make a good base or filling for taco's or anything like that.

While the husband always comments on whatever I've made, his comments are generally pretty basic - as in "it's good" or "I don't like it," things like that. Which is what made me think this exchange was the husband kidding. Or a result of watching to much Top Chef, as he claims.

tH: Wow, that's some good flavor, it's like an explosion in my mouth!
me: Are you for real?
tH: Yeah.

One good thing about hosting parties is the leftover beer people leave behind! One of the leftovers was Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, which I'd never seen before. This is a Weiss beer with lemonade flavoring, and probably something I'd never buy on my own - the husband doesn't think it's beer if it has fruit in it. He tried one last night and said it was ok, but didn't think it tasted like beer. I agree, it doesn't really taste like beer, more like fermented lemonade, though with each sip it sort of changed in flavor and my impression of the beer changed as well. It's not a bad beer, especially since it was free, but not something I think I'd buy again.

24 and Raspberry Margarita's

Margarita's have never been a favorite of mine, something about the taste of Tequila has never, well tasted that great. I've been warming up to them more after I was introduced to beer margarita's. There are probably a hundred different ways to makes these, the recipe linked here just being one of many. I've had them made with various kinds of beer, though it seems Stroh's and Corona are the two most popular. Tonight we made a pitcher and added some frozen raspberries, which probably would have been really great had we used an entire container of frozen lime aid. We only had half a container left, and I really think it would have been better had we used all of it. However, the raspberries did add a nice texture and some flavor to the margarita's and were good for a muggy Friday night catching up on previous seasons of 24. I'll toast a raspberry margarita to Jack Bauer, he looks like he could use a few.

Happy 4th of July!

We celebrated the holiday by having some friends over to grill out and play some cornhole. Our much needed rain fell right as the party was to begin, but not to worry our friends braved the sudden downpour and brought with them some delicious side dishes as well.

I made a couple different dishes for the party: cheesecake tart, watermelon salad with rum and mint and black bean dip with corn & basil - which didn't photograph well. All of them turned out well, I especially loved the black bean dip and it's healthy, which is a plus. I served the cheesecake with some leftover blueberry syrup and diced strawberries.

The husband and his grills were the stars of the party, as usual! He grilled up flavorable hamburgers, brats and some delicious pork loin. He uses an assortment of secret spices in the burgers and decided, at the last minute, to go with the pork loin and follow a recipe from barbecue u's Steve Raichlen.

It seemed fitting to wash down all this delicious food with some Yuengling, after all it is America's oldest brewery. An interesting historical fact about Yuengling: 1933 Prohibition ends. The brewery celebrates with the production of Winner Beer and ships a truckload to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Thank you, Mr. President.

A BBQ Classic

It's amazing how many neighbors seem to walk by our house when we decide to pull out the smoker! Many a great Southern BBQ establishments have started out this way - maybe becoming a pit master can be my new summer job, I could think of a lot worse!

The husband picked up two slabs of ribs over the weekend from Carfagna's and decided to give smoking them another shot. Of all the fabulous & delicious things he smokes for us, little ol' ribs has given him the most problems. Coincidentally, I had just received my latest issue of Cook's Country and they were perfecting Chicago style ribs. He combined his rub & mop sauce with their suggested cooking time and we finally had a winner! The rib processes is long, 8 hours in the smoker and two in the oven - but the results were delicious and worth waiting for! We split a rack and had grilled corn on the cob and broccoli to round out the meal.

I stocked up on Yuengling while on vacation, and had the light version with dinner. We've never had the light before and LOVE regular Yuengling, but the light version was just ok. I've definitely had better light beers, but I've had worse too. On a side note, hauling all this Yuengling back makes me mad they don't distribute to Ohio. Makes no sense.