Smoked Chipotle Turkey Breast

Smoked Turkey is one of my favorite meats. I love to eat it straight from the pan,& so does everyone else in our family! We smoke whole turkeys when we have lots of time, but if you want the smoked turkey experience & have less than a few hours to get it, try a half turkey breast.

Williamson Bros Bar-B-Q has a chipotle sauce that is really great. The chipotle taste is prominent but it also has a cumin and garlic note that is very pleasing. This sauce adds a smoky flavor to your meats from the inherent taste of the chipotle itself.

If you haven't tried chipotles, you should give them a chance. These little wet, wrinkled chili peppers come in a can & are packed in adobo sauce. It isn't necessary to remove the sauce, it actually adds incredible taste to any dish.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/416613-chipotle-pepper-benefits/?utm_source=popslideshow&utm_medium=a1

We marinated our half turkey bone-in breast in the refrigerator over night in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of Williamsons Spicy Chiptole BBQ sauce & 2 teaspoons of pecan flavored liquid smoke. If you have never used a smoke flavoring, you can find it in the grocery isle with the steak sauce, bbq sauce etc. I like the pecan because it doesn't overpower the other seasonings.

Injecting a mixture of half sauce & half olive oil into the breast will keep the meat moist while smoking. It's also healthier than butter, but if you need the butter...it's your call!

When you are ready to start smoking the turkey breast, remove it from the fridge & let it sit on the counter & come to close to room temperature. About 15-20 minutes will usually be enough time. While it is resting, start your wood pellets in your smoker box on your gas grill. I turn my grill to high & sit the smoker box in the back corner. Do not wet the pellets or wood.

I like to smoke my turkey breasts in an iron skillet. I do not wrap in foil, that tends to steam the meat & you don't get the results you are looking for.

After about 30 minutes the grill should have enough smoke to start the smoking process. Reduce the temperature to medium indirect heat. With the turkey breast in a well seasoned iron skillet, coat it on all sides with the sauce before placing it on the grill. 

What I like about Williamson Bros sauce is the consistency. It isn't thin, but it isn't thick & sticky. This type of sauce is the best for gas grill smoking because of the lower sugar content of the sauce.

During the smoking process I apply sauce to all the sides every 10 minutes.

Remember that you should have your grill on medium indirect heat. The temperature inside the grill should be about 300 degrees. The skillet should be sitting in the middle of the grill with no flame under it. Although this is only a breast, it can dry out quickly so keep it well marinated with sauce.

I cook my turkey breast to a temperature of 170 degrees. This usually takes about 30-45 minutes on my grill, but ever grill is different & the outside air temperature is a factor also. Just judge your doneness on that meat temperature...this is just a really great reason to go buy a cool meat thermometer!

 After it cools a little, I remove the meat from the bone, leaving the skin intact. You can remove the skin but it really adds to the taste & look of the smoked turkey.

We added Williamson Bros Spiccy Chipotle Bar-B-Q sauce to the top of the turkey breast. Simple turkey taken to another level. Healthy & delicious, we had baked sweet potatoes from the grill to complete this meal. Oh & we had salad...just hard to do on the grill! Although I am wanting to do the grilled romain lettuce so who knows...we just might do that!

Williamson Bros Bar-B-Q sauces impressed me in many different ways, but one of the things I loved was the low sugar content. Many people who are on a sugar restricted diet must avoid bbq like the plaque. Being a RN & working with diabetics I can say this sauce is a great choice for sugar & carbohydrate counts. Best part is they are really good!

Visit Willamson Bros Bar-B-Q website today!
www.williamsonbros.com

Mesquite Charred Corn & Poblano Salsa

This recipe is for a cold salsa made with mesquite smoked fresh corn, poblano peppers, garlic, fire roasted tomatoes, cilantro & spices. I added chipotle in adobo sauce for ours, we like it a little kicked up!

This recipe requires the following ingredients:

• 4 ears of fresh corn
• 2 large poblano peppers
• canola or olive oil
• 1 pod of garlic
• 2 Tsp mesquite liquid smoke
• 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 15oz can chopped fire roasted tomatoes, or fresh if you have them
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (leave out if you don't like the heat!)
• 1 tsp Texas Chili Blend, or your favorite chili powder
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 cup mesquite wood chips
• salt to taste

Mesquite Charred Corn & Poblano Salsa

• Shuck & remove silks from corn, rinse corn & poblano peppers & pat dry
• Rub corn & poblano peppers with oil, place in plastic zip bag with 1 tsp mesquite liquid smoke
• Let rest in fridge for 1 hour
• Soak mesquite wood chips in hot water with 1 tsp mesquite liquid smoke added . Soak 1 hour
• Drain wood chips. Heat gas or charcoal grill to high heat. Place wood chips in smoker box.
• Rub oil on outside of garlic pod
• When smoke is present, remove garlic & poblano peppers from plastic bag & place on center of grill
• Turn center burner to medium low to char for 2 minutes on each side, this should char the flesh, if not leave it several more minutes until it is charred
• Once the pepper is black, turn off center burner & cook corn & peppers over indirect heat to continue the smoking process
• Place garlic beside corn to smoke
• Limit how much the grill is open to retain the most smoke you can.
• Smoke for 15 more minutes at low heat
• Remove from grill on to a heat proof dish & let it cool on the kitchen counter.

• When corn has cooled to touch, remove corn from the cob by standing it on the flat end in a large bowl.
• Begin with knife at the top & cut from the cob, turning after each cut.  
• Continue to cut until all corn is off

                           

• Poblano peppers will char black, then you need to remove the charred skins, veins & seeds. Try to remove as much as possible.
• Slice into small strips, then chop into bite size pieces.
• Add to corn in bowl



• Roasted garlic will squeeze out of the papery skins without much effort
• Discard the papery skins then chop or mash & add garlic to salsa



• To the corn, poblanos, & garlic, add the chopped red onions, tomatoes, cilantro,chopped chipotles in adobo sauce & seasonings
• Add salt to taste.
• Finish by squeezing the juice of the lime over the dip
• Stir well to blend
• Cover with plastic wrap & place in fridge to chill at least 1 hour for the full flavor blend.
• Serve with your favorite chips. Great on taco's or burritos. Also a great topping for taco salads

Pork Chili Verde Enchiladas

Living in Colorado in the fall taught me to long for New Mexico Hatch Chilies. If you have ever been lucky enough to smell these beautiful chilies roasting, you know what I mean! There is a festival in New Mexico to celebrate the Hatch Chili the first weekend in September. They roast these peppers in a huge metal drum with a handle that turns the chilies over an open flame. The perfume they give off while roasting will make your mouth water if you love Southwestern or Tex-Mex food.

Last Fall our local grocery store here in Nebraska sold Hatch chilies for 2 weeks. I went crazy buying, roasting, and freezing this peppers. All year long I used them to add to recipes and am beginning to run out! Yesterday I sat gazing at a boneless pork shoulder roast wondering what it would be at dinner time? My mind went blank until I started moving things around in the freezer. I found my Hatch chilies laying calmly under a bag of green beans and knew what we would have for dinner...Pork Chili Verde Enchiladas!

Let me say first that this is not a quick meal. If you are going to be home all day and want to make this recipe go for it. It's not a hard recipe,it just needs to cook several hours to develop the full flavor of the Chili Verde. I promise if you make it you will not be sorry! You can use an Anaheim Chili pepper if it's not Hatch Chili season. Some people use canned green chili's, you can but you won't get the same flavor. If you can't get the Anaheim green chili, use a Poblano & Jalapeno pepper. Tomatillos are the other ingredient that makes it a salsa verde or chili verde. These little jewels look like tiny green tomatoes with a brown paper on the outside.

To prepare your chili peppers for the verde you need to roast them on the grill or in the oven. Wash them well, pat dry and rub lightly with canola oil. Place them on a pan in a 375 degree oven or over a medium flame if using a gas grill. Roast peppers until skin blisters & is blackened. You will need to turn them several times to prevent burning. Take them out while hot and place them in a ziploc bag. Let them cool for 15 minutes or more,then while in the bag, rub the pepper to remove the charred skin. Transfer to a cutting board and remove stem. Cut peppers open and remove seeds seeds and any remaining charred skin. Chop in small pieces and set aside. Any pepper, tomatillo, onion, or garlic that is used in a salsa verde or chili verde needs to be roasted in this same way. This creates the roasted & mellow taste you want for this dish. Tomatillos do not have to have charred skins removed, but chop in 1/4 inch chunks after they are roasted, save juice that runs from them to add to chili.

Pork Chili Verde Enchiladas

Makes 12 Servings

2 lbs boneless lean Pork Shoulder-cut into 1/2 inch cubes & seasoned with
salt & pepper
3/4 cup flour,for dredging meat (can use gluten free flour)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tablespoon cumin
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1/4 cup canola oil
1 medium onion-peeled & roasted then diced into 1/4 inch pieces
2 large Hatch or Anaheim green chili's roasted & diced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 large jalapeno -roasted & diced into 1/4 inch pieces
4 tomatillos- husks removed &roasted then diced into 1/4 inch pieces
4 cloves roasted garlic, roasted then peeled & finely minced
4 cups chicken broth
12 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese, Monterey jack or pepper jack, reserve part for topping the enchiladas
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

After roasting and preparing peppers, onions, tomatillos, chop ingredients into 1/4 in pieces.
Finely mince the garlic, if roasted it will be soft & won't need mincing.
Mix 3/4 cup flour with 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 Tablespoon cumin,
1/2 tsp Mexican oregano. Salt & pepper pork and cut into 1/2 inch cubes and dredge in flour mixture.
In a large dutch oven, heat 1/4 cup canola oil to medium-high to sear meat. Shake off excessive flour mixture and place coated pork pieces in the dutch oven. Cook until light brown and then reduce heat to medium.
Add peppers, onions, tomatillos & garlic to meat and stir to combine. Then add remaining spices: 1 tsp black pepper, 1 Tablespoon cumin,& 1/2 tsp Mexican oregano. Stir spices into pepper/meat mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add 4 cups of chicken broth and stir well. Cook uncovered on low heat for 1-2 hours, or until sauce is thick and pork is fork tender. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. If it gets to thick add more chicken broth or liquid in small amounts desired consistency. Taste before serving and add salt if needed.

To make Enchiladas
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a 13x9 baking dish ladle small amount of the Chili Verde sauce on the bottom. In a small non-stick skillet, heat 1/4 cup canola oil to medium high heat. Oil should not be so hot it fries tortilla hard, just softens them enough to roll. Takes about 30 seconds on each side. When you remove it from the oil, blot with a paper towel. After warming all tortillas begin rolling the Enchilada's by placing grated cheese down the center of a tortilla. Roll Enchiladas cigar fashion and place seam side down in baking dish. Ladle Chili Verde over the top of Enchiladas. May not take all the chili to cover, but can be served on the side for those who want more. Top with remaining grated cheese. Place in preheated 400 degree oven & bake for 15 minutes. Garnish with cilantro & serve.

When I made this recipe last night, I cut the pork larger than 1/2 inch, closer to 1 inch. I thought the 1 inch was a little too large but my husband liked the bigger pieces. It's just a matter of preference. Hope you try this and enjoy it. If you do , post a comment and let me know what you think.

Weber grills aren't just for guys anymore!

I have a fantastic Weber grill. Everyone in this family knows it's Mom's grill! When we were building our home, the contractor offered a gas line on the deck for a grill. We had always had a gas grill that used butane bottles and they were always empty when you wanted to use it. My husband got those eyes that said "I want that!", so we had the gas line to connect the grill. When time came to purchase the grill he researched it like he was going to split an atom. I heard for weeks the pros and cons of all the gas grills on the market.

At our local home show a grandfatherly man from a locally owned hardware store had a display of Weber grills. As I listened to him explain that grill, it was like cherubs were singing in my ears and their harps were touching my soul. I had never felt anything for a gas grill. It was always that greasy thing in the backyard that never had any butane and the birds built nests in them. I had to have this grill on my new deck, but I couldn't let my husband know how much I wanted this very grill. I could see that little boy look in his eyes and will admit I didn't tell him I wanted it. Did I do that to just be mean, no...I just love to watch him when he acts like that!

When we walked in the hardware store, they had rows and rows of beautiful Weber grills, all shiny and new. My husband, knowing I'm very frugal, went to the less expensive grills. I looked at those grills acting uninterested but polite. The salesman was trying to convince me that even though it was smaller and had less bells & whistles, you still were buying a Weber. I walked around looking at the grills while he talked with my husband. I know they were developing a plan of attack to convince me we had to have a Weber. I looked up and said " How about this one?" It wasn't the top of the line because we didn't need a monster grill, but it was much better than the one they were standing by. Both of their jaws dropped and they both looked like little boys who just got that Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. The salesman because he was making a better sale and my husband because he thought his frugal wife had been replaced by aliens!

We bought that grill and it sits on the deck right now. It is covered with snow and ice but if I wanted to be brave and use it..I could just light my grill and it will melt all the snow in a minute. Did you notice that I said my grill? My husband burnt the first three things he cooked on that grill. He always said he did that because of the propane and cheap grills! I took over the Weber and will give instructions to anyone that wants to learn to cook wonderful burgers, great chicken and most anything you want. My sweet husband refers to it as "my wife's grill". So I bought him the nicest steam cleaner for when he cleans it!

Southern Ladies always serve dessert....

Resolve to Change #6
Food is not the enemy...make friends with your cookies!

We all love dessert! In the south it's just expected after a big family dinner. The only problem is we never know what a true serving actually looks like. I had Blue Bell Ice Cream for dinner last night and the serving size was 1/2 cup. I dished up the meager bowl and looked at it with extreme sadness. I realized it was the same size as the two huge bites I stole from the carton when I brought it home from the store! I felt a little weak in the knees. Wow..1/2 cup Ice Cream sure looks like less than 1/2 cup of cooked carrots.

Not to be deterred from keeping with my Southern roots and providing a sweet treat at the end of a meal,I searched for alternatives. I measured a serving of fresh berries and it looked like it was so much more food than the ice cream. I added low fat frozen yogurt and crushed nuts to the top and had a yummy parfait. Serve this in a beautiful crystal parfait glass and our Southern grandmas' would proud!

There are so many new recipes for healthier dessert recipes. Many cookbooks are available that focus on sugar free recipes or reduced sugar recipes. You can substitute applesauce for the oil and for a real fiber builder you can substitute black beans. I haven't tried this one yet but those who have say it's good...I'm still trying to find the courage to eat Black Bean Brownies! I love Cooking Light's magazine and website for desserts, they focus on the taste of the food as well as the fat and sugar content.

When you put all these Resolve to Change points together, you eat healthy. You are not on a diet...that should be taken out of our language. It brings about such bad memories of cardboard food and feeling guilty. Food should be eaten as close to the way God provided it as possible. Mostly life should be enjoyed and lived to the fullest, just nice to feel good while your doing it!

You have such a glow about you....lay off the chemicals!!

Resolve to Change #5
polyphropeolenonexephrine...I don't want to eat that!!

When I was in Nursing school the hardest thing for me was to learn to pronounce chemical names. Nothing is as funny as hearing 20 Texans butchering the pronunciation of the Latin language. We needed to sound educated while speaking and most of us have been letting those words roll off of our tongues now for years. I know preservatives are needed to give longer shelf life and make our foods safer but I choose to limit the amount I ingest.

Monosodium Glutamate,the dreaded MSG that is used in restaurants to enhance their food flavor, is the most well known additive that causes people to immediately feel ill after consuming. I am so sensitive to this that I can take a few bites and know if it contains MSG. We finally have a Panda Express here and they use no added MSG in their foods, which means anything with heavy sauce could have some. I can eat there without getting ill!

I have to grocery shop at less busy times of the day or people get a little frustrated with me. I read the labels of everthing that I buy and if it contains more than one preservative it usually doesn't win the trip to my cart! MSG never makes the cut and nitrites are vey limited. If the first or second ingredient is a preservative I not only don't buy it, I most likely stand in the isle muttering to myself about my loathing of dirty food.

I just retweeted an artice from Eat This NotThat. The article is for a healthy cake but the subject was Twinkies having polysorbate 60, a petroleum product used to make plastic. How much of our food has less chemicals and additives than the cardboard box it's sold in? We have such an increase of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromylagia, Autism, and Auto-Immune disorders that have no known causes, we have to start somewhere changing things. I choose to start with eating things as close to their natural state as possible. I refuse to carry a dictionary to the grocery store, but I have looked up an ingredient on my Blackberry!

I started about 5 years ago mixing my own spice blends, dip mixes, breading mixes with only pure ingredients. Being a Texan the first thing I needed was a Chili mix that would do lots of things for me. Seasoning other food as well as making great chili would save me so much time cooking. Spicey Mama's Texas Chili Seasoning was born and it's such a good all purpose seasonig for all things Tex-Mex. We love to smoke meat,but all the rubs are mostly sugar and salt, which makes it not the healthiest for blood sugar or hearts. So I developed Killa-Dilla Rub that is salt free and has reduced sugar. I rub it on pork, beef and chicken and it's great sprinkled on oven baked steak fries. Dip mixes and breading mixes are my new project and my husband loves that he is the taste tester!!!

We deserve to have safe food that taste good but doesn't make us glow! My company is called New Southern Pantry. We can keep our Southern taste but approach the food in a new way. Just repeat after me...no proprxplyopeptheyine, not a real chemical but watch out..it maybe coming to a grocery store near you soon!

Butter, Oil, and Shortening , yes you can eat them but not with a spoon!

Resolve to Change #4
Don't give me Trans Fats..no really!

In 1998 the World celebrated the 125th anniversary of margarine. In 1920 as we entered World War I, the shortage of butter brought on the dependence in America to the synthtically produced spread. If you didn't have cows to milk and make your own butter then you ate margarine. People became accustomed to the artifical butter and didn't have the craving for that rich buttery taste.

Butter came under a great deal of scrutiny when it was found that the high levels of saturated fat could cause heart disease in some people. Many people were advised by their doctors and nutritionist to switch to margarine. Then we did an about face and could no longer use the margarine because of trans fats which were found to raise LDL, the bad cholesterol and lower HDL,the good cholesterol. So we chunked the stick margarine and went to the tub, which didn't have trans fats. Now in 2011 butter is on the list of things to use sparingly with heart disease, due to the saturated fats...feels like we are little mice on a wheel!

I will admit I eat butter very sparingly because my family has a history of heart disease. You really can't use tub spread on fresh corn on the cob! I cook with canola oil or olive oil, but you have to remember that they all have LOTS of calories. My favorite thing to do is use 1/2 teaspoon of melted butter to 1/4 cup canola oil when a recipe calls for oil. It gives it that buttery taste we need but with much less saturated fats. Trans fats are the final answer after all this research. They are in so many of the fast food items that I have given most of those up.

When you are looking for information on your health and diet, be sure the source is trustworthy and un-biased in their writing. There are so many scams for diet and advice on the Internet that it makes you want to just say enough already, just give me the facts. I always lean towards medically based sites because they seem to be less radical and more fact based.
This website at the Mayo Clinic gives great substiutions for recipe ingredients. I have also listed it in my favorite websites on my blog.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/NU00585

Moderation is the key to a good life and it is the hardest thing to accomplish at times. When I shop for food I look for labels with very few ingredients. Why do I want to eat things with names I can't pronounce? My feelings on preservatives and additives are very strong...and Southern women don't mind telling you just how we feel!!