Results of the neighborhood BBQ cookoff and grilled corn

Oh my what a busy month May has started out to be and it's almost over. I can't keep up with the days anymore, I keep asking my husband what day it is. I think I would die if I didn't have my calendar on my phone to keep up with everything!

I meant to post this sooner, but the last couple weeks have been crazy. Saturday, May 16th, my husband and some of our friends held down the fort and did a wonderful job at the cookoff. My husband kicks and screams about how much work a cookoff is especially like this one where you have to bring your own BBQ pit, but deep down when it's over he really has a lot of fun. I'm still working on his writing down the recipes so he can start catching the contest bug, but no such luck so far. He's already more supportive in my hobbies then most husbands are so I'm thankful for that.

The day started early at 6:30am when Tad showed up at our house ready to load the BBQ pits and get set up. I headed off with my brother to my grandmother's funeral so I missed most of the day.

Darrin and Tad:

We we did our practice run, Darrin and Tad each did their own way of cooking and the best meat was chosen. They decided to do the same thing at the cookoff and the meat that wasn't chosen was eaten up by the rest of us.

Darrin

versus Tad

First turn in time was 1pm for Chicken

Ribs 2pm

Brisket turn in was at 3pm and We picked Darrin's to turn in due to the smoke ring he had going on with his meat.

Mystery meat was right behind with a 3:30pm. This was a tricky category and anything goes so we decided it would be best to go with a smoke Salomone.

Away goes our finished dishes and we relax until the votes are in.

Check out these cute girls selling drinks for the neighborhood swim team.

Here's some of the other teams that were out there:

When the results come in we got 1st place in chicken and 3rd place in all the other categories. I'm very proud of our team and can't wait to come back next year!

Here's what happens when you own the biggest truck, you can fit both pits in the back:

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day! I couldn't leave you hanging without a recipe after looking at all that BBQ food above. We moved our Sunday steak night to Monday this week and I tried a new grilled corn recipe. It tasted good, but when my hubby threw the corn on the grill to and some smoke flavor all the rub I put on there dripped off. So word of caution save a little extra to rub on when it comes off the grill.

Grilled Corn

6 ears corn
8 ounces cream cheese
1 stick butter

Mix cream cheese and butter. Cover seasoned ears of husked corn with the mixture, wrap in heavy foil, seal the edges leaving space fro steam. Grill about 30 minutes until tender.

Rembering grandma

My dear grandmother passed away on Tuesday, May 12, 2009. I was able to see her the Saturday before and say goodbyes as she was headed to the hospital, not knowing how things would turn out for her. She was the one who was most supportive of all the kids in whatever clubs and teams we joined and wanted to know all the details. She drove in to watch all the performances and kept us in the summer. She loved to write letters and stay on the phone for hours and of course give you advice whether you asked for it or not. Out off all the grandkids I'm the one who took on an early love for cooking and learning her secrets to her recipes that all of us relied on having when we went to visit.

Grandma was known for her "jailhouse rolls", sweet tea and making a million and one desserts for after dinner. I don't think we ever had less then 3 pies to pick from for dessert after a meal. I always requested her chicken fried steak, green rice and rolls. My brother wanted cream cheese pie and tapioca. Each of my cousins have their favorite dish as well from watergate salad and cinnamon rolls to fried shrimp and she would honor each of our request every time we visited. She's the one who spoiled me with divided plates so that my food wouldn't touch each other and taught me the way to a mans heart is though his stomach. :) Even as her health started to fail and her body became weak she still had to make sure her grandkids were well fed when they came to visit.

One of her favorite things was to work with yeast dough. I finally tackled her jailhouse roll recipe in December of 2006 when I threw a dinner party for all of our friends. I remember she called me every 15 minutes to check what I had done and how the dough was doing. I swear I felt like I was doing surgery via conference call, but she wanted to make sure it worked perfectly for me. I'm grateful for that and I'm grateful for all the time I've had to spend with her.

Jailhouse Rolls

1 cup real mashed potatoes

2 sticks margarine

3 whole eggs

7 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 package dry yeast

Mix dry yeast in water, blend then set aside for later use.

Mix potatoes, margarine, eggs, salt and sugar; blend in flour.

Add yeast water, blend well, place in a greased bowl.

Cover with damp cloth (touching dough).

Put in a paper bag and place in refrigerator until ready to use. (It will rise in the fridge and almost double in size, we like to let them stay in there overnight.)

Roll out like a pie crust and cut to desired size. (Grandma uses a small juice can which makes 4 9" pie pans of rolls and rolls the dough out to 1-2 inch thickness.)

Butter tops and let stand for several hours or until they have risen in a buttered pan. (You can cover with saran wrap)

Cut and ready to be buttered:

Buttered and risen:

(I recommend buttering them again right before they go into the oven to give them a better browned color.) Bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes or until browned.

Happy Birthday!

I wanted to wish my dear hubby a very happy birthday! As I was headed to my grandmother's funeral he was maning the neighborhood bbq cookoff and did me proud. (More details to come this week.) Let's just say he showed them who the grill master is.

I wanted to make a cheesecake, but that will have to wait till I have more time. I made semi-homemade cupcakes for him. He loves mint chocolate chip ice cream so this was my inspiration.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

1 box devils food cake mix

1 teaspoon mint extract

1 cup chocolate chips

1 can frosting

Follow directions on box for cake mix, stir in extract and chocolate chips. Bake as directed and forst when cupcakes are cooled.