One Nine 3's Rub Give-A-Way

One of the new things I plan to do this year is create contest/challenges for everyone out there, and give away some rubs to the winners. These contest/challenges may be to comment on a post and a randomly selected person wins, share a post about One Nine 3 and a random person wins, or once the One Nine 3 Facebook page reaches a certain number of likes ... you guessed it ... a random person will be selected. 

Since the Facebook page is new, I'll let that be the first contest. (If you haven't liked the One Nine 3 Facebook page, do so here.)

Spread the word about One Nine 3 and once that page reaches 200 likes. I will pick someone to win a sample rub(s). All you have to do is "like" the page, and then spread the word to others. 

Crispy Chicken Thighs

Glanced through a few magazines, and found another new cook to give a shot. This was a quick, throw it together cook, so there's not as many details as usual for this one. We picked up some chicken thighs and cleaned them up a bit. 

You can find the full recipe at Taste of Home.

Made the marinade which was some garlic, soy sauce, butter and pepper. Let the chicken sit in it for 30 minutes or so while the potatoes were in the over. 

The recipe calls to broil the chicken, but we had potatoes in the oven ... so to the grill the chicken went. 

Don't be jealous by our fancy Chinet. 

The chicken turned out as juicy as it looks and was delicious. I even had it for lunch today, and it was still great. Throwing a little love in there also to JB and The Moonshine Band

Cheesy Balls Spaghetti

Dawn wanted to try something new, and found this recipe for Cheesy Chicken Ball Spaghetti. It's actually really quick and simple to make. You boil the spaghetti noodles as you normally would. Then throw the diced tomatoes in a separate skillet and let them cook. Dawn actually went away from the recipe a bit and sauteed some garlic and olive oil before adding the tomatoes, and then added some basil while it all cooked.

This is one of the few times you're allowed to cut the cheese in the kitchen and not get knocked out for it. I did half of the block of mozzarella and cubed it, and it was a little more than we needed.

Mix the ground chicken, egg, garlic, bread crumbs, parsley flakes, and parmesan in a bowl. 

Once everything is mixed. You place the cheese on the "meat" and roll them up into meatballs. 

Add the balls to the cooking diced tomatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes and then flip to cook other side. 

Assembled and cut open. This will be what your ooy gooy goodness will look like. 

Alpine Spring doesn't exactly go well with cheesy chicken meatball spaghetti, but the food itself was off the chain. Dawn has already mentioned that she'd like to do it again. The chickenballs were a LOT better than I expected them to be. 

The Smell Of Smoked Salt And Pepper In The Air

A good friend of mine (I use that term loosely since I haven't ever actually met him. We're CockyTalk buddies.), Ron, posted all over facebook about how he's going to be smoking some salt and pepper. I told him to send me some or I'd defriend him (not really), so he agreed. After standing out by my mailbox for months waiting on this package, it finally arrived. I don't know why it took so long. He kept saying something about his wife had a baby or something. 

Anyway, I'll be trying out the smoked salt and pepper and seeing what all it's good for and posting it here for everyone to see. If you're all lucky, he may start making large enough batches for a few to purchase from him if you're interested. If you are interested, let me know and I will get in contact with him to see if that'd be a possibility.  

Shrimp and Grits for a SNOB

As promised in the Charleston food review. Here's our first attempt at replicating Slightly North Of Broad's Shrimp and Grits. 

Before I get into it I do have to tell a quick little story. Every time we go to a BBQ restaurant if I don't like it Dawn always says it's because I'm a "BBQ snob". Well, if I'm a BBQ snob (which I don't argue against) then she's a Shrimp and Grits snob. Every time we're in Charleston or go to a seafood restaurant she HAS to try their shrimp and grits. So now you may all understand the irony of all things this post and the shrimp and grits being soooooo amazing at a place nicknamed SNOB. 

Ok, now to the food. 

You basically make grits and do the rest separately. 

For the grits you'll need: 

4 c Water

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tbs Butter

1-1 1/2 c Stone Ground Grits

1/4 Cup Cream

For the toppings:

1 tsp Butter

4 oz Country Ham (julienne)

4 oz Smoked Sausage (calls for Pork. I got stuck using Turkey)

12 Shrimp (peeled and deveined)

4 tbs Fresh Tomato (seeded and diced)

4 tbs Green Onion

1/8 tsp Minced Fresh Garlic

Pinch of Cajun Spice 

1/4 c of Chicken Stock or Water

For the Country Ham, Sausage, Shrimp, and spice. You can really do those to personal liking. I don't think you can ever have too much meat in anything. 

In one pot Dawn had the grits going while I did the toppings in the other. Dawn is the grits queen at our house, so that was definitely her job. 

For the toppings you start off by sauteing the ham and sausage with the butter. You then add the shrimp for approximately a minute or two. Work in the tomato, green onion, garlic, and spice. Then add your chicken stock or water and stir in for 30 seconds to a minute (just long enough to get the flavor to cover the rest of the ingredients). 

Pour in your grits first and then add toppings. Again, for me, there's no such thing as too much meat (or goodies as I like to call it). 

As most of you know, I am NOT a big sea food fan, so shrimp and grits is not something I order on a regular basis. Dawn, on the other hand, LOVES shrimp and grits and orders it any and every time she can. She grades how new meals are by asking if I'd ever request it in the future. This is something I will DEFINITELY be requesting in the future, and to go a step further, Dawn said that this was better than most restaurants that shes tried. 

The First "Tools of the Trade": Heavy Duty Tin Foil

The first Special of the Week will probably be one of the most basic, simplest and cheapest that I'll ever do. It's none other than your good ol' kitchen favorite, tin foil. Now, you can use regular tin foil, but I would recommend Heavy Duty Tin Foil. Regular tin foil is like putting down wet paper. It rips every time you try to do anything with it. HD tin foil is like putting down dry paper. It's not going to hold 100lbs, but it'll do a lot better than regular tin foil. Also, when smoking, the heavy duty will give a bit of a thicker barrier from the smoke. 

Tin foil has it's place in every cooks (inside or outside) kitchen. If you're in the process of cooking and notice that your food is darkening more than you want, but you still have longer to cook, cover it with tin foil. The tin foil will act like a magical cover for your food and save the outside while continuing to cook from the inside. Yes, this is why everyone cooks their ribs for a period of time and then covers them for a period. It's to keep the outside from burning. 

It's a bigger help when I'm cooking a lot of food, because not everything is going to cook at the same pace. I just throw whichever pieces are cooking faster in the foil, and let the rest cook the way they are. 

Another big use I've used, and seen others due, is to help clean up. I will lay some out on the counter and then put the pan or cutting board or whatever I'm working on, on top. Then once I'm finished I can just pick up the foil and toss it. (Of course I still wipe down the counter, but you don't have to worry about all the gunk going everywhere). I've even see some people cover their grill/smoker handles, trays, racks, or just about anywhere else that can come in contact with raw food. Then again, once they're finished with their work ... they pull it up and it's clean again. 

One of our favorite uses of it is for our grilled corn. We'll cover the corner with butter and seasoning and then wrap them in foil to help keep it all together (and of course protect the corn). 

I don't have any pictures of it, but you can also cook with foil to "steam" whatever it is you're cooking. Like you would do with a Turkey on Thanksgiving. You add a liquid to the pan, and then cover it with your foil. That foil will then keep the moisture in right around your food. 

There's countless uses for tin foil in the kitchen, so I'm not even going to pretend to try to touch them all. Although regular tin foil will work for you most of the time. If you need something a little stronger and more sturdy  Heavy Duty Tin Foil is the route you need to go. 

If you have any questions, suggestions, or want me to try something out. Leave me a comment below. 

Hitting 2013 Running

2013 is already shaping up to be a full year. As I mentioned previously. I'll be helping out with my first BBQ Comp in April. Dawn and I will be getting married on May 11th and then going on our Honeymoon. Obviously, I won't be able to cook anything during that time, but I'll come back with some food reviews from wherever we end up staying. Don't worry, with Dawn going. I'll have the camera every second of every day.

Once we return, I'll have 2 weeks to get everything finished up for my first big Kickoff to Summer cook. I hope this is something that I can turn into a yearly event. This year I'm inviting a select number of friends and family that's shown interest in my cooking and blog. I'll do some pulled pork and maybe even ribs. A family friend of mine used to do a large community BBQ for YEARS, so that idea is what I'm trying to get going.

After that, is the greatest time of the year. See, people always say that Christmas is "the most wonderful time of the year." It's a lie. The greatest time of the year is July. It's mine and our countries birthdays. Seriously, what could be better? (NO Jesus' bday isn't ACTUALLY Dec 25th, so don't even try to respond with that. It's a long story, but that's not the actual date. It's just the date it's celebrated.)

I've already bought a package that allows me to post more photos, but I'm also going to work to create a new blog design. It'll stay in most of the same format, but as I plan to grow this blog. I want it to be more of my own than some plan ol' template.

Now for the good stuff that's going to help the blog and all of you. To grow One Nine 3 a bit further. I'm going to continue with the cooks and reviews, but I'm going to add another feature post. I'm leaning towards it being on a biweekly Monday schedule, but I will be doing an opinion style post. I haven't come up with a fancy name for it yet, but it'll be a post highlighting different tools, rubs, meats, woods, smokers and other outdoor cooking STUFF. It'll go from the very basic of things to the more expensive high end items. I think it'll be something interesting, and I hope it's something y'all will leave your thoughts on as well.