'oh they are ribbed for her pleasure'

Lmao so that was the response we got when we unveiled them for the 4th of July BBQ. But here's a little video for some more reasons behind spiral-cutting your hotdogs. Just click the link the link below the picture and brush up on some hot dog knowledge :)

why you should spiral-cut your hot dog for grilling

Oh it's been a while hasn't it?

Well two surgeries later I'm back...no pun intended... I'm seriously going to and keep up with this blog a bit more seriously! Just to make sure i keep up with it I'll star with about one to two recipes a week.

Ok now enough of my blabbering on to the recipe...

Molten lava cakes!
These are super easy to make and taste awesome!

THANKS TO STACY FOR INTRODUCING IT TO US AND SOWING US HOW SIMPLE IT IS TO MAKE!!

Ingredients:
6 (1-ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
2 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange liqueur

Pre-heat oven 425 degrees F.

Grease 6 (6-ounce) custard cups. Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in a double broiler. Add the flour and sugar to the chocolate mixture. Stir in the eggs and yolks until the smooth. Stir in the vanilla and orange liqueur. Divide the batter evenly among the custard cups. Place in the oven and bake for 14 minutes. The edges should be firm but the center will be runny. Run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto desert plates.

Try this recipe! It's easy! It's yummy! And who doesn't love chocolate cake!!

Lazy days require pancakes!

Ok, there we were, deciding what was going to be for breakfast and it was almost noon. Pancakes were an interesting choice however after looking for the usual "premade" mix we found that we had none. So, the next best option was for Alex to check out one of our favorite internet sites (allrecipes.com) for more suggestions and he found some great pancakes made from scratch!

You will need:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tbl spoon white sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (little more won't hurt either)
3 tablespoons butter (melted)

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a small indentation in the dry mixture and add the milk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir until pretty smooth (I never got all the lumps out and they still turned out great.

Next

Heat a lightly oiled griddle of frying pan (I used butter flavored pam for the oil) to medium high heat. Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan and brown both sides of the pancake.

(when the first side has bubbles its ready to be turned, I found that the pancakes burned a little quickly so keep an eye on them)

We ended up with homemade pancakes that had a little almost "crunchy" crust on the outside and a tender inside with a hint of vanilla in them! Fantastico!

HOLA!

OK shame on us!!! I know we started off strong then just sort of let it slip away... we will try and keep up with it as much as possible!! if not hey we seem to start off the year strong then sort of fade off... it gives you something to look forward to next year :) hahaha just kidding we will seriously try and do better this year!!!

Before we start this weeks dessert dish we'd like to point you over to our friends BBQ page that will leave your mouth watering!!! Andrew and Brian are two brothers that share the same enthusiasm about BBQing as we do food! This is where we get all our BBQing pointers when we need them, plus Moose is a big fan of their prime rib! Check them out:

http://www.facebook.com/LeftoverBBQ

Ok on to the subject of the week: Pumpkin-Pecan Pie Bars from Cuisine at home Dec. 2011

Moose made these for work as well as for a family gathering and never had any leftovers :) Its a pumpkin pie and pecan pie mixed up all in one heavenly piece of awesomeness!!!

For the crust, cream:

2 sticks unsalted butter,

softened (16 Tbsp.)

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 2/3 bups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. table salt

For the filling:

6 eggs

3/4 cup each granulated sugar

and packed brown sugar

1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz.)

1 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup light corn syrup

2 Tbsp. bourbon (optional)

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. table salt

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

3 cups pecan halves

Let the fun begin...

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with foil.

For the crust, cream butter and 2/3 cup of brown sugar with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add flour and 1/2 tsp. salt and mix until combined but crumbly. Press dough into botom of prepared pan; bake until golden, 30 minutes.

For the filling, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, and 3/4 cup brown sugar until combined.

Mix in pumpkin, maple syrup, corn syrup, bourbon, cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. salt, and cloves until combined, stir in pecans and pour over hot crust.

Bake bars until filling is just set, about 45 minutes. Cool bars to room temperature and remove from foil before cutting.

Some handy tips :)

•After removing from the foil, slice the bars while still upside down on the cutting board to prevent the pecans from being pushed into the filling.

•Take these bars over-the-top by serving them with a scoop of cinnamon or vanilla ice cream.

Until next week!

Moose-N-A's

Try this with your next steak!

I tried this recipe for cooking a steak and I think it turned out fantastic, give it a shot and let us know what you think.

1st you need to grab a few of your favorite steaks which will hopefully be New York strips, Rib-eyes, or Tenderloins since that what the recipe suggests. (I used my favorite, which is the Rib-eye)

The steaks need to be about 1 1/2 inch thick.

Mix:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Pat the steaks dry with paper towels

Use the salt/cornstarch mixture to rub the steaks down on both sides (I used it on just one steak so you may need to make a little more mix than what is shown if you have several steaks)

Place the rubbed steaks onto a wire rack and the rack onto a rimmed baking sheet, then place everything into the freezer and freeze for a minimum of 30 minutes or maximum 1 hour (steaks should be firm and dry to the touch)

Take steaks out of freezer and season to taste with pepper (I forgot this step and it was still great)

Throw the steaks on a hot grill and grill covered until well browned and cooked to desired doneness (approx. 4 to 8 minutes per side) Watch for flare ups and avoid them obviously since you don't want your steak to burn.

Once cooked to your preference transfer the steaks to a plate and tent with foil and let rest for 5 minutes.

Now its time to chow down! You should end up with a steak cooked to your preferred doneness and it should also have a slight steak house type crust on it.

Enjoy!
Moose

Let's talk Raspberry Chipotle Sauce...

You can find this at any of our local HEB's and its pretty good, not super hot by any means but still has a little zip to let you know its there. (Some people who don't eat ANY spicey food may actually think this is hot....Theresa)

Grab you some fresh veggies such as zucchini, red, yellow, orange, and green bell peppers, a sweet onion, some mushrooms and chop them up to a decent one bite size.

I like to add anything that used to moo, or cluck, or oink (or any combo there of) to my meals so I went to Granzin's meat market and picked up one of their marionated tri-tip packages that come in a vacuum sealed bag and I also picked up a package of V&V brand jalepeno sausage from HEB, and cut both of these oink'n moo'n meats to bite size.

Now all you have to do is start stabbin' them on a skewer stick in any order you like.

Next pop them on your already heated up charcoal or gas grill and let them cook for a while without any sauce on them so the sugars don't burn right off the bat

Cook them till the veggie's are tender and the meat is done, turning at least once then add your Raspberry Chipotle Sauce with a bbq brush.

Finish cooking till everything is nice a done and your sauce is sticky and hot and your ready to eat!

I like this because its a small cleanup with a great deal of food...and you get your veggies and meat all in one stick!

Fantastic Pulled Pork mini-Sammy's!

Ok, sorry I don't have any pictures but I thought it best to just get out this recipe and you could try it yourself and take your own pics. lol

This is compliments of one of the million recipe books we have and since I was in the mood to have some type of bbq at a recent gathering we had I tried it, its super easy!

Check it out...

You will need to grab:

a 2 to 3 pound pork tenderloin
a 6 pack of your favorite Rootbeer (about two to use and the rest to drink) I used A&W
1-2 bottles of your favorite bbq sauce (I used KC Masterpiece hickory flavor)
Several packages of the Hawaiian dinner rolls or large hamburger buns if you don't want "mini" sammy's (Hawaiian brand is usually found near the bakery or deli area)
Butter
Dill pickle slices

Put your tenderloin in a decent size crockpot (seasoning is optional from what I can tell, some say you can salt and pepper it, I just added a little coating of dry fajita seasoning, but really couldnt taste it when it was done so it's up to you)

Pour enough Rootbeer over the tenderloin to cover it and fire up your crockpot to low (225 to 250)

Let it cook for 7 to 8 hours

Once the tenderloin is "tender" remove it from the crockpot and "shred it with two forks"

Dump out the juice and Rootbeer that is left in your crockpot and once shredded, add your tenderloin back to the crockpot, then add the bottle of bbq sauce. (I added a little more because I used a 3 pounder so you might actually want to buy two bottles)

Heat everything back up again

Cut however many dinner rolls you want to use in half and spread butter on the insides then place in a frying pan cooking till the cut sides are brown and toasted.

Now all you have to do is add your pulled pork to the buns, add a pickle to top if you want, and "ta dah", you have yourself a pulled pork sammy with very little effort!

Note: this makes a pretty good sized portion so make sure to invite your friends! Also, this works great for parties...just leave it in the crockpot and let everyone make their own sammy...less work for the host. ;-)