Smoking, This and That

For those who have been fortunate to either be following this blog or physically following me you know that the last month has been a whirl wind of smoke! I have had the pit fired no less that 7 times with cooks of Ribs twice, 3 separate brisket cooks, 5 pork shoulders, several meatloafs, salmon, sausage jalapeno bombs and the beat goes on.

So for the last few weeks I have been smoking several different types of items and making some other dishes off the pit as well as experimenting with new side dishes.

For this weeks blog I wanted to touch on a few new items.

First I was looking for a new snack to serve to some of the usual suspects. I really enjoy smoked cheese and crackers, however the temps have been just to hot to smoke cheese So I decided on smoking the crackers.

As you can see in the pic I choose Ritz Crackers (after all would Andy lie? Everything taste better on a Ritz!)

I simply added the chosen amount of crackers to a pan, fired my Pit trying to keep the temp below 200 and poured as much smoke as possible into the crackers for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

The outcome was fantastic!  Went well with all types of cheese and made for a great happy hours.

Side of the Week:

I am always looking for new side dishes and lately I have been in an I...Talian mood.

I choose summer salad of Green Bean and Mozzarella Cheese. The most important point and I can not stress this enough is to use all FRESH ingredients.

Ingredients:
2 Cups Fresh Green Beans cooked and drained
6 (I used about twice that many) Plum or Cherry Tomatoes Halved
1 Cup Fresh Mozzarella Cheese Grated
1/3 Cup Fresh Basil (I used about 6 leaves)
1/3 Cup Italian Dressing of your choice

Toss all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Keep Smoking My Friends
Randy