BBQ

Valentines Sweet Tooth Recipes:How to Make Sugar-Free Treats

Kent Whitaker who is author of this post Valentines Sweet Tooth Recipes, also known as “The Deck Chef,” is an award-winning culinary writer and cookbook author. He’s also penned Young Reader, NASCAR and History titles. The former winner of the Emeril Live Food Network Barbecue Contest also covers football, motorsports, and bass fishing. Kent currently lives in East Tennessee with his wife, son, and a couple of dogs that love when he fires up the smoker or grill. You can reach out to Kent at: The Deck Chef Facebook, or Instagram, and Twitter. Marketing geniuses have helped us associate Valentine’s Day with all types of sugary treats! But, what if you’re looking for a tastebud-pleasing item that was free of added sugar? Good news – there are alternatives to dishes loaded with processed sugar, including both the decadent richness of chocolate and the sweetness of strawberries! After all, the whole consumer concept of Valentine’s Day revolves around chocolate and strawberries… as well as roses. But, because we are not diving into the realm of edible rose petal recipes, we are sticking to the two favorites - minus the needless added sugar. Let’s get started! No Sugar Added Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread Let’s start with strawberries for Valentine’s Day! That includes this tasty hack for making two versions of a spread packed with strawberry flavor and cream cheese. And, it has no added processed sugar that you’ll need to add. Let’s get started! Grab a few simple ingredients and follow the instructions. Ingredients: • 1 package of 8-ounce low-fat cream cheese, often labeled as American Neufchâtel cheese, softened • 2 teaspoons Stevia or your favorite sugar substitute • 1 to 2 teaspoons of strawberry extract – or 2-3 tablespoons of sliced and mashed fresh strawberries. • Dash of vanilla flavoring – start with ½ teaspoon and taste. Instructions: Whip cream cheese in a mixing bowl on medium speed while adding the remaining ingredients. Chill before using for about thirty minutes. Here’s a hack – start with your low-fat cream cheese/American Neufchâtel cheese, a drip of vanilla, and then add in a spoonful of sugar-free strawberry jam. Why a no-sugar-added strawberry spread? Because you can use it in several ways! It is perfect for spreading on a freshly toasted bagel, muffin, or toast. You can use it as a dip for fruit, veggies, crackers, and more. No Sugar Added Chocolate Drizzle Sauce Of course, you can’t have Valentine’s Day without chocolate! But once again, why go [...]

By |2024-01-10T00:34:14+00:00January 21st, 2023|Valentine Day, Chocolate, Strawberries|0 Comments

The Best Food Concessions: Where to Find Them & What to Try

The Best Food Concessions in the USA There are many great festival food concessions across the United States, but some of the most popular and well-known include: Kona Ice: a shaved ice truck and trailer that serves a variety of flavors. Known for its tropical-themed decor. The Corn Roaster: Is a concession stand that serves freshly roasted sweet corn on the cob. The Lemonade Stand: a stand that serves a variety of lemonade flavors and it is known for its colorful decor. The Funnel Cake Truck: a food truck that serves freshly made funnel cakes with a variety and lots of toppings. The Grilled Cheese Truck: Is a food truck that serves gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. The Ice Cream Truck: Is a truck that serves a variety of ice cream and frozen treats. The BBQ Stand: a stand that serves barbecue items such as brisket, pulled pork, and ribs. The Waffle Cone Stand: a stand that serves freshly made waffle cones filled with ice cream and toppings. The Fryer: A stand that serves a variety of fried foods such as French fries, fried pickles, and fried Oreos. It's worth noting that the best festival food concessionaires are those that have a great quality food. they also have good customer service, a variety of options and a great presentation. ********************************************************************** Concession Links Concessions and How Not to Get Booked Corndogs

By |2024-02-24T16:09:41+00:00January 18th, 2023|Fair Food, Food, Fruit, Lemonade|0 Comments

What’s the Best Grade of Steak for Grilling?

What’s the Best Grade of Steak for Grilling? It seems that meat prices, such as steaks, are always on the rise and that’s even truer due to processing plants shuttering temporarily due to COVID-19 concerns. So it’s a good time to have a better understanding of the different ratings for beef. Just in case you were wondering, there are eight different beef quality grades! Who knew? This explains why a ribeye in one section of the meat counter is one price and a similar-sized cut a few steaks away is more expensive. Of course, you can factor in the weight and the thickness of each steak when pricing. But there’s a good chance that one row of those ribeyes in the meat counter is one grade while the ones a few rows over are a different grade. The lower grade, the lower quality of the cut. What Determines a Grade? So, the basic question is what determines the grade of steak or beef in general? The USDA has eight beef quality grades. Surprisingly, the grades are based on only two main things. The first is the degree of marbling (aka intramuscular fat) in the beef. The second is the maturity, estimated age, of the animal at the time of slaughter and processing. Most Common Grocery Store Grades Don’t worry, you don’t have to remember all eight grades of beef. When it comes to grilling steaks or slow baking a roast, then the number of grades is only around three. That’s unless your buying steaks from a sketchy van with a built-in freezer parked in some parking lot… then you may need to know the lower grades! Here’s how those three grades three break down according to the Cattleman’s Beef Association. PRIME – Most Expensive Prime beef is produced from young, well-fed cattle. It has abundant marbling, is produced in smaller quantities than other grades, and is often sold in hotels and restaurants. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for roasting, grilling, or broiling. CHOICE Choice beef is high quality and produced in highest quantity, but has less marbling than Prime. Choice roasts and steaks, especially from the rib and loin, will be very tender, juicy, and flavorful. They are suited for roasting, grilling, and broiling. Less tender cuts are perfect for slow-cooking. SELECT Select beef is slightly leaner than Prime and Choice because it has less marbling. It can lack some tenderness, flavor, and juiciness as compared to the higher grades. Select grade beef often benefits [...]

By |2024-01-10T15:10:27+00:00May 24th, 2020|Food, Meat, Steak|0 Comments

Valentine’s Cooking Tips with Quick and Easy Recipe for Chocolate Lovers

Author Bio: Kent Whitaker (Author of this post Recipe for Chocolate Lovers), also known as “The Deck Chef,” is an award-winning culinary writer and cookbook author. He’s also penned Young Reader, NASCAR and History titles. The former winner of the Emeril Live Food Network Barbecue Contest also covers football, motorsports, and bass fishing. Kent currently lives in East Tennessee with his wife, son, and a couple of dogs that love when he fires up the smoker or grill. You can reach out to Kent at www.thedeckchef.com, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The Perfect Recipe for Chocolate Lovers on Valentine’s Day: Many people opt for a private home cooked meal on Valentine’s Day instead of spending too much on dinner out with possibly inflated prices. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a big dinner out with your Valentine if the budget and schedule allows it. However, many may find a romantic dinner at home more affordable and equally desired. The trick is to make sure the romantic event is different from a normal meal Here are some suggestions followed by a quick and easy recipe for Chocolate lovers! Simple is the ticket during the month for lovers. You want to impress your dinner partner. But that does not mean picking a dish that requires you spending all your time in the kitchen. Nothing says love like waiting for hours while food is cooking. Keep it quick and simple… but new. Keep it fresh. This applies on two levels, fresh foods and a fresh recipe. Avoid bland frozen items and choose a dish that is not something the two of you would eat on a regular basis. Comfort But try to stay in both of your comfort zones. This is not the time to try an exotic recipe for the first time. One, make sure you can cook the dish. Don’t pick something that takes more skill than you can muster, or time than you can dedicate to it. Two, don’t go crazy on something that neither one of you would really enjoy. Portions Size. Dishes are smaller, everything is easier, cooking time is reduced and both of you are more likely to enjoy each other’s company more if you don’t feel the need for a nap after dinner. Clean Up! Are you kidding me? Save the dishes for later. In short, make it simple, realistic and something you know you can cook but don’t all the time then try to add a twist. And even if you [...]

By |2024-01-10T15:57:36+00:00January 25th, 2020|Fruits, Valentine Day|0 Comments

Easy Grilled Foil Fish Boat

About the Author: Kent Whitaker who is author of this post Grilled Foil Fish is a culinary writer and cookbook author. He is the winner of the Emeril Live BBQ contest and winner of an American Authors Association Gold medal. Kent’s books are in bookstores nationwide and are available online. Kent lives in Chattanooga. Visit him online at www.thedeckchef.com Grilled Foil Fish: The Ultimate Guide Sometimes you want something other than a hot dog or burger on the grill and that’s where seafood comes in to play. Seafood, from simple cod fillets to shrimp, clams, oysters, shark steaks, and more are all perfect for cooking over hot coals or open gas flames. The trick is to understand one important thing… grilling seafood is incredibly simple! And that’s where using something as simple as a foil fish boat comes in handy. Unless you grill all of the time and have a wide variety of non-stick grilling baskets you may be hesitant about grilling more delicate white fish fillets directly on the hot grate. The obvious fear that that the fillet will break apart… which it will naturally flake when it’s done. Flakes can turn into large chunks of your meal falling into to fire. Why a Boat and not just a sheet of Foil? What’s a foil fish boat? – all you are really doing is providing a nice surface that you can grill thin and delicate filets on worry-free. A splash of butter or non-stick spray is all you really need. I love foil and this is a recipe and technique that I use to cook seafood and shrimp on the grill. T also works with vegetable burgers and turkey burgers. The point is, you have the smooth surface of a skillet with the smoky flavor from your grill! Here’s where a “boat” comes in handy! By forming a boat or bowl type of shape with your foil you can add additional items in without having to worry about things sliding off. Plus, depending on how thin your fillet is, you may not even need to turn it. Just let the heat from the bottom coals and the refracted heat from a closed cover grill, smoke and bake your fish at the same time. And, if the sides of the foil are long enough you can add the ingredients, fold lightly to seal, and then grill. You’ve just eliminated the worry of serving dried out fillets. Serving shrimp? Toss in the shrimp, sprinkle with [...]

By |2024-01-10T22:37:49+00:00July 2nd, 2019|BBQ|0 Comments

Dry Rubs Made Simple

Dry Rubs Made Simple Have you ever taken a bite of something and wondered what spices were used to season it? In the world of barbecue and grilling spice combinations are called rubs because the mixture of spices is rubbed into the meat. I get several emails a year asking about making rubs and how to find combinations for different flavors. The simple answer is that rubs are whatever you want. Heck – salt and pepper is a rub! But, for developing certain flavor combinations it’s probably a good idea to do some research on the spices you like in your favorite dishes. For example, if you want an Asian-inspired rub then research oriental spices and Korean barbecue. Tex-Mex rubs include spices found in South of the border cooking. The same goes for Greek and Mediterranean cooking, Italian foods etc. If you like that “flavor” learn the basic spices associated with that style of cooking and start playing with spice combinations. Or, you can cheat! More on that below. Here are a few things to keep in mind when developing your own spice combinations – AKA, rubs! Add Before Long before Cooking The secret to using a spice rub on any meat is getting a head start. I apply my rib rub on my ribs a day before they hit the smoker. This allows the spices to dissolve as the meat soaks up the flavor. At the very least, apply your rub several minutes before cooking. Allow the rub to turn from dry to moist – you’ll see a notable difference over the course of ten to thirty minutes. If you plan on more than a few minutes, then cover and place in the fridge. But don’t go crazy with the above suggestion when it comes to delicate items like seafood. A few minutes to allow the seasoning to sink in will be perfect. Watch the Sugar and Salt! Going healthy is a great thing when you start mixing up your own batches of rubs. Don’t get me wrong – you can add a pinch of salt – just don’t go overboard. Avoid doubling up on sodium when you use salt and then another ingredient such as Garlic Salt. Suddenly you have double the salt! I include dashes of brown sugar, and even table sugar, in several of my rubs and seasoning blends. However – if you use a lot of sugar in your mix and heat things up too quickly you could end [...]

By |2024-02-29T07:22:48+00:00February 1st, 2019|BBQ, BBQ Recipes|0 Comments
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