Operation BBQ Relief is a charity I support. This year alone they have served over 200,000 meals.

 

Their Mission:

The mission of Operation BBQ Relief is to provide compassion and to offer hope and friendship to those whose lives have been affected by natural disasters across the United States through our expertise in cooking and catering barbecue meals and our ability to quickly mobilize our teams into any area where nature disrupts and tears apart the lives of Americans.

 

 

Currently Operation BBQ Relief is deploying to hard hit areas of Hurricane Sandy.

Please help them by making a donation. Any amount I know will be greatly appreciated in addition 100% of the dontions go towards disaster relief.

Earlier this year I headed up to Ottawa for a fun weekend of BBQ demos with Capital Appliance

 

They asked me to do some short videos on pork butt prep for home.

 

Having been on the road pretty much for the last 6/7 weeks I have been craving a lot of comfort foods. Since coming home last week from filming BBQ Crawl I have been looking forward to getting back to my grills at home.

Its been raining and cold and generally not the nicest weather either. This leads me to making soothing bowls of happiness.

This is not so much as a recipe that needs to be followed exactly but really a lot of what I had at home at home already just thrown together.  No fuss no muss and its ready quickly. All of my kids love it too so no arguments at the dinner table either. PS- You can also add some bacon to this for added goodness.

• 5 cups hominy
• 5 large jalapenos or more to taste
• 3 Chicken Breasts
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 box low sodium organic chicken broth
• 1/4 c Pork Barrel BBQ All American Rub
• 1/8 c Smoked Paprika
• fresh thyme to taste
• fresh chives to taste
• pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp corn starch

 

Generously season the chicken breasts with pork barrel BBQ rub and smoked paprika. Preheat your grill to 250F  Using hickory wood smoke the chicken breasts and the jalapenos until the internal temperature of the breasts is 155F. Remove both the chicken and jalapenos when done and set aside.

In a large heavy stock pot pour in the chicken broth and the cream of chicken soup. Chop the chives and the thyme and add them to the pot.  Add the hominy and the frozen corn. Bring to a simmer. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces and add to the pot. Now here is where it gets personal. If you like spicier foods chop the smoked jalapenos and add them to the pot. Or as we do in our house add the jalapenos whole and then for individual portions chop the jalapenos. This way you benefit from the good smokey flavor of the jalapenos but none of the heat.

To thicken I took the super duper easy route. I had no time to make a roux today so I opted for the corn starch slurry program. In a small bowl mix 1/2 c water with a couple tablespoons of corn starch. Mix until completely dissolved and lump free. Add the entire slurry to the simmering chowder and keep stirring until thickened. Bring the chowder to a boil and then serve. I did not add any additional salt as the rub on the chicken was plenty for my family. Adjust salt & pepper to your liking and dinner is done.  Pretty darn easy for a Tuesday dinner.

 

We have been on the road for a month already and time has flown by. We have traveled from Texas to Kentucky and lots of places in between. We still have a few more BBQ joints to head to and a couple more things to see. Our last stop and where we end this crawl will be at the American Royal in a couple of weeks. Its been a blast up to now with the crew who has been working hard.

Here is your very first look at BBQ Crawl coming this Spring 2013 on the Travel & Escape Channel produced by RTR Media. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. Its my life on the road.

I love getting surprise packages in the mail.  Especially one that I use on a regular basis. I was thrilled to receive the first ever Canadian Maple Leaf Limited Edition Thermapen. These are available currently on their website and when they are gone they are gone! Get yours before its too late.

The Super-Fast Thermapen is a professional tool (originally designed for commercial kitchens, labs and manufacturing plants) that has become the top consumer cooking thermometer for home use. It’s popularity among celebrity chefs, cooking magazines, top foodies, bloggers and competition BBQ teams have made the Thermapen into an essential tool in the best-equipped home kitchens and backyard BBQ rigs.

Made by Hand in England, the Thermapen is faster and more accurate than any other cooking thermometer on the market. Competitors have tried to copy the Thermapen with mass-produced products made in China and have flooded the housewares market with slower, less-accurate knock-offs. However, when compared to true competing commercial thermocouple thermometers, the Thermapen is not only faster and more accurate, it’s also less expensive!

The Thermapen’s speed and accuracy will reveal more about food and cooking techniques than you ever imagined. You’ll learn that temperatures are always changing; a roast is never the same temperature throughout while cooking. If you want to know what’s really going on, get a Thermapen.

If you want to experience speed and precision (traceable to National Standards) and you’re on a quest for culinary perfection, you will want a Thermapen. Add up the expense of wasted meats alone and you’ll justify the cost of this professional tool.

A Thermapen can be used for virtually anything that needs to be cooked or chilled. Use it on meats, fish, casseroles, re-heated foods, breads, cakes, deep frying and candy. You don’t have to have a Thermapen to be a great cook; however, more than one celebrity chef and several food writers have testified that a Thermapen will make you a better cook…AND, you can choose your own color! Order one today.

 

Hey all I am hitting the road hard for BBQ Crawl. We have covered over 4600 km/2600 miles already in just a short while.

Make sure you follow our Twitter account for all the latest updates as to where we are …https://twitter.com/divaqbbq

we also post lots on the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/DivaQBBQ

Catch you on the BBQ trail!!

 

Its been an incredibly busy and exciting time as I get ready to hit the road for BBQ Crawl !! Fantastic working with RTR Media, Glassbox TV and the Travel & Escape Channel.  Its seriously awesome to know Ill get to eat at some of my favorite BBQ joints with some amazing BBQ folks and compete in KCBS contests as well ! 10 States, 32 cities in 6 weeks plus  BBQ competitions= amazing!! In addition we have been competing every weekend we can on the KCBS circuit.  I really want people to see the world of BBQ through my eyes. How much fun it is from Competitions to legendary pitmasters and BBQ people from all over. I love the stories I love the history of BBQ and hell it just tastes damn good too!! Starting where I had my BBQ Epiphany in Texas and ending at the worlds largest BBQ contest the American Royal its going to be a blast!

I hope to catch you on the BBQ trail…….. I’ll post locations as we confirm them

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its no shock that I am a HUGE fan of Ted Reader. I have written about him many times and he is a personal friend of mine.  He is a king of all things BBQ and grilling. It makes sense in his long line of books to have one all about beer and BBQ. Ted is insane. Certifiably insanely talented with all things on the grill. He is a trained chef that has masterminded such incredible incredible recipes as plankies. Just go make them and trust me they are decadently delicious and absolutely bad for you.  He has a big heart too. Each year he goes above and beyond to support Camp Bucko a camp for kids who are burn survivors.

 

You need to get this book. Its full of fantastic recipes and terrific ideas for summer time meals and lots of fun gatherings. Available on Amazon.

I love this video from Ted. It cracks me up.

I ♥ Pork and so does Teddy

Also be sure to check out my recipe on page 301 for Diva Q Double Grilled Jalapeno Cornbread . Delicious awesomeness.

 

BBQ Pitmasters Returns for another season with a sneak peak on Destination America tomorrow at 10 p.m. Eastern and premieres on Sunday, June 3, at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Here is our BIG news: 

I am really excited to be able to share that once again team Diva Q was thrilled to be on BBQ Pitmasters. Yup thats right you heard it here first that I can finally confirm that our team got another go at it. To be chosen to go back again was terrific.  We have to thank Original Media and the entire crew. They worked their butts off.

It was a freaking blast to be with the crew again. To be judged by 3 UBER awesome real BBQ judges Myron Mixon, Aaron Franklin and Tuffy Stone.  This time around things are different. I loved this years format. Real meats. Real Time. Real Pressures. ALL BBQ!!  I can’t give away any more details you will have to tune in to the show. Thanks to our friends and family for all their support. I am truly the luckiest woman in BBQ. Blessed beyond blessed.

Well our first official contest is now in the books for 2012! Roc City Ribfest puts on an amazing contest each and every year. The organizers are the UBER successful team Good Smoke BBQ. They know what teams like and they do a fantastic job each year making this one of the best contests in North America.

They provided breakfast each morning. A catered dinner and the legendary MIMOSAS!!! They also make sure everyone has plenty of water and power. They also give out one heck of a swag bag every year with lots of goodies. Its just the best place to be on a Memorial Weekend!

I really enjoyed teaching the class at Roc City. We had an amazing group of students and the class was a sold out success!! Nice to see some students doing well already!   I got to give some media interviews with some of the people locally and it was a great time.

The dynamic duo of Jessie and Kerry making parsley boxes for the Class.

Then onto the New England BBQ Society (NEBS) grilling contest. Fun categories- Chicken Breasts, Meat Balls, White Hots and our favorite category BACON!!

Our chicken category getting all fired up. Super delicious chicken breasts in Smoke on Wheels Marinade were awesome!!

We had a great time with friends and got everything turned in on time. The team worked their butts off and I am one heck of a lucky lady to be surrounded by so many great PPL!

The awards ceremony came and we didn’t hear our name very much. Until BACON. Then woot woot and hell yeah !! We got a perfect 180 score for our Bacon Entry!!

Here is the picture of our entry (pls note it may not be an exact representation

(you didn’t think I would actually show i did you??)

How about the award pic though?

Fun times for sure. When we got the overall results we were thrilled out of 58 teams we came in 3rd !!!

Then we had to immediately turn around and get our game faces back on…. OK maybe we got it on after a few cocktails. After all everything is better with bacon and cocktails… Mimosas courtesy of Good Smoke BBQ !

The team worked like a dream machine and we got all 4 entries in. Chicken, Ribs, Pork and Brisket.

I was happy with the chicken ribs and pork. The brisket had good flavor but the texture and appearance needed some work.

No calls in chicken, no calls in Ribs 10th in Pork and 17th in Brisket….. and a solid ending of 10th overall out of 81 teams. We are trying some new recipes for the first contest of the year. We got the cobwebs out and we are good to go !! It was an excellent weekend with good friends, good family and a whole lotta Q!

  

  

HUGE congratulations to our friends Smokin’ Hoggs BBQ who for the second time were the Grand Champions and to the RGC KC and the Smokehouse!