Update:  You still have 48 hours to leave a comment to enter our $100 giveaway! (And tell 75 of your closest friends to leave a comment, too.  Good Grief!  Can’t we give away money?)  You have until 5:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, October 26th.  Click here to hop over to our 100th post and leave a comment to be entered in the drawing…  Good luck!

 

We want to give away as much as possible, and to do that, we need to have at least 100 unique commentors on the 100th post! So if you have not yet made a comment, or if you know of someone who might be interested in a chance at this giveaway, let them know and get your comments in place. This is the only extension we will be making, so the Sunday deadline is firm!  Come get your gift certificate!  As a reminder, here are the details:

 

To celebrate our 100th post, we want to get 100 commenters to leave comments.  To encourage all of our readers (we know you’re lurking there…) to comment, we’re offering a performance based giveaway.  For each 25 unique commenters on our pasty post, we’ll add another $25 to a gift certificate up to $100.  So!  If we get 25 commenters, the gift certificate will be for $25.  If we get 50, it’ll be for $50.  For 75 commenters, $75 and so on up to $100.  The gift certificate will be for Amazon.com, Williams-Sonoma, King Arthur’s Baker’s Catalogue or Cooking.com- the winner will get to choose!

 

There are only three requirements for entry into the drawing:

 

1. You can’t be related to Val and I.  Duh, right?
2. You need to leave a comment on our 100th post.
3. In your comment, please let us what you’d like to see more of on Foodie With Family.  Quick recipes?  Frugal recipes? More recipes for chocolate covered crickets?  Help us help you!

 

At 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, October 26, we’ll use random.org to pick our winner. 

 

You don’t need a blog to enter, but if you do have a blog, and you’re so inclined, mention our giveaway and let me know in your comment and we’ll give you another entry into the drawing.

 

For yet another entry, link back to us and pop this little badge up on your blog…

 

 

Okay everyone!  Just two days left!  Just hop on over to our pasty post and leave a comment.  Good luck!

Here’s another Record-Eagle column from days of yore.

06/12/2006

Foodie with the Family

Father influences son’s grilled-chicken recipe

 

BY REBECCA LINDAMOOD
Local columnist

 

With this beautiful weather comes the beginning of grilling season.

 

For my family, this means many chickens will go to the great hen house in the sky in order to feed the bottomless barbecue pits that are my boys. When I moved to western New York years ago, I happily discovered the standard summer barbecue fare here: Cornell Sauce Barbecue Chicken and Salt Potatoes.

 

Even those who swear by their tomato-based barbecue sauces are surprised to find the flavor this sauce packs.

 

As for the salt potatoes, don’t panic when you see the quantity of salt that goes into the water as most of it stays in the water. Yes, there is a lot but it is worth it! However, if health concerns dictate a lower sodium diet you can cut the salt by half or add another quart of water to the pot. If you have any leftover potatoes, they make the ultimate home fries the next morning.

 

As if the taste isn’t enough to recommend it, the ease of preparation will amaze you. Just thinking of this meal makes my stomach growl. I’ll be making this meal most weekends this summer. I’d be willing to bet that if you try this it’ll become a regular in your household, too.

 

After having this meal one evening, I saw my 8-year-old, Liam, laboring over a piece of paper at the school table. When I asked him what he was up to he replied, “I’m just writing a recipe.”

 

Oh, the joy! My baby was becoming a foodie. With pride he handed over his recipe and I’d like to present it to you along with my version of the recipe.

 

Liam’s Barbecue Chicken

 

You take your coals and start your grill. You back up and swing your golf club a few times. Then you put the golf club down and go spread your coals out and put the chicken on the grill. Then you swing the golf club some more. Then you throw the golf club and run to the grill because you’re burning it. Then you turn the chicken. Then you swing the golf club some more and then you throw it and get mad and run and get the chicken and take it in and tell Mommy that it’s done. She should have the salt potatoes done by then. The end.

 

Cornell Sauce Barbecue Chicken

SAUCE:

• 1 egg
• 1 c. cooking oil
• 1 pint cider vinegar
• 2 T. Old Bay seasoning
• 1 T. salt
• 1 T. poultry seasoning

 

Whisk egg, then add oil, then add cider vinegar and remaining ingredients. Blend thoroughly. Store in jar. Makes enough for 10 chicken halves. Marinate chicken from 30 minutes to 2 hours but not more, as the vinegar can make the chicken tough after that time.

 

Grill over high heat, turning every five to 10 minutes and brushing with fresh sauce each turn, until done to an internal temperature of 170° for breast meat and 180° for thigh and leg meat.

 

Salt Potatoes

• 4 lbs 1½- 2-inch new potatoes, scrubbed clean with skins intact
• 1 c. salt
• 2 quarts fresh water
• 4 T. butter, cut into pieces, optional

 

In a large, non-reactive stockpot, bring the water and salt to a full rolling boil over high heat. Carefully add all the potatoes to avoid splashing.

 

After water reaches a boil again, lower heat slightly to maintain a low boil for 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes in a colander and allow them to air dry slightly. Top the potatoes with pieces of butter when you put them in your serving dish.

This column is the perfect illustration of my third born.  He is an enigma.  A cute enigma, but definitely an enigma.

 

 

Foodie With Family

Slow cookers to the rescue

 

Read Rebecca’s past columns here

Today, I was working at my computer for five minutes when my 5-year-old, Ty, hollered down the stairs, “Mom! I’ll be good now!”

 

That was his way of asking me whether his banishment for sitting on his brother and poking him in the eye with a pickle could end. The pickle is a favorite torture device around here. The pickle-as-weapon preference is probably owing to the fact that there are so many, since I canned 70-something quarts of them last summer.

 

While keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the monitor and fingers firmly planted on the keyboard, I voiced permission to descend. After a bit, I became aware that he was standing behind me. I turned and saw soaked hair brushed tight to his forehead and water dripping down his face. The torso of his shirt was sopping wet and he was wearing a smile that stretched from one little pink ear to the other.

 

“Mom! I washed my own hair,” he proudly proclaimed. “… And I didn’t use the toilet brush.”

 

(I was unaware that was an option …)

 

“I just poured a few cups of water over my head and then I brushed it. How does it look?”

 

I stifled my urge to respond, “Like a blond Eddie Munster,” and said, “Fabulous! Did you hold your head over the sink while you poured the water on it?”

 

His chirpy answer came over his shoulder as he marched into the living room, “No, but the floor’s ready for you to clean now!”

 

The extent to which we’d spiraled into chaos in five minutes became clear when I saw my 3-year-old sitting at the table drinking water through a curiously hairy straw of unknown age and origin and my 1-year-old scooping butter into his mouth with the handle of a spoon. Some days it just doesn’t pay to ask.

 

On days like today, I give grateful praise for the gift of the people who invented and perfected the slow cooker. I love my slow cookers so much that I’ve given them names: Jude and Martha (the patron saints of desperate cases and cooks, respectively). Martha and Jude have been hard at work today preparing my kids’ favorites; sloppy joe and billy-joe-joe filling. I’m not sure where they came up with billy-joe-joes, but, honestly, I’m not sure why they say half of what they say.

 

I made some soft, wonderful rolls to serve with the filling. By adding a salad and some “helfy soda” (or healthy soda for those of us who aren’t 5 or younger), I’ll have a reasonably well-rounded and totally family- and budget-friendly meal.

 

I usually make both fillings at once so that I can offer an option at the table. And I find that the homemade fillings taste much better than the varieties made with the “manly” stuff in a can and they’re nearly as easy to make.

 

Prepare the quantities listed here because the filling freezes wonderfully for meals when time is even tighter.

 

Slow Cooker Billy-Joe-Joes

• 3 lbs. 90 percent lean ground beef or lean ground turkey
• 2 c. low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 T. Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 t. paprika
• Dash of cayenne pepper or hot sauce, optional
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Hamburger or split sandwich or Kaiser rolls

 

Optional toppings:

• Pickle slices
• Ketchup
• Mustard
• Hot sauce
• Chopped onions
• Grated cheese

 

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground meat, breaking apart with a fork or wooden spoon, until cooked through and lightly browned. Drain meat, then add to the slow cooker with the broth, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, paprika and cayenne pepper. Cover and cook on low for six to seven hours. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.

 

Serve filling loosely piled on rolls with choice of toppings.

 

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

• 3 lbs. ground beef or turkey
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 large ribs celery, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped or grated
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 3 6-oz. cans tomato paste
• 1/3 c. cider vinegar, plus extra for adjusting flavor after cooking
• 1/3 c. firmly packed light brown sugar, plus extra for adjusting flavor after cooking
• 3 t. paprika
• 2 t. dry mustard
• 2 t. salt
• 2 t. chili powder, more or less, to taste
• 1 t. fresh ground black pepper, more or less, to taste
• ½ t. hot pepper sauce

 

Optional toppings:

• Pickle slices
• Ketchup
• Mustard
• Hot sauce
• Chopped onions
• Grated cheese

 

In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook the beef with the onions, bell pepper, celery, carrot, and garlic, breaking up meat with a fork or wooden spoon until meat is lightly browned. Drain meat mixture and remove to a slow cooker, adding remaining ingredients. Stir until thoroughly combined, cover and cook on low for six to seven hours. Adjust flavor by adding additional brown sugar and vinegar to taste, if desired.

 

Serve filling loosely piled on rolls with choice of toppings.

 

Healthy Soda

• ½ c. 100 percent juice, any flavor
• ½ c. unsweetened Seltzer water, any flavor

 

Pour juice over ice in a glass. Add seltzer. Serve immediately with a straw.