Hillbilly Fried Chicken

Willy is always looking for ways that recipes have been adopted to use the ingredients that are important to rednecks and Hillbillies. Here is a Fried Chicken Recipe that fits.

1 chicken, cut up
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 can beer
Cut up chicken and dip in beer.
Put flour and cornmeal into a brown paper bag, adding seasonings to taste. Put chicken pieces in bag one at a time and shake. Fry in lard in a hot cast iron skillet.

Willy explores New England Clam Chowder

Cooking all across America is different! Willy explored the east coast this week and found the following very interesting:

Almost every restaurant along the east coast had "New England's Best Clam Chowder"

Willy tried at least two bowls and found it to be very good. But Willy believes that neither of them were probably New England's best.

So Willy thinks he will try a little Clam Chowder at home: It will probably be declared the best Clam Chowder in Arkansas on that day.

Here is a great recipe from the Cliff House in Maine

Ingredients:

* 1 slice hickory-smoked bacon, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon butter
* 1 cup onion, minced
* 1 medium garlic clove, minced
* 1 teaspoon The Cliff House Spice Blend (see below)
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1 can clams (6-1/2 ounces)
* 1 cup bottled clam juice
* 1-1/2 cups Half and Half
* 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
* 2 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and diced

Preparation:
To Create The Cliff House Spice Blend, blend 4 tsps oregano, 4 tsps dried parsley, 2 tsps marjoram, 2 tsps dill, 4 tsps thyme, 4 tsps basil, 1 tsp sage, 4 tsps rosemary, 2 tsps tarragon, 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, crushing in a mortar if possible. Store in a resealable plastic bag to refrigerate.

In a heavy-bottomed, 4-pint soup kettle, sauté bacon, butter, onion, garlic and The Cliff House Spice Blend over low heat. Do not allow to brown. Drain clams and set aside, reserving the juice. Slowly stir the flour and clam juices in the sauté mixture. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Add Half and Half and simmer 20 minutes. Add white pepper, potatoes and clams. Heat to serving temperature. Do not allow to boil, as this toughens the clams. Serve at once with crackers and warm cornbread.

Cooking with McCain

Willy usually reserves this for cooking and recipes, but today it is about what is Cooking With John McCain.

Hot off the grill is his VP running mate - Sarah Palin.

This is what Willy calls "Hot in the kitchen"

Time for a Burger -All-American BBQ-Bacon Cheeseburgers

Willy thinks this would be a great hamburger - might be a little sissy - using the Kaiser roll - Might just want to use a big old traditional bun.

For a spicy variation - add jalapeno's either grilled or sauteed. I call that a Felix Burger -

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1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce, (your favorite) divided
1 lb. ground beef
4 cheese Singles
4 kaiser rolls, split, toasted
4 lettuce leaves
4 thin tomato slices
4 slices lean Bacon, crisply cooked, broken in half

To Grill: To grill meat patties, heat grill to medium. Remove 1/4 of the barbecue sauce for later use. Grill patties 7 to 9 min. on each side or until cooked through (160ºF), turning and brushing occasionally with remaining barbecue sauce for the last few minutes. Top with Singles; grill 1 min. or until Singles begin to melt. Continue as directed.

If you are in a hurry and want to use broiler - follow this:

HEAT broiler. Reserve 1/4 cup barbecue sauce. Shape meat into 4 patties.

BROIL, 4 to 6 inches from heat, 7 to 9 min. on each side or until cooked through (160°F), brushing occasionally with remaining barbecue sauce. Top with Singles. Broil 1 min. or until Singles begin to melt.

COVER bottom halves of rolls with lettuce and tomatoes; top with burgers, reserved sauce, bacon and tops of rolls.

Best Diet Pills - PricesExposed.net!

Well, here we go. Willy is breaking his own rule and posting about something that doesn't pertain to food on his "Cooking it Up" blog. So what if it is about diet pills? Well wait a minute there is the answer the reason that Willy can talk about the Best Diet Pill that you might be able to use on this blog is the fact that if you eat the great food on this blog then you will need a diet pill or something.

Yes, without some help if you don't use something and eat the food that you would cook from this blog you would be huge.

Well enough about that. What about the Best Diet Pill diet pill for you and your system. Well this site that we are talking about here can help you with that question.

It will answer many question such as:

Can a Diet Pill Be Too Strong?
Why should I choose this pill over that one.
What is the benefits of one pill over another.

Yes, many things can be answered on this website. It goes through each of the top ten diet pills. It gives you information about each of the pills. What each pill does and what is in it and how that pill can be bought at the lowest prices available according to them.

Yes, there is abundant information on PricesExposed.net that could give you all of the information that you would ever need about the diet pills and what this would cost you if you decided to order certain pills.

So as Willy said in the beginning if you are inclined to eat too much - you need to know that that is bad for your health. But if you need aid in taking off wait then that site is a place to check out to see how that they can help you.

Willy has been eating good and needs to go on a diet himself. Maybe willy will try to find out about Best Diet Pill for him and his needs.

Try it out!

Hillbilly Chili - Always good!

4th of July and BBQ

Nothing like a good holiday such as 4th of July to get together with family and have some good BBQ.

Willy is visiting daughter and son in law to have some mouth watering ribs and all of the trimmings.

Look forward to the eats, fun and family.

Hope everyone realizes that Cooking it up with the family is a great way to relax and enjoy what is important in life.

10-4 Willy

Steak Enchiladas by Willy

About once a week or so Willy likes to cook a flat iron steak. It is really a cheaper cut of steak but if you can get one with a little fat (excuse Willy) I mean marbling then it cooks up real nice. It has a thin end that can easily be cooked to medium to well and leave the other end cooked like it should be - medium rare. Many times Willy has some of this left over and is always looking for ways to use the steak. Well here is another. Try it out! 10-4 Willy
STEAK ENCHILADAS

1 lb. steak
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 chili peppers, chopped
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 tomato, chopped
1 doz. corn tortillas
American or mozzarella cheese, optional (try the Mexican Blend)

Cut steak into thin strips. Cook in skillet with small amount oil until done. Add onion, garlic and peppers, cumin, tomato, and black pepper. Add a little water and cook for 15 minutes. Fry tortillas in a little cooking oil. Place steak mixture on tortillas and roll up. Add cheese if you wish.

East West Flank Steak Wraps

Willy ran on to this recipe. Sounds like pretty good wraps. Combines a little steak and tortilla. Cant be all bad.

Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:
1 beef flank steak (approx. 1 to 1-1/2 pounds)
2 cups packaged coleslaw mix
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/8 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
4 flour tortillas (8 to 10-inch diameter)
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup coarsely chopped honey roasted peanuts
Green onion flower and chopped honey roasted peanuts (optional)

Dressing
1 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey



Instructions:
1. In large bowl, combine dressing ingredients; whisk until blended. Place beef steak in plastic bag; add 3/4 of dressing, turning to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile add coleslaw mix, 1/2 cup green onions, 1/8 teaspoon salt and dash of pepper to remaining 1/4 of dressing in bowl; toss. Set aside. Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil.
3. Remove steak from dressing; discard dressing. Place steak on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, uncovered, 17 to 21 minutes for medium rare to medium doneness, turning once. A few minutes before steak is done, place tortilla packet on grid near edge of grill to heat.
4. Remove steak from grill; let rest 2 to 3 minutes. Season steak with salt and pepper, as desired; carve diagonally into thin slices.
5. To assemble, layer an equal amount of beef, coleslaw mixture and the 1/3 cup peanuts down center of each tortilla. Fold bottom edge of tortilla up over filling. Fold right and left sides to center, overlapping edges. Garnish with green onion and peanuts, if desired.

Recipe for Saturday evening Meal!

Found a great recipe for having a good meal this past Saturday evening. The recipe goes like this:

Invite Daughter and Son in law over for the weekend. (the kids)

The kids bring over some wild turkey that son in law had killed earlier.

They fry turkey

They cook gravy

They cook corn

They cook mashed potatoes.


Recipe turned out wonderful. Food was good and had good visit with the kids.

This recipe is wonderful and something similar should repeated often.

Grilled and Marinated Zucchini and Yellow Squash

Willy hears that a marinade can really change the flavors of zucchini and yellow squash. This recipe has a lemony-peppery mixture which really wakes them up.

An Italian technique that really works is used here it is to reverse the order—grill, then marinate— - It really works.

Ingredients

2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise
2 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise
1/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon, olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil



Instructions

1. Heat grill to high.
2. Brush zucchini and yellow squash with 1 tablespoon oil and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Grill cut side down until light golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and continue grilling until just thoroughly cooked, 4 to 5 minutes longer. Remove from grill and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices.
3. Whisk together remaining 1/4 cup oil, lemon juice, lemon rind, red pepper flakes and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Add zucchini, yellow squash and basil; toss to coat. Cover and let sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours before serving. Serves 4

Keyingredient - Digital Recipes, Real Cooks

Cooking Printing is sometimes very hard to do. What I mean is the things and recipes that we want are sometimes difficult to get in to a website for cooking that is easy to print.

Well, Check out the recipe below. I entered this recipe in the website called Keyingredient.com. The recipe was very easy to enter. It was just a simple cut and paste from a recipe that I had in my computer. Then it just simply came to life with the recipe that could be easily saved, printed and used by others.

The site allows you to control how your recipe will be used. You can make it private, used by a few or easily accessible by everyone. I haven't tried it yet, but they also say that you can easily "snatch" recipes from other sites with just a click or two and have it entered into that site.

Then, just as I have done they have a widget that makes the recipe easily posted to your own blog.

Pretty neat - Right. - Check it out below.

Mushroom Merlot Burger

Willy ran on to this hamburger recipe at one of his favorite spots on cooking beef, Beef - Its What for Dinner!

Lots of good beef recipes there! Check this one out!

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Makes 4 servings.


Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef (95% lean)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

4 large portobello mushrooms

4 slices French bread, cut diagonally 1/2 inch thick

2 ounces goat cheese (1/2 cup)

4 romaine lettuce leaves

Chopped fresh parsley (optional)


Sauce:


1 teaspoon olive oil

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1 cup Merlot or other dry red wine

1/4 cup ready-to-serve beef broth

2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped

1 tablespoon butter

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper




Instructions:

1. To prepare sauce, heat oil in large nonstick skillet over low heat. Add shallots; cook and stir 6 to 8 minutes or until caramelized. Stir in wine, broth and thyme. Cook over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup. Combine butter and flour; whisk into sauce. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover; keep warm.
2. Combine ground beef, 2 tablespoons parsley, 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in large bowl, mixing lightly but thoroughly. Lightly shape into four 1/2-inch thick patties. Set aside.
3. Place mushrooms on grid over medium, ash-covered coals; grill, uncovered, 16 to 18 minutes or until tender, turning occasionally. About 10 minutes before mushrooms are done, move mushrooms to outer edge of grid. Place patties in center of grid; grill 11 to 13 minutes, turning occasionally, until instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into center registers (160°F). Place bread slices on grid; grill until toasted, turning once.
4. Reheat sauce, if necessary. Spread 1/2 of cheese on toasted bread slices. Top each with lettuce leaf, mushroom and burger; drizzle evenly with sauce. Crumble remaining goat cheese over tops; sprinkle with parsley, as desired.


Nutrition information per serving: 454 calories; 15 g fat (7 g saturated fat; 5 g monounsaturated fat); 79 mg cholesterol; 557 mg sodium; 40 g carbohydrate; 3.5 g fiber; 33 g protein; 11.5 mg niacin; 0.5 mg vitamin B6; 2.2 mcg vitamin B12; 5.2 mg iron; 50.6 mcg selenium; 6.7 mg zinc.


Cook's Notes
Cook’s Tip: To broil, place patties and mushrooms on rack in broiler pan so surface of beef is 3 to 4 inches from heat. Broil patties 10 to 12, turning once, until instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into center registers (160°F). Broil mushrooms 16 to 18 minutes or until tender, turning once.

Seafood Gumbo

1/4 cup oil
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups onion, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup celery, diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon chicken base
3 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/3 cup dried parsley
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons House Seasoning, recipe follows
2 tablespoons soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes seasoned with garlic, basil, and oregano or 2 cups fresh diced tomatoes
4 cups sliced Cajun-style fresh link sausage
4 cups cut okra (fresh or frozen)
2 cups oysters and liquor
1/2 pound crabmeat
1 1/2 pounds fresh peeled shrimp
3 cups bay scallops
File powder

In a large pot combine oil and flour. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the roux has browned to a light chocolate color. Add onion, pepper, celery and garlic. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add chicken broth, and chicken base, stirring as you go. Add water, bay leaves, thyme, basil, parsley, lemon pepper, cayenne pepper, House Seasoning, soy sauce and tomatoes. Cut sausage into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to pot along with okra. Cover pot and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add oysters, crabmeat, shrimp and scallops. Simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Serve over hot buttered rice. Sprinkle with file powder on top of bowl and stir in.
Tip: Add file powder after putting gumbo into individual serving bowls. Adding file into the pot will make the gumbo too thick as File powder acts as a thickening agent.


House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

Be Scared - Watch Frontier(s)

Frontier(s) Coming to a theatre near you on May 9th and out on video May 13th. This is uncut and unrated but it is not unscary. This film will scare the pants off of you.

This Film will make you think about your boundaries.

Trailer for this film can be watched here. But be ware. This is not for the faint at heart. This is a truly harrowing experience. Maybe this is your favorite way to be scared. Watching this type of film will scare you. Regardless of who you are this movie will scare you. Just watching the trailer for the movie made me have some wild thoughts.

Nightmares may come from watching this movie. But just think you can watch this uncut, unsensored version at the big screen theatre or soon you can watch it at home in the dark room at the house. This way you can certainly worry about who is watching you and where your boundaries are.

Nothing like this recently has scared me. The trailer did. Watch it and find out.

Corn on the Cob with Chile and Lime

Celebrate Cinco De Mayo this week with this easy recipe for tasty corn with a kick.

The spice in this one might make you want to do a hat dance around the table.

Try it out. It's so quick to make

4 ears corn with husks
1 lime, cut in wedges

1 tsp butter
McCormick Chili with Lime Seasoning
Microwave corn, in their husks, for about 15-20 minutes. (Until cooked)
Remove husks and corn silk. Rub each corn with a little butter. Squeeze lime juice and sprinkle with chili seasoning. Enjoy!

Dangerous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Willy loves chocolate chip cookies and ran into this recipe at Day Recipe.

Thanks to them here is a great chocolate Chip recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 3/4 cups flour
2 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS

Cream together sugars and butter.
Add eggs, vanilla and mix well.
Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture except the chips and mix until well combined.
Add chocolate chips and mix just until incorporated.
Bake at 350 for approximately 10 minutes (ovens vary). Cookies should be browned around the edges but not set in the center. Let cool and when hardened remove from pan.
If you desire a thinner cookie use less flour, if you prefer a denser cookie simply increase the flour by 1/4 cup.

Hot Dogs and More - Keep em hot tricks!

Willy is cooking hot dogs again next week for about 60 people and a Judging contest. This is not as bad as the 300 I cooked this week.

A secret that Willy has learned is that you can cook the dogs early and put in a foil lined cooler. This can be done up to finishing two hours early. When you bring the dogs out of the cooler to feed the hungry crowd, they are as hot as they were when they went in.

This can be done on steaks also. The trick to steaks is to cook them a shade less done than you want them to end up. If you want a just done steak, it is best to cook it to medium well and then throw it in the cooler. The steak will continue to cook and tenderize and will be just right about two hours later.

Works great!

Cajun Squirrel Stew

Willy done decided that this great Cajun Squirrel Stew Recipe bears repeating. Willy thinks this is great stew.

The Stew might be a little spicy for some of you non-redneck squirrel hunters, but if it is you can just wait around and Willy will tell you how to cook Squirrel Brains - a Delicacy in the Hills of Arkansas

Cajun Squirrel Stew

Ingredients

Squirrels - cut into serving pieces, amount depends on how many you can eat

olive oil

1 large onion

1 large green bell pepper

2 cloves garlic~

Cajun spice (Tony Chachere's recommended)

2 tbsp Tabasco sauce

4 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp Gumbo File seasoning

cooked rice

Instructions

In a deep pot or dutch oven, heat some olive oil.

Season the squirrel on all sides with the Cajun seasoning.

Add to the hot oil and turn to brown on all sides. Continue to cook until done.

Place the onion, bell pepper and garlic in a blender. Cover with water and chop. Add to the pot when squirrel is done.

Sprinkle the added vegetables with Cajun seasoning.

Add the Tabasco sauce, ketchup and the Gumbo File.

Stir to mix well.

Serve over the cooked rice.

Enjoy.

10-4 Willy

Campfire Stew or Hillbilly Stew

Its starting to be camping out season. When you camp out you want things that taste good over a campfire stove and things in a dutch oven or a big black skillet are always good. Willy finds this stew to be real good. Try it out!

Hillbilly Stew
Makes 6
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Ingredients
1 pound(s) ground venison or beef
1 large onion (chopped)
1 large can Campbell's Pork and Beans
1 small can Campbell's Pork and Beans
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp butter
Directions
In a cast iron skillet, melt butter, add onions, cook until they start to turn clear. Brown meat, open cans of beans and drain the small can only. Add to browned mixture and simmer for about 20 minutes until beans are hot. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Entrecard.com - Great Sharing Site

I have found a new site for sharing links. It is Entrecard.com. Sharing on it gives you the opportunity, for no money, to easily get links on other sites. I am not sure how it might maintain, but I signed up yesterday and my hits on this site have tripled over what they usually are.

It appears something that can be easily maintained. This will build readership and hits and ultimately the value of my site to advertisers.

Thanks to Ben Sparks photography for a link on his site that got me here.

IRS STEW - Government is eating us up!

Yes, this blog is mostly about cooking but with Tax day just behind us it is time for a little IRS STEW:

Ingredients:

• excessive government spending
• foreign aid every time another country sneezes
• ever increasing tax burden on the average Joe
• tax incentive payments
• war
• pork barrell budgets

You take all of this along with the fact that I just paid my taxes.
You stir it around for a year. When done you spill out your hard earned wages to pay your taxes and then you start a new pot on the stove.
Be sure and get a bigger pot because the ingredient amounts will increase next year.

Beef Steaks with Mustard - Bourbon Sauce

Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:
2 beef shoulder top blade steaks (flat iron) (about 8 ounces each)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup country Dijon-style mustard

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives or green onions

Instructions:

1. Press pepper evenly onto beef steaks. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place steaks in skillet; cook 13 to 15 minutes for medium rare to medium doneness, turning twice. Remove steaks; keep warm.
2. Combine cream, mustard and bourbon in small bowl. Add to skillet; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until browned bits attached to bottom of skillet are dissolved. Season with salt, as desired.
3. Carve steaks into slices; season with salt, as desired. Spoon sauce over steaks; sprinkle with chives.

The Gratitude Campaign

Someone Cooked up this idea and the only bad thing is that Willy didn't think of it. I am putting this on all of my blogs. It probably has been out there a while but I think it is great for us to simply say thank you!

Try it and see if it isn't easier than you think!

Cooking it Up - Tests new site.

This is a test to see if Willy can get this thing to work on another site. I have tried several things and it does not work well.

However I am about to get it figured out.

Cooking it up with Willy!