New Look "Wampus"!

OK, let's all thank Brandi for the new banner, logo!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

People who love photoshop are good in my book!
This is exactly what I was looking for and I love it. Who would be interested in a shirt with this on it?

Does anyone know how to turn this banner into a hyper-link so I can put it on my other blog? Now I'm just being pushy, I know.

New Look for the Wampus

I've been told I need a logo....can anyone help? You'll get a lifetime table at the Wampus.

Fontucky Fried Chicken

Do you think someone could get away with opening a chicken place called Fontucky Fried?

Just a thought.

I've decided that I still like the Caddywampus Cafe, so I'll just title it on the menu, "Fontucky Fried Chicken Fingers".

Have I done the chicken fingers/nuggets breaded in Italian bread crumbs before? Yes? OK...well, here goes. It's the same breading as the "Chicken Parmesan" (which seems to be pretty popular on the foodie searches).

Take a look!

Birthday Cake for Godzilla

OK, so my wife is awesome. She's so dang creative and I'm just not.....it is almost irritating, but how can such talent make you jealous? One should just stand in awe.

She worked very hard on this and even got discouraged at one point cursing me and the cake. I was just in the room. Don't judge. I would have done the same thing to her and the cake.

Godzilla turned 2 on the 9th and his party was today. We were busting our butts trying to get everything pulled together at the last minute (really? surprise!) and my wife busts out this bad ass cake. He is into dinosaurs and we like to enable the kids' habits.

Here's what she did. It's all box cake mix (why not...there's more work to it...why make it harder). She did a 9x13 pan of yellow cake, filled two Pyrex bowls with chocolate cake and carved them in to volcanoes. She took Oreo-type cookies and smashed them with a rolling pin and mixed them in chocolate frosting. With this frosting she thee wed...no really...she pressed against the side of the volcanoes making it look like a rocky surface. Impressed yet? I was/am.

Then she iced the sheet cake w/chocolate and used graham cracker crumbs for dirt and green tinted coconut for grass. Then here's the kicker. She made a pool.....with green J-E-L-L-O. A friggin' pool on the cake. How often do you see that? I'll tell you...."never, that's when!"

When she put the cake together she finally cut the corners off one side to assemble the volcanoes on either side of the cake. Eli loved it (of course, it was cake) and we all "ooh'd and ahh'd" as we saw it.

I love my wife and all the she puts in to her kids' birthday parties. Me...I would have bought a cake maybe had ribs for the adults and hot dogs for the kids. My wife does stuff better than me. I just hope she never takes up the drums.

Grilled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

So, when you have defrosted meat in the fridge and you're not sure what to do with it. Just stick it on the grill, man. You can do it at 10 p.m. if you want....you don't have to eat it......until it's done and smells all good and stuff.

This was a last minute "what are we going to do with it?" situation. I put it on the grill with just some garlic salt and some pepper then at the last minute basted it with the BBQ sauce.....on a whim, right.

I don't know if we were planning on eating this or not, but I toasted an "institutional bun" with some pepper jack cheese (thanks to Costco). (is this what they use in prison?) More on this later...maybe. My, my, my.....that was some good food. (ever notice I don't talk about the "crap meals" that I make from time to time.....which is why there is sometimes a gap in my posting)

Anyway...short story long....I grilled food that I didn't want to go bad. Tip for the day.

Next will be the cakes for Godzilla's b-day party...the wife is outdoing herself this time. I might try to get her to blog about it instead of my paltry diatribes.

Grilling Series: Propane

Make sure you have it.

Need a logo

OK all you readers out there. All three of you!

I would love to have a logo for the Caddywampus......I just think it would be cool....and is something I have been thinking about for a while.

Anyone? Bueller?

Grilling Chops w/Caddywampus Green Beans and Roasted Red Potatoes w/Garlic & Pepper

When I did this, I had these very thin cut pork chops which are good to have when you're on a limited time frame because they cook so quickly.

What I used:
2-3 lbs. pork chops (bone in)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (aka EVOO)
Balsamic Vinegar
Garlic Salt
Pepper
Season-All

What I did:
A couple of hours before I started cooking, I coated the chops with the EVOO and balsamic, sprinkle (to taste) dry ingredients (both sides), cover and put in fridge. (you can do this the night before if you want, but you at least want to do this an hour before cooking)

Have I told ya'll about the beans in any earlier posts? I think I did, but I haven't the time to look it up.

Caddywampus Green Beans
What you need:
1 - 1.5lbs of fresh Green Beans (rinsed and blanched-please remember to drop them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process...this will keep the crispness of the beans)
1 yellow onion, chopped
3-4 slices bacon
salt/pepper to taste

How to do it:
Heat skillet over medium heat (approx. 5 min.) cook bacon to crisp remove from skillet saving bacon drippings for cooking the rest of the food. Place onion in skillet and cook until the begin to sweat then place beans in skillet. Once they begin to get just a little soft, remove from heat, crumble bacon and mix in with beans and onions.......Damn! they're good

Roasted Red Potatoes w/Garlic & Pepper
What you need:
2-3 pounds of Red Potatoes, quartered
EVOO
2-3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 tspn pepper
season-all

What you need to do:
pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, mix EVOO & dry ingredients in separate bowl. put potatoes in mixture and make sure to get all the potatoes coated in oil, pepper, garlic. place in oven for about 25 minutes or until tender w/fork. again, Damn! they were good.

One of these days I'll write a book.

Today's Lunch: Sausage, Egg & Cheese on Sourdough

This was good. I wish I'd have thought to take a picture, but I was only going to put up the "Grilling Series" and not post about anything else right now.

4 turkey breakfast sausages
2 eggs
2 slices American Cheese
2 slices of Sourdough bread (buttered on the outsides)
= one sandwich

Make sure you start the sausages first (in a separate pan) as they usually take the longest. I did the eggs fried, but mixed them up on the griddle. Set them aside, put the bread on the griddle, cheese on the bread then re-set the eggs on the melty cheese, place sausage on eggs, then place other slice of bread, smash together, then flip (carefully) to finish off. Remove from heat and enjoy. These make great brunch like meals.

Juicy Crispy Chicken Breasts

Now, I made this last year and it was very, very yummy. I have since done it with Chicken Thighs and BBQ sauce on numerous occasions with even better results. Indirect heat is a very interesting way to grill things; especially when you're someone used to cooking with high heat all the time.

Now when you try it, try it with the corriander marinade. I'm not sure if any of ya'll like middle eastern flavors, but that was dang good.

"Spice-rubbed. In step 1, sprinkle your favorite spice rub all over the chicken while you're letting it come to room temperature. We like the Indian flavors of 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne."

There are two other ways to do it, which I haven't tried (unless you count doing it with BBQ sauce) that are good too. You'll see.

Anyway, Sunset is a great magazine with tons of fun stuff to cook.

Somebody try it and let me know which one you liked best. (Tony, since you're now the bar-b-queing fool....I expect you to try it.)

Grilling Conserves Water

"What the heck are you talking about?", you ask yourself.

So, the other day I asked for suggestions and 2 of my 3 commented back. I don't know much about organic stuff or trans fat business, but I do know (enjoy, rather) grilling. 'Tis the season to be jolly. No, not Christmas, but it's warm most of the time and time to get your grill tools together and your coals burning (or propane refilled).

Today will just be a tip on why grilling is good. There will be a few of these in this series. I found some recipies that I havne't trie and I'll re-post some of the things I have already discussed.

Now, let's get started:
Well, when you grill, you usually don't have to wash as many dishes. For example: The other night I grilled checken breasts and put corn on the cob (still in the husk) right on the grill. This meant, I didn't have to wash the corn, boil it, nor cut them in half (3 ears f/5 people) . It saved me time and water.....WOW! I'm a friggin' genius. I also threw some broccoli in some foil w/EVOO, S&P and set that on the back of the grill. Saved more water for steaming and another dish. Dang, I'm on a roll now.

I love being able to cook an entire meal right on the grill and not have to turn the oven or stove on. Hank Hill would be proud.

Now, last night, I did make burgers, but I made home made french fries in the oven. I would have done a separate post, but I don't want to interrupt the flow of the Grilling Series.

What you need:
3-4 good sized potatoes
2 TB EVOO
S&P to taste
Optional:
Hot Sauce or Cayenne Pepper

While your oven is pre-heating to 350F, cut potatoes in half, then in 1/4" slices. Mix EVOO and S&P (salt & pepper) and optional stuff then drop potato slices in making sure to get all slices covered w/mixture. Place on a cookie sheet and put in oven for about 20 minutes, but keep an eye on your fries so they don't get burned.

Serve while warm because cold fries are just bad.

Someone try it and get back to me!