Stuffed jalapenos in the smoker!

We've made stuffed jalapenos in the oven for years, but now, hubby has gone smoker crazy with them, and they are AWESOME! We used 12 peppers, cut in half and seeded. I boiled them for 2 minutes and shocked them in ice water, as my peppers are really hot, and the boiling takes a little bit of the heat out of them. In a bowl I combined 1 block of cream cheese, 1 bag of shredded mozzarella, 1/2 tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic. Stuffed each pepper with about 1 heaping tablespoon of the cheese mixture, wrapped with a half slice of bacon, and secured with a toothpick.

Hubby smoked these at 235 degrees for about 2.5 hours, with pecan smoke for about an hour. Yum!

Menu Plan Monday 3/1 (and we've become a smoked bbq joint!)

The neighbors have to be jealous at the smells coming from our garage. Hubby has the smoker working at full power these days! This weekend, he did 2 yummy pork shoulders.

We enjoyed this for dinner last night and then divided it all up for the freezer. We will be using this meat in carnitas, nachos, and some other meals coming up in the next few weeks. At .99/lb., an amazing deal! Apparently, though, that wasn't enough. So we move on to the brisket that went into the smoker last night. First we had to trim it up.

Then I mixed together a nice rub.

Yellow mustard. Who knew it could be so useful in adding a little flavor and helping the rub to form a "crust".

We have the finished product on the menu for tomorrow. Looking forward to getting a taste when I get home!

While hubby was master smoker yesterday, I was at work in the kitchen. Using a $1.88 package of lean ground turkey, a .75 cent bag of kidney beans, my homegrown/homecanned tomatoes, and a mix of spices, I made a DELICIOUS pot of chili! This actually broke down into 5 different freezer portions to use as we need to. All for about $4.50.

I like to let the chili sit in the fridge overnight because I think it tastes better that way. We'll be enjoying chili tonight, and later this week as well.

On to the rest of the plan for the week. We feed two adults, a 7yr. old and a 4yr. old for 7 dinners. This week's plan comes in under $30, and is rich in whole grains, beans and fresh vegetables. (and copious amounts of cheese hehehe).

Monday-

turkey chili w/ cheese and multi grain chips $2.50

corn .50

spinach and orange salad .75

$3.75

Tuesday-

beef brisket $5.00

whole wheat angel hair (.30) tossed in olive oil (.05) and parmesan (.15) .50

roasted asparagus (1/2lb. @ $1.49/lb.) .75

$6.25

Wednesday-

skillet cheesy penne pasta w/ meat sauce (using up leftovers from freezer and home canned tomatoes) $1.50

green beans .40

mixed greens salad .75

$2.65

Thursday-

Pork carnitas tostads $2.50

refried beans .60

corn .50

$3.60

Friday-

chili dogs $2.00

steak fries .50

apples .50

$3.00

Saturday-

pork fried rice $2.00

pot stickers $2.00

$4.00

Sunday-

homemade pizza night $5.25

The new smoker is working at full speed

Hubby was at it again with the new smoker yesterday. He smoked a couple packages of italian sausage (yum!), some of which we had with tortellini pasta for dinner last night.

He also smoked a 7lb. pork butt that I had picked up for .99/lb this week. This turned out so well that I'm amazed there's any left today for dinner! Truly juicy, fall apart meat that we'll be having on sandwiches tonight, and freezing the rest before hubby can eat it as a late night snack for a couple other meals :)

I'm getting my spice rub for pork down pretty well. This can be used on ribs, roasts, and even beef or chicken.

2T kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2T black pepper (I use Penzey's California Pepper Blend and it lends a lot of flavor)
1/4 cup paprika
2T mustard powder
1T ground coriander
(if you like spice, you could also add in cayenne pepper to your liking. With the boys, I don't go there :)

Mix ingredients in a bowl...Use about 2T per pound of meat. Letting the meat sit in the fridge overnight with the rub on it is even better, but not necessary.

With the pork butt, we brought it out of the smoker when the internal temp hit 160, and then put it in a roaster pan, poured over a mop sauce that I made (see below), and baked for 2 hours at 350. Heaven.

Mop Sauce:
1 cup cider vinegar
3T brown sugar
1T kosher salt
1T black pepper.

Bring mop sauce ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens. You can use this to baste meat while it cooks for moisture and extra flavor.

Next weekend for football we're doing up baby back ribs in the smoker. My favorite!