The problem is that I totally left the house without my Big Butz BBQ sauce so I had to improvise and to my surprise everything turned out fantastic.

I ran up to the grocery store around the corner and picked up boneless skinless chicken breasts and a few odds and ends.

I figured I was ready until I walked up to the isle of BBQ sauce and knew that I had to make a decision.  I couldn’t get the thought of using Big Butz Original on this chicken but certainly was not going to drive the 15 miles back to the house so I felt a little stuck.

I figured I would take a change and grabbed a bottle of Cattlemen’s Carolina Tangy Gold sauce and would just use that.

Now, I’m big on basting my Chicken with BBQ sauce and have found that most mustard based sauces seem to do much better since there is usually a little less sugar in the sauce.  And this is definitely a mustard based sauce for the ages.

As soon as we got back I went ahead an got the Bubba Keg fired up.  Um,  yeah, we drive around town with the thing because you never know when it’s going to be needed.

Dropped in a couple of handfulls of lump coal, got my firestarter in and got it lit.  Now it’s time to just prep the chicken.

I decided to go basic and just added a little garlic salt and black pepper to the chicken and put it on the grill.

I got the chicken started and started brushin’ the breasts down with the Cattlemen’s.  Start, brush, cook, flip, brush, cook, I actually turned the chicken every couple of minutes to just make sure that I had plenty of sauce on the chicken.

Well, I’m here to say that I was pleasantly surprised as to how fantastic the chicken turned out.

The sauce didn’t burn but did help lock in all of the juices in the chicken.  Every bite was super juicy and tender yet bursting with flavor.

I definitely recommend trying out the Cattleman’s Carolina Tangy Gold if you get a chance, I can promise that it works perfect with chicken.

Keep an eye out because I think I will be using this sauce again real soon…. After I run out of Big Butz.

Last week I met up with Michael Baxter from www.baxtersoriginal.com and for those of you that are Twitter fans he is knows as @BaxtersOriginal (it wouldn’t hurt to give him a follow) at the Smokin’ on the Suwanee BBQ competition.  I had a good time at the place but man oh man was it hot.  Well, Mike saved my live with a cooler full of ice cold adult refreshness (I still owe him for that) and also a sample of some of his wood.  I had honestly never smoked with Maple and was very excited about trying it out.  My only problem was that I wanted to make sure this sample was put to good use and didn’t waste anything.  So I waited a little time and my oh my, I have never had wood chunks so easy to smoke with and the smell and flavor from the Maple was fantastic.  I now am on a mission to get as much variety of wood from him that I possibly can.  Hey Mike look out for an order from me soon!

Now, I know I said “Perfect Storm of Flavor” and here is the addition that make it perfect.  We all know Tom at www.bigbutzbbqsauce.net (Tweet him @BigButzBBQ) and truly appreciate his saucy passion.  I have been able to Tweet with him for a while and know with 100% certainty that this man loves BBQ and BBQ Sauce.  I’ve been threatening for a while to place an order and get some sauce to try out.  Well, I finally did it and my order came in on Saturday.  I opened the mailbox and immediately began to drool in anticipation of this sauce.  I received a jar of his Cranberry sauce, a jar of his Original sauce, and a jar of the No Butz sauce which is definitely hot enough to make your tastebuds dance.  Check out his flavors here.

Since you are now aware of the story behind this “Perfect Storm of Flavor” let me tell you what happened.  I had about 10 lbs of chicken leg quarters and decided that I wanted some BBQ Chicken.  So, I seasoned the chicken with a little garlic salt and black pepper (yep that was all I put on the chicken.)

Well, the problem was that it was raining like crazy so getting out to the smoker just wasn’t gonna happen.  So I pulled my grill up onto the porch got it hot and added some soaked maple wood chunks beside the coals.  This turned out perfect and long before I ever added the meat I had the best smelling yard around.  This wood had just the best smoke aroma I have ever smelled and believe me it will be used much more.

Once the grill got hot I added a few of the leg quarters and immediately began brushing them with Big Butz Original BBQ sauce.  The grill was super hot so I just kept turning these things about every 2 minutes and constantly brushed them with sauce.  I kept repeating this process for about 30 minutes and this what I learned.  As the chicken cooks and the heat seals the sauce, this process helps to keep the chicken jucier and more tender than I have ever had.

I don’t think words can explain what happened to me as I took my first bite but I will try to explain.  As I bit into the chicken the sky cleared, it stopped raining, a ray of sunshine came down onto the house and a rainbow appeared in the sky.  Well, maybe that just happened in my mind but this was as close to a miraculous event as you can get.  The chicken has a perfectly smoked flavor thanks to Baxters and top that with the sweet and tangy taste from the Big Butz sauce it was perfect.

If you love BBQ you really owe it to yourself to pick up a bag of wood from Baxters Original and a few jars of sauce from Big Buts and try this out for yourself.

Ok, so I’ve been told that I don’t put enough healthy meals up so I decided that this was going to be my way of providing a meal that is healthier than my normal stuff.  Just because this chicken cacciatore is healthy doesn’t mean that it lacks flavor because I’m here to tell ya that this knocks my socks off every time.

In advance I want to let you know that for this meal I actually use brown rice instead of pasta and no sugar is added so technically this is also a diabetic friendly meal.  If you want to use pasta I can promise you that it will be amazing but today is about being a little healthier than normal.

Check it out, try a taste, tell me what you think, and as always remember that I am not a photographer but I think I need to hire one…

Ingredients

3 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2 shallots (chopped)

12 oz sliced baby portobello mushrooms

3 tbsp olive oil

3 cans diced tomatoes (I use no salt added)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup brown rice

2 1/2 cups water

1 tbsp margarine

1 tbsp salt

Some oregano, this part isn’t exact

Some black pepper, also not exact

What to do!

Since the rice takes the longest to complete go ahead and get 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil.  Add 1 tbsp butter and salt and then stir in the brown rice.  Lower heat to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 45 minutes.

While the rice is cookin, season your chicken however you would like (personally throw garlic salt and black pepper on it) and grill it until it’s done.  I guess this is the easy part because you just have to grill the chicken.

Once the chicken is done bring it in the house and cut it into smallerish chunks.

On medium heat add olive oil, garlic and mushrooms to a pan and start those a cookin, make sure to stir regularly to keep from burning.  After these have been going for a few minutes, add the chicken and balsamic vinegar and allow to cook for about 2 minutes.

Now the time has come to add the tomatoes, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and oregano to the pan and mix everything together.

Cover and lower the temp and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Once everything is done, top the rice with the cacciatore and go to town.  This will feed 3-4 normal eaters lol.

Now, you don’t have to do what I do, but this is not grilled chicken.  This chicken was done slow and low for 5 hours on the smoker and was the most tender, juicy, amazing chicken you could ever have.  Okay, okay, enough of my rambling about how amazing the chicken was, now it’s on to what you guys need to do to make this perfect chicken.

First, if you want to know how to make the sauce, check it out here Apple Chipotle BBQ Sauce.

Now for the Chicken.

Curry Chicken with Apple Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Curry Chicken

Now I like to mix and match a few seasonings and I think that’s what gave this chicken the perfect savory-ness that is needed to match this sauce.

10 lbs of chicken leg quarters (look I’m poor and this stuff is cheap)
black pepper
garlic salt
curry powder
ground cumin
onion powder

Hate me all you want but this next part really isn’t an exact science.

cover the chicken with black pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, cumin and finally curry powder.  When cooking chicken I would normally add a little cayenne pepper to the mix but trust me you really won’t need it.

Now, let the chicken sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes just to let those seasonings settle.  And put those bad boys on the smoker and let roll at 200 – 250 degrees for about 5 hours.  Keep and eye on em, you don’t want em blackened.  About every hour brush a healthy about of sauce on the chicken and keep doing that until you are ready to take them off.  I personally like to give em one more splash of sauce right at the end as I’m taking them off the grill.

If you have apple wood this would really set it of but this time I used a little hickory and it came out perfect.

Try it out, lemme know what you think, if you like it then just tell people where you got it from hahaha.

Now, before you say anything, I know, this doesn’t call for the grill, and I don’t use no BBQ sauce on it but I just had to have it.  In all honesty this is by far one of my absolute favorite dinnertime meals especially during the summer.  It’s actually quite tasty, refreshing, and lite and even the kids like it.  Give it a try, let me know what you think, I know I like it.

Parmesan Chicken

2 Cups Grated Parmesan Cheese
4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
3 Cups Buttermilk
3 tblsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Lemon Pepper
2 Eggs

Soak the chicken in the Buttermilk for about 20 minutes, just give it time to relax a little before it has to face the heat. While the chicken is soakin’ beat the eggs in a bowl and get ready to wash the chicken. (I know, I know they have already soaked why do the need to wash? Trust me, they need it.) In a separate bowl, combine Parmesan, garlic, salt, and pepper and shake until all ingredients are mixed.

Now comes the fun part, take the chicken out of the buttermilk and dip in the egg wash, immediately roll in the parm seasoning and place on a greased baking sheet. Cook these things in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or starting to get golden. Serve this with the lemon pasta and yer tastebuds might go crazy.

Creamy Lemon Pasta

1 lb box of pasta (I like spaghetti for this)
1 cup Sour Cream
3 cloves of garlc (minced)
2 tblsp Olive Oil
1 lb Baby Portobello Mushrooms (sliced)
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup white wine (Pinot Grigio works really well here)
zest from 2 lemons
juice from 2 lemons
fresh chopped parsley
Mozzarella Cheese
Cheddar Cheese

Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente and drain. While pasta is cooking add olive oil to a skillet and begin to sautee the garlic in the oil. Once the garlic starts to get a little color add the sliced mushrooms and keep stirring. At this point add the salt and 1/4 of the lemon zest and the juice from half a lemon and continue to stir until the mushrooms just start to get soft.

And here is the part that will also make the house smell amazing. Now add the white wine, reduce the heat and cover for about 6 minutes to reduce, stir ever couple of minutes though. Once everything starts to thicken a little go ahead and put all of the sour cream and the rest of the lemon zest and juice from 1 lemon in the pan and stir until combined. Oh WOW, I can smell it now, just thinking about it is making me hungry.

Place the pasta in a baking dish, add the sauce, and toss to coat the pasta. Add the parsley and continue to toss to coat. Top the dish with both cheeses and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, just until the cheese is completely melted. Remove from the oven and add the remaining juice from 1/2 a lemon on the dish.

I hope you guys really enjoy this as much as I do.