Super healthy meals

Recently I was trying to find interesting ways to use my ubundance of leafy greens, salads are great but I wanted a dish with more substance. I found a recipe that includes lintel beans which are very high in fiber and other veggies such as Shitake mushrooms. Below is a list of the ingredients-

Spiced Lentils with mushrooms and greens

• ½ cup brown or green lentils
• 3 T OO
• ½ pound Shittake mushrooms
• Salt
• 1 garlic clove minced
• ¼ t cumin
• 1/4 t coriander
• 1/4  t pepper
• 1/8 t turmeric
• ½ pound greens
• 1 T chopped parsley
• Peppercorns
• Smoked chicken
• Malabar spinach
• Ham
• Hot Peppers
• Zucchini

Cook lentils for 30 min, heat 2 T OO, cook veggies, later add mushrooms and garlic, cumin, coriander, pepper and turmeric for one min, add greens, add lentils, serve with parsley on top for a very healthy dish

Holy smoke smoking!

I just have to say WOW, I just finished smoking 10 chicken breasts with mesquite smoking chips. What incredible smoky flavor, very intense to say the least. It was a little too much for direct eating, it works great when you add it to a bean dish or something more creative. I like to try new things when smoking meat, I found some cheap mesquite smoking chunks at Fry's marketplace. Wood chunks I feel work better because of their size plus it also allows you to use less charcoal. Remember one thing, have the charcoals finish heating until there is no fire before you add the wood chunks. I did have a little trouble controlling the heat this time. I took note the temperature went up to 300 degrees at first but then it went down to 250. I smoked the chicken for about 2 hours for an internal temp of 160. Im still using a standard Weber grill with a water pan underneath the grill surface. Ive found that using those cheap flimsy pans can be difficult to use because of the great possibility of spilling the water all over your coals. Until next time, happy smoking!!!!!

Smoking meat

I just smoked my second piece of meat, a 2.28 lb of pork lion. Things went better this time because I first used my weber grill with a water pan elevated above the coals. I then used a 3.3 lb bag of matchlite charcoal in the bottom of the grill. I feel now I should buy the next larger bag for extra. I then used some apple smoker wood chips in a smoking box to keep the chips from burning out so fast. This time I was able to regulate the temperature of the grill better, it ran from 225 to 250 degrees for a time of 2.5 hours. Remember the more air the hotter things become. After than I checked the internal temp of the pork and it was at 140. I then through it in the oven for another 30 minutes mainly because I didnt have anymore charcoal hence the larger bag. I read somewhere on the net I should try Agave smoker chunks for a great flavor for any meat. Ive found this wood is hard to find, look on the Internet because it comes from Hawaii. I found that using water elevated it lasted longer, in fact I didnt have to fill in anymore. Anyway the result was one tasty and tender pork loin.

Holy Smoke!!!

I must say, HOLY SMOKE is a wonderful thing for meats. I just completed my first successful meat smoking creation. I cooked a 3 lb. pork shoulder for approximately 4 hours. I was able to use my converted Weber grill into a smoker. I used Match light charcoal in the bottom with some apple smoking chips on top of the coals. I also had a drip pan below the meat filled with water and Coors Banquet beer. The average temperature was 225 degrees and the internal temperature of the pork shoulder was 150 degrees when finished. I had some trouble with the coals not staying hot enough, the wood chips burning out too quickly and myself smelling like a campfire but all in all it was a very interesting experience and I learned alot. I think next time Im going to try some apple smoke chunks on an electric frying pan with the smoke being channeled into the Weber grill from the bottom. This way I can monitor the heat  better and the chunks wont burn out so fast.

The way I prepared the pork shoulder was I cut three slits on the top longways about a half inch deep, minced two fresh garlic cloves and spread them in the slits and on the top, rubbed grill mates pork rub all over the roast, wrapped the roast in plastic wrap and refrigerated for 24+ hours.

I have read in a few places on the web, get your meat to 190 degree internal temperature and the meat just falls apart for great pulled pork sandwiches. Anyway more smoking adventures will happen very soon, stay tuned!

Marinates and bbq recipes

We are developing a site all about entertaining in your yard. Creativewatertrends.com is all about grilling and smoking meats for a party. We want to collect all of your favorites. Please indicate first what type of meat to use and all your spice and marinate secrets and whether to use a grill, smoker, etc. We are also big on other edibles such as things in a garden, veggies, meat and of course potato dishes.