take my word for it wednesday.. it was prom and potatoes and pictures.. oh my.. and a little wee fire..

 

 

this is kind of a long post.. as it was actually a long day.. let me first start off by saying take my word for it the meal was great.. it was a hard road to get to great but the ultimate result was wonderful.. if your not a tri tip fan i urge you to reconsider.. i made it while we were camping a few weeks ago and my dad said it was one of the best steaks/roasts he has ever had.. i had it about 20 years ago while walking through costco, when they give you samples and they had a big bbq set up and had cooked tri tip.. it was so good i've been hooked ever since.. now i am going to show a few things NOT to do.. see i am here for you people.. i take my mistakes and near disasters and share with you so you don't end up with a big mess.. (like i almost did..) the things i do for you.. he he *wink* so today on take my word for it wednesday.. believe me when i say these dishes were good but don't make the same mistakes i did..

it all started off with jake getting his lsat scores back.. he will be applying to law school soon and good scores make that task a tad bit easier.. well he got them back and did well so i said let's have a celebratory dinner.. it's also shell's fall formal so i will have both kids in the same house at the same time, which is rare these days, i can take some photos.. so i started by getting a nice size tri trip.. i then put it in a zip lock with about a cup of olive oil and a tablespoon of garlic salt.. squished it all around and placed in the fridge to marinate for about 6 hours..

 

the store had awesome looking shrimp.. so i peeled and deviened them.. added a thin slice of jalapeno and wrapped them all in bacon.. then skewered them and sprinkled with cajun seasoning.. ohh my was it good..  i also took my corn brushed on butter then added whatever seasonings anyone wanted and wrapped in foil.. i had paprika, chili powder and cayenne on mine.. pete had garlic salt and italian seasoning on his.. the kids wanted just salt and pepper..

 

ok let's get this ball rolling i put the tri tip on a medium low grill (i had it cranked up to high and put the steak on then lowered to medium low on the burner the steak itself was on and left the other 3 on high)

 



i cooked it for about 7 minutes on the one side and flipped it to a hot side, dropped that temp down to medium low and cranked the one it had been on back up to high.. i then added my shrimp and corn.. and well this is where it all went wrong..

oops.. i closed my lid, because that's how i always bbq tri tip and kinda forgetting about the bacon and well it dripped down and pretty much lit everything on fire.. i got that out but the tri tip still had oil on from marinating all day and well it went up like christmas tree.. pete used his beer and put everything out.. he then tried to use my beer to put this hunk of meat out.. we almost came to blows.. there was about to be a wwf throwdown in the back yard.. he quickly realized the error of his ways and used water instead.. smart thinking..

 





 

but  i did something i knew was wrong.. when i did it i knew it was wrong but i did it anyway.. you see i had assumed i would need 8 skewers (4 kabobs with 2 skewers each) so i pre soaked 8 wooden skewers.. but i ended needing 10 and i just grabbed 2 and didn't soak them.. well can you see up there they caught fire.. then caught the bacon and shrimp on fire.. it was bedlam in my back yard folks.. but *whew* i got the fire out.. i moved things around.. it all worked out.. but i will be cooking my shrimp inside from now on that was to much stress..

 

 

then i remembered oh crap i have potatoes in the oven, thankfully they didn't get over cooked they were perfect.. i take my baking potatoes.. i scrub them, poke holes in them and rub them with olive oil.. put in a 400 degree oven for about an hour.. remove.. cut in half.. scoop out the insides and add to a bowl.. to the bowl i added light sour cream, low fat plain greek yogurt, shredded sharp low fat cheese salt and pepper.. mash it all up and add it back to the potato boats then place in a casserole dish and add back to the oven drop the heat to 350 and cook about 20 minutes so the cheese gets melty.. this part went off without a hitch.. it was then time to say good bye to shell as she left for her fall formal..

 

she and her bff, allie decided to go together.. can you hear beyonce's single ladies playing?? no? oh must be in my head.. moving on then..

 

i get so happy when i can actually get a photo of my kids together without shenanigans.. it does't happen very often as you can see by the below photos..

 

jake photoboming shell and sam..

  

 

i don't know what i said but jake thinks i am nuts.. (as usual)

 

 

jake trying to act like he is not interested in the photo..

 

that silly smile he makes..



 

he loves to photobomb the girls..

 



 

finally shell calls time out.. 

 

 

and here she is saying "your seriously not putting these all on your blog are you.." psst don't tell her.. out little secret.. *wink*

 

now onto what you came here to see.. the recipes.. so it begins..

 

grilled tri tip

 

prep time: 6 - 8 hours

cooking time: 30-40 minutes

servings: 6

 

ingredients:

 

1- 2 1/2 pound to 4 pound tri-tip steak/roast, they can also be referred to as a triangle steak, it's the bottom sirloin cut ...look for one well-marbled with fat

1/2-1 cup olive oil (depending on the size)

1 tblsp. garlic salt

 

combine olive oil and garlic salt.. put roast in a zip lock and pour olive oil over it.. squish it around to make sure it's fully covered and put in the fridge anywhere between 4-8 hours.. when time to cook remove from zip lock, discard oil, and place on pre heated hot grill. I get my grill going on high then i put my steak/roast on and let the outside sear up for about 1-2 minutes.. i then drop the temperature of the side the grill the meat is on to low, close my lid and allow to cook for about 14-17 minutes.. then i flip the meat over to the hot side of the grill allow that side to sear up then drop the temperature to low and crank up the other side to high and close my lid and allow to cook for 14-17 minutes on that side.. be VERY CAREFUL for flare ups.. keep a water bottle on the grill.. the fat in the steak can drip down and cause flare ups ... just be careful if it's flaring up to much turn the side that the meat is on entirely off and cook an additional 5-7 minutes.. your basically looking for an internal temperature of  120° - 125° (f) for a rare roast, 130° - 135° (f) for medium-rare and 140° - 145° for medium.. remove from grill when it's reached the temperature you want and allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing against the grain and serve..

 

 

twice baked taters (my taters are about as simple as they get.. my mom's been making them since i was little.. she always added cottage cheese i replace that with greek yogurt.. super simple..)

 

prep time: 10 minutes

cooking time: 1 hour to bake the potatoes then 30 or so to twice bake them

servings: 4

 

ingredients:

 

4 large russet potatoes

1 cup light sour cream

1 cup low fat greek plain yogurt

3 tbls. butter

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

olive oil

 

pre heat your oven to 400° (f) scrub your potatoes.. then i poke them with holes and then i put a little olive oil on my hand and rub it all over the potatoes.. put in the oven on the middle rack and bake for about an hour.. you want them tender to the touch.. remove from oven and when cool enough to handle, slice in half and scoop out the innards into a medium mixing bowl and place your boat/canoe now in a casserole dish.. once they are all done add your sour cream, yogurt, butter, cheese, salt and pepper to the poatoes and mash together.. i use my potato masher i use when making mashed potatoes.. then replace the potato mixture back in the boats.. drop the temp down to 350° (f) and put them back in the oven for about 20-30 minutes more to get the cheese melted..

 

 

spicy grilled corn on the cob

 

prep time: 15 minutes

cooking time: 20-25 minutes

servings: 4

 

ingredients:

 

4 ears of corn

2 tblsp. butter, melted

your favorite spices it's really whatever you want.. i like mine with chili powder, cayenne and paprika, pete likes his with garlic salt and italian seasoning.. shell and jake like theirs with salt and pepper

 

ok people have asked me why i don't cook my corn in the husk.. i am allergic to the silk.. ya know that stringy stuff on the husk well it makes my hands itch and break out and it's horrible.. so pete just removes the husks and silk for me as soon as we get home once i buy it.. i take my melted butter and with a pastry or bbq brush i brush butter all over the ear of corn then i liberally sprinkle whatever seasoning i am going to use and then wrap in foil.. i usually cook my corn the same time i am cooking my meat so i use the top rack of my bbq and cook for about 20 minutes turning occasionally.. it will start to become tender to the touch (or the tongs i use to flip it) then you know it's ready.. but usually 20-25 minutes is a good estimate..

 

sorry no picture of this finished they didn't make it in the house before they got eaten they were amazing almost burned to a crisp but we prevented that..

 

bacon wrapped jalapeno shrimp

 

prep time: 45 minutes (less if your shrimp are already peeled and deviened)

cooking time: 30 minutes

servings: 4

 

ingredients:

 

20 large shrimp, peeled, deviened and rinsed

10 pieces of bacon, cut in half

20 slivers of jalapenos (about 2 jalapenos slivered)

cajun seasoning such as tony chachere

8 wooden skewers soaked in water for about a 1/2 hour before threading them!! (VERY IMPORTANT TO SOAK THEM IN WATER) he he

 

peel and devien your shrimp.. add a sliver of jalapeno to the back of the shrimp and wrap in bacon.. i used two skewer per kabob so they wouldn't spin.. put 5 on each kabob and grill over a medium grill.. don't do what i did and put on the top rack over your meat.. not a good idea :) you can cook in the oven too i have done this many times.. on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven 15 minutes per side.. on the grill it takes about 30 minutes as well..  i have heard of par cooking your bacon in the microwave to speed up the process.. i haven't done that so i don't know the details :/ sorry.. Well that was my crazy day.. as crazy as it was we had such a good time.. i hope you were able to spend some time with your family..



 

enjoy and get cook'n!!