Ravioli Lasagna
Ravioli Lasagna
Ravioli Lasagna - No, I did not invent the recipe for Ravioli Lasagna but I did tweak it some to enhance the recipe by adding my personal touch. First let me say that when you search "ravioli lasagna" you'll only get about 590,000 results!! Most of the recipes call for frozen cheese raviolis, ground beef, jar of spaghetti sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese. My tweak was to see if I could make it more like a traditional lasagna. It was fun, easy, and SWMBO said it tasted like my lasagna ... mission accomplished! Served with a side of salad and toasted roasted garlic bread ... Bon Appétit
Started by making a quick pork sausage lasagna sauce: 1 lb Jimmy Dean pork sausage, onion, mushrooms, 15 oz tomato sauce, 14.5 oz stewed tomatoes, 6 oz tomato paste, garlic, garlic salt, seasoned salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning. Simmered sauce for 45 minutes.
Sprayed 9"x11" foil pan with cooking spray and built up ravioli lasagna layers: Layered ⅓ of the sauce, 20 frozen cheese raviolis, mozzarella cheese, and a dab of ricotta cheese on each ravioli. Repeated a second layer of the ingredients. Topped the casserole with the remaining sauce and mozzarella.
Covered the ravioli lasagna tightly with foil and baked in a preheated 400ºF oven for 1 hours. Removed the foil and baked an additional 10 minutes till cheese bubbly and golden brown.
Tailgater Bacon Cheddar Sliders
Tailgater Bacon Cheddar Sliders
Tailgater Bacon Cheddar Sliders - What an honor when I found out that one of the Appetizer recipes from my cookbook, The Wood Pellet Smoker & Grill Cookbook, was published in the September/October 2016 edition of the TAILGATER magazine.
Wood Pellet Grill Smoked Tri Tips
Wood Pellet Grill Smoked Tri Tips
Wood Pellet Grill Smoked Tri Tips - What's better than a gourmet blend pellet smoked tri-tip roast? That's easy ... 4 smoked tri-tip roasts!!! While visiting my Nephew I helped him break in his new Green Mountain Grills Daniel Boone wood pellet smoker-grill. If you're fortunate enough to find tri-tips at your local butcher shop, grocery store, and/or big box store then you know how delicious tri-tip roasts are when cooked to perfection which for me is medium-rare and pulled when the internal temperature reaches 145ºF.
For a family dinner party we needed a lot of scrumptious sliced tri-tip. We visited his local Costco store and found cryovac peeled Choice grade tri-tips. Unfortunately they didn't have any USDA Prime tri-tips available as the meat department said they are unable to get Prime. Bummer cause I have it available at my Costco store. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with Choice grade tri-tips. Using my smoke/cook technique they turned out extremely tender, moist, and delicious!
- Trim any extra fat and/or silver skin from tri-tip roasts
- Rub roasts with extra virgin olive oil and Fagundes Seasoning
- Wrap roasts in plastic and refrigerate overnight
- Preheated Green Mountain Grill Daniel Boone with Gourmet Blend pellets to 225ºF
- Smoked the tri-tip roasts at 225ºF for an hour
- Bumped the pit temperature to 335ºF and cooked the tri-tips until the the internal temperature reached medium-rate (145ºF)
- Pulled the tri-tips and rested them loosely under a foil tent for 15 minutes
- Sliced the tri-tip roasts thinly against the grain on the bias (45º)
- Serve with your favorite sides ... Bon Appétit
Smoked Antelope Backstraps
Smoked Antelope Backstraps
Smoked Antelope Backstraps - While visiting my Nephew I turned him to the "Dark Side"!! I helped him buy his Christmas present ... His first wood pellet smoke-grill ... a Green Mountain Grill Daniel Boone.
This led my Grand Niece to present me with the opportunity to smoke wild game for the first time. Since I've never cooked any type of wild game I jumped at the chance to help break in the Daniel Boone. My Grand Niece's husband bags an antelope yearly and she had some antelope backstraps in the freezer.
After a quick search I learned that antelope backstraps are such a tender and flavorful meat that it makes it easy to prepare with minimum ingredients and minimum cooking time as they are like pork and/or beef tenderloins. Rubbed the backstraps with extra virgin olive oil and seasoned them with Fagundes seasonings. Most recipes I found recommended using just salt and pepper.
Everything I read said you should not cook a backstrap past medium-rare (140ºF). Preheated the Daniel Boone with Hickory to 250ºF and smoked the backstraps for about 1 ½ hours till the internal temperature reached 138ºF. Your time will vary depending on the size of the backstraps. Rested the backstraps loosely under a foil tent for 15 minutes.
Didn't know what to expect but they turned out fantastic!!!!!! Not gamy at all ... almost like roast beef and boy were they ever tender and moist. Success ... my Grand Niece's husband said it was the best he's ever eaten.
When smoking Elk backstraps take the internal temperature to 145ºF.
Smoked Cornish Hens
Smoked Cornish Hens
Smoked Cornish Hens - If you're like every one else, you love the thought of having your own little chicken to munch on. A smoked Cornish hen is just the ticket and it couldn't be any easier! 4 hours at 225ºF should do the ticket ... My biggest surprise was how much meat a smoked 1 pound/2 ounce Tyson All Natural Premium Cornish Hen has. I initially thought that one Cornish Hen for each of us would be perfect but in hindsight, one Cornish Hen was more than enough for the two of us. You can see by the plating photos just how far half a Cornish Hen will stretch. Hope you like peas as much as I do. Vacuum sealed and froze the other Cornish Hen to be enjoyed at a later date.
Rinse the Cornish hens and lightly pat dry with a paper towel making sure to include the cavity of the hen. Rub extra virgin olive oil inside the cavity and under/on the skin of the hen. Season the Cornish hen inside the cavity and under/on the skin with a combination of McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning and Fagundes Seasoning. Use silicone cooking bands rather than butcher twine to tress the hens. The food grade cooking bands are safe to 600ºF and are dishwater safe. Use Wrap the seasoned Cornish hens in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours.
Preheat your MAK Grill wood pellet smoker-grill or grill of your choice to 225ºF using your favorite wood pellet flavor for poultry. I seem to gravitate towards Hickory when smoking poultry but apple, cherry, or a blend of pellets also works great.
