Pancho's on our Plate

This past Friday, Ethan and I met Todd, Shellie & Teagan at Pancho's after the first spring scrimmage for Tiger Football. This place has been around for years. It is one of those local places that you either love or hate but everyone loves their cheese dip, which is always a staple at any party! They used to have several locations in Memphis but now they are down to two in Memphis (one restaurant and one Pancho Taco, their fast food joint) and one restaurant in West Memphis. Ethan usually isn't a fan of Pancho's and always orders "American" style food when we go there but on Friday I guess he was being adventurous and he ordered some of their Mexican food and actually enjoyed it! Like I said in a previous post, I like variety so I usually vary the items I order but I always order a chicken tostada! They are just that good! We also enjoyed some delicious frozen margarita's! It was a great way to end a gorgerous day! Eat Up! Bon Appetit!

This Week's Dinner Menu

After 2 weeks of neglecting to go to the grocery store we finally made it this past Sunday! Over the past couple of months we have been buying our grocery's from a local grocery store, SuperLo Foods. We like SuperLo because we always find local and often unique items every time we shop. Also, there store brand items are really good and cheap. By shopping there we estimate that we save at least $20 a week on grocery's compared to where we used to shop! Also, SuperLo's website features a "recipe of the day" as well as a "tip of the day" and provides their shoppers with "weekly meal solutions." Very helpful! Before heading to the store, Ethan and I always make a list and a menu for the week. Here is our menu for this week:

Monday
Fried Pork Chops
Green Beans
Cream-style Corn
Sister Schubert Dinner Rolls

Tuesday
Spaghetti with sausage, peppers, & onions in a light parmesan sauce
Garlic Bread

Wednesday
Beef Tacos

Thursday
Fried Chicken Salad

Except for this week, we always make our menu from Sunday - Thursday. We don't plan out our meals for Fridays and Saturdays because we like to go out and experience some of the fabulous restaurants Memphis has to offer. Also, since the Tigers made the NIT Basketball Tournament and they are playing the 1st round at the FedEx Forum this Wednesday, St. Patty's Day, we probably won't be having tacos; rather, we will be heading downtown to watch the Tigers and celebrate St. Patty's Day with a green beer! Go Tigers! EAT UP! Bon Appetit!

Bubble Burst and Burgers

The Tigers played there 1st C-USA tournament game yesterday and it turned out to be their last with a lost to the Cougars by 1 point (66 UofH 65 UofM). This year the tournament was in Tulsa but the past 4 years the conference tournament has been at the FedEx Forum. In our opinion Memphis is where the tournament should be held every year! For one- we get the home-court advantage, two- game tickets would actually be sold, and three- we have Blues, Beer, and BBQ! So as avid Tiger fans you have probably guessed we have attended the C-USA tourney the past couple of years but this year Tulsa just did not sound too appealing! Instead we watched the high-noon cat-fight from the comforts of home. Since the game was during lunch Ethan cooked up some awesome bison burgers! They were so juicy and flavorful! To complement our bison burgers we had VooDoo Gumbo Chips by Zapps.These were introduced to us by a friend and are some of the best chips you have ever put in your mouth! EAT up! Bon Appetit!

Smokin in the Backyard

So it actually did turn out to be a gorgeous day this past Saturday. We went to watch the Tiger's play their last home game of the season and we destroyed Tulsa as if we were a "golden hurricane." Haha! Great way to end a good season! Yeah, Go Tigers! Now on to the C-USA tournament! After the game we came home to start practicing our ribs for the Smoke on the Water BBQ contest we are competing in next weekend. Below is the menu & pictures of items we cooked/ prepared on a fun filled day of "Smokin in the Backyard."

On the Menu:
2 Slabs of Ribs
Armadillo Eggs
Chicken Legs
2 Pork Tenderloins
BBQ Sauce and Rub

The Smoker

Chicken Legs, Ribs and Sausage

Ribs that have been rubbed (top ribs with "Dirty Boar Rub Down" & bottom ribs with "XXX Rub")

Placing the ribs on the smoker. The ribs will be smoked
"slow & low" at approx. 250 degrees for about 6-7 hours.

This is what the ribs and pork tenderloins look like after a couple of hours of being smoked. The pork tenderloins do not take as long to smoke as the ribs so we took the tenderloins off the smoker about 30 minutes after this was taken.

After the ribs have been on the smoker for at least 3 hours, we take them out and wrap them in foil. We go by the 3-2-1 method. Meaning we smoke the ribs for 3 hours, wrap them in foil and place them back on the smoker for 2 hours then about 1 hour before the ribs are finished take them out of the foil and add the finishing glaze then place them back on the smoker until tender and ready to serve. Of course this method varies depending on the smoker you use and how steady the temperature remains throughout the cooking process. Also, wrapping them in foil keeps the ribs from drying out and allows us to add more flavor.


After several hours of smoking, the ribs were finally ready to eat. A common myth about ribs is if they fall off the bone they are tender and cooked just right; however, if the meat falls off the bone the ribs are actually overcooked. A rib that is cooked just right will easily tare from the bone with little effort (you don't want the meat to fall right off but you also don't want to be yanking at the meat either). The most important thing about ribs and really any pork that is smoked is "the smoke ring," which is a pink circle that outlines the meat. Just because you still see pink does not mean that the ribs and or pork is not cooked; it's just the "smoke ring" and that is a good thing! I personally liked the ribs with the "XXX Rub" because it was spicy and sweet but everyone else seemed to like the ribs with the "Dirty Boar Rub Down" which was mainly sweet. So we will see which one we end up using for competition. Maybe a mixture of both!

Adam making his BBQ sauce, which placed 3rd at the Tennessee Funfest this past June.

Adam's BBQ Sauce. Saucy!

Ethan making Armadilllo Eggs. Ingredients include hot sausage, fresh jalapeno's (hollowed out), cream cheese, velveeta & fajita spices. Basically you stuff the jalapeno's with a cheesey mixture of cream cheese, velveeta & fajita spices. Then wrap the jalapeno with the hot sausage and shape into an egg. Smoke for a couple of hours until sausage is cooked.

Yum.....Armadillo Eggs! These were actually pretty good. They were spicy, cheesy & sweet. We are not really sure where the sweetness came from but it was a nice surprise. Last night I actually chopped the leftover Armadillo Eggs up, placed them on some chips added some cheese and salsa to make nacho's! Ole!

Ethan injecting the chicken legs with creole cajun butter

Finished Chicken Legs. Scrumptious!
These were so juicy and tasty!

EAT up! Bon Appetit!

Go Tigers and Cheeseburger Soup

On Wednesday night, the Tigers played UAB at UAB. This is always an intense game because it is a huge rivalry. The past couple of years we have made the trek to Birmingham to cheer the Tigers on to victory; however, this year we decided not to subject ourselves to the hostile environment at Bartow Arena and cheer the Tigers on to victory from the comforts of our home. For the game we thought about having cheeseburgers, tater tots & beer because those are always good game watching staples but we decided to combine everything and make cheeseburger soup! The idea for cheeseburger soup came from watching another episode of Diners, Drive- Ins, & Dives. Guy visited this restaurant called Grover's Bar & Grill which used to be Pres. Grover Cleavland's summer cottage until it was turned into what is now known as Grover's Bar & Grill. Guy sampled a variety of items from the restaurant but what caught our eye was the cheeseburger soup! So on Wednesday we searched the internet for a recipe that looked similar to what was featured on the show and we found this one recipe from another blogger who had watched the same episode and was inspired to make the cheeseburger soup as well. We followed the recipe even down to the last ingredient, lettuce! We even added our own little touches like mustard and dill pickles because that is what you put on a cheeseburger so why not put it in the soup! Our version of cheeseburger soup turned out ok. I think it would work better as a dip or pour the cheeseburger soup over a toasted bun. But if you want to try it out for yourself here is the recipe:

Cheeseburger Soup

Ingredients:

2 lb 96% lean ground beef

Spices & seasoning, salt & pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cavendar's, etc.

1 large onion, diced

butter

1 box (32 oz) Chicken Broth

1 jar of Ragu cheese sauce

1 lb of Velveeta Cheese (On the show, she used Cheese sauce from a can and the recipe we found she used 2 lbs of Velveeta, so we decided to use both cheese sauce and Velveeta)

1-1.5 pint heavy whipping cream

1 Tb flour

1 Tb cold water (may take a bit more)

2 cans of diced tomatoes

shredded lettuce

mustard (optional)

dill pickle relish (optional)

Directions:

In a skillet brown the ground beef. Season with your choice of seasonings. Drain and set aside.

In a large soup pot, add butter and diced onions. Allow the onion to sweat over medium heat. When the onions become translucent, you are ready to continue.

Add the chicken broth (on the show she used a chicken base–like bouillon + water), the cheese sauce, diced Velveeta and the heaving whipping cream. Allow the cheese sauce and Velveeta to melt into the mixture.

In a small bowl mix the flour and water to make a slurry. You may need a bit more of water–just add enough to make a smooth mixture, somewhat thin, but not watery (if that makes sense). Once mixed well, add to the cheesey mixture. Stir to combine, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly (the cheese likes to stick).

Add the ground beef to the soup pot, turn down to medium low heat.

Add tomatoes and shredded lettuce to the mixture and if you are adventurous mustard and pickles. Stir to combine and turn to low heat until ready to EAT.

Bon Appetit!