Cooking on Big Green Egg, Carrie in Houston, and Looking Forward to Smoking Ribs Sunday Night

Flank Steak and Fried Potatoes

Carrie is in Houston for the weekend so it is my time to grill as much as I can. Unlike last year when she was gone, I did not plan out all kinds of things to cook. Instead, I am using things I find in the freezer although I did go to the store on Saturday to pick up some things. More on that later.

To start, I did a flank steak with fried potatoes. The flank steak was in our freezer and I took it out of the freezer Friday at noon to thaw out. Turned out good slightly pink. The potatoes were some that we had on a shelf in our kitchen and we must have had them for a while as there were a few rotten ones in bag that about made me lose my appetite. Overall, it turned out great! I did this on Friday night for dinner and I did not eat it all. I meant to eat leftovers on Saturday, but that did not happen.

Saturday morning I had a haircut in the morning, so I went to Circle Coffee afterwards where I spent an hour or so reading and planning out what I would be cooking Saturday night. I decided on wings as I had not done those on the Big Green Egg. 

Wings on the Grill

The recipe I found for wings worked out well. Fairly easy consisted of patting the wings dry, salt, and baking powder for a brine that I let sit for a few hours through the afternoon in the fridge. I set the Big Green Egg at 350 - 400 degrees and put the wings on the grill with indirect heat. They cooked for about 40 minutes before I removed from the grill and put them in a bowl where I added Louisiana Hot Sauce coating the wings entirely before putting the wings back on the grill for another 10 - 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Wings Ready to Eat

Yes, I made a lot of wings. They come in packs to feed a family, so I bought almost 4 lbs of wings. Luckily, they turned out good and I ate about half. I plan to have them for lunch today.

When the wings were ready, I did not time things right as I bought a bag of steak fries to go with the wings. Took a little while for the fries to finish in the oven but finally had them out and I was ready to eat. 

Ready to Eat

Turned out well with a lot of food leftover.  Of course I had to have Ranch to go with the wings. I like how they turned out with a little crunch on the skin in some spots and then the sauce was good as it gave them a kick. I might have let them be on the grill after they were sauced for a bit too long, but grilling is always a learning experience, so next time I will do them only for another 5 - 10 minutes.

Tonight I am planning to do ribs. We have had two slabs of ribs in our freezer for a long time. It was a mistake when we ordered back in 2020 from Wal-Mart where they changed out what we had requested for two slabs or ribs. I have been wanting to try out ribs for a while, so I am excited to try them out tonight. I will leave the cook tonight for another post.

Until next time, have a great Sunday and a wonderful week!

Grilling and other Ramblings.... Long time Since Last Post

Well, it has been a long long time since I have posted. I had great intentions starting the grilling season. It did not turn out the way I had intended in regard to grilling. So, finally, one single steak grilled to perfection along with a simple salad and a beer. Good night of watching a movie and eating dinner. Hung out with our new puppy Oliver and missed our Carrie. Oliver and I needed some guy time though.

I had to go back and look when the last time was that I posted anything on here... It was clear back in June. Wow! That is horrible! Believe it or not, I have done a lot of grilling since June. Last weekend probably being the most cooking brats, wings, and then steaks the next night. Cooked for about 25 - 30 people. It was a blast!

Another excellent steak meal we had was back in late June when we were in New Mexico. Ah, it was so good! We ate outside and everything was cook perfectly! It went well with the wine we were having too. We love it out there, so it is always a good time.

We grilled a few times while we were in New Mexico. We did wings, steak, and a few others which escape me at the moment. Lots of good food and a fun time with friends!

The other thing that I started clear back in March, I believe was running. I loved it! During the course of the summer into the fall, I ran in a total of three 5K races. I really enjoy the feeling of running and of course dropping the pounds made me feel good too. During the time of my running, I lost a total of right around 25 pounds. It made me feel great and I look forward to the next race or run.

Well, my last time to run was back in September. I have not run since that time. The biggest reason is that we also got a new puppy. I ran in a Washburn 5K Fun Run and that day we bought a puppy. That was basically the end of my running after work. I have not minded because we love our new puppy and we are so happy to have him in our lives. (More on that later along with pictures...) But I do miss running after work and I am hoping that once he is potty trained and can just hang out, that I will once again go back to running and I will be running in more 5K races in the Spring. I do enjoy it and I cannot wait to get back in the swing of running.

The summer is basically a blur and I am still trying to get over the fact that Thanksgiving 2011 is just a week and half away. I never did listen when I was little and my parents and grand parents would tell me that time flies. Wow, does it ever! Hard to believe that the year is coming to an end.

As I mentioned, we got a puppy back in September. It was not planned at all. Our friends, Shayne and Autumn, said after we ran the 5K race at Washburn and ate breakfast that they wanted to stop by Pet Smart to check the puppies. Carrie of course was all over it and I said sure. Well, that was the start of a new relationship with us and our new family member, Oliver. Wow, he is so great! The last time I had a puppy, I was in grade school. So, I did not have to worry about training, punishing, or being a good example.

We are of course taking a lot of pictures of our new puppy. Most of those pictures can be found on Flickr with more added each week (or day). He is so cute and fun to play with that we cannot resist to take pictures and have fun with him. We do still think about, talk about, and miss our kitty Sidney [pictures]. We sometimes feel that we did not grief long enough for him, but I think he would be happy that we have a new pet in our lives that is making us happy.

One of the things that drew us into Oliver at the pet store was that his tonge sticks out sometimes and he does not even know it. Sidney would do this all the time especially after sleeping. Oliver does it too and we love it! We are so lucky to have Oliver in our lives and we hope he is happy that we are in his life.

My golf game did not happen nearly as much as I had hoped over the summer. I played probably about 10 - 12 times total this whole year. Not much at all or at least compared to last year. Funny because this year my elbow and wrist was feeling a lot better, but then I was not playing as much either.

Well, until next time, I better head to bed... or let Carrie use the computer. Maybe one day, we will have two computers in our house so we do not have to share this one computer. Might be another reason why this blog is not updated on a regular basis. Maybe one day.... At least that's the excuse I am using now.

Later....