JDawgs Special Sauce Copycat

JDawgs were made famous at an off campus shack for students to grab a bite between classes.  My kids rave about them so I was excited to try "the sauce" for our 24th of July un-celebration.  Then I also scored a BIG deal by finding  Brioche Hotdog buns at Walmart!  They are buttery delicious!  You know how some times you are choking down the bun when eating a hotdog.  Not these.  This will be a new family favorite!  They are also split down the top middle to pop your dog into on top.  Clever!  I used Ballpark all beef hotdogs.  ( add fresh "hand shucked" corn on the cob and you'll do a happy dance.) ("What About Bob" reference)  There are a few variations of the recipe on Pinterest.  I think I used one by the Food Charlatan with variation.

The Best Hot Dog You Will Ever Eat (JDawgs Special Sauce Copycat)

Serves Makes about 1 and 1/2 cups sauce     

For the sauce

• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (some recipes call for soy sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• dash black pepper

To assemble

• large all-beef or Polish hot dogs (Costco has the best!)
• large buns (The ones at Costco fit perfectly) But I (Marilyn) found a NEW FAVORITE bun- Brioche hotdog buns at Walmart!!!!
• butter
• white onions
• sauerkraut
• pickles

Mix the sauce up all together and boil for a few minutes, then serve or refrigerate (even for weeks!)

PIMIENTO CHEESE MACARONI SALAD

My mom died 4 years ago and my dad 2 and I'm still not over.  I'm pretty sure most people don't get over it.  Still, after all this time, I have my boo-hoo days.  I just have a good old cry to help release all that missing.  How blessed I was to have parents that I adored.  I wake most mornings and then remember that they are gone but I close my eyes quickly and picture them, really see them, hear them and it always makes me smile.  I am a total believer in guardian angels and know that if possible, my parents (and David's parents that I adore as well) are doing all they can do to help my family with all that is going on right now.  Because all those grandparents LOVED their grandkids so much !

I have lots of food memories associated with my parents- my Dad- chilled Coke in a bottle purchased in a machine at Dad's work.  His bacon "in the waffle" that we all loved!  Bacon anything.  Blueberry pancakes.  I love my steak sauce because he loved his steak sauce.  We had lots of Van Camp beans...and he had strict instructions that you "NEVER" boil them, because it really does change the flavor.  He loved tons of onions in his fried potatoes.  Yum!

My mom and I shared a love of cooking and sharing and, of course, eating. When she died, I bet she had close to 100 cookbooks.  Before the day of convenience everything, Mom was a great fan of "snicky snacks (which is why for a million years, our family celebrates "Snicky Snack dinner" on Christmas eve.)- she loved little munchies.  One of our favorites was a Ritz cracker, with a small wedge of cheese and a slice of sweet pickle and pop it in your mouth!  We always had those little glasses filled with a spread of blue cheese or American cheese or pineapple and cheese or, our favorite, Pimiento cheese.  Stuffed celery was always a treat and never a holiday meal came and went without them...plus there were all those empty juice glasses to use!

My dad wasn't a big lover of macaroni until much later in life but my mom and I LOVED anything to do with mac!  We loved a good cheesy mac and cheese or a hamburger mac and cheese...or a good macaroni salad.  I'm not sure people love macaroni salad in this day as much.  But when I saw this recipe, for Pimiento Macaroni Salad, I got a little nostalgic lump in my throat (oh!  this missing!!!)- and knew Mom would want me to give it a try and then share the recipe with her!  David's not a mac fan either.  Maybe when he's older and a little more mature....but until then, I'll eat the whole bowl by myself! 

PIMIENTO CHEESE MACARONI SALAD

Author: Brandie @ The Country Cook with a variation)

Ingredients

• 1 (16 oz) box macaroni noodles
• 1 (12 oz) pimiento cheese
• ½ cup mayo
• 1 ½ cups diced ham
• ½ cup diced green onion
• salt & pepper, to taste
• and my addition, 3/4 cup sweet pickle relish!!!!

Instructions

• Prepare macaroni per package directions.
• Once macaroni is cooked, drain and rinse macaroni (in a colander) under cool water. Drain well and pour into a large bowl.
• Stir in pimiento cheese and mayo.
• Then stir in diced ham and green onion. Give it a taste and season with salt and pepper, if necessary.
• Chill for about one hour before serving!

No Bake Kit Kat Bars (Copy Kat recipe)

Brooke made these yummy candy/cookies for our Sunday dinner and they were a big hit.  Cut in smaller pieces because these babies are rich and delish! Brooke then cut up Kit Kats on top of the bars.  Soooo good!  The recipe that Brooke used from Pinterest was Brandie/The Country Cook-

 


No Bake Kit Kat Bars (Copy Kat recipe)

 

72 club crackers (or soda crackers)

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

HOW TO MAKE THESE LAYERED CRACKER BARS:

Line an un-greased 9×13 baking dish with a layer of club crackers.

 

In a large saucepan, over low to medium heat, melt butter and both sugars. Then add graham cracker crumbs and milk. Allow mixture to all gently melt and stir constantly until it is all combined well.

 

Remove from heat and spread half the butter mixture evenly over crackers.

Do your best to spread it out evenly. Top with another layer of crackers. Then spread the other half of the butter mixture on top. Then a final layer of crackers on top of that.

In a small saucepan, combine peanut butter and chocolate chips. Melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until completely melted and blended.

 

Spread evenly over top layer of crackers.

 

Cover with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for an hour or two. You want that top chocolate layer to really cool down and firm up.

Once it is completely cooled, slice into small squares. You should be able to get about 2 1/2 dozen from this pan.

 

Tips:

·      You can use regular saltine crackers for this recipe but I think the club crackers hold up a little better.

·      Dark, milk or even white chocolate can be used instead of the semi-sweet chocolate.

Give these plenty of time to cool before slicing or they won’t slice up well for you.

Yummy Baked Beans with Secret ingredient

While we were in St. George with the Petty's, Tom fired up his smoker and did fabulous ribs and tri tip.  Patty made potato salad (her trick is to add some Famous Dave's relish with a kick to it- yum!) and baked beans.  Now I make really good baked beans but these were a totally different taste and texture.  I have been CRAVING them ever since!  When I asked for the recipe, I was surprised at one of the ingredients.  Maybe you are one to add pickle juice to your baked beans but I have never heard of such a thing!  I'm a believer!

Pretty Patty Petty's Baked Beans

1- 21 oz. can pork and beans
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1- 12 oz. bottle catsup
1 T. yellow mustard (I might add more)
1 1/8 cup brown sugar, packed
1/8 cup(2 T.) molasses
1/8 cup (2 T.) sweet pickle juice
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb. cooked bacon, crumbled


Combine all ingredients except the bacon in a 2 quart casserole dish.  Crumble bacon on top.  Bake at 350 for an hour.

Low Country Boil

(repeated from my regular blog- constantgrowingamazement.blogspot.com)

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Celebrating the 4th with a Low Country Boil

We had a wonderful afternoon for the 4th of July- having 3 of our 5 families over for dinner (so about 20 people) and swimming/pickleball/games-Aggravation, Rumikub, Cover Your Assets- and celebrating Heidi and Elijah's birthday (and post-birthday- son Ryan's).(Ben wasn't here or we would have celebrated him too!)

I thought it would be fun to do a Low Country Shrimp Boil.  Then I felt a titch of disappointment to learn several of the grands either didn't like or had allergic reactions to shrimp.  I felt the wind squeaking out of my sails...

But we did it anyway.  I just had David grill some chicken as well.  And we had more salads and watermelon than we could possibly eat.  And banana cake with browned butter frosting.  And birthday cakes and cheesecake and ice cream bars.....and POW!  We were all exploding like firecrackers!

First in the large pots is boiling water and the spices- I used Zararains and also Old Bay. I also threw a couple of halves of lemon and onions in each pot. When that gets boiling good, add your baby potatoes.  I used red and white.  No blue ones....

We boiled them about 5 minutes.  Then we added cut up cured sausages- like kielbasa or from Costco- Aidells (I used chicken and apple), beef polish sausage.  I did 3 different kinds.  Boil about 10 minutes more.

Add corn on the cob (broken into large chunks)- cook for about 6 more minutes and finally add shrimp.  I used the Costco, cleaned, shell off but not cooked.  Honestly, just cook them when you are ready to start- they take mere minutes and shrimp gets tough the longer it cooks.  When it turns pink it is done!

I had bowls of cocktail sauce.  The yummy sour dough bread from Costco you bake for 15 minutes.  Plus Gracie helped me make Red Lobster biscuits.  I love these so much!  (we used the mix.  I made lots of garlic butter that we then drizzled over the drained boil foods.)

We sat out in another part of our big yard to find the shade.  Long tables with brown paper and parchment paper in the middle where I could just pour out the food.

Such a fun, fun time.  I love our family so much and everyone just runs off and plays or talks and we continue to eat.  Heaven!

Birthday girl Heidi- 17

 Birthday Boy Elijah- 15

“America is a tune. It must be sung together.”— Gerald Stanley Lee

(Instant Pot) Hawaiian Chicken Tacos with Jalapeno Ranch

Brandi and Doug made these for Lake Powell and it was a definite hit!  I don't have an instant pot but use a pressure cooker instead.  Serve with grilled Mexican corn (Costco) and fresh lime!

(Insta-Pot) Hawaiian Chicken Tacos with Jalapeno Ranch

Hawaiian Chicken
1 1/4 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
2 cups fresh pineapple, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, minced (remove ribs and seeds for less heat)
1/2 red onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sriracha
1 Tbsp. yellow mustard
1/4 cup water

Jalapeno Ranch
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 jalapeno (remove ribs and seeds for less heat)
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. dried dill (or about 1/4 cup fresh, chopped)
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh chives (or sub. 1/2 tsp. onion powder)
1/2 tsp. salt
black pepper to taste

Extras:
Cabbage for the slaw
tortillas
any extra toppings you like

Preheat oven to 475 (hello, am I the only one whose oven only goes to 400?)

Instant Pot: Place all chicken ingredients in the instant pot.  Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. and then shred chicken directly in pot.

Broil:  Transfer shredded chicken to a baking sheet lined with foil (I like parchment).  Broil for 10-15 minutes until browned. (low)

In a food processor, put all of sauce ingredients and blend until smooth.  Toss some of the dressing with cabbage to make a slaw.

Serve in warmed tortillas with any toppings you also like.

Banana Bread Brownies with Browned Sugar

My son-in-law Doug made these for our Mother's Day BBQ.  He's an excellent cook and I always love what he makes.  This banana brownie (like banana bars) is no exception!  A new family favorite!  And I love the taste of browned butter!  We have two in our family that are gluten-free and Doug made these with Bob's Red Hill Baking Flour 1 to 1.  I guess not all gluten free flours are made equal in baking so try this one.  I also like Krusteaz gluten-free flour as well.

 

Banana Bread Brownies With Browned Butter Frosting

Brownies

• 1 ¹⁄_{2  cups sugar}
• 1 cup sour cream
• ¹⁄_{2  cup butter, softened}
• 2 eggs
• 3 -4 bananas, mashed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ³⁄_{4 teaspoon salt}
• ¹⁄_{2 cup walnuts chopped (optional) (but I say No! No! No!)}

• Frosting

• ¹⁄_{2 cup butter}
• 4  cups powdered sugar
• 1 ¹⁄_{2 teaspoons vanilla extract}
• 3  tablespoons milk

NUTRITION INFO

Serving Size: 1 (137) g
Servings Per Recipe: 15

AMT. PER SERVING % DAILY VALUE

Calories: 436

Calories from Fat 146 g 34 %

Total Fat 16.3 g 25 %

Saturated Fat 9.9 g 49 %

Cholesterol 65.7 mg 21 %

Sodium 333 mg 13 %

Total Carbohydrate 70.8 g 23 %

Dietary Fiber 1.1 g 4 %

Sugars 54.9 g 219 %

Protein 3.4 g 6 %

 

DIRECTIONS

• Heat oven to 375°F Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan. For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. Stir in walnuts.
• Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.
• Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting). Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting