My Yearly Apple Cider

For YEARS, my sister and I have hosted an annu caroling party. And for as long as we have hosted the party, there has been hot apple cider waiting in the crock pot for us when we got home from singing. In the early days, it was my father's creation. Now, it is mine. My children have come to absolutely love it, so I thought it would be worth it to write it down! 

Hot Apple Cider 

Ingredients:

1gallon apple juice

1 small orange 

2 6" sticks cinnamon 

In a large crockpot, combine the apple juice and cinnamon sticks. Cut your orange in half. Squeeze the orange juice into the apple juice and then add the ribs as well. 

Heat on low at least an hour, to let the flavors combine. 

Enjoy! Great on a cold winter morning as well. 

Bacon Wrapped Turkey Meatloaf (aka Turkey Fatty)

When I first started researching kamado grills, a few recipes came up over and over. Boston butt. Ribs. Atomic buffalo turds. Fatties. 

Some were more obvious than others. (i.e.- ribs!) Some, less so. (ATB's are bacon wrapped stuffed jalapeños.)

Tonight, I attempted my first fatty! A fatty is, at its most basic, a weave of bacon wrapped around a log of sausage, filled with onions, peppers, and plenty of cheese. They are called FATtie for a reason! 

When I made mine, I attempted to slim it down a touch. I used ground turkey instead of sausage, for starters. I also chose to simply mix in chopped onion and spices, rather than do a cheesy filling. I used regular bacon instead of turkey bacon, as I didn't want the loaf to come out too dry or crumbly. 

The resulting loaf got thumbs up from 6/7 diners. (SJ didn't like the flavor, but choked it down, slathered with ketchup.) 

This loaf fed four adults and three children, with about half the loaf left over. We had this with a generous portion of salad, some cubed melon, and Mai fun chow mein. 

Enjoy! 

Aunt LoLo's Turkey Fatty 

Serves 8-10 

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground turkey

1 pound bacon (not thick cut)

1/4 cup steel cut oats

1 yellow onion, diced 

2 tsp garlic salt 

2 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp ground black pepper 

1 tsp ground dried cumin 

Preheat kamado grill (or oven) to about 375. Set it up for indirect heat, with a large drip pan. 

While that is heating up, make your bacon weave. Lay out 8 strips of bacon horizontally, sides touching. Starting at one side, lay strips of bacon vertically across your horizontal strips, lifting alternate slices to allow the vertical pieces to go over/under alternating slices to make a solid mat of woven bacon. 

In a large mixing bowl, use a spoon to combine remaining ingredients. Carefully from the ground meat mixture into a log in the middle of your bacon mat. Gently use the mat to wrap the log, tucking in all ends. Sprinkle with ground black pepper. 

Use a large spatula (or a surgeon-steady hand) to move the wrapped load to the grate of your grill. Cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 (about 1.5-2.5 hours). Serve sliced, with ketchup. 

Enjoy! 

MaMa's Garlic Sauce

My mother in law made this sauce the other night for a large family dinner as a second option for dipping boiled shrimp. It was marvelous, and a big hit! I sent the leftovers home with my sister, which (by Murphy's Law) meant my husband of course desperately needed Garlic Sauce for his lunch the next day. 

He survived without his Garlic Sauce, barely, and I celebrated by begging his mother to teach me how to make it that night. We now have a small jar of this on the counter, and life is good again. 

This would be excellent drizzled on tofu, cooked veggies, mashed potatoes, rice, chicken....you get the idea. 

MaMa's Garlic Soy Sauce 

Ingredients: 

1/8 cup oil

10 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup soy sauce 

3-4 teaspoons sugar (or to taste) 

In a small frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. It is ready when a wooden chopstick or spoon stuck into the oil puts it bubbles. 

Remove from heat to let cool slightly. Test the oil by dropping a piece of the minced garlic in- if it sizzles and gently starts to cook, your oil is ready. (If it sizzles violently and immediately turns dark brown, your oil is too hot.) 

Add your chopped garlic to the oil in the pan, and put it back over medium-low heat until the garlic is fragrant and cooked through. Test it by fishing a piece out and trying it. It should be nutty, slightly sweet, and not bitter or overly spicy. 

Remove from heat, allow to cool, and pour your garlic oil into a glass container. When completely cool, add soy sauce. Finish the sauce by stirring in sugar, to taste, about 3-4 teaspoons. 

Enjoy!