Scalloped Potatos

I recently made these for my Mom's birthday get together and they came out very well. As usual, I started with a great recipe from Allrecipes.com called "Scalloped Potatoes and Onions" and made some changes to improve the recipe. The nice part of this recipe is that it uses a velouté sauce instead of using a sauce based on milk or cream. This results in a much lighter tasting dish where the taste of the potatoes, onions and the topping can shine through.

INGREDIENTS
    5 large russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
    3/4 c. finely chopped onion
    3 Tbs. butter or margarine
    1 Tbs. olive oil
    1/4 c. all-purpose flour
    1 3/4 c. chicken broth (low sodium)
    2 Tbs. mayonnaise
    3/4 tsp. salt (or to taste)
    1/8 tsp. pepper

Topping:
    1/2 c. plain bread crumbs
    1/4 c. Parmesan Cheese
    3 Tbs. Butter

Temperature and the Art of Grilling Chicken

I am good at grilling chicken. That statement sounds simple, but for those of you who regularly grill food, you know what it means. It means that you have mastered the task of cooking chicken from raw to cooked over an open flame. It means that when the chicken hits the table it is cooked through, but still juicy. This is no small feat. The cards are stacked against you: the pieces are usually of different sizes and shapes, they sometimes start off at different temperatures, the fire in your grill may be uneven. This makes the job of getting each piece up the correct temperature, and not too far over, much more difficult. I liken it to hitting the bulls-eye; even an inexperienced griller can hit very near the bulls-eye occasionally, it is not impossible. The trick is consistency, can you hit the mark every time you take a shot?

Homemade "Dijon" Mustard

Dijon style mustard is one of my favorites. My Dad used to make sandwiches with a peppered ham, tomatoes and cucumber slices. He would add a little "Jane's Crazy Mixed-up Salt" and some hot Dijon style mustard. Those were very good sandwiches, especially when the cukes and tomatoes came from our garden! I found a recipe in my new favorite reference book "Paul Kirk's Championship Barbeque Sauces" for a Dijon style mustard. As usual, I put my own spin on it and the mustard came out amazing! Here is what I did:

Naan Bread

My brother, Tad, showed me this recipe and it is easy and fun on the grill.

Check it out: Naan Bread

Matt's ABTs

ABTs, or Atomic Buffalo Turds have been around for awhile. They are especially popular with the owners of smokers because they can be cooked low and slow and get a nice smokey flavor added to them. That does not mean you can not do them on your Weber kettle grill or gas grill too, just remember to try to cook them slowly and make sure to account for the bacon fat that will render out of them.