First of Thanks to all that had a warning (Damn Facebook) and wished me the Happy Birthday… I am still 39 and holding…used to be 29 but since I added a few more aches and pains and assistive appliances for my various deteriorating body parts… I figure it must be time to be 39… so I retired early… ha!
What do you do on your birthday? me, as I tried to tell several people… it was just another day so I did the same things I generally do any other day… although I did some special stuff today…
Early I did a little misc. yard work, did several loads of laundry and a trip to the hardware store to get some parts I needed for a project in the shop…and spent some time on that project before noon… I finished that up late this evening once I got the last of the parts at noon… and put in my time cooking… yes, I cook but mostly on the grill…
I had determined some weeks ago that I really needed a plant stand for this winter to put some of my propagated plants on… although I plan on giving a lot of them away this fall I would still have plenty that would need to set in front of a set of big glass doors. My idea was that if I could during warmer days , roll it outside or roll it around to clean , etc.… I put together a quick plan to make this plant stand with some cedar pieces and some trays I found online and a pieced of 3/4 conduit cut to make 3 hanger areas… it is 36 x 18 inches on the bottom and 7 x 36 at top… with 3 hanging areas and some tray area to for non-hanging pots… and on rollers to move…
I think it is stable enough to hold 9 hanging pots and 8 or 10 smaller ones in the trays… will see when I actually get it in place and filled up… not fancy but will be stable enough and solid to catch the spills and such as well…
My other major project was to do the shopping, get some meat and do some grilling (smoking) for later… I had done the chicken tenders a few weeks ago and they turned out real good so I wanted to try it with turkey tenderloin and see if that was decent… I picked up bacon, and turkey and some more chicken… and then spent some time getting all the meats ready for the grill…
This was the turkey after I had cut them down some… I need to figure out a better way of cutting them or leaving the whole cut together and wrap it on itself before the bacon goes on?
they came out a bit dry… and my peppers were not “zingy” enough like the last batch I had used the Cajun bell peppers and this time I used some red peppers I got at the Farmers Market
that were supposed to be a bit hot but they turned out to be mostly just sweet bells… not much “Zing”… knowing they were not as spicy as my; other peppers I helped them along with some Cajun spice…
Here were the turkey tenders wrapped, with Pepper inside, Cajun spice on the inside and Blackened Saskatchawan on the outside…
While I was at it I went ahead and wrapped up some chicken tenders as well and treated them the same as the turkey…
I smoked the chicken first… this was at the turning point… cook them for about 10 to 15 minutes at 350 on one side them turn and add another 8 minutes to make sure the bacon gets done on both sides… had a good smoking going on today… I wanted the chicken done as I would package and freeze most of it…
The chicken is done, the bacon looks burnt but trust me, it is not… after setting for 15 minutes it was just right…
Then the turkey went out with about the same timing… this was the turning point…
The turkey is done… you can see the big hunks of red pepper hanging out of most of them… it was done just right… but the turkey being thinner seemed to be a bit drier or maybe it is just turkey? and the Cajun spice seemed to make it taste a bit salty? it was still good , jut not as tender as the chicken…
Will adjust the cooking on the turkey a bit to see if I can improve on it… still like the Cajun peppers better and can’t buy such things at any market around here so I will have to make adjustments till I get that worked out as well… These would be great Tailgate items or quick dinners… that is what we use it for… cook a batch and then I only need to get out a package ( put 4 in one freezer bag) and do a few minutes in the microwave and a salad or baked potatoes and you got a decent and quick supper… I know, the bacon ruins the calorie count of the chicken but is damn sure puts in some flavor and keeps it from getting dry… besides, I am 39 and who cares…
WD0AJG