Foodie Friday ~ Brined Chicken and Pork Chops

Foodie Friday is presented by Gollum at

"Designs by Gollum". Visit her site for more

fabulous recipes:)

Brining a whole chicken (or turkey breast)

Chicken or Turkey Breast Brine Recipe:
1 1/4 cups coarse kosher salt

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

16 cups water

In a large stockpot, dissolve salt and sugar in 1 gallon cool water. Place chicken, bone side up, in brine and weight it with a plate (if necessary). Refrigerate 6 to 8 hours. Rinse chicken thoroughly under cool water and pat dry with paper towels.

(got this recipe from Food Everyday)

Rinse it and cut it up the back and remove backbone.

Sliced apples with cinnamon and butter.

Put chicken on the grill and use your favorite BBQ. Meat will cook faster after brining.

Apples are cooking nicely.

The chicken was so moist. I had never brined before. I could not believe how moist and tender the meat was. Since the chicken was sooooo good I thought I would try pork chops.

Here are the pork chops brining in sort of the same recipe.

Pork Brine Recipe:

3/4 cup course kosher salt

3/4 cup sugar ( I used dark brown sugar)

1 cup boiling water

16 cups cold water

1 tablespoon pepper

In a large stockpot dissolve salt and sugar in boiling water, then add cold water; add pepper and stir to combine. Chill brine completely in the refrigerator before adding pork. Place your pork in the water and place in the refrigerator for the time required.

Pork Chops 1-inch to 1 1/2 -inch thick - 12 to 24 hours

Whole Pork Loin - 2 to 4 days

Whole Pork Tenderloin - 6 to 12 hours.

Experiment with seasonings. Salt is essential, but everything else is optional. Consider garlic, ginger, fresh herbs, juniper berries, clove, cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, mustard seed, coriander see, star anise, hot pepper flakes or Sichuan peppercorns. To give pork a sweet edge and encourage browning, add 1/2 cup sugar to each 2 quarts of water.

Rinse pork twice after removing it from the brine solution; discard brine. If you are not ready to cook at the end of the brining time, remove and rinse the meat. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Do not salt brined meat before cooking. Cook pork according to your favorite recipe. Do not overcook your brined pork. Once brined, the pork cooks faster so be careful and use a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat.

(I used Center Cut Pork Chops)

(I googled this recipe)

Rinsed and seasoned and ready for the grill.

Halved peaches with cinnamon and butter and of course green onions. We just love grilled green onions......can you tell.

Can you smell......I am telling you the smell is wonderful.

You must try the Brine. I will always be brining my meat. It is the best you will ever taste. I could really do a commercial about brining.

Celebration Saturday Night ~

Table for two. I had the wine and Steve had the pink lemonade with rum.

Orange chicken.

California Sushi.

It's not easy to use these.

Bring your drinks on over for a little dip in the hot tub.

Yep....that's the bonfire.

Surf 'n Turf with of course grilled green onions.

Because on Friday we picked up my new car...........

Come on......get in.

2004 C240 4Matic Mercedes Benz

Do you want to go for a ride?

It's just been sitting in the garage all weekend.

Just waiting for me to take it out for a ride.

It looks like rain. Ok.....back into the garage.

Foodie Friday ~ Summer time on the grill

Foodie Friday is presented by Gollum at

"Designs by Gollum". Visit her site for more

fabulous recipes:)

Fresh Peaches sliced. Pam spray the pan.

Add brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.

Have you ever heard of a "Candy Onion"? A friend from work brought me this from a Farmers Market. Slice it, add some butter pads and put into a pam sprayed pan and add seasonings.

Here ya go......grilled onions, fresh peaches and sirloin burgers with cheddar cheese and jalapenos from my garden.

Just look at the peaches...........yum:)

Grilled "Candy" onions look great thanks to my husband Steve the cook.

Close up of the peaches:)

Close up of the "Candy" onions.

And the burgers, how good do they look:)

Sweet red peppers from the garden.

Stuff them with Philadelphia cream cheese with chives.

Put them into one of my (Baker Square) pie pan

Pam it, of course. And put tooth pick to hold down the top.

These were amazingly good!

This was my summertime meal.

Thank you Steve, you are a wonderful grill cook:)

Foodie Friday ~ Simple Sweet Scones

Foodie Friday is presented by Gollum at

"Designs by Gollum". Visit her site for more

fabulous recipes:)

Put flour, baking powder and salt into large bowl. Stir to mix well.

Add butter and cut in with pastry blender or fingers until the mixture looks like fine granules.

Add sugar, toss to mix. Add milk and stir with fork until soft dough forms.

Add Lavender.

Form dough into a ball.

Put onto lightly floured surface and give 10-12 kneads.

To make round scones,

roll out dough and

cut with 2: round cutter. Sprinkle with white sparkling sugar.

Bake 12 minutes or until medium brown on top. Put on wire rack, cover with cloth, cool completely.

I wrapped them individually.

Put them into a cloth lined basket.

Then added napkins, Lemon Curd (butter knife), Raspberry tea and tea pots.

Placed all into a larger basket and I headed off to work for an

8:00 am breakfast meeting. My co-workers loved it.

Here is the recipe:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons or stick cold unsalted butter

1/4 cups sugar

2/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons McCormick's Lavender

Sprinkle with Wilton White Sparkling Sugar

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

You would not believe the wonderful taste the Lavender gives these scones. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.