Sweet and Spicy Chicken

I really like this chicken seasoning. I like it cuz it's fast to pull together. I like it cuz there's no marinading time (I always forget that until the last minute.). I like it cuz it goes with just about any side dishes. I like it cuz it's great on a salad. I like it cuz the leftovers are flexible, they work on any thing from pizza to sandwiches. I like it because it tastes good. I like it because it tastes summery. I like it cuz my family likes it. I just like it. (And how. I think I've used it 4 times in the last month and a half.)

I should also make clear that this is not hot-spicy. It is flavor-spicy. The kids are not burning their mouths or drinking gallons of water when I serve this. : ) You could easily make it hot if you want though. Add some cayenne to it or some such powdered fire in quantities you determine, and burn your tails off, if that's what you want!

Grab yourself:

2 T Brown sugar
1 T Paprika
1 t Chili powder
2 t Onion powder
1 1/2 t Salt
4-5 Boneless skinless chicken breasts, or any other chicken you want to use

Mix all the seasonings and sugar together. Rub over chicken. Grill 5 min on each side, or until done. I have not cooked this in a pan yet, but I should be doable, right? Maybe a bit sticky? You might want to use adequate butter/oil/spray in a pan.
The first time I served this we did as recommended by the recipe source (Real Mom Kitchen), and served it on a big salad with ranch salsa dressing. YUM!!! Since then I have served it with various sides and even on pizza. No complaints yet!

Grilling Steaks

Step 1. Buy a really nice grill. Lets face it, flames and uneven heating can really ruin some good steaks. Since we will be doing grass fed Angus T-bones for this lesson, we would cringe at the thought of anything less than perfection.




Step 2. Warm up grill. Get it really HOT! When its about 500 degrees, take your scraper brush, or in this case just the replacement brush head, and clean the grill. I would have had some concern for catching on fire, but I was outside with plenty of really cold snow around. It was 12 below zero this morning, so I felt sorta safe. When the grill is up around 600 degrees, get your steaks to the grill. We marinated ours in the Ultimate Grilled Steak marinade.





Step 3. Put those steaks on to sear. I think the sear lines look best across the short side of the steak. Very important!!! Keep one side of your grill HOT and EMPTY because we will sear the other side on a new, HOT part of the grill.






Step 4. Remember, when you add fresh wet meat to the grilling surface, the grates cool dramatically, kind of like when that really cold snow falls off the handle onto the grill surface. If you are lacking grill space, remove the steaks to a platter, and allow the grill to re-heat to searing HOT, before returning to sear the second side.




Step 5. Reduce heat to a very low setting. I prefer to use the indirect method with the burners under the meat off and the far side burner(s) on low. We generally like our steaks pinkish, so this does not take long. I look for juices coming up to the top of the steak to know that it is heated to the middle. Since this is grass fed beef, it will cook faster than commercial beef and if we are not careful it will be dry and dusty. We freeze our beef for at least two weeks so it can be safely eaten quite rare.





Step 6. ENJOY and add a blog posting.
Step 7. Rest (Gotta have my Sunday afternoon nap)

-Jesse James, outlaw