Pineapple Liqueur

 All of the ingredients go into a sterilized One Gallon jar. 

Ingredients

• 1 pineapple
• 1 quart-sized bottle of Svenska vodka
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• (optional) 1/2 cup Simple Syrup

Directions

1. Make sure jar is sterile! 
2. Rinse off pineapple.
3. Slice the pineapple vertically and remove the outer skin.
4. Slice the pineapple into 1/4" slices and horizontally into smaller ~2" pieces to fit in the jar.
5. Pour the Vodka over the pineapple.
6. Add the cinnamon stick
7. The pineapple is probably sweet enough, but if you want it a little sweeter, then add the Simple Syrup.
8. After 1 week, remove the cinnamon stick.
9. Shake slightly every few days.

Liqueur is infused enough after 2 weeks to serve.

Pomegranate Liqueur

Sheesh!! What a pain, but I think worth it. Have plenty of time to get the Pomegranate seeds out of the fruit. It took me well over an hour with 5 poms. DO NOT wear a white shirt while doing this!!!

Utensils required

• 1 Gallon Glass jar with lid
• multiple glass or similar bowls
• potato masher
• vegetable peeler
• strainer
  
• lots of paper towels
• lots of patience and time (2 hours)
• Do Not wear something you don't want stained.
• Note: Wipe up any Pomegranate juice on your counter right away. It Stains!
  

Ingredients

• 5-6 Pomegranates
• peel of One Lemon (use potato peeler to get the peel only - do not get the white pith! Pith will make it sour.
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 1.75 Liter of Svenka vodka
• 1 cup Simple Sugar

Directions

1. Cut the Poms vertically, not horizontally, from the stem down, in half.
2. In a large bowl, fill with enough water to cover most of the Pom when face down in the water. The water prevents most of the Pom juice from going everywhere. Pom juice stains!!!
   
3. With the cut side in the water, press in the center of the Pom to push the seeds out into the water. You are basically pushing it inside-out.
4. Remove any stubborn seeds and place in the water. The Membranes, pith, flesh all float to the top. Remove and discard. Any seeds stuck to anything white, remove the white portions and discard.
5. Since 5-6 Poms is a lot of seeds, I placed the seeds removed into a larger bowl with water to cover. Any white membranes that float to the top, remove and discard.
6. Repeat 1-5 until all Poms are processed.
7. With all of the seeds in a large bowl, completely fill to the top and mix with your hands to find white membranes. Remove and any seeds that float to the top. 
8. Now the hard part... In a small flat bottom glass bowl (with high sides is the best or more Pom juice everywhere!!!), use a potato masher and press firmly down on the seeds to break open. Some people use a blender or food processor - let me know how that works. You will feel and hear the seeds snap. Crush as many as possible, but it's OK to leave some whole ones.
9. Place in a 1 gallon sterile jar. 
10. Repeat process until all Poms are crushed and placed in the  jar.
11. Pour  in the entire bottle of Svenka vodka.
12. Add the cinnamon stick.
13. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off of a whole lemon. Try not to get too much of the pith (white part). Add to the mixture.
14. The original recipe says to wait 3 weeks to let steep before adding the Simple Sugar, but I added it at the beginning of the process.
15. Close the jar tightly and store in a dark, cool place for 3-8 weeks.
16. Shake the jar a few times a week to mix.
17. After the steeping is finished, pour the liqueur through cheese cloth very carefully to not agitate the Pom residue at the bottom too much (it tastes nasty). Remove the liquid as best possible and dump the remaining fruit into the cheese cloth and squeeze to get all of the liquid out.
18. When pouring into bottles, if any fruit pieces made it thru the first filtration process, filter again while pouring into bottles.
    

 

Southern Potato Salad

 Ingredients

• 4 potatoes
• 4 eggs
• 2+ stalks Celery
• 2 Tablespoons Dill Relish
• 1 glove garlic minced
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 Tablespoons Spicy Mustard
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon Chile Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender, but still firm. Don't over cook! Approx 15 mins. Drain and chop.
2. Place eggs in saucepan with cold water. Bring water with eggs to a boil, remove from heat, let eggs sit in hot water for 10-12 mins. Peel and chop.
3. In a large bowl combine potatoes, eggs and rest of ingredients and mix thoroughly. 
4. Adjust seasonings. Usually needs a little bit more salt.

Chorizo Cheese Dip

Ingredients

• 16 oz package of Arizona Fresh Beef Chorizo, or your local brand.
  
• 32 oz Block of Velveeta Cheese
• 2 ea 10 oz oz cans Rotel Hot salsa (Note: If you are wimpy, just 1 can ;-)
• 1 can 14.5 oz Petite Dice Tomatoes
• 1 can drained Pinto Beans (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mrs Dash Extra Spicy seasoning 

Directions

1. In a medium-sized pot, chop up the Chorizo and thoroughly cook on medium high heat.
2. While cooking, add the garlic and Chile powder and mix well.
3. When the Chorizo is broken into small pieces (use a spatula to chop it up) and cooked, stir in the Rotel and Tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the Velveeta Cheese cut into 1" slices, so it melts faster.
5. Stir constantly over medium low heat.
   
6. Serve with Tortilla chips or vegetable sticks.
7. Garnish with slices of fresh jalapeno, green onions.

Note: You will need to heat this up in a crock pot, or in a microwave, so it is not so thick when serving.

Arizona Honey Glazed Ribs

 Recipe adapted from Author: The Honey Girl

Made this recipe Dec 2021 and it was Wayyyyyyyyyy too sweet!!!

Some modifications are needed.

Ingredients

• 1 rack Beef or Pork ribs(I used Pork)
  
• Meat Rub (we use KC Butt Rub I used Famous Dave's Rib Rub)
• Garlic Powder
• Chile Powder
• 1/2 cup Apple Juice in Spray Bottle
• 1 stick Butter (use 4 pats of butter per rack of ribs)
• Brown Sugar (Mod: Light sprinkling of Brown Sugar!!1)
  
• 1/2 cups Honey (Beeyond the Hive is best! I just used Local Orange Blossom Honey.)

Directions

1. Remove bottom membrane from ribs. This is a real pain in the ass!! Do the best you can.
   
2. Cover one side of the ribs with a generous amount of meat rub spice and garlic and chile powder. You can fully cover the ribs with the seasoning! Let it soak in for 30 minutes.
3. Coat the other side of your ribs with another generous sprinkle of the meat rub, garlic and chile powder and let it soak in for another 30 minutes.
4. Fire up the Smoker Grill. You want your grill to be around 225°.
   
5. Once the seasoning is soaked in pretty well and your grill is at 225° go ahead and place them on MEAT SIDE UP for about 2 hours.
6. While they are cooking you want to check them every 20-30 minutes during the 2 hour cook time and spray them with Apple Juice. This keeps them from drying out!
7. Once they turn a bright red, or mahogany color then they are ready to take inside for the next step.
8. Prepare sheets of foil for the rack of rib. Put a handful of brown sugar on your foil in a long line about the size of your rib rack. DO NOT GET CARRIED AWAY WITH THE BROWN SUGAR!!! My mistake!! LIGHT SPRINKLING on the foil ONLY!!!
   
9. Then add your 4 pats of butter on top of the brown sugar. Then drizzle a generous amount of honey on top of that.
10. Next, add your rack of rib on top of the brown sugar/butter/honey mixture MEAT SIDE DOWN. Wrap it up tight in the foil.
11. Put the foil wrapped ribs back on the smoker/grill MEAT SIDE DOWN this time. They will cook for another 2 hours. Once the meat temp is 160° you know they are done.
    

NOTE: When unwrapping the ribs, make sure the MEAT SIDE is down! There will be a lot of liquid on the bottom foil. Maybe place on a cooking sheet when unwrapping. Save the juice!

Stuffed Jalapenos

Note: This recipe can be very spicy to people not used to eating Jalapenos.

Ingredients

• 1 ea large can (25.9 oz) La Costena Pickled Jalapenos
• Save the juice and carrots and onions in the can
• 1 ea block of Cream Cheese
• 2-3 Tablespoons of spicy Salsa (your choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mrs Dash's Extra Spicy

Directions

1. Let cream cheese reach room temperature to make mixing it easier
2. Remove pickled jalapenos from can. Use gloves since the juice may cause irritation to sensitive skin.
3. Save the juice in a separate container.
4. Remove the carrots and onions and dice very small. Any jalapenos that are small, dice them as well.
5. Place cream cheese in a mixing bowl along with 2 or 3 tablespoons of the Salsa, A dash of the juice from the Pickled Jalapenos. The juice adds flavor and makes it easier to mix the cream cheese.
6. Add the diced carrots and onions to the mixture.
7. Mix until well blended and creamy -- no lumps.
8. Add Garlic powder and Mrs Dash mix.
9. Add more juice to make the mixture smooth, but not too much to make it runny.
10. Slice the stem ends off of the jalapenos and cut jalapenos in half.
11. Using a teaspoon, scrape the seeds out of the jalapenos and discard.
12. Let the cream cheese mixture sit for about 15-20 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle. Usually it's finished mingling by the time all of the jalapenos are sliced and scrapped. Taste and adjust seasonings.
13. Add the cream cheese mixture to each jalapeno half and plate.

• Variation: add a little fine-shredded Cheddar/Jack cheese to the cream cheese mixture.
• Variation: The cream cheese mixture can be used in many variations. Use fresh halved Jalapenos, add mixture and bacon wrap. Fry in skillet until bacon is cooked. Heat platter in microwave for 60-ish seconds before serving. Serve with Ranch Dressing.
• Variation: Use La Contena Pickled Serrano's instead of Jalapenos. Serrano's are smaller, so it make it more difficult to stuff with the cream cheese mixture. Note: Serrano's are much spicier than Jalapenos. Wearing gloves is highly recommended when handling the Serrano's.