How to Make Your Own Smoker

I can't tell you how mind numbing I find food-related television. Thank god for Alton Brown! The man has a knack for making the science of cooking interesting and entertaining. And since my husband is a foodie and watches all the food TV he can, I at least have one program I can enjoy.

Above is my husband's clay pot smoker. He built it after watching an episode of Alton Brown's Good Eats. We take no credit for the idea...but it is brilliant. The ribs that come out of this thing are apparently awesome and the cost of building it was much cheaper than buying a commercial clay smoker. I think we spent about $60 total. The hardest thing to find was the unglazed, untreated terra cota pots. Everything else was readily available at our local home improvement store.

If you want to take a look at the Good Eats episode, I found it HERE.

The supplies you need are:

• 2 large clay pots that fit together nicely
• 1 hotplate
• 3 clay pot feet
• 1 round pie pan
• 1 grill grate like those found in a round charcoal grill
• 1 oven thermometer
• Smoking wood

We had to disassemble the hot plate because the variety we bought had a plastic base and it would not fit in the bottom of the pot. Other than that it assembles easily just like you think it would. The clay feet support the heating element. The pie pan holds the wet (soaked for an hour) wood. The grill sits in the top of the clay pot. And the thermometer we found fits nicely into the hole on the cover pot. It is as easy as can be.

I don't eat pork or beef, but my husband has smoked several racks of ribs since we built the smoker and he says they are perfect. In a couple of weeks we are going to try smoking a turkey breast. I can't wait!

Welcome to the World of Dehydrated Food

My husband thinks this is a VERY interesting topic. (He just mocked me as I wrote the subject line for this post..."That's about as exciting as saying 'Let's talk about colon cleanse.'" These were his exact words.)

This week I purchased my first food preservation tool...the dehydrator. I have read a little bit about how to choose the right dehydrator. My list of requirements were (1) it needed multiple temperature settings; (2) it needed the ability to expand by adding trays; and (3) it needed to be cheap. I settled on a model made by Nesco. It only has 4 trays, but it came with a ton of screens and fruit leather tray inserts.

I have already dried pineapple and sliced cherry tomatoes. Both have AMAZING flavor and take little space in the refrigerator. I have read that you can store dehydrated food for 1-2 years in the fridge, or 3 years in the freezer. I love dried fruit, but it so expensive. This is a perfect solution!

Tomorrow I'm making banana chips for the week and more sliced tomatoes.

HOME COOKING: Easy Homemade Potato Chips

This might fall into the the "Duh" category, but who thought healthy homemade potato chips were so easy and delicious?! I am blown away by how good these taste. And the possibilities are endless...cracked pepper, parmesean, ranch...mmmmmmm.

I purchased a hand-held mandolin this weekend. These are very handy little devices that make very quick work of cutting potatoes. And all of the slices are a consistent thickness, which helps with even cooking. I admit that I cringe a little with every slice. Memories from childhood flood my mind of my mother cutting her hand open while slicing veggies...makes me feel icky even typing this right now. Ugh, it was a bloody mess...but I digress. My point here is that it is a great tool and it literally took 2.5 minutes to slice 5 potatoes.

What you need for Salt & Pepper Chips:

• 1.5 medium potatoes per person, any variety
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil per 2 potatoes
• 1 large zip close storage bag
• Baking sheet lined with parchment paper
• Cracked Pepper
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Slice (Carefully!) your potatoes
• Pour oil into storage bag
• Add potatoes to storage bag, close and shake to coat potato slices with oil
• Cover parchment paper with cracked pepper
• Place slices in one layer on parchment paper
• Crack pepper over the top of slices
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown
• Salt to taste
• Let cool and eat!