When Jeff’s outside smoking meat, it’s a relaxing experience – for me. I’m lounging on a lawn chair, sipping lemonade, laughing and watching Henry the Wonderdog poke around in the back yard. But Jeff is One with the meat and the smoke and the fire. For him, it’s a Zen experience. I’m just there for the wings.

If you’ve always been a little hazy on the difference between grilling and smoking, grilling is done quickly over high heat; smoking is a slower process done over lower, indirect heat. Smoking the meat tenderizes it, infusing it with the flavor of the wood as well as the smoke, so that – with a little time and care – you can turn a cheap cut of meat into something people will fight over.

Like these Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings.

Continue reading: Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

With the pizza, Buffalo chicken dip, and meatball sliders posted lately, you might think we were rooting for New York this weekend, but the truth is, we don’t have a dog in this hunt. Not with the Saints and the Titans out. So, we wanted to even things up a little with a New England shout-out. My sister Jennifer suggested a Hot Crab Dip, so grab a Sam Adams and dig in. 

By Jennifer Rather.

I’m always on the lookout for party foods. When you add holidays, celebrating a birthday every other month and football season together, it equals a massive need for finger food.

We have our usual standbys (hello, sausage balls), but occasionally I like to try something different, just so everyone doesn’t go into sausage overload.

In honor of the Super Bowl, and the years I spent in Boston, I decided to add Hot Crab Dip to our lineup

Continue reading: Hot Crab Dip

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Sometimes when I’m out with Jeff, I slip into “girlfriend mode” and say yes to things without thinking them through. Like eating a big, fat, drippy meatball sub in public. There’s just no way to do it and maintain your dignity. Or your shirt. You basically just have to shove it into your face and hope for the best, which is actually kinda fun, but the whole thing got me thinking about Meatball Sliders.

Little one-meatball sandwiches I could eat in a few bites AND keep my shirt clean.

Maybe.

I mean, dignity. Who needs it? But at least my clothes would have a fighting chance.

Anyway, these sliders turned out really, really well. Good enough for Jeff to break into four-letter words when he forgot there were leftovers and ate something inferior. So I wanted to share them with you, just in case you’re fishing for some party eats or you just need to get some more meatballs into your life.

Continue reading: Meatball Sliders

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

On my nephew Jack’s birthday, when he alone has the power to decide what the entire family eats, he always picks the same thing for dinner: chili. And that’s fine by us, because my sister Jennifer’s chili is the kind that makes you moan before you can stop yourself. She promised to share the recipe if I’d bring petit fours to baby Riley’s first birthday party, so done and done.

By Jennifer Rather.

Chili. A culinary problem child. Everyone has a different idea of what it should should be in it, how to use it and what it should taste like. You’ve got your all-beef people. Your beef and bean people. Chicken chili. Vegetarian chili. Cincinnati chili.

Hot dog chili is a different breed from cracker chili.

It’s more confusing than sending a man for tampons.

I wanted a chili that would work for our entire family, so a few years ago, I came up with a plan. Over the course of one football season, every Sunday, I would try a different chili recipe, and the men (my husband and two boys) would grade the attempt, ranking what they liked and disliked

Continue reading: Rather Good Chili

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

This Buffalo Chicken Dip? Pure man-bait.

Walk into a room with it, and guys will look at you like you just took your top off.

It’s just the thing to take to a Super Bowl party.

But I’ve seen ladies who wouldn’t touch a Buffalo wing attack this stuff like starving lions chasing an antelope on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.

I totally understand.

Continue reading: Buffalo Chicken Dip

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

The Year of the Dragon starts at midnight.

I’m not sure exactly sure what that means, but it sounds like things are about to get awesome.

Jeff and I intensely prepared for our Chinese New Year celebration by Googling traditions and latching on to only the fun ones.

Sweeping away last year’s bad luck? Gimme that broom.

Lighting firecrackers to scare away evil spirits? They’re in the junk drawer.

New red undies? Always good luck.

But my favorite part of the day was making a huge platter of Pork Egg Rolls for our Chinese New Year feast. Even though it took me a few practice runs to get the wrapping technique down, I’m happy to report that the butt-ugly ones tasted just as good as the pretty ones. Mad egg roll-wrapping skills are not required. Thank God.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

This crockpot barbecue recipe comes straight from my sister, Jennifer, whom you might recall from stories such as this one and this one. She has agreed to teach me the Way of the Crockpot in return for showing her how to make a decent biscuit. Done and done. Take it away, Sista-Friend!

By Jennifer Rather.

Our favorite barbecue joint has a great deal for a normal family: a pound of barbecue, a few buns and a couple of sides for around $10.

Too bad I don’t have a normal family.

My family is large. Two adults and four kids (12, 7, 2 and 11 months). The youngest isn’t gnawing pulled pork quite yet, but the oldest is a 12-year-old boy, fully capable of putting down a pound of barbecue by himself.

It didn’t take me long to realize that, unless we wanted to take out a loan for barbecue, something had to change.

It was time to break out the crockpot.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Holiday entertaining just doesn’t have to be that hard.

When I was a kid, my parents and their friends would take turns hosting everyone for a big Christmas supper. Not a five-course gourmet meal. Nothing that required mail-order ingredients. Just something good and simple and fun. Like a huge pot of chili. A big pan of lasagna. Stacks of pancakes surrounded by every topping we could find at Kroger.

And a pan of brownies.

This Chicken and Sausage Gumbo reminds me of those suppers. It’s delicious and belly-warming, but not fussy. A big pot of stew, brimming with shredded chicken, sliced andouille, rice, celery, red bell pepper, onion and tomatoes. The night I made it, we planned to either freeze part of the gumbo or share it, but then we each had a bowl. And we did the same thing the next night – and the next – until it was gone.

Certified party-worthy.

Next time, we’ll have to remember the brownies.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

If you’re anything like me, sometimes you have to have chocolate. NOW. And I’m not talking about that “one small piece after dinner” that fitness gurus conjured up to make the rest of us feel bad. I’m talking about a wedge of something warm and gooey, with a few of those “small pieces” on top. And maybe a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream to cut the sweet.

Something I can make in less than a hour.

Like this Goo Goo Pie.

It’s basically your granny’s brownie pie taken to the next level. About 10 minutes before it’s done, you sprinkle the top with chopped Goo Goos (or any other candy bar) and slide it back in the oven, so those pieces melt into a rich, gooey top layer that’s been known to inspire others to take out the trash in a spontaneous act of gratitude.

One pie to rule them all!

So, what’s a Goo Goo?

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

If there’s any food I’m truly obsessed with, it’s hot chicken.

Not spicy chicken. Hot chicken, born here in Nashville.

Spicy chicken makes your tongue tingle. Hot chicken makes you feel like you swallowed the whole of Armageddon, and now you’re being reborn from the inside out as a cayenne-encrusted god

Continue reading: Nashville Hot Chicken Wings

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.