Grilled Spice-Rubbed Bologna

How retro grill-chic, right?  This is like fried bologna, but classy LOL 

When you go to the deli counter to get a slab o' bologna, ask them to cut you a chunk about 3" or 4" thick.  Adapted from a cookbook I found at our beach rental this summer.  Be sure to build a nice hot, smoky fire in your grill...more smoky flavor is better here.

The spice rub will keep for some time in your spice cabinet.  You could apply the rub to the bologna and wrap it in plastic wrap a couple of days in advance of cooking, or freeze the whole slab.  Leftovers of this recipe make OUTSTANDING lunchbox sandwiches.

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BBQ Lasagne with low-carb barbecue sauce & Minced pork platter

First of all, I think this is pure genius, though I also doubt I'm the first person to think of it.  All the delicious, drippy goodness of a pulled pork bbq sandwich in a casserole.  Hellah good stuff. 

In case all the low-carb talk
disturbs you, focus here!

Since I'm preparing the lasagne for someone who has a medical need to significantly limit carb intake, I've done a thing or two I might not ordinarily do (and feel free to undo them, if you choose).  I made my own low-carb bbq sauce because I wasn't happy with how much sugar commercial barbecue sauces contain.  If you have a favorite bbq sauce recipe or product, by all means use that.  But my low-carb recipe follows. 

My low-carb sauce is a hybridization of two recipes--Better Homes & Gardens and South Beach--that reduce sugar by different means, one with artificial sweeteners (in the form of commercial low-carb ketchup) and the other with unsweetened tomato puree.  The two recipes are comparable in terms of calories and carbs per serving.  The ketchup-based recipe, however, is far higher in sodium than the puree-based recipe, but was also determined to have far better bbq sauce flavor by an Expert Jury of Tasters (my and my hubbie).  So a mash-up it is.

I also replaced one layer of lasagne noodles out of the usual three with a shredded cabbage/carrot mix, that is, undressed coleslaw.  This is actually a great idea for making lasagne more nutritionally dense and getting more veg into one's day.  Roasted slices of eggplant or zucchini work great for many lasagnes, but I kept with the barbecue theme and picked coleslaw.  If you prefer, use a full box of lasagne and make the middle layer noodles.

For the minced pork, I oven-braised a 2 lb. uncured pork leg roast ("fresh ham"), minced it in the food processor, served half for dinner with some of the aforementioned sauce and reserved the other half for this recipe.  The recipe for that dish will follow as well.  You could also use pulled pork shoulder ("pork butt") or finely chopped pork loin.  If you wish to serve the low-carb bbq sauce with the minced pork platter supper, make an additional half-recipe of the sauce.

Lastly, nutritional info calculated using Sparkrecipes.com for the lasagne follows the recipe.  And I forgot to take pictures...sorry!...but you all have seen a lasagne before, right? ;-)

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Bacon Candy

I pretty much only use the oven to cook bacon any more.  If I need just a piece of two, I'll fry it or nuke it, but to do up a pound of bacon, the oven is the easiest way to go.  I put extra bacon (for a family of 3 bacon-consumers, a pound should produce leftovers, ahem) in a ziptop bag in the fridge for sandwiches or snacks later in the week.

Baking also lends itself well to making what I call "bacon candy".  I do not recommend making this a frequent part of your normal breakfast, but every now and then isn't so bad.  Please consume bacon responsibly ;-)
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Store-bought vs. homemade: Thousand Island Dressing

Don't get me wrong!  I am all about store-bought for some things...pie crusts, peanut butter, roasted red peppers.  But I simply do not understand what has happened to the manufactured version of many things to make them taste the way they do...teriyaki sauce (more on which later), mayonnaise, salad dressings.  When you make these things at home, they taste NOTHING like their store-bought counterparts.  Not always better (SEE peanut butter), but totally dissimilar and in many cases in my oh-pinion, the homemade version is in fact superior in taste.  And cheaper.  And healthier.  And cheaper. 

So Thousand Island Dressing.  I made some as an enticing dip for crudité.  It takes nothing like store-bought, which is a giant plus as far as I'm concerned.  My better half who likes store-bought TID also liked this, so don't give up on it if you do happen to enjoy the Miracle of Modern Chemistry that is shelf-stable salad dressing.  I like the tofu base here as a way to sneak in extra protein and reduce fat content.  This recipe uses the type of tofu that comes in a box, like this:

I know it seems asinine to use just a couple tablespoons of minced vegetables.  Here's what I did...I'm planning to make cheesesteaks later in the week, so I went ahead and sliced some onions and green peppers for that, stole a slice or two of each for this recipe, and put the rest in a container to saute later.  I get double-mileage out of my prepwork!

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing
Makes 1 1/2 cups


Finely chopped veg



3 tbsp minced fresh onion

3 tbsp minced bell pepper

3 tbsp minced green olives

1 hard boiled egg, finely chopped

1 10 oz. aseptic package firm tofu

1/4 cup ketchup

1 tsp BBQ seasoning (I'm using Penzey's)

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

Put onion, green peppers, olives and egg in a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped.  You don't want big chunks of anything left.

Add the tofu, and pulse until tofu is smooth.  Add remaining ingredients and pulse to combine.

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