“The College of Pig Knowledge. The Granddaddy of Grills. The Largest Pork Barbecue Cooking Contest on the Planet. Three stuffed days of smoked heaven where contestants eat, sleep and live pig.

You’ll see funny faces, famous faces, and might end up having your face on one of these special reports on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, Southern Living Network, PBS, A&E, TBS, Gourmet Magazine, Food & Wine, Martha Stewart Living TV, or one of many other media reports.”

Yours truly will be in attendance this Thursday for some fine barbecue sampling! I had to do some research on this, since this will be my first time attending.

Local codes prohibit teams from selling barbecue to the general public, but you can still get your fill by becoming a taste-testing judge! $3.00 gets you five different samples to choose from - and the best part, you can judge as many times as you want! All ballots count and the winner of the People’s Choice Contest will be announced on the final day! I will be a voting machine that day, no doubt!

Yesterday Sarah and I ordered some food from Zaxbys (chicken place). I got a grilled chicken sandwich and a 20-piece order of buffalo wings. I got the wings so I would have something to snack on the next day. I ate a few of the wings after my chicken sandwich and saved the rest for later (today).

I pulled the wings from the fridge earlier and was a bit disappointed to find that the wing sauce had pretty much dried up: unacceptable! So, I decided to make my own sauce.

I used Memphis’ own Corky’s BBQ sauce and Frank’s RedHot sauce. The Corky’s sauce has a sweet taste to it with a very mild spice. The Frank’s sauce is, well, hot! I wanted the best of both worlds, so that is exactly what I did.

I used more Corky’s sauce than Frank’s, as I don’t want it to be too spicy. Next, I mixed the two…

The mixture looks a bit blah, but hopefully it won’t taste too bad.

As you can see, the wings are pretty dry looking. I spread the sauce over the wings, then flipped em and repeated the process. I ended up adding a bit more Frank’s as it wasn’t quite hot enough. A quick visit in the microwave and I was ready for the moment of truth.

The verdict: excellent!

Sarah picked up the ingredients to make homemade pizza yesterday and we decided to give it a try today. The pizza dough was from Pillsbury and came in a can like biscuits, kinda strange. Anyway, we had to heat up the dough for about five minutes then add toppings.

We only used cheese as the topping; cheddar, provolone and mozzarella. The end result was pretty tasty, except for my stupid oven that likes to burn the heck out of everything. You can cook something at half the required temperature and half as long… and it will still burn!

Deviled eggs are one of my favorite foods! Too bad I don’t know how to make them… until now! Sarah got the recipe from her mom and we decided to give it a try.

First, boil a dozen eggs. We let them boil for about 30 minutes. After that, add the eggs to cold water to cool them down faster. Then, remove the shells and rinse the eggs off. Next, slice each egg in half “long-ways”. Remove the yolks and put them all in a separate bowl. Now, add mayonnaise and sweet relish. We used a good bit of mayo then finished it off with relish. Now, just fill each egg half with the mixture, refrigerate and enjoy!

I grew up in a trailer park for half of my life, and you had to do what you had to do to get by! Ok, so it wasn’t really that bad… but I did live there for a long time.

One of my friends, Buster (Keith and KattiKawn, insert laughter here) showed me how to make some ghetto food. And today, I will be sharing that with you all!

The recipe is easy enough. Take a soft shell flour tortilla, add a hot dog then cover it with cheese. Wrap it up like a taco, put it in the microwave for about 20 seconds and it’s time to eat!

I know what you are thinking… “that looks absolutely disgusting!”. And you are right, it doesn’t look very good but it tastes great and is very cheap and easy to make as a quick snack. Give it a try sometime, you might like it too!

What is the logical thing for someone with a mild banana allergy to do? Make banana pudding, of course!

My friend Sarah and I got a craving for banana pudding a couple of days ago. We were planning to make some today, but she had to go back “home” to go shopping for Easter. So, Chef Knight decided to try his hand at dessert making!

It only took about 20 minutes to create what you see above. I used a large pack of Jello-O Instant Pudding, 2 cups of milk and one can of sweetened condensed milk. Put all of that in a bowl and mix well (who doesn’t like playing with a hand mixer!). Then, simply alternate layers of Vanilla Wafers, pudding mix, and sliced bananas. The recipe called for whipped topping to finish it off, but a bad childhood experience with that stuff (never eat an entire can in under 5 minutes) made me decide otherwise.

As I write this, the pudding is in the fridge being chilled. The recipe says to let it chill overnight, but I am too impatient. Can you say midnight snack?!

Have any of you tried this “Vitamin Enriched Water Beverage” yet? I got my first taste a few weeks ago when I went with some friends to Sardis Lake. We stopped by the store beforehand to get some drinks, and Adam comes out with this stuff.

I had heard of it before but never bothered to try it. I first tried the Strawberry flavor and then Kiwi Strawberry. The drinks were room temperature when I tried em and I wasn’t very impressed. At the end of the day, there were plenty left over so I took a few home with me.

I tried the Strawberry again the next day after it had sat in the fridge overnight and wow, this stuff is pretty good! I just now got around to picking up some more from the store. I went with Berry and Black Cherry this time. Surprise surprise, both are delicious!

We all know that water is good for you; it surely beats the Cokes and Mt. Dews I down each day. But, I can only drink so much water. I like variety and well, water is just plain blah! Now I have a great tasting beverage that comes in 13 different flavors.

If you haven’t tried Propel yet, I’d suggest you give it a whirl. Oh, and don’t worry, I haven’t gone totally health-conscious… hence the bottle of Corky’s Bar-B-Q Sauce heh (which just happens to be the best tasting BBQ sauce ever!).

I can remember taking Flintstones vitamins when I was a kid. Flintstones were great! I loved taking them simply because they tasted good. I would ask my mom if I could have two hah. Well, time goes on, I grew up and things changed.

Well, not everything. I recently started taking Flintstones vitamins again. Why? Because they taste good… oh and they are good for you also. Sure, I may not get the full recommended daily dose for an adult… but hey, its better than nothing, right?

I don’t take adult vitamins for a few reasons. First, I am very forgetful. Heck I forget to take my Prilosec half the time (I have terrible heartburn). I only remember the Prilosec when I start to “feel the burn” lol. Second, most adult vitamins are to be taken with food. The last thing on my mind when I am hungry is to go take my vitamine. Oh, and they have no taste.

Flintstones FTW!

Mashed potatoes are one of my favorite “side items” but truth be told, good mashed potatoes are hard to come by… and even harder to make on your own! Well worry no more, as I will give you my secret to making great instant mashed potatoes.

I use Kroger brand instant mashed potatoes. Directions for making four servings (which really makes about two decent sized servings) calls for 1 1/3 cup of water, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of butter.

Heat the water, butter and salt to boiling, then remove from the head. Add 1/2 cup of cold milk. Now, add 1 1/3 cup of potato flakes and stir together.

Now, you have mashed potatoes. But here is what I do to really bring out the taste. Add a good bit of pepper and a little more slat and stir again. Now, add another 1/2 tablespoon of butter. And for the secret incredient… a tablespoon of mayonnaise!

Yep, you read that correctly, mayonnaise. Keith taught me this trick and I admit I was very skeptical at first. The mayo helps bring out the other flavors and also makes the mashed potatoes more fluffy.

And there you have it, great instant mashed potatoes. Try it next time you whip up a batch, sooo yummy!

BTW, yes that is a paper bowl and plastic spoon. I try to use these as much as possible, as I don’t have a dishwasher and hate doing dishes with a passion!

Who needs a microwave when you have a 2kw laser at your disposal…