Recipe - Deviled Eggs

This recipe is for Danielle. She wanted to know how to make deviled eggs. Here ya go Danni!

Deviled eggs are easy to make and always the hit of the party!

Deviled Eggs

12 Eggs (boiled)
3 Tbsp mayo
2 Tbsp sweet relish
Mustard
Salt
Paprika

Remove the egg shells and rinse the egg off. Slice the eggs on half longways and carefully remove the yolk and place the yolks in a bowl.

Using a fork, squish the egg yolks then add the mayo and the sweet relish. Mix thoroughly. Salt to taste and add a small squirt of mustard. Mix again then place some of the mixture in each egg. Sprinkle a little paprika on top of each egg.

Recipe - Pie Crust

This is my Mom's pie crust recipe. This has got to be the best pie crust on the planet and very simple to make!

Pie Crust

1 Stick margarine
1 Cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar

Soften margarine, add the sugar and flour then mix and press out in a pie pan. Cook at 375° until golden brown (about 12-15 minutes)

Recipe - Mom's Chocolate Pie

This is my Mom's chocolate pie recipe. It's the best chocolate pie ever!

Chocolate Pie

1 ½ Cups sugar
3 Heaping Tbsp Cocoa
3 Heaping Tbsp cornstarch
½ Tsp salt
3 Cups milk
3 Egg yolks
1 Tsp butter
1½ Tsp Vanilla
Cool Whip


Put the first 5 ingredients in a saucepan and on medium heat stirring constantly until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat.

Gradually stir in about ½ of the hot mixture into the egg yolks that have been slightly beaten into a bowl. Now blend this mixture back into the saucepan. Boil for 1 minute stirring constantly.

Now remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Pour into the pie shell and let cool. Top with Cool Whip.

Recipe - Chicken Spaghetti

This is one of my favorite meals. It's actually better left over.

Chicken Spaghetti

2 Packages chicken breast strips (or 4 or 5 breasts)
1/2 Large pkg spaghetti noodles
1 Can Cream of Chicken soup
1 Can Cream of Celery soup
1 Can Cream of Mushroom soup
2 Large jars jalapeno Cheese Whiz
4 Celery sticks
1 Pkg fresh mushrooms (sliced)
1 Medium onion (chopped)
1 Pkg slivered almonds
Grated cheddar cheese
Butter

Boil chicken until done and place chicken in a large bowl saving the water. When the chicken is done and cool enough to handle, dice into fairly small pieces.

Cook spaghetti noodles in the same water that the chicken cooked in per the noodle instructions.

In a skillet, brown the onion, celery and mushrooms in butter.

Mix Cheese Whiz and the soups in a bowl and heat in microwave until it is able to mix easily. Pour this mixture over the chicken. Add the onions, celery and mushroom then mix it well.

Add the strained noodles and almonds. Mix well then put in a large baking dish. Cover with grated cheese.

Cook in preheated oven at 375° for about 30 minutes.

Ugly Drum Smoker

Although you probably cant tell from the recipes listed here, but I love to cook outdoors. I bought a cheap smoker but wasn't happy with having to babysit it to keep the temperatures steady.

Thats when I heard about Ugly Drum Smokers (UDS). I decided to go ahead and build one to try it out. I'm so glad that I did. The smoker is great. I have had it lit and maintained 225° to 250° for over 24 hours and never added or stoked coals. Here is the way that I built the smoker. Feel free to make any changes that you see fit.


Parts/Hardware list:

Smoker:
55 Gallon Drum
8 - 3/4" Pipe Nipples
1 - 3/4" Ball Valve
3 - 3/4" Pipe Caps
4 - 3/4" 90° Elbows
18 - 3/4" Conduit Nuts
3 - 4" Eye Bolts
3 - 6" (or 8") Eye Bolts
12 - Nuts (for the eye bolts)
6 - Acorn Nuts (for the eye bolts)
12 - Fender Washers (for the eye bolts)
3 - Handles (with mounting hardware)
1 - 22" Round Cooking Grate
1 - Thermometer

Fire Ring:
1 - 17" Round Charcoal Grate
8 - Fender Washers (in addition to above)
8 - 1/4" X 1/2" bolts and nuts
1 - 12" X 24" sheet expanded metal

I bought the drum at my local feed store for $15 with a good lid. It has Olive Oil in it so it was food grade and it was unlined. The Thermometer ($8) and the two grates ($3 and $5) I found at Academy. The ball valve and step drill came from Harbor Freight but can be bought at Home Depot or Lowes. The rest of the hardware came from Home Depot.

I started by doing a small burn in my drum. I didn't do a large burn because we were in a burn ban in our community at the time. Be sure to remove any gasket that is in the lid.

Using the step drill four 1" holes even spaced and about 2" to 2 1/2" from the bottom of the drum. Insert a pipe nipple in each hole with a conduit nut on each side. Place a cap on three nipples and the ball valve on the fourth nipple.

Drill three holes evenly spaced for the eye bolts (you determine the size according to the eye bolts that you purchase). Place one of the longer eye bolts in each hole along with a fender washer on each side, a nut on each side and the acorn nut on the outside of each eye bolt.

Now do the same thing with the shorter eye bolts measuring 6" from the top lip of the drum.

Now drill four 1" holes spaced evenly apart in the lid. Put a pipe nipple with a conduit nut on both sides in each hole. Put a 90° elbow on each pipe nipple.

Drill holes and mount one handle in the center of the lid. Also find a good place to mount two handles on the drum so that you can easily move the drum.

Mount the thermometer 3" below the cooking grate. This should get the thermometer probe far enough below the grate that nothing should hit it.

Now build the fire ring.

Using a Dremel tool, I cut the expanded metal in half to make two 6" x 24" pieces. Set them next to each other making them into one long piece. Use two bolts, fender washers on each side and a nut to secure the two pieces. Now bring the two outside edges together to make a circular piece. Place two bolts, fender washers and nuts there as well.

Place the charcoal grate on top of the bottom eyebolts and set the fire ring on the grate. Now place the cooking grate on the top eyebolts and your done.

You might want to buy some high temp spray paint and paint the drum, but they dont call the Ugly Drum Smokers for nothing!

Spray everything inside including the barrel and lid itself with PAM Cooking Spray, place some charcoal in the fire ring and light it. This will season it.

Personally, I would do one or two dry runs to make sure that your temperaures will get where you want them and hold steady. Once you have the drum lit and up to temperature, adjust the ball valve in small incriments to adjust the temperature.

If the temperature just doesnt get up high enough, remove one of them caps on the pipe nipples on the bottom. This shouldn't be a problem though, but better to have the option and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Optional - If you wish, drill four more holes evenly spaced 6 " below the top set of eye bolts and buy another cooking grate. I wouldn't recommend this grate for cooking, but it will serve well to place a deflector or a water pan on if desired.


This picture was taken before a cook while the temperature was stabilizing. This temperature shown here is way to high to smoke with. 225° to 250° is the range that I prefer.


The next two pictures were taken before I installed the second grate just below the top grate and before I added two more exhaust outlets in the lid.