The Texas Gulf Coast BBQ Cookers’ Association meeting is tonight, September 6, at 7 p.m. at the VFW Post 10352.

The big boss here at Texas Pepper Jelly and Texas Rib Candy, Craig Sharry, is himself a participant, past winner, and administrator, which doesn’t surprise me at all; his products are so awesomely delicious, it’s just inconceivable that anybody could surpass him!

TGBCA, along with Texas Pepper Jelly and Texas Rib Candy, is on Facebook, so by all means follow them and keep up with the delicious world of bbq!

I hope you are all grilling out tomorrow; the weather is supposed to be lovely here and I stocked up on grillable meats at the grocery store this afternoon. We’ve got about half a bottle of Rib Candy left, so we’ll be emptying that, for sure. We’ll be feasting on pork ribs, chicken, and hamburgers, along with baked beans and potato salad, all of which contain Texas Pepper Jelly.

You might say that although my family lives in Indiana, our kitchen and taste buds live in Texas.

We’re having grilled chicken tonight, and we’re using the rest of our bottle of Texas Rib Candy on it. This won’t be the first time we’ve used Rib Candy on chicken, either. So far, we’ve used Rib Candy on several kinds of meat, but my family seems to like it best on pork ribs and chicken.

It was after reading the review of Texas Rib Candy on Shylah’s blog that inspired me to grill some chicken again tonight. The pictures and descriptions on Shylah’s blog made me so hungry for grilled Rib Candy chicken again! She wrote that she almost licked the stuff off the basting brush. I confess that I actually did, although I did manage to wait until after I was finished basting the chicken. Germs? I was past caring.

The chicken is thawing as I write, and tonight after work we’ll fire up the grill and put the chicken on. I hid what’s left of our last bottle of Rib Candy behind some leftovers in the refrigerator so the kids wouldn’t find it and use it on lunch meat – shut up; it’s awesome on lunch meat! – and I just finished making Spicy Potato Salad to go with the grilled chicken.

Oh, and how will I cut up the chicken before slapping it on the grill? With my awesome Messermeister poultry shears, that’s how.

Come on over; we’ve got enough chicken and potato salad for a crowd. Isn’t that how the best cookouts are?

Author Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about her husband Almanzo’s childhood in her wonderful book Farmer Boy. Mrs. Wilder shared with her readers the fact that Almanzo, as a little boy, could out-eat most grown men, and that his favorite food was fried apples-n-onions.

My grandmother told me that fried apples-n-onions was pretty much a staple dish back in pioneer times, and again in hard times. She told me that when she was a young mother, she often served fried apples-n-onions when she could afford nothing else to put on the table for her children.

Everyone in my family is a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, and we often re-create the foods she writes about. Fried apples-n-onions was a natural: so easy to put together, and so inexpensive, to boot.

Therefore, I wasn’t surprised when my kids, visiting for the weekend, suggested that we see how fried apples-n-onions would be, using Apple Cherry Habanero Rib Candy. It sounded good to me, so we did it.

Oh holy cow, it was awesome. You’ll think so, too.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 big Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced fairly thin
2 big onions, sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup Apple Cherry Habanero Rib Candy
Dash of cinnamon

What to do:

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, and add the apples and onions. Stir-fry, never leaving the pan, until just almost tender. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and Rib Candy, and continue stirring until the apples are tender. Serve, and stand back.

With onions, this dish is a great spicy side. Without the onions, this dish is a fantastic spicy dessert.

It’s awesome, with or without the onions, and whether you use Rib Candy with or without the peppers.

Remember, it’s the simplest recipes that often give us the tastiest foods.

Now, get out there and start re-reading the Little House books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Now.

Last night on Twitter’s #DadsTalking live chat, lucky parents won bottles of Texas Rib Candy, and they were excited to get theirs!

(By the way, if you’re a parent, and especially if you’re a dad, why don’t you follow along with the hashtag #DadsTalking along with us? We never stop talking, and you’ll pick up awesome, useful parenting hints as well as tips as to when the next live chat will be.)

Tonight was a long time getting here, so we’re going the lazy route once again and having soup and chicken nuggets for supper.

However, ever since we discovered Texas Rib Candy, plain old chicken nuggets have never been plain again. Now even something as simple as a chicken nugget has become a piece of awesomely delicious yumminess, because I brush them with Texas Rib Candy before I throw them into the microwave.

Not only that: my husband now dips almost everything into Texas Rib Candy as he eats. Seriously, Rib Candy is addictive (the GOOD kind!) and wonderful.

So, envy us, dear readers, for we are having chicken nuggets and black bean soup for supper tonight, and, to be perfectly honest, BOTH of these simple dishes were made with Rib Candy.

Mmmmm, Rib Candy. . . .

My mother and mother-in-law are both very fond of salmon cakes, or, as they call them, salmon patties.

This recipe for Spicy Salmon Cakes is especially delicious.

Ingredients:

Two 6-ounce cans boneless, skinless pink salmon, well-drained and finely flaked
1 cup dried bread crumbs, divided into two parts
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup corn kernels (if you use frozen, be sure it’s thawed)
1/2 cup Texas Rib Candy, any flavor, with or without peppers
1 large egg
1 tablespoon oil

What to do:

In a large bowl, combine the salmon, half the bread crumbs, cheese, corn, Texas Rib Candy, and egg; mix well.

Shape the mixture into 8 patties and coat with the rest of the bread crumbs.

Heat half the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties until they are golden brown – about five minutes. Add the remaining oil to the pan, flip the patties, and cook an additional 4-5 minutes.

Remove the cooked patties onto thick paper toweling and drain well.

We like to put more Rib Candy on the spicy patties as we devour them.

Grilling season is, indeed, winding down, and that’s all the more reason to break open the Texas Rib Candy – with or without the peppers – and feast on the best grilled pork, beef, chicken, veal. . . . heck, frog legs and ostrich cutlets. . . in the whole wide world.

Texas Rib Candy is – and I’m not exaggerating in the least – the best damn stuff to put on your meat that you will ever find. If you searched the planet all your life, you wouldn’t find anything that even compared to it. Rib Candy is well named. It’s honestly and truly Rib Candy. CANDY for your ribs. Or chicken. Or frog legs and ostrich cutlets.

Everyone who eats your grilled delights will agree.

Invite everyone you love over for a cookout. Do it soon. Summer’s winding down, and Rib Candy is too good not to share.

I’m really excited about Texas Pepper Jelly’s newest product, Texas Rib Candy! And now I’m even MORE excited because Texas Rib Candy gives you more choices than ever: now you can get it with the fabulous peppers, or without!

Here’s a note from Texas Pepper Jelly’s awesome big boss, Craig Sharry:

Here at Texas Pepper Jelly we are always trying to think of something new for our customers. A couple of months ago we introduced our new Texas Rib Candy. The response was huge. Honestly, I knew it was good but I never imagined the type of success that we have seen already from this product.

PS … I almost forgot. Texas Rib Candy also comes in three fantastic flavors. Apple , Apple Cherry and Mango. And you can get with or without peppers. Be sure to try one of each!

This is Texas Pepper Jelly’s newest product, Texas Rib Candy, and it’s so good it’s almost impossible to describe.

It goes with almost everything. Anything and everything. Brush it on chicken or ribs, right before you take them up on a platter and serve them, or at any time during the grilling process. Use it with stir-fry. Use it as a dip. Use it in your crockpot.

It’s excellent as a salad dressing, too.

Texas Rib Candy comes in three flavors: Apple Habanero, Apple Cherry Habanero and Mango Habanero. The possibilities are endless!

The only problem I’ve ever had with Texas Rib Candy is that my husband doesn’t want to share it with anyone. I always have to search for it behind something else in the refrigerator.

Seriously, Texas Rib Candy is like an addictive drug. Once you try it, you can’t ever get enough of it.

P.S. As I write this post, my husband is sitting at the table dipping raw vegetables in Texas Rib Candy. He says it’s awesome.

I can’t take his word for it, though. I MUST try it for myself.

Mmmmmmm. . . . . he’s right.

Shiitaki mushrooms are so yummy good, however you fix them, but this recipe turns those huge thick slices into deliciousness beyond any comprehension!  Oh, and once again, it’s those simple, easy-to-make foods that are so often the best.

Ingredients:

As many thick slices of shiitaki mushroom as you have hungry guests, plus a few extras.

1 bottle of Texas Rib Candy

What to do:

Fire up the grill, and slap down the mushroom slices.  Heat thoroughly; char a little if you like ‘em that way.  Just before removing from heat, brush on the Rib Candy.

It’s really all the condiment you’ll need.

Serve.  Eat.  Smile.  Repeat.

Texas Rib Candy can’t be beat.

This is one of the most versatile recipes you’ll ever find.  The finished product is different every time, depending on your choice of “filler,” and any of the end results are fit for a company dinner, as well as for your family.

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons chopped green onion

1 jar any Texas Pepper Jelly product (pepper jelly, Rib Candy,  or grilling sauce)

What to do:

Put the chicken breasts on your cutting board and beat them flat with your kitchen mallet.  (If you don’t have a kitchen mallet, cover the chicken with plastic wrap and beat them with a hammer.)

On each flattened piece of chicken, spread Texas Pepper Jelly and sprinkle with onions.

Roll up the chicken and insert a toothpick (or several) to hold the shape.

Bake the rolled chicken in a baking dish (not a cookie sheet) in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Serve with more Texas Pepper Jelly.