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.

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.

There are many variations of this Cool & Spicy Summer Salad, and each one is as delicious and easy as the one before.

This is one of those salads that’s even better the next day.

Ingredients:

1 package bow-tie pasta, cooked and cooled

1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 cup Raspberry Habanero pepper jelly

What to do:

Mix all the ingredients into the pasta.  Sprinkle a few raspberries on top, cover securely and put in the refrigerator.  It’s delicious now and will be even better in a few hours!

We consider this to be a main dish on those stiflingly hot summer nights.  It’s also a great snack, a super side dish, and a really, really excellent supper for guests.

More variations to come.

Also to come?  Texas Rib Candy news.  There’s a reason it’s called Rib CANDY.

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.

My grown daughter came down to visit me tonight, which was lovely!  Her visit was unannounced, though; usually, we know when she’s stopping by.

She walked casually into my kitchen and casually opened the pantry door.  Still being casual, she moved the various cans and bottles around until I finally asked her what in the world she was looking for!

“I was hoping you’d have some pepper jelly I could borrow,” was her sheepish answer.

Apparently, she’s having people over on Thursday night and wanted to serve our family’s favorite pepper jelly/cream cheese dip. along with some awesome dippin’ shrimp.

I didn’t have any Texas Rib Candy to give her, but in a few days I will!  That stuff is truly well-named.  Mmmm, so good.

Fortunately for Sara, I did have some.  I hid the last Pineapple Habanero jar behind the peanut butter, and let her take the others.  Not that we don’t love all the flavors; it’s just that if my husband opened that pantry and found his Pineapple Habanero gone, he’d have had something to say about it.

I offered to give her the brick of cream cheese I found in the back of the bottom drawer of the refrigerator, but seeing as how it expired in June of 2009, she politely declined.

“I’ll stop at the store on my way home,” she said.

Bon appetite, lucky guests of my beautiful daughter.

Now I need to order more pepper jelly.  I’d planned some serious stir-fry for the coming weeks and I can’t make stir-fry without pepper jelly now that we’ve discovered it.

Zesty Pineapple Ham is an excellent family dinner entree, and an equally excellent company dinner entree.

We had this delicious dish for Easter Dinner last year; there is just something “warm weather-ish” about baked ham.

Ingredients:

1 two-pound fully-cooked ham center

1 can of pineapple chunks, drained (save the juice)  (8 1/4 oz. size can)

1 tablespoon whole cloves

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup packed brown sugar, dark or light

2 tablespoons rum

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup Pineapple Habanero Pepper Jelly

What to do:

Slash the top of the ham and place it on a rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake for a half hour, at 350.  Remove from oven.

In a large saucepan, mix together everything except the cloves.  (Don’t forget to add the pineapple juice!)  Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.  Stir until the mixture thickens.

Spread over the ham and return it to the oven; bake for about fifteen more minutes.  Remove from oven, and spoon any “pooled-up” mixture or fallen pineapple chunks over the ham again.  Stud the ham with the cloves, put ham back in the oven for five minutes. Remove the ham, remove the cloves.

Serve hot.

If there is any ham left over, which I doubt, it will make a spectacularly tasty sandwich, hot or cold.

Mmmm, Zesty Pineapple Ham.

Oh my gosh, look what we’re having for supper tomorrow night!  My family is going to LOVE this!

Our newest product, Texas Rib Candy, is the star of Texas Rib Candy Tacos, naturally.  Rib Candy is well-named, too; it’s so awesomely good, you might find yourself spilling a little on purpose just so you can spoon it up, plain!

This particular recipe uses Apple Cherry Habanero Rib Candy, and these tacos are so fantastic they’re almost dessert!  These are also the perfect summer taco, because they’re best served cold.

Main Ingredients:

juice of one medium lemon

1 teaspon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon salt (do not leave out!)

2 cups shredded cooked chicken, dark or light (your preference rules here)

6 tortillas or taco shells, soft or hard

1 large apple, diced

1/2 cup cherries, pitted and diced

Apple/cherry salad, see recipe below

2/3 cup Texas Apple Cherry Rib Candy

cilantro leaves (leave this step out if your family doesn’t like cilantro)

Ingredients for apple/cherry salad:

1 medium apple, diced

1/2 cup cherries, pitted and diced

juice of 1/2 lemon

dash garlic

1 cup shredded lettuce

What to do:

Mix all of the main ingredients (except the shells) together and let them “set.”

Make a small buffet out of Texas Rib Candy Tacos by putting the main ingredients on a nice platter, and set the salad on another.  Don’t waste your time putting the rest of the Texas Rib Candy in the refrigerator; people will want more than they’ll get in the recipe itself.  In fact, I wouldn’t count on having any Texas Rib Candy left over at all.  Next time you order some, you’d better order several.  Seriously. It’s that awesome.

You might wonder, looking over this recipe before you begin, why there is so much apple and cherry in it.  After your crew tears into it, though, you won’t wonder any more.  You’ll know.

P.S.  Use fresh cherries.  DO NOT used maraschino cherries!

P.P.S.  Some people keep the shredded lettuce separate from the rest of the ingredients.  Do this however you wish; Texas Rib Candy Tacos are yummy good no matter what your method of serving preference might be!

It’s Fourth of July Weekend, and that means cookouts, picnics, and reunions galore!  And what is any of those things without a big bowl of cold potato salad?

That’s why I’m posting our fantabulous potato salad recipe again.  People ask me for it all the time, ever since I first posted it here, and I usually just send them the link or the recipe via email.

However, since everybody will be wanted potato salad this weekend, here’s our Texas Pepper Jelly potato salad recipe, in its entirety.  Enjoy, y’all.

Ingredients:

Ten large potatoes: peeled, cubed, and boiled.  Drain and set aside. (I don’t peel them any more, if I use red potatoes.) (Let them cool before you start mixing things into them)

Eight large dill pickles.  Chop LARGE and set aside.

One large onion.  Chop finely and set aside.

One green pepper.  Chop LARGE and set aside.

Two boiled eggs.  Peel and chop and set aside.

One small jar of red pimento.  Open and drain.

3/4 cup of Miracle Whip.

One tablespoon cheap yellow mustard.

1/3 cup of Pineapple Habanero Pepper Jelly

Tiny dash of salt, if you must.

What to do:

Now, dump the drained potatoes into a large bowl, and throw everything else in there with them.  Mix thoroughly but carefully, so you don’t mash the potatoes.  Cover the bowl tightly, and put it in the refrigerator.  Potato salad is best cold, you know.

We’re having all the family here on the Fourth, and we’re grilling out, naturally.  I’ll be making Spicy Potato Salad tomorrow night AFTER everybody goes to bed.  If I make it too soon, there’s none left for the actual meal.

We do what we gotta do.

(Don’t forget to watch this space for our new product’s official debut!  It’s awesome, and you’ll love it.  That’s all I’m sayin’ right now.)

I’m picking my daughter up at the airport tonight, and fortunately she e-mailed the times and directions to me earlier today.

She ended her e-mail with a dinner request:  she doesn’t want to be taken out to eat in a restaurant; she comes to come home and chow down on Texas Calico Salad.

Her wish is my command.  Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients:

1 can French cut green beans

1 can shoepeg corn

1 bag frozen peas

1 can red pimento strips

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup chopped red pepper

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup shredded pineapple

1 small flat jar of water chestnuts

1/4 cup of pecan pieces (optional) (but we like them in there)  (Your call)

1 5-ounce jar of Texas Pineapple Habanero pepper jelly

What to do:

This is the hard part:  Mix all the vegetables and fruit together in a large bowl.  Pour the Pineapple Habanero pepper jelly in the bowl and mix thoroughly.

Heh.  That’s not really very hard, is it.  Gotcha.

Eat up.

Your kids will be requesting this awesome summerish salad, too.

(It’s best made right before it’s served.  It’s still awesome next day, but the consistency is a little different after a night in the refrigerator.)

Note:  Calico is an inexpensive fabric often used by pioneers back in the day.  It was usually multicolored.  This salad is inexpensive and multicolored, hence the name.

In case you wondered.