Well, sorta a "catch all" lol..but mostly KAW

I have a HoA party to host tomorrow. It is a "round-robin" thing with appetizers at one house, dinner at another, deserts at a 3rd, and we are hosting the dinner.

Now, I am a food snob.. I have no problem saying that lol.. so while I am only supposed to do the main course, and all others bring a side, I am also doing a side or two ;) (just in case..heh)

So, what am I cooking?

First off, I take bacon... lots and lots of nice bacon.. and I weave a mat of it by interlocking pieces of it, large enough to wrap the loins.

Main: I bought 5 full-sized pork loins. I cut them and flatten them so I can prep them to roll up. Then I break out the Kitchenaid mixer and mince some garlic with my fancy schmancy garlic miner I got from Trevor at Eurostoves (LOVE it) into cream cheese...throw in some spices like basil etc (I wing it).

I lay a layer of that on the meat.

Then I cover that with some fresh spinach (the key is to trim the hard stems off that) and then some diced mushrooms and onions. Then... I have some ground and browned Italian sausage.. and I add a layer of that.

Then comes the rolling.. I roll that up. It ain't easy as it be all schtuuuuuupphhed...

I lay it on the bacon mat and I wrap the mat around it and tuck it in on itself and use toothpicks to hold it together.

Bacon...

wrapped in BACON

Wrapped in .. BBBAAACCONN!!

with cream cheese... makes you cry doesn't it?

The secret is "slow and low" so as not to burn off the cheese inside. I cook it at about 200-225 MAX on the smoker for like an hour and a half. THEN, I pull it off the smoker and double wrap it in an aluminum foil boat which I pour half a can of cruit cocktail with half the juice in each "boat" and then seal the foil (do not wrap tightly, just need to seal in the juices)... and slow cook it in the smoker or oven for another 1.5-2.5 hours. You will not over-cook it this way.

Okay, then in a really large roasting pan and 2 crockpots, I take a lot of bags of little red potatoes and I nip the ends off and any dark spots, mainly because it looks better when I do that.. lol.. and I throw them in with Paula Dean.. no.. wait.. BUTTAH.. like Paula.. lol.. and sour cream, some chopped up green onions/chives, some cooked and crumbled BACON, and a tiny bit of olive oil. I slow roast/cook all of that for like 4-5 hours.

Then... dunno.. some sort of vegetable if I am bored.. lol

Also, may do a pie or cheesecake if I have an open oven, we will see.. hehe

So.. what are you all doing this weekend?

Oh, and HOWDY! from the 'Blizzard of '17' Texas:

R