The Levi Family Blog

Smoked Wings

lelevis — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Wow…I made these today just on a whim and boy oh boy where they great! This is a very simple way to make wings with a mild flavor that will entertain just about anybody’s taste buds.

Here is what you need:

1 – 1 pack (or more) of wingettes, drumettes (I bought Pilgrims Pride because they were already separated and ready to cook).
2 – 1 each 9×12 aluminum disposable cooking pan. (holds about 14-15 wings)
3 – 4 tablespoons of your favorite butter
4 – McCormicks Grill Mate Montreal Chicken Seasoning
5 – Cooking Spray
6 – aluminum Foil

As always, I use Pecan exclusively for my heat source in my smoker and this was no exception. Simply spray the inside of the pan with cooking spray to help ensure they do not stick when cooking. After the spray, sprinkle in a decent amount of Montreal Chicken Seasoning…so that you have a light coat on the bottom of the pan. Put the washed/dried wings into the bottom of the pan and also sprinkle seasoning on them. Put 1 tablespoon of butter in each corner of the pan. Get some aluminum foil and cover about 80% of the pan. This will leave enough room for plenty of heat and some smoke to get in there and flavor your chicken.

Put on your 225 degree smoker for 1.5 hours. After 1.5 hours, remove the foil from the pan and flip the wings over. You will have a nice pool of flavored butter in the bottom of the pan. This helps keep them moist and juicy. Sprinkle a light coating of seasoning on the wings after you have flipped them. Do not cover the wings with foil for the last 30 minutes. Your total cooking time is about 2 hours.

Remove, let cool 2-3 minutes and serve…wow these are GOOD!

Ditching the iPhone!

lelevis — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:17:36 +0000

Well, our time to switch has come! For a couple years, my wife and I have had iPhones, which we were running unlocked on T-Mobile. This was for a couple of reasons. First, I will be frank…we hate AT&T. Their lack if customer service combined with their crappy billing practices have caused us to do as little amount of business with them as possible. Second, their iPhone data plans cost much more than T-Mobile plans cost. Another reason that we wanted to switch was our inability to get 3G speeds on our phones. The frequency that the iPhone 3G service needs is if course owned by AT&T. Enough is enough!

Since we have always had excellent service with T-Mobile, we wanted to stay with them. It turns out that our timing was perfect! A few weeks before we decided to switch, they introduced the new Samsung Vibrant Galaxy S phone. This has Avatar pre loaded on 720p quality, an AMOLED screen and of course runs on the wildly popular Android platform.

There is a ton of things to discuss about this phone which I will break out into smaller feature reviews, but so far we really like it.

Learning to pour from the keg tap…

lelevis — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:08:59 +0000

Wow…who would have thought that the angle of your beer mug would determine how much foam you get? I have always held my mug at about a 45 degree angle and I always get more foam than when my wife pours. Even her first pour beers are way better than I can produce. I quickly asked her to teach me the trick. She holds the beer closer to an 80 degree angle. I have to say, she has this figured out!!! After watching her pour, I gave it a shot. Sure enough, even a first pour is perfect!!!

Try it!

Making a keg tower cooler

lelevis — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 22:41:31 +0000

One of the “faults” of a home style kegerator is that the tower, the piece that houses the beer tap and lines does not get cooled by the refrigerator part of the unit. What this means is that the first pour is always about 80% foam. Any beer you pour immediately after, pours perfect with very little foam. If you are even as fast as 10-20 minutes between pours, you will still get a foamy pour. That is because the tower and beer line are basically room temperature all the time. Beer that is not at the proper temperature will be foamy. There are a couple “home brew” methods to making a cooler. Today, I started the process and I will explain what it entails. First, I bought a “project box” from Radio Shack which is basically a plastic box that has a removable lid that people use for home-made electronics projects. This cost me about $5.00. Next, I scavenged a 3 inch fan, 12V from an old PC I had lying around. I also came across an old power supply (transformer) that has a 12V output to use to power this fan. I grabbed my 3 inch hole saw and properly cut the lid of the project box to hold the fan. After that, I installed the fan to the lid and also used a metal fan guard that came off of the same old donor PC. This was a fairly straight forward part of the process. Now I need to figure out how to move the fans air from the box to the tower. Without measuring (problem) the towers inlet, I went to Lowes. I picked up 2 feet of 3/4″ flexible rubber conduit and a piece to secure it to the project box. When I got home, I got out the trusty Dremel Tool to cut the proper size hole for the conduit nipple. After 5 or so minutes, it went together well. Now here comes the problem. First of all, with a semi full keg in the kegerator, it’s very hard to do any sort of work on the inside. There is not a lot of room and the keg is heavy to move around. The second problem I discovered was that the 3/4″ line is too large. I am going to have to go back to something smaller most likely, probably 1/2″. An alternative would be to split the conduit and allow the beer line to run inside the conduit for the portion that is inside the tower, which I may try before I go and buy smaller conduit. The whole idea here is to move the chilled air into the tower so that the entire beer line is kept cool, reducing foam. For now, the project is about 75% complete and I plan to finish it when I swap the keg out next.

Learning about my kegerator

lelevis — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:53:47 +0000

After doing some online searching (I am a web forum junkie), I came across a great beer forum. After doing some reading and searching, I quickly learned a LOT. There is good info, like what the proper CO2 pressure should be and what the proper beer temperature should be. It turns out the model I have often requires a little tweaking to obtain the proper temperature. Not having beer that is the proper temperature leads to foamy beer. The first pour is always foamy because the air inside the tower that has the tap and beer lines is not kept cold, it is basically room temperature. That will be addressed in a future mod I plan to do. For now, it was time to tackle adjusting the temperature to the proper setting. This beer (Miller Lite) is said to be best at 38 degrees. I prefer beer as cold as I can get it, so the plan is to get BELOW that mark anyway. Starting out, my beer was about 48 degrees…not nearly cool enough! This was with the knob of the thermostat in the middle position. I moved it to about the 75% spot and it only adjusted a couple more degrees…still not enough. Then, I put it on MAX cold, which got me down to about 42 degrees. Thinking thats the best I was going to get, I did some more reading. On the forum I found, some folks had figured out a way to modify the thermostat internally, allowing it to cool even further. I did the mod, which is simply taking the termostat off of its bracket and adjusting an internal screw as needed. To make it easier, I drilled a small hole that give me easy access to the screw that needs adjusting. After 2 turns and waiting about 12 hours, I got my beer temp to about 38-40 degrees…almost where it needs to be. I figured, the colder the better (without freezing), so last night I adjusted it another 2 turns of the screw. This morning, I checked my temperature again, and I think I hit my mark! Yep…..32 degree beer. Nice and cold. Of course, the first pour was a lot of foam, but the second was PERFECT. I have to work today, so I cant enjoy a nice cold glass until I get home, but I did take a taste out of the second pour…nice and smooth and plenty cold. I cant wait to get home tonight to try it!!!

New Kegerator

lelevis — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:33:33 +0000

What a lucky guy I am! My wife and mom got together and bought be the best birthday gift ever! Yep…a new kegerator. My wife picked out a great deal on Amazon.com which is a complete home kegerator setup from Nostalgia Products. I found out about it when we were paying our bills online. I logged into one of our accounts and noticed the larger than normal balance. I sort of guessed and I was right. A couple days later, I came home from work early….and the UPS guy was just pulling away from our house from dropping it off. Of course I promptly got it assembled and running. Knowing my local beer store would have kegs of Miller Lite (our fav beer), the biggest task was finding a place to get the CO2 bottle filled. I found a local gas/welding shop and headed over there, hoping I could have it rocking right away. Turns out the guy at the shop couldn’t (more like wouldn’t) fill the bottle while I waited, so I had to leave it overnight. After he popped my bubble, we headed to the beer store to pick up a keg. A keg is $89.99 plus a $30.00 deposit in our town, which turns out is the cheapest I have found in the Dallas area. We get it home and into the kegerator as soon as possible. Of course…still no CO2 so I can’t start pouring beer yet….the bottle won’t be ready to pickup until Saturday.

So far….this is the best gift ever, and I will post our experiences with tweaking it as i learn. It’s not as plug and play as you might think….this post was just a summary if the initial setup.

Pork, chicken or beef tacos from the crock pot

lelevis — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:54:03 +0000

Here is my latest and greatest recipe. We have done this with both pork loin and also a beef roast and have had great results with both. This is a simple recipe that is done in the crockpot. We have one that you can select how many hours you want to cook. After the set time, it reverts to “keep warm” mode to avoid overcooking your meat.

Here is what you need:
1 – pork loin, about 1 pound size or a beef roast of equal or larger size, or 2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
1 – bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (I suggest the cheap stuff for this).
1 – jar of Great Value (cheap, Wal-Mart brand) salsa.

Here is what you do:
1 – Poke the meat with a fork all around to allow the juices to get into the meat
2 – Spray your crock pot with cooking spray to make it easier to clean
3 – Pour about half of the bottle of the cheap BBQ sauce into the bottom, but try to make your “puddle” about the same size and shape of your piece of meat. You want to sort of make a BBQ bed for the meat in the bottom.
4 – Put your meat on the bed of BBQ sauce
5 – Pour the rest of the BBQ sauce on TOP of the meat
6 – Pour the jar of salsa around the roast and a little on the top
7 – Let it cook 4-5 hours (depending on the size) on high. Again, after that, ours reverts back to “keep warm” when the timer is done. I put mine in usually at 7:00am and the family eats at about 5:30pm. The meat falls apart and is plenty moist.
8 – Spread a little sour cream on the tortilla, sprinkle with cheese. Pile on the meat and spoon about 1 teaspoon worth of the “sauce” from the crock pot onto the tacos…ENJOY!!!

Atomic Buffalo Turds

lelevis — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:05:55 +0000

This is one of my favorite things to cook when I know I will already have the smoker running. It makes for a GREAT appetizer. The heat takes a lot of the fire out of the peppers to make them enjoyable by everyone!

What You’ll Need:
One dozen whole jalapenos
One 8oz container of cream cheese
One package of Hidden Valley Ranch powdered mix
Two dozen slices of thick cut bacon
BBQ rub [optional]
Toothpicks
Roasted diced New Mexico green chiles [optional]

Instructions:
Put out the cream cheese to soften.
Mash/mix the cream cheese in a bowl to add air and make it easier to stuff. Add the Hidden Valley Ranch mix while mashing the cream cheese
Half the jalapenos leaving the stem.
With a spoon scrape out the seeds and veins, then rinse with water.
Fill each jalapeno half with cream cheese, making sure to not overfill past the rim.
Starting at the bottom, wrap each stuffed jalapeno with bacon, add a toothpick to hold it together.
Lightly dust with you favorite BBQ rub.
Place ABT’s in the smoker till bacon is crisp (~250F). They can easily be done over indirect heat on a charcoal grill or in a oven. (Not recommended: you will lose that wonderful smokey flavor)

Need A Reality Check?

lelevis — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:47:13 +0000

As of January 1, 2010, we have decided to take serious control of our financial future. As we come to a close of the first month, I can say that its been a challenge, but still fun. Its now sort of a game to see how much we can save. Its a game to actually SPEND LESS! I can say that we are living like no one else, so we can LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE!!! By us taking on the teachings of Dave Ramsey, we have truly taken control of our financial future. We plan our meals BEFORE grocery shopping. We buy what we need and what is on the list. We use coupons and price match any time we can…it all adds up and makes a difference, one dollar at a time.

Jailbreaking and Unlocking your iPhone for T-Mobile, Rogers, etc…

lelevis — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:47:46 +0000

For over a year, I have had an iPhone running on T-Mobile. As you know they (Apple) will come out with new updates and features. The previous way to get the updates was to pay somebody to do it, or perhaps track down some intructions online and HOPE for the best. I did just that for the past 3 times I updated. The bad thing is that it causes you to lose all your data, apps, etc…so you are essentially starting out with a new phone. Its not hard, but it is tedious and if not done perfectly, you can brick your phone and render it useless!

I was visiting with a customer of mine a few nights ago and we began to discuss iPhone unlocking and he set me on a VERY simple and easy path. If you follow these steps, you should have no trouble at all.

First, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer. Next, go to www.blackra1n.com and download/install their free software. Once you have done this, connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes. Make sure you sync/backup your current info before you download and install the latest version. It will prompt you to download and install the latest version, which as of this posting is 3.1.2. If you are currently using an unlocked phone, this WILL lock your phone (part of the process). Once the update is done, your phone will have the little picture that tells you to connect to iTunes to complete your install. Not now…just close iTunes on your computer, but leave the iPhone connected to the cable. You need to make sure you have a wi-fi connection working at this point. Now, launch blackra1n. Once it opens, a little button will appear inside the window that says “Make it rain”. Click the button and it will do its thing. It will then reboot your phone and you will now have a jailbroken iPhone. We are almost there! Now, you will see a blackra1n icon on your iPhone. Click on it and it will open the app. Click to add Cydia, Rock, and sn0w. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO UNLOCK, YOU DO NOT NEED TO CLICK SN0W. Install these three items and your phone is all done. Unlocked, Jailbroken, ready to rock with a whole new world of apps and options for your phone.