There’s something that is just so delicious and tempting about the taste of slow cooked, smoked foods, and if you get excited about real smokehouse flavor and the taste of barbecue that’s slow cooked to perfection, then you need to get the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker.

Barbecue grills can give you great grilled meals with a wonderful, smoky-grilled flavor. But grills aren’t capable of handling certain tasks like the Smokey Mountain Cooker can.

Consider this scenario: you have a large family and a long list of friends that you want to invite over for a Saturday afternoon cookout. The Smokey Mountain Cooker can tackle and entire smoked ham and Thanksgiving or summertime turkey as well – at the same time! How’s that for feeding a hungry crowd?

If you’re into putting together crowd-pleasing barbecues for all of your favorite people, then you need something that can handle the job. And this cooker will give results that are unmatchable – moist, tender meat and poultry with a delicate, smoky flavor every time.

The Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker is made of premium grade steel with a porcelain-enameled coating. The two cooking grates are nickel plated and each measure a roomy 18 and a half inches in diameter provide plenty of area for whole turkeys, chickens, hams, or whatever is making your mouth water.

And there’s also a two and a half gallon water pan that steams your food during the cooking process, assuring that every morsel is juicy and moist. Reviewers of this Weber cooker love the nice, wide door that enables easy access and maneuvering for adding charcoal and wood chunks.

And the door’s spring-loaded latch let’s you know that it’s securely closed. Also appreciated by reviewers is the included thermometer that makes it easy to check internal temperature, and the handle on the lid that resists the heat so you don’t get burned. A 10-year limited warranty completes the list of things that reviewers enjoy about the Smokey Mountain Cooker.

The Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker is made for ease of use and durability, along with being made to provide you with the means to create the best and most delicious slow-cooked barbecued meals you can imagine.

Its size and roomy interior allow for cooking large birds, and multiple types of food at once. You can adjust the cooker as needed for slower cooking, more of a smoked flavor, and moisture. And the 10-year limited warranty gives you confidence that this cooker is an investment in eating, entertainment and enjoyment.

Do you love to barbecue for big crowds? Do you love to entertain during the summer? Is your backyard the place that everyone gathers on the weekends for fun and food? If so, the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker is the thing you need to create fantastic smokehouse-style meals!

This dessert is so easy. It’s called Cherry Dump Cake for a reason, because you literally dump all the ingredients on top of each other and then throw it in the oven. I always get request for this dessert when we are invited over to someone’s house.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans cherry pie filling
• 1 white cake mix
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1/2 cup of pecan pieces (optional)

Directions:

1. Dump 2 cans of the cherry pie filling in a 9×13 inch pan.

2. On top of that, dump and spread out one white cake mix.

3. Then sprinkle with the pecan pieces (I usually do half with pecans and half without.)

4. On top of that, cut the 2 sticks of butter into thin slices and place them on top of the pecan pieces. Make sure the butter slices are touching and close together.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes, uncovered. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving because those cherries can pack the heat!

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

We have one more week and two days left of school. Not only does that mean figuring out things to keep the kids busy this summer, but also…what to feed them everyday!

Here’s a question sent in for Mailbag Monday: Summer is almost here and one of the most annoying things is finding alternatives to fixing the kids sandwiches every day for lunch. They get sick of it and I get sick of hearing them complaining. Do you have any ideas to get us out of the sandwich rut?

This can definitely be an annoying problem. You don’t want to feed your kids the same thing every day and you want it to be healthy. Throughout the summer, I will highlight some Summer Lunch Ideas for the Kids.

First up: Bagelwiches

A bagelwich is basically a sandwich, but they don’t need to know that! All they will see if something different than a loaf of bread.

What I do it spread a little bit of cream cheese on one side of the bagel, load it with meat, cheese and fresh spinach leaves and voila! – you have something different than a sandwich.

We also sometimes add bacon and red or green peppers. Just use your imagination and put on there whatever it is that your kids like. Have them come up with different bagelwich ideas and make it themselves.

I was having one of those ‘I don’t want to go to the store, but I don’t know what to cook’ moments yesterday. Instead of panicking, like I possibly have been known to do at times, I decided to calmly look around the kitchen and see what I could throw together.

I saw some chicken I had thawed and a bottle of marinara sauce in the pantry. Chicken Marinara (or Chicken Parmesan) it was! The dish turned out delicious and was super easy.

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp oil
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 16 oz. marinara sauce (I love Bertolli’s)
• 4 oz. shredded Mozarella
• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts – halved

Directions:

1. Heat oil in 10 to 12 inch skillet (it needs a lid)

2. Mix together the bread crumbs and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese in one bowl (or pie plate). Put flour in another bowl. Put egg (i added a little milk) in another bowl.

3. Dip chicken in flour, then in egg mixture and lastly in bread crumb/Parmesan mixture.

4. Add chicken to skillet and brown each side over medium heat.

5. Spoon half of the marinara over chicken breasts. Then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Top with remaining sauce.

6. Cover and cook on low for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is tender and juices run clear.

Serve with pasta or rice.

I always keep bread crumbs, chicken, pasta sauces and different kind of cheeses around in case of a dinner emergency. When they go on sale, stock up!

Here at Home Fabulous 365, I am all about the Food Network and its stars – so when I received this bit of news and pictures, of course I had to share it with you!

Gray Line New York, NYC’s premier tourism expert, launched its “Ride of Fame” bus dedication series today by honoring Emmy award winning TV personality, Rachael Ray as the inaugural dedicatee. Both Gray Line New York and Rachael Ray hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the Rachael Ray studios to celebrate this inauguration, ending with Ray taking a ride with 50 of her fans, a top her very own red double-decker bus.

Photo Credit: Rob Loud

Cooking healthy meals for our family is important to me and one thing I rely on a lot is fresh fish. It’s super healthy, extremely fast to cook and there are so many different ways you can dress up a piece of fish.

This is one of my favorite recipes and I think you just might like it as well. I’ve used it on trout and Tilapia:

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 tsp lemon (or lime) jucie

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. liquid smoke

Direction:

Mix all ingredients together.

Spray a broiling pan with cooking spray.

Place fish on broiling pan and baste with marinade.

Broil for 4 – 6 minutes until you can easily flake the fish with a fork and it’s a nice white color.

Serve with rice and fresh, cut up vegetables.

This is by far one of the most requested desserts when I am asked to bring something – the Cherry Dump Cake dessert. I love the fact that it is so popular because it is so easy and delicious! Fattening, but oh so good.

This is best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling
• 1 box of white cake mix
• 2 sticks of butter
• pecans (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat over to 350 degrees F
• Dump the 2 cans of cherry pie filling on the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan
• Spread the white cake mix on top of the cherry pie filling
• Sprinkles pecans over the white cake mix (optional)
• Cut the butter sticks in to thin slabs and lay on top of the pecans, make sure the butter pieces are touching and cover the entire surface
• Bake for 45 minutes, let cool for 15 minutes before serving

Super easy and super delicious!

My family has about 5 things that I make on a regular basis that everyone loves. One of those is my potato soup. It’s a staple for us in these cold winter months. I have been using this same recipe for about 13 years and I just love it!

Now, I am not one to really measures things, so pardon me for the non-accuracy of my recipe.

Potato Soup (Feeds 5)

Ingredients:

3 cups of diced potatoes

1/2 cup of onions (or a dash of onion powder if your kids do not like the onion texture)

About 1 carton of chicken broth (enough to cover the potatoes)

1 cup of milk

1 cup of sour cream

1 Tbsp. flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded cheese ( I use co-jack)

Bacon (cooked and crumbled)

Green onions (diced)

Directions:

• Cook the potatoes, broth, onions and salt and pepper together in a large pot until potatoes are tender (About 25 – 30 minutes). Don’t let it boil, but just simmer.
• After the potatoes are tender, add the milk, sour cream and Tbsp of flour. Bring soup to a boil stirring so that you break up and mix in the flour.
• Simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Spoon into bowls and top with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, diced green onions and a dollop of sour cream if you like. You may also need to salt and pepper it some more.

I serve the soup with some fresh fruit and it’s a very filling meal! It’s also delicious leftover and I DO NOT do leftovers, so if I’ll eat it left over, any one will. Enjoy!

Image: SXC

Are you looking for a tasty, easy Thanksgiving side dish? Or maybe an easy sweet potato recipe? Look no further because I have a recipe that was handed down to me by my mom and it is fabulous! She’s been using it for years and so have I.

I used to think that making sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving by scratch was hard, but then my mom showed me that it is actually really simple! I haven’t opened a can of sweet potatoes in years.

I don’t have exact measurements of everything because I just guess. Use as much brown sugar, butter and marshmallows as you want. It just depends on how sweet you want them.

Ingredients:

Sweet potatoes

butter

brown sugar

marshmallows

Directions:

1. Wash sweet potatoes and put in large pot. Cover sweet potatoes with water, just until the potatoes are covered.

2. Bring to a boil, then turn down stove just to a simmer and cover. Simmer for 30 – 45 minutes until tender when poked with a fork.

3. Uncover and let the sweet potatoes sit for about an hour (or more). This makes them super easy to peel! Be sure and save the cooking liquid because you will need it!

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

5. Peel and slice sweet potatoes about 1/2 inch thick.

6. Pour a little of the cooking liquid on the bottom of a large baking pan until it covers the bottom of the pan.

7. Put potatoes in pan in a single layer.

8. Sprinkle potatoes with brown sugar and dot with some butter.

9. Pour a little more of the cooking liquid on top of the potatoes.

10. Cover the pan with foil and bake for about 20-30 minutes.

11. Take off the foil and put the large marshmallows on the top. Put the pan of sweet potatoes back in the over (uncovered) and brown the marshmallows. Watch closely! It only takes a minute or two and marshmallows burn easily.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and it’s time I posted some Thanksgiving pie recipes. One of my favorite pies to have around this time of the year is an apple pie and my mom has an easy apple pie recipe that she shared with me a long time ago. I’ve been using it for years and I love it. So does my family!

Ingredients:

2 cans sliced apples (drained), or 6 cups thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples

1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup white sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp.vanilla

1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

Pastry for 2 crust pie

Directions:

1. Prepare the first pastry and lay in pie pan.

2. Lightly mix all ingredients for filling, except the butter.

3. Pour apple pie mix into pie pan.

4. Take the 1 Tbsp. of butter and dot the filling with pieces of the butter.

5. Cover the pie with the second crust. Seal and flute the edges of the crust. Cut 4 steam vents in the crust of the pie.

6. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45-55 minutes, until crust is golden and filling is bubbling through the steam vents.

7. Pie is best served when cooled a bit, but still warm on the bottom.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. YUM!

I’ll have some more Thanksgiving dessert recipes to share leading up to the big day!