Cookerati

The other day, I was privilged to receive a bunch of Denny Mike’s barbecue stuff to try out.  Denny Mike’s is an award winning Maine Barbecue seasoning and sauce making company.  Maine? – Seriously? Yeah, seriously!!! 

At the 18^th Annual National Barbecue Association’s (NBBQA) Conference & Expo, held February 17-21 in Austin, TX, five barbecue products from Sherman’s growing business, “DennyMike’s ’Cue Stuff” (www.dennymikes.com), earned winning “Award of Excellence” medals:

• 1^st Place/Gold Medal went to DennyMike’s “Pixie Dust” rub (category: “Barbecue Dry Rub/Seasonings: Southwest”).
• 1^st Place/Gold Medal went to DennyMike’s “Chick Magnet” rub (category: “Barbecue Dry Rub/Seasonings: All-Purpose”).
• In the “Best Overall Label of 2009” category, DennyMike’s earned the 2^nd Place/Silver Medal for the unique design of its colorful “Cow Bell Hell” rub packaging, designed by T.Doc Creative in Westbrook, ME.
• In the “Barbecue Sauce: Tomato Mild” category, DennyMike’s “Sweet ’N Spicy” barbecue sauce earned the 4^th Place award.
• In the “Barbecue Sauce: Vinegar Spicy” category, DennyMike’s received another 4^th Place award.

Denny Mike’s products are all natural, gluten free, premium ingredients like sea salt, clover honey and Barbados molasses.  There are 4 sauces and 5 rubs, you can mix and match to achieve your favorite combinations.  I am soooo looking forward to figuring out the grilling  and trying out all of this cool stuff. 

The other day I wanted to make fajita’s, so I scanned the tins and decided to try the Chick Magnet to spice up the steak. 

I seasoned it and stuck it into the fridge for an hour, then grilled it on the stove top along with pepper, onions and avocado slices.

We served it with some rice, canned tomatoes (the store bought fresh just aren’t nice now), and some sour cream.

The seasoning added a really nice flavor to the beef, it was just what I needed.  I’m looking forward to trying out all the spices and rubs (we may need Dani’s dad again for the really hot stuff) and seeing what we can use it for, so stay tuned.

And in case you are wondering – the flowers were part of my birthday bouquet and they are still looking decent.  My husband knows that flowers in the middle of winter for your birthday can brighten everything up ( or at least he knows it makes me happy).