len_mullen

Funny the things we don't remember!

Pluto is surprisingly complimentary to OTA and Philo. Check out the channel lineups here... https://freetvforme.wordpress.com/2019/05/07/amazon-prime-something-for-everyone/

^^^ I think we need to add a 'don't like' button, Brad. I do, however, feel this year is flying by.

August is when I start thinking about Black Friday -- usually towards the end of the month. I start catching up in here, working on my haikus, making lists, and consuming reviews and 'best prices'. This thread is completely social and not related to BF for me.

Thanks for the link!

Wow! Thank you! I have a lot of work to do, but you moved me from thinking about smokers to looking at pellet smokers. I agree the season for deals is imminent. No nearby RKs in New Hampshire, but a lot of places sell a lot of smokers. What do you think of this list of 'inexpensive' pellet smokers? https://furiousgrill.com/best-pellet-smokers-reviews/

I have no budget constraints, but look for value. I want to use the fuel that produces the best tasting jerky. I'd like to learn more about why you love the pellet smoker, what you smoke in it, and why you want a bigger one. Thanks!

I'd like to get a smoker as well and would appreciate any recommendations/learnings you could share.

Packing my youngest for summer camp tonight and then college when he gets home.

Happy August! It's been a little more than a year since I bought my Excalibur dehydrator and almost two years since the first time I first dried food. At this time, the hum of the dehydrator is simply part of the music of my life. Dried bananas and meat are a staple of my diet. We started drying food after my youngest returned from the 2017 Boy Scouts National Jamboree. He asked me to get some of this awesome beef jerky he discovered at the event. I found out 1) jerky can be very expensive and 2) the stuff you buy is not very good for you. We had a Ronco dryer, so I sliced up some steak, soaked it in a marinade, and dried it out. It was good. We tried a lot of recipes. Then we started drying out other stuff. Did not really like most fruits, but we still dry banana slices, grapes, herbs, and peppers. Eventually, we got a better dehydrator. We have had a lot of fun with the Ronco, but, after using it for most of a year, I decided to spend some money on a bigger model with some features that make dehydrating less labor intense... Back mounted fan Dishwasher safe racks Timer Capacity Square trays Replacement partsThe back mounted fan blows the air evenly across all trays so that there is no need to rotate the shelves every hour. This means I can actually sleep at night. The timer allows me to put a batch in on my way to work. Although spraying with Pam makes the trays pretty easy to clean, I think I may consider firing up the dishwasher to clean nine trays. The back fan also means the bottom is a smooth surface which will be easier to clean. Maybe most important with a nine tray dryer, the back fan means (per reviews) that the smell of one tray doesn't become the taste of another. Square trays are better for drying square stuff like jerky. Excalibur sells stainless replacement trays. I have cracked the cover and one of the trays in my current dehydrator, so replacement is good, and stainless is better. Some stuff that may be of interest to you... https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2785/0788/files/DehydrationGuide07617.pdf?3006800927370232280https://healthyblenderrecipes.com/recipes/type/excalibur_dehydrator_recipes A deli slicer saves a lot of times and yields a better product by allowing more consistent food thickness... https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/chefs-choice-premium-meat-slicer/ Here are some favorite jerky recipes... Ghost Pepper1 lb Round Eye cut 1/8th cross grain1/3 Cup Soy Sauce1/3 Cup Worcestershire1 tbs Onion Powder’1 tbs Garlic Powder1 tsp Smoked Paprika1 tbs Honey2 Whole Ghost PeppersTrim all visible fat from the beef and place in freezer for an hour or two to partially freeze. While the meat is in the freezer, combine all other ingredients in a medium bowl or ziplock bag. Remove the meat from the freezer and slice ¼" strips against the grain. Cut with the grain for a chewier jerky. Add sliced beef to the mixture and marinate for 8-24 hours in the refrigerator. After the meat has finished marinating, remove from refrigerator and strain excess marinade. Dry with your favorite jerky making method. A dehydrator was used with this recipe and dried for 1 hour at 160 degrees and an additional 3 hours at 145 degrees. The jerky is finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in half. Sweet Heat Sriracha Jerky1 lb Top Round Roast or 1 lb chicken breast1/2 cup unseasoned rice vinegar 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sriracha sauce 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp granulated garlic 1 tsp salt Instructions Trim all visible fat from the beef and place in freezer for an hour or two to partially freeze While the meat is in the freezer, combine the rice vinegar, sriracha sauce, brown sugar, granulated ginger, granulated garlic, and salt in a medium bowl or ziplock bag Remove the meat from the freezer and slice ¼" strips against the grain. Cut with the grain for a chewier jerky Add sliced beef to the mixture and marinate for 8-24 hours in the refrigerator After the meat has finished marinating, remove from refrigerator and strain excess marinade Dry with your favorite jerky making method. A dehydrator was used with this recipe and dried for 1 hour at 160 degrees and an additional 3 hours at 145 degrees The jerky is finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in half Doc's Best Beef Jerky2 pounds beef round steak, cut into thin strips 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons liquid smoke 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon meat tenderizer 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon paprikaMix soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, brown sugar, salt, pepper, meat tenderizer, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika Add the meat and mix until evenly coated Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for overnight Dry for 1 hour at 160 degrees and an additional 3 hours at 145 degrees The jerky is finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in halfThe jerky is finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in half South Texas Jalapeno Jerky1 lb top round roast or 1 lb chicken breast1 tbsp worcestershire sauce1 tbsp soy sauce1/2 tsp garlic salt1 tsp black pepper1/2 tsp salt1/4 cup water1 diced jalapeno1 tbsp liquid smoke mesquitePick a lean cut of beef and trim off all visible fat. Place the beef in the freezer for an hour or two to partially freeze While the meat is hardening, mix worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic salt, black pepper, salt, water, liquid smoke, and diced jalapeno in a large bowl or container After meat has hardened, but is not fully frozen, slice to 1/4" to 1/8" thick against the grain Soak beef strips in the marinade for 6-24 hours Sprinkle on ground jalapeno pepper Dry for 1 hour at 160 degrees and an additional 3 hours at 145 degrees The jerky is finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in half Jerky is finished when it bends and cracks, but does not break in half Allow to cool for several hours before storing in air tight containersI make a lot of Ghost Pepper jerky. I buy the peppers already dried off ebay and grind (Magic Bullet) to a powder. I have estimated that an average Ghost Pepper yields 1/2 tsp of powder. Carolina Reaper peppers grind to 3/4 tsp per pepper, but are much hotter than Ghost Peppers, so you should substitute 3/8 tsp of ground Carolina Reaper pepper for a similar flavor and heat. A Jalapeno pepper yields 5/8 tsp of powder. All these conversions were determined by grinding hundreds of peppers, measuring the powder, and dividing powder yield by pepper count... 270.9 tsp of powder divided by 547 ghost peppers equals 0.495 tsp per ghost pepper which I simplify to 1/2 tsp per pepper37 tsp of powder divided by 100 carolina reaper peppers equals 0.370 tsp per carolina reaper pepper which I simplify to 3/8 tsp per pepper48 tsp of powder divided by 70 jalapeno peppers equals 0.686 tsp per jalapeno pepper which I simplify to 3/4 tsp per pepperYou can substitute Tofu for meat in any of the jerky recipes. You'll want to use firm tofu. Some people wrap the tofu in a clean towel and apply a weight to press out the excess moisture. I just cut it thick and dehydrate at a low temperature until enough moisture is removed. Then I marinade over night and paint on excess marinade as the tofu is drying. I did this for my vegan niece, but tofu is more expensive (per yield) and not as tasty as top round roast. Anyone else drying food?

I got a 2018 8" with 32GB for $59.99 from Woot.com a month ago. A couple days later they lowered the price and refunded me $10. How cool is that? I really like the free shipping for Prime members. On Prime Day, I bought a current gen 10" model from Amazon.com for $139.99. I traded in a first gen 7" with a cracked screen that would not take a charge or run off AC. They gave me $5 plus 25% off the 10" unit for that, so the net cost was $139.99 x .75 = $104.99 - $5 credit = $99.99 (never mind 6% back for using my store card).

Crumbed Fish: another easy and tasty air fryer recipe! https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/260624/air-fried-crumbed-fish/ I did this with Cod. Enjoy!

Not at my house

No, but I have a friend who is relentlessly browbeating me about installing a Ring system. His wife LOVES the Ring devices. He loves them too. The thing is I never actually answer the door. Still < $100 is tempting...

If anyone bought a Recast, I am looking for a volunteer to attempt to do initial configuration with the Bluestacks Emulator before using an android or IOS device. https://www.bluestacks.com/

And I thought it was HanShOtFirst... I bought a... 4k Fire TV Stick plus an Echo Dot for $21.99$25 gift card for the $5 credit10" Fire HD Tablet for $99.99 minus a 25% discount for a trade in4k Fire TV Stick for $24.99 I had the $400 75" TCL Roku TV from Best Buy in my cart, but could not pull the trigger. I would have been all over the $179.99 Recast had I not already bought one for $229.99 last sale. I am still talking myself out of the Ring doorbell at $99.99. I still may get the $4.99 smart plug and the $4.95 LED four pack. $69.99 for the FTV Cube is a great deal. Ditto on the $20 Echo Connect. (Got one, love it!) The $14.99 128GB Sandisk micro USB thumb drive was a great deal. Great way to do automated back ups of a laptop -- any PC, but especially a laptop... Schedule SyncToy Sync Task in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8 or Windows 7 In Windows Windows Vista or Windows 7, click on the Start menu, then select All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Task Scheduler. In Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, search for Task Scheduler. In Windows 10, you can also click or tap on Start -> Windows Administrator Tools -> Task Scheduler. Click on Create Basic Task in the “Actions” pane on the right. In the “Create Basic Task Wizard”, type in a Name and Description. For example, SyncToy Synchronization. Click on Next button. Choose the frequency of when do you want the task to start. If you always make changes to the files, Daily is a good choice. Click on Next button. Choose date and times (if applicable) to trigger and run the task. Click on Next button. In the “Action” step, select Start a Program as the option for the task to perform. Click on Next button. Under “Program/Script”, click on Browse button and locate the SyncToyCmd.exe. Normally it’s located in “C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.1/SyncToyCmd.exe” for SyncToy 2.1. In the “Add Arguments” textbox, type -R. –R will run all folder pairs that are active for run all. If you want to run just a single folder pair, add –R”folder pair name” to the end of the command line. Note: there is a space before the hyphen but not one after the R. If the folder pair name contains a space, surround it with quotation marks, as the example above shows. For another example, assume that SyncToy is in the folder named C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\ and that you want to run a folder pair named “My folder pair.” Enter the command line as follows, including the quotation marks: “C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\SyncToyCmd.exe” -R”My folder pair.” Note that there are two sets of quotation marks in this case: one is around the path to the SyncToy program file and the other surrounds the folder pair name.

Tater tots in the Air Fryer tonight. Best I've ever had. Spray the basket with oil Cover the bottom of the basket with tater tots Cook at 400 F for five minutes Shake basket Cook for five minutes Serve

Some Prime Day deals are live right now on Alexa devices... Echo Dot $22 Fire TV Stick $14.99 16G 7" Fire TV Tablet $29.99 32G 7" Fire TV Tablet $49.99 Kids Fire 7 $59.994K Fire TV Stick $24.99 Echo Dot Kids $44.99 Love the 4K stick. I would have picked up a pair, but it looks like you can only buy one (off the list once you buy one). These plus a Recast and Pluto TV are pretty terrific FREE TV. https://freetvforme.wordpress.com/2019/07/13/prime-day-free-tv-on-parade/

I have not visited Whole Foods. Do you use your Prime Store card there or is there some other way to link the purchases to your account?

Amazing. The biggest change? The smile on your face!

Congratulations! I don't love that you need an android or IOS device to configure it (web interface?), but I am happy with the DVR. To get the Pluto channels to show up in your EPG, simply install the Pluto app on your stick. Have fun!

Just a few things on my mind this morning. First, I visited the Amazon Digital and Device Forums and clicked on the Prime Day 2019 Coming Soon! announcement. Avast reported this as an unsafe site (phishing hole). I don't know if this was a false positive, but I am staying away from those forums for now. Second, I have been getting a lot of snail mail encouraging me to participate in a census test. After some research (via duckduckgo.com not the G* search engine), I decided the request was legit and gave it a ride (the mailings threatened to send someone to my home to 'help me complete the census' if I did not comply). The survey asked about People in my homeGender (only male/female options)AgeRelationship between the two people in my home (including same sex relationship)Who owned the houseRaceFirst, are you HispanicSecond, are some specific hispanic, asian, black, or white I chose 'other' and entered American. I have been saying this to surveys (and social science teachers) since eighth grade. Like Elizabeth Warren, I have anecdotes to support my claims of multi-ethnicity. Citizenship: IMHO, this is the only legitimate, Constitutional question in the census. The Constitutional purpose of the census is to apportion representatives across the states based on the count of citizens represented. If you do not complete the census, you can be fined up to $100 (last enforced int he 70s); if you lie on the census, you can be fined up to $500. Finally, I have added Pluto to my Recast EPG. Pluto is a free tv service that integrates into the Recast EPG alongside the broadcast channels, Philo and Vue paid programming, and Prime Channels. If you have a Recast or are considering one at the Primeday price (which I recommend), give Pluto a look. (I updated this to remove the link to the Amazon Digital and Device forums)

Not going to lie, I've thought about it...

There's a test... http://www.jefffoxworthy.com/jokes

The only group of people you can make fun of without fear of being accused of hate. While I have not had fireworks at my home since my youngest turned 18 (the same year we wrapped the house in vinyl and replaced the roof), I am a proud redneck and celebrate with my brothers and sisters in decency. Happy fourth!