Roger and Alice Cromwell. Photo by Matt Gentry l The Roanoke Times.

I met Roger and Alice Cromwell at a story assignment last weekend. The story is about a deer processing facility (you can read it on Sunday if you want) but I thought the Cromwell story was also worth sharing.

They make a spice in their Glenvar home called Roger’s Kickin’ Chicken, and I got a chance to taste it on a grilled wing. It was quite delicious. Roger said they started making the blend in 2009.

“I’ve always been a cook even when I was 16,” he said. He came up with the spice mix and his brother told him he should make it for retail sale. They’ve been making it ever since and have added a spicy blend and an extra spicy blend to the line. Roger, who works at Advance Auto, mixes and bottles the blends in a room in his home that has been inspected by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

You might have seen the product at events such as Olde Salem Days or the Vinton Dogwood Festival. Roger said they go through a couple of hundred pounds of chicken at those events, where they sell chicken dinners.

If you are interested in trying Roger’s Kickin’ Chicken, you can find it at the Glenvar Minute Mart, visit the website or call 540-556-5169.

Strawberry spinach salad. Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis l The Roanoke Times

When summer brings its grueling hot spells, the last thing we want to do is crank up the oven to 400 degrees or have multiple burners glowing on the stove.
It’s awfully tempting to nix the idea of cooking altogether and head out for dinner at an air-conditioned restaurant, but that’s not friendly to the wallet or the swimsuit physique. That’s why I’m always looking for simple, healthy ideas that don’t take a lot of energy — whether yours or the oven’s — to pull together.
Several Southwest Virginia registered dietitians were kind enough to send me their favorite summer recipes, which they promise will pack a lot of flavor and leave you feeling full. The most heat they require is one stove burner or an outdoor grill, and if you have a side burner on your grill, it might be worth firing that up to keep the kitchen cool.

Click here to continue reading this column.

You can find and print these recipes just by clicking the link:

Vegetable Frittata

Strawberry and Spinach Salad

Grilled White Fish with Apricot-Ginger Relish

Indian Spiced Grilled Baby Squash

Penne Pasta with Ricotta

Tangy Marinated Lentils

I was also sent some recipes I couldn’t fit in print today, but I’ve added them to the Plateup recipe database at plateup.roanoke.com. Here are the direct links:

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roger_mommaerts/flickr

I downloaded this photo of a person grilling salmon from a random Flickr account. Let’s examine it and see if we can figure out what he’s doing wrong.

Or perhaps it depends on who you ask.

I am certainly no expert, but I have been firing up the grill more and more myself these days in an effort to learn more about how to turn out great grilled food. I used to leave it up to Howard, but sometimes he’s busy doing other things, such as mowing the lawn, while I make dinner and I figure I could at least learn how to cook a hamburger or a piece of fish. The steaks are still up to him because he has that mastered.

I bought some fresh sockeye salmon at Kroger yesterday (wild-caught, 3/4-inch thick, $8.99/lb. on sale this week, FYI) and it was a lovely, deep ruby red color. I did not want to screw that up. So I did a little research and settled on a method I found on YouTube. It worked perfectly.

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My mother gave me several individually wrapped, frozen ham slices back around Christmas and I’ve been going through them as slowly as possible. Because I love them! They have such a mild flavor, not overly salty like a lot of ham.

The best part is that they thaw out really quickly, so if I find myself without much of a supper plan, I can ready these in about 30 minutes. And it’s easy for a non-griller like myself to cook them on the grill. That’s just what I did on Sunday night after we got home late from running around. After I fired up the grill, I made a glaze as simple as:

1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. prepared horseradish
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. butter

Melt together in a small saucepan (you can add a little dry mustard and salt/pepper too), then take that out to the grill and baste the ham steaks on both sides until you get some nice brown edges. I served mine with squash casserole and turnip greens (from frozen).

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Grilled veggies are a great side if you're serving this as a main course. Lindsey Nair l The Roanoke Times

In the kitchen, I have a compulsion to stray from the recipe. If cooking were a kindergarten class, I’d probably get a lot of frowny faces for failure to follow the directions.

I think it’s because I want to be able to throw ingredients together and come up with something magical on my own. But that takes a lot of practice. At this middle-age stage in my life, I am only now getting to the point where I can do that with success.

A couple of years ago, I posted this recipe for chicken satay with peanut sauce. It was a hit with my guests and my husband. But when I got a craving for the same dish last night, I was sucked into the latest Penzey’s catalog and decided to try their version instead. Well, a version of their version. Which means I looked at the ingredients and tossed all of the ingredients in, but with the addition of a few extras and not necessarily in the same quantities.

The marinade turned out to be a smashing success (except for those turmeric-yellow fingernails I mentioned yesterday). The peanut sauce, which I made by the book, was a serious disappointment. C’mon, Penzey’s, I know you can do better than a thick, gloppy sauce that tastes more like straight peanut butter than a sauce! It probably should’ve served as a warning to me that the sauce itself did not call for any Penzey’s seasonings.

But here’s the result: I have an even BETTER recipe for the satay marinade, and I now know that the first peanut sauce recipe I tried was a winner. So maybe mixing and matching isn’t always such a bad idea! A couple of notes:

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The other day, I shared survey results from the Weber company about people’s grilling habits this year. They found that a lot of folks are looking to grill breakfast in addition to lunch and dinner.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Weber today sent me a delicious-looking recipe for stuffed brioche French toast prepared on the grill. So if you’d like to help the kids fix Mom a special breakfast (and carry it up to her on a tray while she is still in bed, preferably), here’s an idea that won’t leave the kitchen a big wreck! Please note that you need to let the French toast sit for about 20 minutes before you start grilling.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms who read this blog!

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