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RB and Mindy
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers and Snacks
    • Beans
    • Beef
    • Breads
    • Chicken
    • Desserts
      • Pies
      • Cookies
      • Cakes
    • Drinking
    • Fruit
    • Holiday
    • Lamb
    • Main Dishes
    • Pork
    • Salads
    • Sides
    • Sauces
    • Slow Cookers
    • Soups and Stews
    • Turkey
    • Vegetables
  • Salad Brain
    • Welcome to Salad Brain Creativity
    • Salad Brain Exercises
  • Smoke and Fire
    • Grilling
    • Barbecue
    • Indoor BBQ/Cheater BBQ
    • Liquid Smoke
  • Nashville
    • Southern Cooking
    • Self-Rising Flour and Cornmeal
    • Biscuits and Cornbread
  • New Mexico
    • Red and Green Chile
    • Southwestern Cooking
  • Rhode Island
    • Yankee Cooking
    • Pizza
    • Seafood
    • Italian and Portuguese
  • About

About RBandMindy.Com

by R.B. Quinn and Min Merrell November 11, 2012
About RBandMindy.Com

mindy-merrell-chopped-winner

Mindy is a CHOPPED champion, winning the “Offal Surprise” episode of the Food Network series that premiered October 21, 2014. Episode #251. Min’s secret to success? “When in doubt, roll it in flour and fry it!”

What’s going on here at RBandMindy.Com?

Well, we see ourselves as noticers and communicators of interesting and cool ideas. As Phil Lesh said to us one time, “what else is there?” Home cooking happens to be our thing so this site records our discoveries and explorations in the kitchen and the back yard. We believe that home cooking is key to a good, balanced life. Having the skills to cook up a hearty supper for yourself and your family ensures good nutrition and helps develop personal growth, confidence, and self-reliance. It also enhances the care and nurturing of others and creates a foundation for strong families and communities. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun to cook, eat, laugh, and talk around the table.

Why the tabs at the top?

Home cooking is about your place, where you’re from, where you learned about food and cooking. Our places are Nashville, TN, parts of New Mexico, and South County Rhode Island, so much of our work is inspired by these places. We’re not natives but longtime residents of Nashville where Mindy worked for many years with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and Martha White Flour and Cornmeal, two of Tennessee’s iconic brands. You’ll find lots of recipes here that slip in a little Tennessee whiskey and everything you might want to know about “Hot Rize” biscuits and cornbread.

RB is a Rhode Island native and we spend as much time as we can in South County where we keep working on our clam stuffies, the family baked flounder and clam chowder, pizza, and every manner of pasta. Mindy’s Carlsbad, NM, family inspires all the content on Hatch, NM, roasted green chile and flat enchiladas. The tequila stuff is just something we figured out together along the way. See, home cooking is fun.

Barbecue, Indoors and Out. 

Barbecue is one of our big things because RB is the Balding Eagle Scout, a smoke whisperer, KCBS certified judge, and his initials rhyme with BBQ. Expanding the definition of barbecue, and helping others cook their own barbecue in any situation, is a life mission of ours. We’re the authors of Cheater BBQ, Barbecue Anytime, Anywhere, in Any Weather (Clarkson Potter, 2008), a guide for making indoor barbecue with an oven or slow cooker, and some liquid smoke. We believe in barbecue diversity and reject any notion of “secret ingredients.”

Salad Brain Cooking Creativity Workshop

Salad Brain is our medium for unpacking and developing creativity through salad making. You have found the site of the Salad Brain Creativity Workshop designed to help you think for yourself, unlock your creativity, and serve it up on a platter. We’ve created an artsy, self-help program to stretch your mind, fire up your creative juices, and feed you well. As we like to say, the salad bowl is the black hole of design. Check out our fun salad brain creativity exercises served up on a platter. They just might change the way you think about salad.

Contact us for workshops! We offer demos and hands-on programs for all kinds of curious groups. Follow Mindy on Instagram @hey.its.min and check out  #plattersalad and #saladbrain and join the Salad Brain Creativity Movement!

Biscuits and Cornbread Lab

You want to learn how to make biscuits and cornbread?  You’ve found the right place for exploring the rich history and practical beauty of self-rising flour and self-rising cornmeal, gleaned through Mindy’s years working with Nashville’s hometown flour and cornmeal Martha White with Hot Rize, the longest-running sponsor of the Grand Ole Opry.  Our labs are full-emersion, hands-on, flour everywhere experiences. Our lab partners crank out hundreds of biscuits and learn how to confidently get the results they want. See and experience for yourself the simplicity and beauty of the South’s favorite hot breads.

how to make scratch biscuits how to make scratch biscuitshow to make scratch biscuits\ extra thin and crisp cornbread

About Us

We are Nashville-based food writers, authors, and teachers.  Mindy is a proud graduate of Virginia Tech and one of the last generations of land grant university home ec majors. For more than 25 years Mindy has been elbow-deep in test kitchens, food marketing, recipe development, communications, and journalism. She has co-authored two cookbooks with the great-grandniece of Jack Daniel, Lynne Tolley, for Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. She worked with the test kitchen staff of Tennessee’s iconic baking company, Martha White Flour, and can tell you pretty much anything you’ll ever want to know about southern biscuits and cornbread. Mindy wrote the former weekly Drive-Thru Review column in the Tennessean, dissecting fast-food menu trends for many years.

RB was a driven, impatient child and became an Eagle Scout in 1974 at the age of 13. He’s been cooking outdoors over some kind of fire ever since. His smoked chicken is a religious experience, and don’t get him started about Texas brisket and beef ribs. For years R.B. chronicled his cooking adventures on the patio in his weekly column The Fire Zone in the Tennessean. He is a graduate of Hamilton College and Vanderbilt University School of Law and has been an attorney, a non-profit legal director, and a university professor.

R.B.’s indoor cooking skills, including the ability to whip up side dishes to serve with his grilled and barbecued platters, continue to improve. His food roots and influences span from his native South County, Rhode Island, to Rochester, NY, to coastal Florida, to Nashville, TN, and over to deserts of Arizona. He’s happiest when slurping down New England oysters that Mindy shucks for him because he’s the guitar player for Nashville’s blues-rock-funk band, Shagbark, and he can’t risk a shucking malfunction.

about-rb-quinn-mindy-merrellhow to make great shortcake how to make great shortcake

Contact Us


    No photographs or text may be reproduced without written permission. All images and content are subject to copyright protection and are the sole property of Cheater Chef, LLC, and Mindy Merrell and Richard B. Quinn. Backlinks to our website are welcome.

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    Mindy Merrell
    One #christmastree left in front of Kroger. Do yo One #christmastree left in front of Kroger.  Do you think it’s free?  Reduced price? #charliebrownchristmas
    All those years in Virginia have stayed with me. All those years in Virginia have stayed with me.  Wreath making is definitely in my soul.  I hope Mrs. Bernard would approve.  These are mostly boxwood, magnolia and a few holly sprigs.  Keeping it simple and loose.  There was a time when I would have lemons or apples all over them #williamsburg style.  But it just doesn’t stay cold enough anymore. Everything just rots too soon.  If you’ve got boxwood or other interesting evergreen shrubs that need some winter trimming. Make a wreath.  I just stuck the little branches right into a grapevine wreath. Florist wire comes in hand but isn’t completely necessary.  No bow for me this year.  The wreaths are against the backdrop of warm and cool white lights loosely hanging from my plantation shutters. I like combining the whites. Lighting is a lot more fun when I don’t have to get on the ladder. 😄#nowreathemoji #wreath #wreathsofinstagram #christmaslights
    #breakfast. Too much? #breakfast. Too much?
    Seemed like this old #nashvilleholidaytradition ha Seemed like this old #nashvilleholidaytradition had pretty much disappeared.  What a surprise to see this at the Bellevue Kroger.  Lots of spiced beef round!
    I didn’t know the #gingko fall leaf cycle could I didn’t know the #gingko fall leaf cycle could be enjoyed right in my own kitchen.  When I started the leaves weren’t even yellow.  This all happened over quite a few days and the last two leaves are still hanging on.  COVID #ikebana continues. #smallprojects
    There’s beauty in the imperfection. COVID #ikeba There’s beauty in the imperfection. COVID #ikebana. @rbquinnstagram last cosmos red twig dogwood  and begonia leaves.
    More #gingko love. See what they can do for a ho h More #gingko love. See what they can do for a ho hum parking lot on a gray day. Thank you. 😭😭😭#colorisimportanttome #color 💪🏻🥗
    COVID #ikebana #gingko leaves. My trees don’t g COVID #ikebana #gingko leaves.  My trees don’t get quite enough sun to turn bright yellow.  I waited as long as I could!  The leaves are dropping fast now. The branches have wonderful natural sway.  I didn’t have to do anything except let the branch be itself.
    @rbquinnstagram wild flowers on a beautiful Novemb @rbquinnstagram wild flowers on a beautiful November day. #urbangarden #nashville #wildflowers. Never underestimate the design power of stumps! 😀
    Covid #ikebana early November garden. Leggy mint w Covid #ikebana early November garden. Leggy mint with a nice stem before it all freezes. Those crazy red leaves are #forsythia and the beautiful fans are #helabore.
    Covid #ikebana. Threes and fives always work. Lik Covid #ikebana. Threes and fives always work.  Like how the red twig dogwood and the  #begonia stems and edges are a similar color.
    Backyard #ikebana. Keeping it simple. Geranium an Backyard #ikebana.  Keeping it simple. Geranium and the last zinnia.
    Backyard #ikebana vinca and red twig dogwood. Than Backyard #ikebana vinca and red twig dogwood. Thank you summer 2020 garden.
    Can’t clean out the annuals quite yet. Backyard Can’t clean out the annuals quite yet. Backyard #ikebana lavender and begonia. I like the silver tones.
    This has a happy ending. Carolina wren flew in th This has a happy ending.  Carolina wren flew in the house.  A few tense moments with the cat.  But I nabbed him and threw him in another room. She flew out and left me a beautiful little pile of feathers. @pegvessels I’m saving these for you! #feathers #carolinawren
    COVID #ikebana continues. Last zinnias and that pu COVID #ikebana continues. Last zinnias and that purple stuff before the freeze. I really like how the late stragglers have built in twists to work with.
    The food section in the Tennessean back in the 196 The food section in the Tennessean back in the 1960s featured home cooks and their recipes. This hilarious story showcases Chris Tibbott my friend @natashatib late mother-in-law. I love Bernie’s line about Chris’ combination oven-bookcase.  She was a creative force in Nashville and even made Minnie Pearl’s famous hats with the price tag. Years ago I took a picture of the one sitting on a limestone head carved by Chris in Natasha’s living room. Can’t find it now dang it or I’d share it again. #nashville #homecooking #oldnashville #tennessean.
    Ikebana update. Check out how these seed heads ha Ikebana update.  Check out how these seed heads have turned into fuzzy broom heads. Completely changes the vibe. #andygoldsworthy would approve! #ikebana #seewhathappens. Three days later.
    So what’s tying this jumble together? It’s the So what’s tying this jumble together? It’s the color red. Red blue to be exact.  Beets red plum and red black grapes. Spicy arugula onion and peppers. Whole mustard seed vinaigrette.  Think how different it could look if I used the same ingredients but changed the proportions.  Or changed the size of the pieces. Little changes can take you in a whole new direction.  The tart plum skin is excellent with the earthy beets and sweet grapes.  Don’t forget the salt! Hits all the taste points sweet salty bitter sour and umami! 
#saladbrain #platteralthinking #plattersalad #saladsofinstagram #beets
    Backyard #stilllife with Shuggie #ikebana and stum Backyard #stilllife with Shuggie #ikebana and stumps. I love stumps. They always come in handy.
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