Chicken Carnitas AKA Carnitas de Pollo

Just the title will get some people going. After all carnitas are pieces of fatty pork cooked in more fat...right? But to me carnitas are "little Mexican spiced up pieces of meat" so it fits... for me. With an infusion of great citrus flavor, you'll love this healthier version of carnitas.


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Old Fashion Cheesy Potato Casserole

Super delicious cheese potato casserole. This is the recipe everyone must have. It is that good. Ultra tasty. Everyday simple but company good. A great side dish for BBQ, ham or almost anything else.

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Easy Crock Pot Vegetable Beef Soup

Um Um GOOD. A wonderful old-fashioned vegetable beef soup that is slow cooker easy.

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Healthier Cinnamon Bun Doughnuts with Cream Cheese Frosting

Who doesn't like cinnamon rolls? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could get that great taste at home in  30 minutes with a healthier low fat baked doughnut? Yep you can.

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How to Grill an Excellent Hamburger - A Tutorial

An excellent burger and it is oh so easy if you know the secrets.

If your an accomplished griller, just move on... This is a tutorial for newbies and those who just can't seem to get it right. This is not the gourmet burger. I'm not grounding meat. I'm not stuffing the burger and I not mixing things in. We are going to learn to grill store bought ground beef and make a darn nice meal easily in a way you don't have to keep looking back at a recipe. How is that for a goal?

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How to Grill a T-bone or Porterhouse Steak - A Tutorial

How to cook a t-bone steak seems to be a problem for a lot of people. Well here is an easy never fail method. You can be the "grill master" too and have an excellent grilled steak in 10 minutes every time.

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Parmesan Garlic Baked Potatoes

Meet your new favorite side dish. A crispy parmesan crusted potato half infused with garlic and butter. This is SO EASY, it's an "everyday" recipe but it well also be your go to recipe for company. Skill level 2/10, just don't cut yourself with the knife.

Start with some butter, seasoning and parmesan in a glass baking pan. Scrub up some potatoes, cut in half and place cut side down on the parmesan. Bake and allow to cool in the dish for a few minutes to firm up a crust and you are good to go.

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Grilled Blackened Tilapia

Wonderfully spicy grill tilapia. Keep them coming back for more with this blackened tilapia. Healthy eating has never been so good nor so simple and easy.

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The Best Grilled Pork Tenderloin - Memphis Style

BBQ at its absolute tastiness. This is the best grill pork tenderloin... period.  Moist, tender and the most wonderful spicy taste.

Memphis BBQ Pork Tenderloin is the most common recipe people claim as their all time favorite from my site. It had a special spot on my site for a year and a half as "My One Must Try Recipe". And I called it the best meal I had ever grilled at the time and it probably still is. It really is that good.

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Healthier Low Fat Carrot Cake

Wonderfully moist and almost good for you. At about 250 calories and 7 grams of fat you get one of the best carrot cakes I have had plus it won't leave a pool of oil on the plate. I away though carrot cake would be hard to make. Nope... it was relatively easy with 3/10 skill level and just a little more work than a coffee cake. You can do this cake.

A normal recipe for carrot cake starts with a cup of oil. Read that as almost 2000 calories and you have not added even a carrot yet. You can't really do that very often. So I looked around a lot for just the right recipe. Many had "odd" ingredients. While I'm not a "all natural" guy, it still needs to be reasonably natural ingredients.

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Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets

A kid friendly healthier baked chicken nugget for lunch time or a weeknight meals. Done in 25 minutes. No mystery ingredient to go into the kiddies with these. You know what is in these nuggets. (You might say pediatrician recommended...)

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Old Fashion Scalloped Potatoes

This is one of those great older recipes that is easy and absolutely delicious. I love a classic recipe. They are usually easy and almost always present a unmatched wholesome taste with simple ingredients.

My wife has mentioned scalloped potatoes several times in the last month and I can eventually take a hint. I'm in the habit of not telling her what I'm cooking. I just call her for dinner. Sometimes she loves her surprise and sometimes not so much. This brought the biggest smile in a long time. A definite "Wifo" comfort food.

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Uncooked Macaroni Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Great taste, wonderful creamy texture in the easiest creamiest slow cooker mac and cheese you will ever see. You can make this tonight. No blue box for you.

Just put that uncooked macaroni in the crockpot. Yep, uncooked. Add some milk and spices. Cook. Then add cheese and in a few minutes you're done.  No can of soup needed. Serve FRESH today.

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Favorite Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake aka Daddy Coffee Cake

Let's start the year with an old favorite. A tasty, quick, no planning needed coffee cake that any dad can do. Dads can cook too...

Before I "cooked", this is one of the things I cooked. I would get up in the morning with no plans and suddenly decide it was a coffee cake morning for everyone. So in 40 minutes, we had two hot out of the oven coffee cakes with what we always had on hand. (a double batch... why do one when you can do two in the same time). I did it so many times, I didn't open the cookbook after a while.
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101s Top Ten and Year in Review - 2012

Welcome to my yearly top 10 and year in review.

First the high points for the blog.

• Growth 300% with milestones of 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 page views.
• Affiliations with Maratha's Circle and ZipList
• Professionally designed logo (I couldn't help but tweet it some myself)
• My new DSLR. I love toys

Now the Top Ten. As I always say, it is a little like picking a favorite child. My theme this year is tasty, easy and fool-proof. Not a bad theme...

First Honorable Mention- some of my favorites

Easy General Tso Chicken

Old Fashioned Banana Nut Bread

Guacamole - Fresh and Simple

Homemade Cinnamon Candied Nuts 

 Now the Top Ten in Reverse Order

 10) Creamy Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

This is still somewhat of a work in process. A new version soon... but gets great reviews and very easy.

9) Iowa Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

I love this. Extremely tender with great taste.

8) Oven Baked Chicken Drumsticks - The Art of Drummies

I do this over and over and over.

7) Kick Tail Taco Soup in a Crockpot

A great crock pot chili/soup with kicked up taste. Not wimpy.

6)  Crispy Smashed Potatoes

One of the most popular recipes of the year. An easy and great side.

5) Sweet and Spicy Chicken Bacon Wraps

The go to dish to pass for parties at our house. What could be better, bacon that is sweet and spicy.

4)  Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken

This has my wife planning Mexican Buffet parties just to show this off.

3) Oven Baked Blackened Tilapia

Not your wimpy tasting fish. Kicked up and tasty. Extremely easy and fool-proof. And did I say healthy...

2) Parmesan Mayonnaise Baked Skinless Chicken Breast

Continuing on the easy and fool proof theme, we have our Christmas dinner this year, give it a try and you will do it over and over.

1)  Pan Seared Oven Roasted Filet Mignon 

It is almost impossible to beat a really good filet... For that special meal. Also easy and fool proof.

That's it. All are tasty and all fit this year theme of tasty, easy and almost fool proof.

My Other Top 10 Lists

The Top 10 For 2010 - Part 1 - The Most Popular

The Top 10 For 2010 - Part 2 - My Picks

Top Posts For 2011

Parmesan Mayonnaise Baked Skinless Chicken Breast

The new leader for recipe of the year. This chicken has everything. It's extremely moist, great taste, a little crunchiness and it is SIMPLE. My wife has changed the Christmas menu from my 5-star Chicken Parmesan to this recipe.

Start with some mayo. You could use lower fat if you wish here. Some recipes use zero fat Greek yogart as the base instead. Add some Parmesan and seasoning. Coat some well trimmed skinless boneless chicken breasts and  then sprinkle all sides with some Italian bread crumbs. Bake and you're in chicken heaven.
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Homemade Cinnamon Candied Nuts

Don't you just love the smell of the candied nuts at the mall or at a fair. I always have a hard time resisting.

These will make the perfect "hostess gift" for that holiday party. And nobody will believe you did it yourself at home. What could be better? Plus it's an easy cook. A 2/10 (maybe a 1/10) skill level. It's time to impress your friends with you cooking ability.

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Easy General Tso Chicken

Quick, easy and tasty. My absolute favorite Chinese dish. This is now a weeknight 30 minute recipe. And as an extra bonus, this version is much healthier.

I have been working on this for almost a month. I started with an American Test Kitchen version. It was an absolute disaster. Yes, I do have those. Over one hour of hard cooking. I created the biggest mess I have ever made in the kitchen. Plus I hated it. Way too much vinegar and just otherwise not outstanding. With that much work, it needs to be great. I was very disappointed. My wife was likewise unimpressed. It went down the sink.


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Oven Baked Chicken Legs - The Art of Drummies

This is about as easy as a recipe can get. Just wash, dry, spice and cook in a high oven. Then you will have crispy goodness for the family.

I took several weeks last year working on grilled drumsticks until I got it just right. The secret of a great oven baked chicken leg (drumstick) was in the temperature as usual. Since then I have been doing mainly oven drummies. I kind of did this post before in my Chicken for a Hundred post. I was cooking for a party and roasted 150 chicken legs and breast in a similar manor. Here is a scaled down version.

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Guacamole - Fresh and Simple

Make it yourself in only a few minutes for your friends and family. An easy spicy guacamole recipe using fresh ingredients that is bound to impress.

I had not been a big fan of guacamole. I have found most versions bland with nothing special to recommend its consumption. Salsa presented better taste and spiciness. I continued to try it occasionally and finally ran into spicier versions - a great improvement. I now love "guac".
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