Oven Pulled Pork from Pork Butt

Low and slow. Yep that is how you do it. Great tasting moist pulled pork with only a few minutes of active cooking time. EASY, EASY, EASY...

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Mango Pineapple Salsa

Wonderfully tasty and a great compliment to spicy foods. Just a little slicing and dicing and your there. Great for a party and friends.

I have been on a Mexican spree recently and this has been the main side dish and it is just great. This is another repost since the first post was several years ago and is buried in the first year of the blog with only a few hundred visits. It deserves much much more.

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How to Make Potato Chips

Homemade potato chips. How does that sound? Make your own crunchy goodness in just a few easy steps. Come along and let me guide you with pictures.

You only need  a couple of potatoes, some oil and a little salt to have everybody thinking you are a kitchen wizard.


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Super (Bowl) Food 2013 edition

What to do??? What to do??? Everyone wants something special for their Superbowl. After all it is about food and commercials. Some people actually watch the game. But it really is about the food. So what self respecting food blog doesn't have some ideas.  It's "Man Ball" time so I'm offering meat only suggestions. I have some great pizzas and other recipes, but we are talking football here.

 Sweet and Spicy Chicken Bacon Wraps

A great finger food for that "bring a dish" party. What could go wrong with bacon, sugar and spices? Nothing. Cubes of chicken wrapped with bacon and coated with brown sugar, chili powder and cumin. Baked until crispy. A skill level of 3/10 (easy). Plus it is easy to double or triple if needed.

BBQ Shredded Pork Loin in the Oven   

An easy mass cooking that you can do ahead. Scale to any size and not much work for great return.

Chicken for a hundred 

This will take a few hours on the day of the event. But you can produce a lot of great food fast.

Oven Baked Kansas City BBQ Beef Brisket 

My all time favorite... it is almost no work with great results. Cook ahead and pop it in the oven to reheat.

Easiest Crock Pot Shredded Chicken

An easy cook ahead mass cooking. Add BBQ sauce and have a BBQ chicken fest.

Well that is a good start. Have a great Super Bowl Sunday. 

 

Updated

Febuary 1 2013

DrDan

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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Sweet and Spicy Chicken Bacon Wraps

A great finger food for that "bring a dish" party. What could go wrong with bacon, sugar and spices? Nothing. Cubes of chicken wrapped with bacon and coated with brown sugar, chili powder and cumin. Baked until crispy. A skill level of 3/10 (easy). Plus it is easy to double or triple if needed.

Adapted for a Food Network Paula Deen recipe. I looked at it and though it needed a little cumin so I did a test cooking the day before the big party and taste tested with my wife. The cumin stayed.

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What to Take to The Weekend Picnic

So it's a big holiday picnic weekend. You're either going to a party or hosting one. So what to take or make? There is always the bag-o-chips but let's get real... this is a cooking blog. This was the question my wife asked me a few days ago and got me thinking. So I thought I would post a few suggestions.

First Group- For those hosting the party.

I'm a traditionalist so the hot dog, brots, burger and chicken breast on the grill is just great for me. But if you want something different, here are some ideas.

1)  BBQ Shredded Pork Loin in the Oven  

An easy mass cooking that you can do ahead. Scale to any size and not much work for great return.

2) Chicken for a hundred 

This will take a few hours on the day of the event. But you can produce a lot of great food fast.

3) Oven Baked Kansas City BBQ Beef Brisket

My all time favorite... it is almost no work with great results. Cook ahead and pop it in the oven to reheat.

4) Easiest Crock Pot Shredded Chicken

An easy cook ahead mass cooking. Add BBQ sauce and have a BBQ chicken fest.

 

Second Group - Take a dish

I cook meat if you haven't noticed. But I have couple non-meat suggestions. A lot of baked beans and potato salad will be made and I will enjoy yours. I want to be a little different so here are two suggestions. My wife will pick one for me to do this weekend.

1) Waldorf Chicken Salad

Great taste. An easy make ahead. And you will be the only one there with it. Just keep it COLD. I love crispy apple.

2)  Fresh Broccoli Salad 

Another make ahead easy cook. You will not believe how much better this is compared to the deli version. You will have an "eat this not that" moment.

Also check out my Fourth of July Food Safety post

Have a healthy and safe holiday.
DrDan


Updated

May 25 2012

DrDan

Spicy Baked Chicken Strips

An easy recipe for a tender and tasty spiced up chicken strips that are healthy too. Great for that party or just dinner. I used chicken tenders but just cut some skinless boneless chicken breasts into strips if you want. Another 30 minute recipe.

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Kick Tail Taco Soup in a Crockpot

A fine slow cooker recipe for a winter or football weekend. Kick tail spicy with a ton of great taste. This is a thick soup, maybe more "taco chili" but since I used soup recipes to make it, I'll stick with soup.

Most recipes start with some burger and taco seasoning. I started with a modified version of my spicy taco meat. The main complaint about most taco soups appears to be the mild spices. I bumped it up and add a jalapeno. I added all the spices to the meat so it would retain some flavor and not have it all washed out in the soup. Excellent, just right.
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Chicken for a hundred

Ok, it is not Cooking For Two but still useful. This is something you can do and it really wasn't that hard. We were hosting a large retirement party for several family friends. It was a pot luck type affair but we felt we should provide a "main course" of meat. 

So my "what I wanted" list:
1) Not to make anyone sick. Any type of "mass cooking" can easily lead to food poisoning. Well, not at my house!
2) Not too much work. There was a lot of other things that needed attention also.
3) Had to have good taste and be able to be kept warm.

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Salsa Roja

This is a recipe to take to a party and brag you did it yourself. This has been on my to do list for a long time and the first Saturday of college football is a good reason.

A fresh tomato salsa is mandatory at all tailgating, most picnics and all Mexican meals. Really it's not hard, just a lot of knife work.

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Kid Can Make Grilled Pizzas - A KISS Recipe

It's ideal for a kid pizza party. Kids love pizza but they're way picky about what is on them plus they like to help... if you call it that.  Well get the camera ready for pictures. Less than 30 minutes from start to eating. And oh so simple and good to boot.

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Greg's White Chili - milk free

 Recipe and picture by Greg. This is a Milk free white chili
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Super Bowl Week - Red Chili

I have been asked several time recently for my chili recipes. I don't have any specific plans to make any soon so no pictures for now but I will edit the post with pictures when I have them.  I assure you they are well tested.

Second up is the red chili recipe.

For many years I used Carl Shelby Chili Mix with what I felt was great success. It was one of those follow the directions on the bag and be brave and change it a little. Well as things happen, the mix became unavailable locally for almost a year and then came back but by then, I created my own version by trial and error. I liked it better anyways.

I know the amount of chili powder looks excessive but it is correct.
The "heat" of this is somewhere around a 4 out of 10. You may increase or decrease the cayenne pepper according to your "heat" taste.

(Printable Recipe)
Tools: Large slow cooker

Ingredients ( this is a double batch...freezes well or cut in half)
4 pounds Ground beef - low fat is better so you will have less fat to skim
1 15 oz can tomato sauce and one can of water
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans light kidney beans
4 medium onions chopped
2 T oil
1 bell pepper chopped (optional)
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 T oregano
1 t paprika
2 t salt
1 t pepper
8 T (1/2 cup) chili powder
1 t Cayenne pepper
extra water to make right consistency- may need 1-2 cups

Instructions:

1)  Large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 T oil then add onion and cook until transparent (about 4 minutes).
2) Add ground beef. Break up with wooden spoon and then brown meat.
3) Remove all extra fluid and fat. Place meat and onion mixture in the Crock pot.
4) Add all remaining ingredients.
5) Cook on low for 3-4 hours with lid on. Stir frequently

Parmesan-Sesame Crackers

My DVR recorded a Good Eat's with Alton Brown last night. He did crackers. Check it out at Flat is Beautiful: Going Crackers.  Way to many carbs for me, but I do crackers too, low carb of course

This is a modification on a recipe from Blain's Low Carb Kitchen.  The show has no new episode but I did enjoy it when it was airing on FIT TV. The original recipe had poppy seeds. I prefer sesame seeds and I also added the salt. The original recipe calls for soy flour which Blain used extensively to lower carb counts. Any flour or flour substitute can be used. It has been done with good results with standard all-propose flour. 

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