Blog Archives
Cheat Codes: Save Your Used Fry Oil
I think I’ve mentioned before on here that fried foods get a bad rep. Sure, if you roll on down to Burger King and wolf down two boxes of fries, then yeah that’s a bad idea. But homemade food that’s fried in healthy oils and served fresh can be pretty innocuous when it comes to their nutritional content. When cooked properly, homemade chicken fingers or french fries can contain very little oil left on them, and the little bit that’s there will mostly contain healthy, unsaturated fats with virtually no cholesterol.
But obviously the downside here is that buying healthy oils like canola can be a bit more on the expensive side. Fortunately, there’s a really easy way to cut down on its costs: saving your used oil after you finish frying.
Cheat Codes: Instant Shredded Chicken
A couple weeks ago we covered making pulled/shredded chicken from scratch. It’s fairly easy, and it makes for awesome yummy recipes. But what if there were a way to make it even easier? What if, say, you wanted to just… buy chicken and shred it in like two minutes flat?
Ohhhhhhh.
Quick Recipe: Loaded Potato Bacon Burrito
I’m not entirely sure why, but somehow over the past ten years or so baked potatoes just stopped existing. No, now you only have the option of eating “loaded potatoes”. I know, I know, restaurants started calling them loaded when they started piling sour cream and cheese and bacon bits on top of them, but I really don’t think that’s a recent invention. Not to mention the term “loaded” carries kind of a negative connotation… hell, just the word “load” is unpleasant. Most people heavily associate it with fatness or fecal matter. Like as in, that’s a load of shit. Or that guy is a real load.Or even that guy is just a real load of shit.
Nonetheless, that’s now what we’ve all come to associate baked potatoes with. A year or two ago, Taco Bell actually put out a series of these special, little burritos with cool flavor combos, one of which was the Loaded Potato Griller. Admittedly, I’m not entirely sure if they’re still around but from the little I tried of them, they were pretty yummy. Recently, I saw some leftover potatoes as a means to make these at home, since I’m big into leftovers and big into burritos. Obviously, transforming leftovers into a new meal is one of the biggest lessons we try to teach here, so the Taco Bell/burrito part is just icing on the cake. So yeah, here’s a recipe for making your own homemade Loaded Potato Grillers.
We Can Do It Better: Disco Rings (or Cheesy French Onion Soup Rings)
A few weeks ago, this picture popped up on my Facebook newsfeed courtesy of Ted Allen (host of Chopped)’s fan page.
Original photo credit for this goes to Ted Allen I believe.
The caption indicated that they were cheesy French onion soup rings. I immediately Googled this concoction and discovered that they’re a menu item at the New York City restaurant Alder. I immediately sent the picture to Erik saying something along the lines of “Holy shit these look amazing, we need to make them immediately. They’re pretty much just disco fries with onion rings.” He agreed and thus our version, which we’ve been calling disco rings, was born.
Thanksgiving Leftovers Week: Savory Pumpkin Spread
Our last entry in Thanksgiving Leftovers Week is a quick, useful, little recipe which creates an interesting condiment that’s surprisingly good. If you’ve gone through the trouble of roasting your own pumpkins or just used canned puree, and have some leftover, your first reaction is to panic and OH GOD WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS SMALL AMOUNT OF PUMPKIN?! Pumpkin puree is an interesting ingredient in that while it’s yummy and tastes great in pumpkin pies, most people don’t know what the hell to do with it outside of that. That’s where this recipe comes in handy. Similar to guacamole, this savory pumpkin spread is great for dipping or as a sauce on and in other dishes. Try it out, you won’t be disappointed.
Leftovers Utilized: Pumpkin puree, spices(?)
The Poor Couple's Food Guide 
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