How to Fabricate a Whole Chicken {Step-by-Step Guide}
Today I have another how-to to share with you all. It is something that used to seem so intimidating to me, but now seems so simple. Not only is it rewarding to be able to break down your own chicken, it is much cheaper than buying pre-cut chicken! I was able to buy whole chickens for less than $5 each at King Soopers! If you want free-range chickens it will be a little more expensive, but still nowhere close to the price of pre-cut pieces. I have also grown to enjoy switching up my typical routine of boneless, skinless breasts. There is so much more to a chicken than that!
Cuban Mojo Pork Chops
When I first heard “pork chops with mojo”, Austin Powers came to mind. I thought it was just someone trying to talk up their own pork chop recipe. I didn’t realize that “mojo” is actually a culinary term, a pretty great term at that. “Mojo” sauces originated in the Canary Islands, but have evolved and become a part of many different ethnic cuisines. In this recipe, my mojo sauce is a Cuban version. I had some delicious pork chops from the farm that my mom belongs too and wanted to put them to good use.
Falsomagro
My roommate recently went to visit her brother in Switzerland. While she was there she ventured over to Italy and was nice enough to get me an authentic Italian cook book. To thank her for the cook book, I told her I would cook her a recipe out of it. I spent hours reading over all of the unique Italian recipes. Eventually, we decided on Falsomagro.
I had never even heard of Falsomagro before seeing it in this book. Vegetarians beware… Falsomagro is a protein loaded Italian meat dinner from Sicily. It is a large flank steak filled with bacon, Italian sausage, eggs and cheese, then rolled up and slow cooked. I am 100% a meat eater, so I was pretty excited about packing as many proteins as possible into a big hunk of beef. I was a bit worried about cooking the meat for so long; I thought it was going to end up over-cooked, but it ended up being surprisingly tender! This is a great meal for a dinner party; it serves a lot of people and is very filling. I served my Falsomagro with parmesan roasted asparagus and potatoes.
Throwback Thursday: French Onion Cheesesteak Sandwich
I am a huge fan of French onion soup. I love making it homemade because it is so easy, plus I think mine tastes better than most bought ones. This week’s throwback recipe is one of my random creations, there might already be a recipe for this but I thought I was pretty dang smart for creating this.
One day, after a long day of snowboarding, I was craving French onion soup but I was starving and wanted more substance to it. I came up with this French-Philly hybrid sandwich. It was absolutely delicious, but super messy! You will definitely want napkins handy while eating this bad boy.
On a side note, I am leaving for South Africa today!! I am going to still try to post recipes that I made before I left, but they might not be as frequent. I am also going to have a few foodie friends post guest posts to help satisfy your cravings while I am gone. Also, keep an eye out for posts about my food adventures in Cape Town; I heard you can eat alligator there!
Pizza Party!
After cooking many meals for friends, I realized that nothing excites people more than a delicious pizza. This week I threw a pizza party with friends. We only had one oven and two pizza trays, so we could only cook two pizzas at a time. In the end, I made six 14″ pizzas. We cut each pizza into ten slices, one for each person, and sampled one slice of each pizza. We would decide which pizzas were coming next while the previous two were baking. By the sixth pizza, we could barely take another bite!
We made all sorts of pizzas- from BBQ Chicken to Chicken Alfredo to Meat Lovers all the way to Hawaiian. Each time a new pizza was taken out, everybody was riled up- “This one is my favorite!” “Wait, no, THIS one is my favorite!” “Ah, no, THIS one is definitely the best!” I have never seen my friends so excited about something I cooked. This made me being to think about the wondrous pizza pie. A fresh pizza crust is like a blank canvas for a chef. You can combine any flavors you want to create your own unique masterpiece. I suggest to all of you that you make homemade pizzas at some point. My advice? Be adventurous, take risks, mix unlikely combinations- you’ll be impressed with the outcome!
