I absolutely love the flavors in Asian food, but because of my shellfish allergy, I rarely dine at those types of restaurants because of ingredients like oyster sauce or brine shrimp as seasoning and cross contamination. I even had friends that once ordered “vegetarian” egg rolls that contained crab meat. I think it was a perfect storm of a language issue and a culture issue.
I posted this photo of a dish we make often on social media, and was asked for the recipe. I figured I would share it here too! It’s more of a method maybe than an exact recipe. My wife usually makes it with chicken instead of beef and without the chick peas.
2 or 3 cuts of whatever steak looks good / is on sale.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Maybe sesame oil would make it more “authentic?”
Salt, pepper, spices like onion powder, garlic powder, & season all.
Made 4 cups of instant rice according to the box, instead of salt in the water I used 1 teaspoon of beef bullion, set aside.
Sear the steaks on high on a flat pan that can go into the oven – coat w/ EVOO, salt & pepper… about 2 minutes a side.
Place a pat of butter on each steak, place in oven at 400° for about 10 minutes.
Cook the chick peas in a bit of EVOO, maybe medium-high heat. You need to keep an eye on them as they can “pop.”
Add the Teriyaki sauce to the pan and let it cook, maybe take it down to medium. I keep stirring & scraping the bottom of the pan.
Get the water boiling for under a steamer basket. I usually add onion powder and garlic powder.
Take out the steaks and let them rest on a cutting board.
Steam the vegetables above the boiling water once it starts to go… I usually wait for them to turn a bright color then turn it off as I like them still to be a bit crunchy. Carrots on bottom, broccoli in the middle, peppers on top seems to make the cook the most evenly.
Cut the steaks into strips, I try to go on an angle so they’re nice & tender.
Add the steak to the chick peas & Teriyaki… don’t overcook the steak. It should still be a little pink in the middle when you add it.
Fluff the rice.
I use garlic powder, onion powder, season all, Mrs. Dash, salt, & pepper throughout on everything.
Plate the rice, veggies, beef/chickpeas/sauce and enjoy!
It all sounds much more complicated than it is. You can cook he steaks on a countertop grill or cut them into strips & cook in the pan… but I tend to overcook them that way. You could, of course, also use the marinade as an actual marinade.
You could just boil the veggies too, but I feel like that takes out all the flavor and turns them to mush. Roasting them in the oven may be delicious too, but would take a bit longer… this would be good for the chickpeas too.
I’d be interested to see what other people think if you try it out. I’d like if you shared your meals like this in the comments, so I have more stuff to try.
I am stuck on this type of La Choy Teriyaki sauce & marinade. The flavor is perfect. The “stir fry sauce” has sesame seeds in it, & I’m not a fan of the texture and hate to tempt fate with diverticulitis issues. The other ones are just OK. What’s your favorite type? Have you ever made your own?
According to Wikipedia, it seems like Teriyaki is similar to Barbecue as it seems to refer to a style of cooking as well as the sauce. Maybe I am wildly misusing the term? I just like the sauce. A lot.
It has been increasingly difficult to find. I have tweeted(𝕏eeted?) Conagra and I think they are stalling. I’m going to have to have a maze-fueled letter & email wiring campaign. I was told the sauce was discontinued by a local distributor to Giant Eagle in 2009, but have definitely found it since then. The current La Choy website doesn’t list it as a product, but the Internet Wayback Machine has it.
So, I have blogged about it before, but that was more just the method. This time I actually measured stuff. Usually I just eyeball a bag of fresh green beans if they look good. Still don’t have a good name for it. Ham, Green Beans, & Potatoes? Ham , Beans, n’ Taters? Grandma’s Special? Daddy’s Favorite? Is it a soup or a stew? It’s delicious is what it is. I generally make enough to have a stunningly large amount of leftovers. I always try to get the ham bone, this time my son & I each got one. He’s a copycat.
Soup – In the spoon & soup in the bowl – and the post dinner text from my 9yo after she said there were too many beans and potatoes. 🤦♂️
Ingredients…
3 quarts water
2 Bone-In Ham Steaks, cubed. (makes about 16 cups / 4 quarts)
1 5 lb. bag of potatoes, cubed. (makes about 16 cups / 4 quarts)
2 “steam in bag” bags of green beans, snapped in ½ or ⅓ (makes about 8 cups / 2 quarts)
The “to taste” is just a few shakes usually. This recipe doesn’t really need any extra salt, so if I have a salt-free blend like Mrs. Dash or the Aldi equivalent, I use that. The bullion is according to directions, I think I measured it out right. I added too much water this time, but I think this measurement is still right. The beef & chicken bullion cubes and even the beer are completely unnecessary, but I feel like it adds a little to the broth. I use a big stock pot with a lid, and an 8-cup measuring cup for the big stuff.
Put your liquids & spices in the pot, put it on to boil, but don’t quite dime the knob.
Cube your ham, dump it in the pot.
Cube your potatoes (don’t peel them!), dump ’em in the pot.
Snap ends off your beans if you have any sus ones, snap them in to bite-size pieces if you want. Or chop them. Or don’t. Dump ’em in the pot.
Boil for 20 minutes.
Simmer for 20 minutes or even longer if you want. Let it cook down & get tasty.
Don’t taste it too early while it is hot and burn your tongue every time, because I definitely do not do that.
Serving suggestion – Serve it up with homemade bread (or store bought fresh baked) and butter.
Obviously, wash the beans & potatoes first. I think I broke down what you need & more details on the method the first time I wrote about this soup(stew?). I use fresh produce beans most often, but the bags are quick & easy to measure. This is also good with leftover ham from a holiday meal.
I like soups, I make them a lot. Well, I make them sometimes, when I have time. If you like this one, check these out:
The wife & daughter are under the weather so I offered to make some home made chicken-noodle soup. Not much is more of a classic and traditional comfort than chicken-noodle soup, right? Around here, the stuff like Eat ‘n Park serves is a comfort-food staple. I love those style noodles. I make soups slightly differently every time, but this seemed to come together quickly and it was very flavorful. I’d definitely do it this way again.
I posted photos to Facebook & Instagram, & thought I’d share the recipe here too. I like to have leftover soup. Here’s what I posted on social media, maybe slightly edited;
This was the cheater method, but these frozen noodles are awesome. I made A LOT of soup. Ha ha. This could easily be halved.
I started with grilling chicken tenders on the panini grill, added a pretty good amount of “rotisserie chicken” spices. Two competing name brands happened to be in the spice rack, so that’s what I used.
I sautéed some shredded carrots, half a Spanish onion, and some celery stalks in a few pats of butter on the bottom of the stock pot.
Then I added some minced garlic (yes, the stuff from a jar soaked in olive oil because I am lazy), & some fresh parsley from the garden. I didn’t measure any of it.
I also used poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, white & black pepper, salt, & a shake of cayenne.
I de-glazed a bit with some chicken stock, then added the rest… 2 boxes of chicken stock, 1 box vegetable broth, 1 box low-sodium chicken broth (because vegetable broth usually has a much higher sodium content), 1 box bone broth. I ended up with 3 different name brands… just to get the mix of slightly different liquids.
I have used chicken bullion cubes in the past to save all kinds of money and use beer in my ham soups all the time.
I brought all that to a boil.
I added 2 bags of the frozen Reames egg noodles, the grilled chicken (that I cut up while it was boiling), and brought it back to a boil, simmered for about 20 minutes as per the directions on the noodles.
This almost overflowed my stock pot, but stirring kept it from boil over. Ha ha.
I have used regular dry noodles or Amish noodles, and even home-made noodles… but the Reaves ones really do taste fantastic and require zero work. Ha ha.
I like the taste of the grilled chicken in the soup. I left it just long enough to get grill lines. I have made it from scratch, using rotisserie chicken, made my own broth from a roasted chicken… I’d put this up against any of those methods and it’s super quick.
(Not-even-remotely-a-)Pro tip… For lunch the next day, all the noodles had soaked up all the liquid. Gonna put some chicken bullion cubes in some water in the stock pot, then add the soup to re-heat. It’s honestly good as-is re-heated in a bowl in the microwave.
If you make this, or your own version, tell me what you think in the comments! What are your favorite shortcuts for making tasty chicken noodle soup?
Someday I may try to make this (probably cut in half) in the pressure cooker, if I can get over how it wronged me on chili.
🥣🥣🥣
Stuff you need:
Countertop grill
Stock pot (and a stove, too I guess.)
Tongs
Spatula
Large Spoon
Ingredients:
(2) small packs of chicken breast tenders
Extra Virgil Olive Oil (I keep some it in a spray bottle and use it to coat the grill)
Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning (or your favorite Season-Salt or Mrs. Dash’s or whatever) – I don’t measure, I just shake it on.
(3) pats of butter
(1) cup (ish) shredded carrots
(1) cup (ish) chopped celery
(½) Spanish onion (I think they’re sweeter than sweet onions, but you’re cooking, so use your favorite onion.)
(1) tsp. minced garlic (the lil’ stuff from jar, or be difficult & use fresh)
Fresh parsley – A small unmeasured & finely chopped bit, I pulled mine from the garden.
(2) 24 oz. bags of frozen egg noodles
(2) 32 oz. cartons chicken stock
(1) 32 oz. carton vegetable broth
(1) 32 oz. carton low-sodium chicken broth
(1) 32. oz. carton chicken bone broth
Spices, I don’t measure any of these… I just shake it in:
So, I have always wanted to make wedding soup, but have never tried it. Until now. Skip to the end if you just want the recipe and none of my shenanigans.
Wedding Soup à la AiXeLsyD13
Wedding soup recipes abound on the internet. Some people are vehement that theirs is the “right” way. Apparently the inclusion of pasta is a beans-in-chili-like debate. I would guess that it depends on your region, heritage, and family traditions. I have none of these ties. I’m just a yinzer that likes food. I did reach out via Facebook to see how others do it. I wanted to try to make the soup because of the tiny pasta, I think. I may have also made some other “controversial” decisions.
Pasta. Even though real Italians apparently don’t include pasta in their soup, I am not Italian. Not remotely, even. Seriously. My wife got me the DNA thing for my birthday a few years back and I’m apparently super English, Scottish, Welsh, & Irish with a bit of Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula thrown in. I had to Google the Iberian Peninsula. So, as a Yinzer I am making a stand with pasta in the wedding soup because that’s how I have seen it. Orzo looked too much like rice,and rice in soup is gross. (I know, it is an entirely different consistency. Just accept the fact that rice in soup is gross, you’re wrong if you disagree, and read on.) I did most of my shopping at Aldi, but they had no tiny pasta… so I went to Giant Eagle and got Acini De Pepe. I could have also easily gone with what Barilla calls Pastina (neat tiny stars!) and apparently is not even a thing or it’s a generic thing.
If I would sub out cheese tortellini/farfalle for pastini/acini de pepe in the wedding soup, I could get all my ingredients at @AldiUSA. #fb
I chose to make the meatballs myself, because I like making meatballs. They’re big-ass meatballs because I have poor portion control and couldn’t use the mellon-baller to effectively help reel it in, and who wants a little tiny meatball anyway? I used beef, because cows are tasty. I typically don’t do the lamb/veal/pork mix in any meatballs or meatloaf, so why start now? I also opted for ground beef in lieu of chicken or turkey, because beef. Sheep are for making blankets, not eating… unless you like eating meat that tastes like wool blankets.
In my meatballs, I use Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing & crushed seasoned croutons. I also tossed in some extra spices (onion & garlic powder, salt, pepper, and whatever “Italian Seasoning” is), two eggs, and parmesan/romano “shake cheese.” (Does anyone else call it that?) I generally crush the croutons with my hands, but since I was apathetically trying to make smaller meatballs and my 3yo was my helper, I put some in a sandwich baggie and smashed to crap out of them with the shake-cheese bottle. Why use bread crumbs when you can smash stuff? I could totally skip the dressing & toss in whatever spices… but I tried this one time with meatballs to go with spaghetti or lasagna and we liked it, so it stuck. We cooked them in 2 frying pans, because it seemed quick. I like to bake meatballs sometimes too. This really could be a 7-day damn project of soup.
A lot of wedding soup recipes call for shredded chicken. I never really noticed it in the wedding soups I had eaten until at a recent wedding where they left the chicken in sizable chunks. Maybe it was an accident? I have no idea, but I liked it. I felt like I was taking a bite of something instead of creepy little chicken strings being used as a garnish. Also, I decided to cheat and not make stock… or I probably would have roasted then boiled the shit out of a chicken carcass and produced some shredded chicken as well as tasty stock. I grilled the chicken in the manliest way possible outdoors over an open flame like our cavemen ancestors. OK, I cooked it on a counter-top panini grill and attempted to give it some nice criss-crossed grill lines before letting it cool and cutting it into “cubes” with less knife skills than Stevie Wonder. I wanted to know I was eating chicken. I probably put some season salt on it.
I made a mirepoix, I think. I put some butter in the bottom of the soup pot, and heated up some finely chopped carrots, celery (stalks and some of the leafy top), onion, & a bit of parsley and the lazy-people chopped-up-already in a jar garlic. Did those last two mess up the mirepoix? Salt and pepper went in there too, because the Food Network says to season every step or something like that.
Then I added some random boxes of stock & broth from Aldi. Really. I couldn’t decide. So, I got lowfat (that’s all they had) chicken stock, chicken broth, and low sodium chicken broth. They were all those creepy giant juice-boxish containers that no doubt every chicken aspires to reside in someday. I almost bought a vegetable stock, but didn’t. How do you get vegetable stock anyway? Isn’t that just broth? Isn’t the difference between stock & broth the inclusion of bones?
After that, I added the meatballs and chicken and let it boil for a bit. Maybe on like 7 or 8? I hate when recipes say “medium-high” heat. Give me a number, damnit. There are numbers on my oven. Are they there for no reason? How long? I don’t know. Long enough to chop up the “fresh” spinach.
I went for the fresh spinach in a plastic box at Aldi. I didn’t see any with the produce, didn’t catch it in frozen, and bought a can as backup just in case. They didn’t have any endive or escarole that I noticed. I wasn’t sure about Kale but may try that next time. I probably could have added the canned spinach too… it could have used a bit more maybe? Although, my meatball helper who crushed about 4 or 5 meatballs after we cooked them wasn’t a big fan of the soup itself because “big kids don’t like spinach sometimes.” She will eat pasta, grilled chicken, carrots, and meatballs all day every day. But the spinach was a no-go I guess. I think I added about 4 cups of water and 2 chicken bullion cubes in there somewhere.
I added the spinach and the box of acini de pepe at the same time. I let it go for the recommended 9 minutes. I know I had been advised to not do it that way. Cooking the pasta separately first then adding the rest of the soup over it in a bowl would be the level-headed thing to do. I was ready to eat by that point though, so in it went.
It was delicious on the first run if I do say so myself. Upon having leftovers, the acini de pepe swelled to ridiculous proportions. Ha ha. Next time I will cook the pasta first or only use half of a box. Or, I will do it the same way and have wedding pasta. Your soup means nothing to me! My total meat and carb domination can not be culled.
Well, on to the recipe if you even made it this far:
Non-Italian Wedding Soup Recipe:
This is not your ordinary recipe. I don’t measure much. I just throw stuff into a pot, especially with meatballs and soup. Obviously, use whatever you have on hand. Make substitutions. This is a recipe in the loosest sense of the word. This is how I did it this time. I may do it different next time. There probably are some good details above that I neglected to mention down here.
The Meatballs:
3 lb. Ground beef (I think it was 80/20?)
Seasoned Croutons (grab your favorite)
Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing
Seasonings
2 eggs, beaten.
Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
One day when making meatballs, I grabbed the dressing & croutons because they were on the counter. We were probably having salad with our spaghetti or lasagna. It’s just breadcrumbs & oil with some seasonings in it. I usually smash the croutons by hand, but crushed some of these with a plastic sandwich bag & the Parmesan cheese container since I was trying to make smaller(ish) meatballs. I added some more spices (see below) with the beaten egg, and mixed the meatballs by hand. I used a fancy mellon-baller with an ice-cream-scoop like trigger mechanism that my mom had given me for a few of them, to measure… but they got out of hand easily and I had my 3yo helping. So, they were probably bigger than they needed to be. How much dressing and croutons? Eye it. I do. I like meatballs that are mostly meat, not bread.
The Soup:
A few handsful of Carrots (I started with the baby-cut ones because the kids snack on them.)
Maybe ⅓ of a bunch Celery? (I chopped up the stalks & some leaves.)
An Onion
Fresh Parsley
Spinach – I got a box of the “fresh” stuff from Aldi.
Grilled & poorly diced Chicken Breasts (I did mine on the panini grill)
Home-Made Meatballs (…or use frozen ones from the store.)
3 creepy juice-box-like broth/stock containers. I literally got 3 different kinds of chicken broth.
4-sh cups water
2 chicken bullion cubes
Minced garlic in Olive Oil (because I’m lazy & don’t want to mince my own.)
Butter (enough to cover the bottom of your soup pot when it melts)
Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
Shredded Parmesan (Aldi had a fancy little container.)
De Cecco Acini De Pepe
I started out with the butter melting on the bottom of the soup pot, then added the carrots, celery, onion, & some parsley. I sauteed that for a bit, then dumped in the 3 weird juice boxes of chicken broth/stock over top of that and brought it to a boil. I reduced the heat a bit, and added the chicken and meatballs. I let it get back to a boil and added some of the shredded Parmesan & Parmesan/Romano shake cheese to the broth. I let that simmer for a bit and eventually added -ish more cups of water and 2 chicken bullion cubes. (Maybe beef bullion would have been cool here?) Once that boiled again, I added the pasta & spinach & boiled for another 9 minutes. It was tasty. I burned my tongue. Let it cool. Be patient.
Spices…
Season All
Paprika
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Crushed Black Pepper
Sea salt
White Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Parsley Flakes
When I refer to seasonings or spices, it could have been any combination of these. I just grab & shake whenever.
Please, let me know if you tried your own inspired by this one. Let me know if you do your own a totally different way. Let me know what I did right, or let me know what I did “wrong.” Thanks for reading!
OK, so it’s been a while since I’ve been productively making music & actively writing songs. Apparently the bug never goes away. I have been thinking about doing punk rock-ish kids songs for a while. (The Sablowskis beat me to it!)
It may help to follow or like the Music Go Round Monroeville, PA Facebook page too. It has to be on that post on their page, no “likes” here or on my link(s) to it on my Facebook profile count. Voting is only open this week, they pick a winner on the 27th!
As far as the song goes, I threw it together in under an hour with a downloaded app for the tablet, using crappy headphones, the built-in mic on the tablet, and my acoustic guitar down in the basement. I think it shows. But, I still think it’s a hooky tune with some potential. I may have to recruit a few of the usual suspects or even some unusual ones to help me complete the process.
Molly is absolutely terrified of the Chick-fil-A cow. My guess is that other kids are too. Seems like we can find a whole lot more to relate to with some feet-tapping tunes!
📣 So, I have 1,103 “friends” on Facebook, and 985 “followers” on Twitter. If everyone gave just $1 to the FARE 🚶walk for Food Allergies in Pittsburgh this year on Sept. 14th, I’d have $2088 donated. If you all gave $5, that would be $10,440. (OK, if you follow me on both social media platforms, you’d technically have to donate double.)
Please consider taking a few minutes to follow the URL, and donating a buck or two so we can raise #FoodAllergy awareness, and work towards a cure for Molly’s egg allergy and my shellfish/crustacean/mollusk/deathfish allergy. Our goal as a family is a measly $300 and we have $100 so far. I would be so grateful and proud if we could surpass that goal. Thank you for listening (reading), thank you for considering, & thank you in advance for any donations.
[Also: This involves no video-ing, no wasted water, and no whining about how not-helpful a viral campaign is even though it clearly worked. Good job #ALS people!]
If you know me, you know I dig BBQ. You also probably know that Rowdy BBQ is one of my favorite BBQ joints, if not the favorite. Different moods & days for different BBQ, right? I could eat from Rowdy BBQ every day. Health be damned!
Like I said, the pulled pork was absolutely delicious. But, I’m not gonna turn down free brisket twice. What am I, crazy? So, I emailed them.
Today, the mailman left a nifty surprise on our porch:
Rowdy BBQ – Gift Certificate & BBQ Sauce
Rowdy BBQ – Box in the mail!
Rowdy BBQ – Goodies!
Rowdy BBQ – Business Card
Thanks to “Rowdy the Rooster” & Steve for taking the time to go way beyond simple customer satisfaction!
Speaking of Rowdy… I hope he’s only temporarily headless? I noticed that the famous (infamous?) sign only had hands when I was there.
If you’ve never had the BBQ here, I recommend everything. Ha ha. Generally I go with the sampler so I get ribs & chicken or a brisket if I have a somewhat slightly smaller appetite. The Big Pig is also incredible, pulled pork & cheese sauce on a giant bun. I also like the pierogies. Mmm. I’m going to have to use this gift certificate pretty damn soon.
I look forward to using this sauce at home. Lately I’ve been using the Yuengling Black & Tan Honey Barbecue sauce, but this will be all kinds of delicious. I can say though that it can’t be nearly the same as when they cook it.
Thanks again, Rowdy BBQ!
Thanks to "Rowdy the Rooster" & Steve at rowdybbq for the awesome surprise in the mail today! Great… http://t.co/64BgXk9zJA
Last night before the band played a show in Bloomfield, my wife & I stopped with some friends at Yinzburg BBQ on Baum Blvd. in Bloomfield. Last time I was in that building it was a Roly Poly, and it’s certainly a different place now.
Yelp | Pittsburgh BBQ
I’m a huge fan of BBQ and I have been reading great reviews about the place online, so I was very anxious to check it out. (Also, I’ve been in a BBQ mood lately.) Of course with the whole shellfish allergy thing, I took a look at the menu online before we went down. My mouth was watering at all of the delicious prospects. Thankfully, there is no deathfish present on the menu. I’ve sadly gone to places before that have had daily specials or menu revamps that aren’t online… so I decided to send them an email. I was met with a quick, friendly & inviting reply from owner & chef Richard. His philosophy seems to be summed up in his email signature:
1. Barbecue is a cuisine; Barbecue sauce is a condiment!
2. The sauce is served on the side.
3. The love is in the rub!
When we walked in we were greeted by a woman with a sweet southern accent who asked us if we had ever been there before. We indicated that we hadn’t & got a lesson in the 4 main & 2 hot barbecue sauces. I liked the vinegar one & the signature red… And, I liked that you could get 2 different ones with your meal. Next time I might get the mustard sauce.
I had the brisket & pulled pork combo with the signature red & vinegar sauces (served on the side, so you can apply or dip however you like), the coleslaw, and a root beer from Natrona. I tried both meats sans sauce, and they were incredible. I found myself having a hard time deciding which sauce I liked better with which meat. The coleslaw was creamy and flavorful. I also had a sample of my wife’s mac n’ cheese (she got a delicious looking half chicken), and our friends’ collard greens. The mac n’ cheese was nice & creamy and the collard greens were delicious. I’ve sadly never had any until now. We even had a very satisfied vegetarian in our midst who seemed to really like the smoked tofu wrap. It’s not every day you find a BBQ place that serves vegan and vegetarian items.
There were two 2-seater tables outside, and 2 tables with standing room only inside. We stood as we dined,negotiating around the mountain of food in front of us. Halfway through the meal, I was already planning what to order for my next visit. Next time it’s chicken & ribs… maybe the black eyed peas on the side. Next time will also be soon! They asked us to tell our friends… and if you’re reading this… you’re my friend, and you need to go check this place out!
I was so enamored with the food… I forgot to take a photo to upload to UrbanSpoon… oh well, maybe next time!
Well, you probably know I like barbecue. I’m a big fan, and I’m always willing to try out new places. Well, new places that don’t have shrimp or other deathfish on the menu. I’ve scoped out the web sites three places I haven’t tried… perhaps they’re rather new? Can anyone tell me if they’ve been to any of these places & what they think? (Or if they have any stuff on site that’s not listed on the online menu?)
Perhaps, like movie nights, I can organize a Pittsburgh (& surrounding area) BBQ tour? Would anyone be interested?
I’d like to check out the following BBQ restaurants…
OK. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I have an entire case(& a little more) of Arby’s delicious Bronco Berry Sauce just taking up space in my dining room. I would eat it all if I could, but it’s probably not an achievable (or wise) goal. Sadly, my Bronco Berry Sauce will have to go without its perfect partner Arby’s delicious Jalapeño Bites… as they have not yet returned to the menu here in Pittsburgh. Perhaps there is still reason to Occupy Arby’s even if Hala asked me nicely not to?
I’m left with a few tasks… figuring out what to do with the sauce besides dunking Tyson’s chicken tenders in it, and trying to pawn some off on friends, family, and maybe even a busker. It expires in June, and I’d hate for any (more) to go to waste.
I was thinking it may make an excellent glaze for meatloaf, or even as an internal ingredient. It would also probably be good as a glaze on grilled or baked chicken, but I’m guessing the high sugar content would make it blacken quite quickly. I wonder if it will freeze? A Bronco Berry Popsicle could be either incredible or disastrous. Would there be a way to work it into an icing (or again as an ingredient) in a chocolate cupcake?
My readers and commenters are obviously the most enlightened and intelligent group of people I know, so I’m turning to you for ideas.
I promise to wrap it better than my last gift from Arby's if I need to mail it to you.
Here’s where the contest comes in. Give me your recipe for something including Arby’s Bronco Berry Sauce as an ingredient. You may want to familiarize yourself with it if you’ve never tried it. The name is misleading, it contains no berries or horses. It’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s awesome. This will be like Chopped or Iron Chef, except instead of TV fame and butt-loads of money the prize is… Let’s say 13 packs of Bronco Berry Sauce, because I like the number 13. Also, I’m not Alton Brown or Ted Allen. If it’s really good, we’ll maybe eventually have to make copycat recipes to continue making the prize winner.
You have until Friday May 4th to get your recipes to me. I’ll post them in a blog, put up a poll, and have the readers vote. We’ll close the poll & pick a winner on May 13th. You can enter multiple times within reason. Voting will happen with the little poll widget here, so encourage your friends, neighbors, family, and even enemies to vote for you.
The only way to enter: You can email your fantastically delicious recipe to world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com with the subject containing the hashtag “#Bronco13” & the name of your recipe. We’ll annoy people with it on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, & wherever else hashtags work.
In the event of a tie, both of you will get 13 packets of Bronco Berry Sauce.