Hard to get healthier than this!

After a weekend of over-indulgence, I’m always in the mood for something that’s really quick and healthy.

I definitely don’t want anything with meat or cheese in it. For once.

This recipe was inspired by a recipe that was in the most recent Bon Appetit. I say inspired because I changed almost every main ingredient except chickpeas. The original had chicken in it, but I felt like keeping it veggie packed so I nixed the chicken and added in a few potatoes and some kale.

The bonus piece of cutting out the chicken is that it also trims about 20 minutes off of your prep time.

Thirty Minute Chickpea Stew

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 small bunch kale leaves, chopped
1 quart vegetable stock
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Crusty bread
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Add olive oil to a large heavy pot over medium-low heat. Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for a few minutes until fragrant.

2) Add in cubed potatoes, tomato paste, and cumin. Turn the heat up to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

3) Add in vegetable stock, chickpeas, bay leaves, roasted red peppers, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and simmer until potatoes are soft, another 10 minutes.

4) Stir in kale and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

5) Break up some crusty bread in the bottom of a bowl. Ladle stew over bread. Serve immediately.

A Basic Stew

I think one of the best things you can learn as an at-home cook is to master the simple veggie stew. Learn how to balance the spices and flavors in a stew and you can usually make a fantastic meal with a few fresh veggies, a few canned foods, and some simple stock and spices.

For this version (and for a lot of stews that I make), these are some of the basics.

Just some basics.

I was worried that by cutting out the chicken, my stew wouldn’t have enough body to be really filling. I’m not sure if that’s entirely true because there’s still bread in the soup also.

But, I decided to add in a few chopped potatoes at the last minute.

I liked the potato addition, but I also think it would’ve worked fine without them.

Gives the stew some body.

Canned chickpeas makes this stew super-quick. It would add on at least an hour to use dried chickpeas and I’m not sure you would get much for your extra work.

Just be sure to drain and rinse the chickpeas well.

I think I’m almost in the market for a new strainer…

Rinse these guys pretty well.

Making the Stew

To start the stew, we need to infuse some oil with two really flavorful things: garlic and red pepper flakes.

Two of my favorite things.

The key to doing this correctly is cooking the garlic and pepper flakes over fairly low heat for a few minutes. If you crank the heat to high, you’ll completely char the garlic.

Instead, just add them to the olive oil over medium-low heat for a few minutes. When it starts to get really fragrant, you know it’s ready to go. The garlic shouldn’t even be browned really.

Low heat is important..

Next, add in the potatoes, tomato paste, and cumin.

This will immediately start to smell amazing. Stir it all together and let it cook for a few minutes. You can turn your heat up a bit to medium at this point.

Already smellin' good.

After a few minutes of that, just pour in the vegetable stock, add the bay leaves and chickpeas, and bring the whole thing to a simmer.

At this point the stew is pretty much done when the potatoes are cooked through which will probably take another 10 minutes or so.

Love that color...

Finishing the Stew

There’s a few ingredients to add to the end of the stew that completely make it in my opinion. First, roasted red peppers. Honestly, I’m not sure that I’ve ever had roasted red peppers in a stew before but they worked great and paired really well with the chickpeas.

Next, I added some chopped kale. You could also use something like swiss chard if you wanted. A leafy, sturdy green really helps the stew out though.

One of the most important ingredients is lemon juice. The acid just makes all the flavors really pop. Don’t forget it!

Gotta toss in some greens.

Once all that stuff is stirred in, just season it with salt and pepper and you’re ready to go.

This stew took me about 30 minutes to make and I was taking photos and stuff. You could probably make it even faster!

Serving the Stew

The stew tastes good as-is, but to really turn it into a meal, just put about 1/2 cup of torn bread into the bottom of your bowl before you serve it. Any super-crusty and slightly stale bread will work great.

Hidden bread!

Then just ladle on the stew with some of the broth and you’re all set.

Hard to beat in my opinion.

Betsy and I devoured this and we had plenty for leftovers also.

Give this a shot this week if you are crunched for time and looking for something healthy and filling!

This warms the soul.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted something made in my crockpot, almost two years in fact. So I was very happy when a crockpot dish won the poll last week.

Plus, it just makes sense. It’s cold and you’re probably busy this time of year so a dish that you can RONCO (set it and forget it) is probably helpful.

Funnily, this soup fits almost all of the categories in the poll last week. I swear that wasn’t planned… sometimes it just works out that way.

I’ve made chicken tortilla soup before, but never posted on it. This version was, by far, the best version I’ve ever made though. Something about letting the flavors just kind of mingle all day long really gave the finished soup an interesting and deep flavor.

You’d be silly not to try this!

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yield: Serves 5-6

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Serrano pepper, diced (with seeds)
1 red pepper, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 chipotle pepper, minced
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 pound chicken breasts
2 dried New Mexico chile peppers (or poblano)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock
A few sprigs cilantro
3 corn tortillas, diced
1 cup corn
Salt and pepper

Garnish:
Corn tortilla strips
Avocados
Limes
Cotija cheese
Sour cream

Helpful Equipment:
Crockpot

Directions:

1) Finely dice the onion, garlic, peppers, and celery and add them to a crockpot.

2) Also add in the chicken breasts, canned tomatoes, bay leaves, cumin seeds, dried chiles, and chicken stock. The stock should just cover all the ingredients.

3) Cover and set the crockpot on low. Cook for 6-8 hours.

4) Remove dried chiles and bay leaves and discard. Remove chicken breasts, shred, and return to crockpot.

5) Add in cilantro sprigs, corn, and a few corn tortillas cut into bits. Let the crockpot simmer for another 30-60 minutes.

6) Season soup with salt and pepper.

7) To make tortilla strips, dice corn tortillas into strips and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.

8) Serve soup piled high with tortilla strips. Other fun garnishes include lime wedges, crumbled cotija cheese, avocados, and sour cream.

Preparing the Veggies

I know what you’re thinking: ”Holy crap that’s a lot of ingredients!”

True. But hang in there. Most of them are basic stuff and once they are all in the pot, there’s very little work involved in this meal. You can go cross stuff off your list and come home to a delicious soup.

These are the few veggies that you need to start this soup.

Just a few basics.

The key to these is to dice them pretty finely.

For the Serrano pepper, I left the seeds in. You could take them out though if you’re worried about the heat.

Then just toss all this stuff into your slow cooker!

A fine dice.

Besides the veggies you need a few other things to get this soup going.

This is where a lot of the flavor comes from in this soup.

Flavor town.

Add all this stuff to the crockpot along with your chicken breasts. I would shoot for about a pound of chicken but you could use more if you wanted.

For the chipotle pepper, make sure you dice it very finely. Nobody wants a big bite of chipotle in their soup.

For the dried peppers, you can use almost any dried pepper. I went with New Mexico chile peppers, but poblanos would work also. Just break up the dried peppers into a few pieces and scrape out the seeds. Then throw the dried pieces into the crockpot along with the chicken breasts.

Everybody in the pot!

Add in all your chicken stock which should just barely cover all the ingredients.

A Slow Cook

Set your crockpot to a low heat and let this sucker cook, covered, for at least six hours. If you wanted you could cook it for even longer though. Six hours is the minimum.

After that, your house will smell amazing and your soup will look something like this.

6 hours later...

Finishing the Soup

There’s a few things we need to do to finish this soup now that most of the cooking is done.

For starters, take out the bay leaves and dried peppers from the soup and discard them. They’ve given the soup plenty of flavor and there’s no need to hang on to them.

Next, take out the chicken breasts and use a few forks to gently shred the meat. Then you can return it to the crockpot.

Get it?

Finally, there are three new ingredients that I recommend adding at this point as they don’t need to simmer all day long.

First, add some corn and cilantro sprigs. Second, cube up a few corn tortillas and add those cubes straight to the soup.

Just some more flavor!

Cover this and let it simmer for another 30-45 minutes. The tortillas will soften and some will completely disintegrate into the soup which will give it a really rich texture. The cilantro will give the soup a nice herb flavor.

After it’s second cooking, remove the cilantro stalks and season the soup generously with salt and pepper.

The Garnishes

My favorite part of chicken tortilla soup is serving it with tons of fun garnishes and toppings and then people can kind of make their own bowls.

The essential topping (in my opinion) is crispy tortilla strips. These are super-easy to make. Just cut a few corn tortillas into long strips and bake them at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

The strips will be lightly browned when the are done and super-crispy.

Great garnish.

Some other topping ideas that I like are sliced avocado, crumbled cotija cheese (or any cheese really), sour cream, and lime wedges.

Some other fun add-ins.

Once your soup is seasoned well with salt and pepper just ladle it into a bowl and pile on the toppings!

From above.

It’s actually a very filling meal for soup because of the chicken, tortillas, and cheese. It’s very warming and just a complete winner of a meal in my book.

Don’t be daunted by the ingredient list here, people. You can and should give this a shot sometime this winter!

The cute little napkins in this post were kindly donated by Oh Little Rabbit.

Good lookin' wrap!

“I think I’m good on cookies for a while.”

That’s what Betsy told me a few days ago and I couldn’t agree with her more. After a full week of nothing but cookies and sugar, I’m ready to move back into the land of the savory.

Heck. I don’t even have a sweet tooth really so I’m very excited to post something without sugar in it.

This quick wrap is something that Betsy and I have been eating recently. I love it because it works great for a lunch dish, but is also good to have if you want a lighter dinner option. It’s pretty healthy actually and jam-packed with flavor.

Baja Chicken Wraps

Yield: 4 wraps

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts, grilled and chopped
Lettuce
Avocado
Ranch Dressing (homemade is good)
Hot Sauce
Large tortillas

Chicken Marinade:
2 limes, juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1) Mix together marinade ingredients. Add chicken breasts and let marinate for a few minutes.

2) Grill chicken over high heat for about 8-10 minutes per side until they are cooked through.

3) Slice chicken thinly.

4) In a bowl, mix together chopped lettuce, a drizzle of ranch dressing, and a dash of hot sauce.

5) Lay out a large tortilla and put down a layer of the lettuce mixture.

6) Top with about 1/4 of an avocado and a layer of chicken. I recommend about 4 ounces of chicken per wrap.

7) Top with a drizzle of ranch and an extra dash of hot sauce and roll the wrap up.

8) Slice and serve!

Prepping the Chicken

I decided to grill the chicken for these wraps even though it’s December. I’m a year around griller, but if you don’t want to venture out in the cold just to grill a few chicken breasts, you can definitely just sear these in a pan for a few minutes a side and then finish them off in a 350 degree oven.

Whether you grill or not, I recommend giving the chicken breasts some serious flavor with a quick marinade.

Tasty marinade.

I just whisked together some spices with some lime and olive oil and then tossed in my chicken breasts.

You don’t need to marinate these guys very long to give them some flavor. Even 10 minutes in this mixture will do the trick.

All mixed up.

So, like I said, you have two options for cooking the chicken in my mind.

1) Grill them. Pretty straightforward, just toss them on a hot grill for about 8-10 minutes per side until they are cooked through.

2) Sear them in a sturdy pan. Cast iron would work well, but any pan should do the trick. After you sear them for a few minutes over medium-high heat, stick them in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes to finish cooking them. If the pan you sear in isn’t oven-safe, just transfer the breasts to a baking dish for the oven cooking.

The reason you will probably want to finish the chicken breasts in the oven is because they might burn if you keep them over high heat for too long. Finishing them in the oven solves that problem and still gives you a nice sear on the outside.

I just tossed mine on the grill though. That’s easiest and best way to cook chicken breasts in my opinion.

Who says you can't grill in the winter?

Once the chicken breasts cool a bit, slice them up!

Keep in mind that we’re going to be adding these slices to a wrap so try to keep the slices pretty thin.

Thinner the better.

The Lettuce

I love lettuce in wraps, but I wanted to use the lettuce as a flavor vehicle also.

So I ripped up some lettuce (a few cups) and then tossed it with a few tablespoons of homemade ranch dressing and a few dashes of hot sauce. Of course, you don’t have to make homemade ranch dressing for this, but the homemade version is really packed with flavor.

Hot sauce is very important.

Mix this all up really well and you’re ready to make a wrap!

Making the Wraps

You should be able to get about 4 wraps out of one pound of grilled chicken. Of course, that largely depends on how big you make your wraps…

I use the biggest tortillas I could find just so I could really stuff them.

Start by laying down a nice layer of the lettuce. Then add about 1/4 of an avocado that’s sliced up.

Don't skimp on the 'cado.

Top that with some of the grilled chicken and maybe give it an extra drizzle of ranch or hot sauce.

Then you’re ready to roll.

Get it?

Fold the ends toward the center and just roll the wrap up tightly.

While you don’t have to slice this in half, I think it’s a little easier to eat in two pieces. Plus it looks good.

That's a wrap!

There’s a lot of good flavors here. The lime marinade goes perfectly with the rich avocado. The lettuce gives it lots of good crunch and flavor because of the dressing and hot sauce.

If you didn’t want to use chicken, I actually think you could sub tofu for this without too much trouble. I would still marinate it and grill it just like I did with the chicken.

If you’re looking for a really tasty wrap, give this a shot. I thought it was absolutely delicious!

Quick. Simple. Delicious.

There’s come a point after every Thanksgiving I’ve ever hosted or attended where there’s a few huge bags of leftover turkey meat in the fridge and everybody has pretty much had as much turkey as they can take.

You will eat it with stuffing, put it on a sandwich, and probably sneak it at midnight, but sometimes even with all of that, you’ll be left with more turkey than you know what to do with.

This is when fajitas come in and save the day. They may just be the perfect way to use leftover turkey. Let me explain:

1) They take just a few minutes to make. After slaving away over the stove for days, it’s nice to have a quick meal.

2) They are somewhat healthy. They are mostly lean meat, veggies, and salsa. It’s actually a somewhat light meal after days of gorging.

3) They have a different flavor profile. Even though you’re using turkey, it has a completely different taste because of the spices.

Even though the actual turkey day is still a few days away, this is a great way to put a dent in some of those leftovers!

Leftover Turkey Fajitas

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1-1.5 pounds leftover turkey, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 orange, yellow, or green pepper, sliced
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 jalapeno, sliced thin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt and pepper
12 flour tortillas

Toppings:
Sliced avocado
Salsa
Sour cream

Directions:

1) Chop up turkey roughly. You can use white or dark meat. Also slice peppers and onions into strips.

2) Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees and wrap tortillas in foil. Add tortillas to oven and let heat up for 5-10 minutes.

3) Add oil to a large skillet over high heat. Once hot, add the peppers and onions and cook until they are slightly caramelized, about 4 minutes.

4) Add chopped turkey to skillet with spices and a pinch of salt and pepper.

5) Toss ingredients together well and cook until the turkey is slightly browned.

6) Serve turkey mixture with warm flour tortillas and toppings.

Peppers and more Peppers

Like I said, one of the great things about fajitas is it gives you a chance to use some nice fresh veggies after days of carbs.

I like my fajitas to be really pepper-heavy so I usually use a red pepper, one other kind of pepper, and a jalapeno or two.

Essential fajitas ingredients.

Slice up the peppers and onions. For the jalapeno, if you’re using one, remove the seeds and chop it a bit smaller. Nobody will enjoy a huge slice of jalapeno in their fajitas.

This might take 5 minutes to prepare.

A good guide for size of slices.

Gobble Gobble

As far as the turkey goes, you can definitely use white or dark meat. I used leftover turkey from my apple cider brined turkey. I was worried about the apple flavors not going well with the fajitas, but they were delicious.

No problems at all.

There are some options when it comes to prepping the turkey. You could shred it, but I like my fajitas to have larger chunks of meat so I just roughly chopped my leftover turkey.

I like big chunks in my fajitas.

Cooking the Fajitas

Before you actually start cooking your fajitas, I’d recommend wrapping your tortillas in some foil and sticking them in a hot oven for 5 minutes or so to get them nice and warm.

The fajitas themselves only take about 10 minutes to cook at the maximum.

Start by heating your oil in a large skillet over high heat. Once it’s hot, add your onions and peppers and cook them until they start to caramelize a bit, about 5 minutes. Then add the turkey and spices and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Cook this all for a few more minutes and you’ll be ready to rock.

Really easy dish to pull together.

Cook the fajitas on a high heat is key so you get some browning on the veggies and on the turkey.

While they cook, I always like to get some fun toppings ready. For this meal, I just used some salsa, sour cream, and diced up an avocado.

Can't go wrong with these toppings.

Serve the fajitas with a few flour tortillas and pile on the toppings.

Two or three fajitas is a really good meal.

A good fajita.

There’s nothing tricky or hard about this recipe. It’s just straightforward good food which is all you need when you’re looking for a way to use your leftovers and relax.

If you have some turkey leftover after Thursday (who doesn’t?), try out the Tex-Mex route!

Awesome lunch.

If you’ve been a long time Macheesmo reader you’ll know that Betsy and I are on a crazy hunt to find original and fun lunches to eat during the week. There’s always a few qualifications for these lunches.

1) You need to be able to make them in bulk.

2) They need to be fairly economical and also keep really well for at least five days.

3) They need to be somewhat healthy.

This hunt has led us to some awesome lunches like this pesto quinoa salad. In general though, it keeps us both out of the fast food lines and generally saves us a few bucks a week also.

I do think I’m starting to get fairly good at the weekday lunch because Betsy’s co-workers have actually offered to pay me to bring them lunch during the week. I haven’t actually taken them up on it, but I happily direct them to this here website where they can find almost every lunch I’ve made for us.

The latest iteration of this hunt took the form of a classic Middle Eastern meal: Falafel and Tabbouleh.

A Middle Eastern Lunch

Yield: Serves 6-8.

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Tabbouleh:
1 cup quick cooking bulgar
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
3 scallions, minced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes (drained)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of salt

Falafel:
2 16 ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 large egg
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced
1/2 white onion, diced
2 Teaspoons baking soda
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1 Teaspoon paprika
1/4 Cup Sesame seeds
Pinch of salt and pepper

Mini Pitas
1 quart oil for frying
Greek Yogurt

Helpful Equipment:
Food Processor
Deep Fry Thermometer

Directions:

For Tabbouleh:
1) Cook bulgar according to package. This will most likely mean letting it steep in hot water for about 20 minutes.
2) Chop other ingredients.
3) Once bulgar is soaked, mix with veggies and add in olive oil and lemon juice.
4) Season with salt and store for up to a week.

For Falafels:
1) Pulse onion, garlic, and sesame seeds in food processor.
2) Add chickpeas and pulse until combined.
3) Remove from processor and stir in breadcrumbs, egg, herbs and spices.
4) Heat frying station up to 350 degrees.
5) Make about Tablespoon-sized balls from the chickpea mixture.
6) Fry balls in oil for about 3-4 minutes until they are a deep golden brown.
7) Let drain and serve with pita and greek yogurt.

Getting Bulgar

Tabbouleh, if you aren’t familiar with it, is an awesome side dish that just a mixture of bulgar wheat and lots of fresh vegetables and herbs.

You can find bulgar in most supermarkets and grocery stores these days. Look out for the quick cooking variety. It works great.

Love this stuff.

Besides the bulgar, you just need a lot of veggies. I like crunchy stuff like scallions and cucumbers in mine along with lots of fresh herbs like parsley and mint. I also drained a small can of diced tomatoes and added those to the mix just for good measure!

Lots of good flavors here.

Preparing the bulgar is really straightforward. You should read the instructions that come with your bulgar but basically it will involve soaking the bulgar in hot water for about 20 minutes.

Then it will turn nice and fluffy!

After a soak.

Mix all this stuff together and season it with some lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and you’ll be all set.

As with most stuff like this, tabbouleh gets even better if you let it sit in the fridge for a day or two. All the flavors start to mingle and it’s really very delicious, not to mention healthy.

It gets better on day two.

The Falafels

It’s pretty hard to make a meal out of just tabbouleh so I decided to make a big batch of falafels that would go well with it.

Honestly, this was my first time ever making falafels and I was pretty impressed at how easy they were to make.

I started out by pulsing my onions, garlic, and spices in my food processor until they were minced finely. Just a few pulses will do the trick.

A food processor is your friend.

Then add your drained chickpeas to the food processor and pulse them a few more times. You should end up with a rough paste. Remove that from your food processor and add in all your other ingredients!

My mixture was already smelling really good so I knew I was onto something here!

It's like a batter-dough thing.

Frying the Falafels

Once you have your falafel batter ready, just set up your fry station as you normally would. As always, I highly recommend using a deep-fry thermometer to make sure you don’t overheat your oil.

Once your oil is at 350 degrees, just start adding your falafel batter in large tablespoon sized balls. They should only take 3-4 minutes to fry up and turn really nice and brown.

Nice color on these guys.

These were really flavorful. Perfectly crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside.

Chomp!

I was worried about the falafels keeping okay. After all, fried food tends to be best right out of the fryer.

It’s true that the falafels were best right away, but they kept fine also. You could microwave them or I thought they were fine cold.

A few falafel balls plus a cup or so of tabbouleh and some greek yogurt and pita made for a great lunch.

All packed up!

If you can find a way to cycle in some semi-healthy foods for lunch during the week, I think you’ll be shocked at how much more energy you have in the afternoon. If I eat something like this, I find I have way more juice than if I chow down on a huge cheeseburger or something.

While it is a bit of work to make these two things, if you can find time to do it on a lazy sunday, you’ll be all set for lunches for the entire week!

Now. That's a sandwich.

I had a bit of a Twitter tantrum last week because I’m just plain sick of hearing about the amazing McRib sandwich from McDonalds. Apparently the word on the street is that it’s just so disgusting that it’s somehow good.

That really doesn’t make sense to me.

That said, the idea behind the sandwich is a great one. I nice big pork patty on a hoagie bun with BBQ sauce, pickles, and onions? Sounds good to me!

So I decided to make a homemade version of the sandwich. The recipe I came up with is really simple and actually cheaper than buying the sandwich from McDonalds. Plus, now I have a bunch of them frozen so it’s faster for me to make one now than driving to McDonalds.

So let’s all please stop talking about the McRib and start talking about the NickRib.

The Nickrib

Yield: 6 sandwiches

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 Pounds pork butt, ground
1 Teaspoon kosher salt
2 Teaspoons black pepper
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Teaspoons coriander, ground
2 Teaspoons cumin, ground
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes (opt.)
1 bottle (16-18 ounces) BBQ sauce
Pickles
Onions
Hoagie Buns

Helpful Equipment:
Food processor

Directions:

1) Cut pork butt into cubes. Try to separate fat and meat so you can grind them separately.

2) Grind or process pork. Do the fat first and grind it much finer. Then grind meat and mix the two together.

3) Add in spices to mix meat together.

4) Form six patties from the meat weighing about 5.5 ounces each.

5) Sear patties in a hot pan, over medium-high heat, for about 4 minutes per side.

6) Layer all patties in a baking dish and slather with BBQ sauce. Bake patties at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

7) Add a patty to a hoagie bun and top with extra BBQ sauce, pickles, and sliced onions.

8) Once patties are cooled, you can freeze these by putting each patty individually into small plastic bags with extra sauce. Then put all those small bags into a large gallon sized freezer bag. To reheat, just cut off the plastic from one patty and microwave for about 2 minutes.

The Original

Must to my dislike, I figured that I should probably swing by Mickey D’s and see what all the fuss was about before I tried to recreate this sucker.

I noticed a few things.

1) It costs $3. That means six would cost $18. My six homemade sandwiches cost me $13 to make.

2) It made my car smell like a BBQ sandwich farted.

3) It was much smaller than I thought it would be and didn’t look very appetizing.

This costs $3.

I did try this sandwich though and wasn’t really impressed. Obviously, the patty was super-moist because they inject it with all kinds of stuff to preserve it. The BBQ sauce tasted like chemicals. The best part of the sandwich was the pickles and there were only two.

A Patty Problem

I did some research before I jumped into this sandwich. There were a bunch of other people that thought it would be a good idea to make their own versions of this sandwich. I immediately noticed a problem with some of the homemade versions.

The versions I saw were either amazing and complex like this awesome BBQ pork belly sandwich that takes about 5 hours to make and requires 3 pounds of pork belly. On the other end of the spectrum, there were people who actually took the time to post on just microwaving frozen pork patties and putting BBQ sauce on them. That takes only 2 minutes, but you end up with basically the same thing that McDonald’s makes.

I tried to find some middle ground. I wanted a good patty, but I didn’t want to have to braise pork belly for 6 hours to get it. So, I decided to go with pork butt. For one, it’s a really economical cut of meat so I knew I’d be able to keep my costs down (even the best pork butt will run about $2.50/pound). Secondly, pork butt has a lot of fat in it, so I knew it would keep my patties nice and moist.

The process I used for making my patties is pretty straightforward. If i had a food grinder, it would’ve been even easier, but I just used my food processor. First, I cut my pork butt into fatty pieces and meaty pieces. I wanted to grind/process them separately. The fat needs to be a lot finer then the meat. I ground my fatty parts until they were almost a paste and then just pulsed my meaty parts until they basically resembled ground pork.

Shortcut: You could definitely use ground pork to make these. I might recommend adding in some processed bacon to up the fat content a bit if you do use ground pork though.

The Spices

Of course, the nice thing about making your own patties is that you can actually mix in some real flavor. I stirred in some coriander, cumin, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.

Might as well spice it up.

Making the Patties

Since we’re going to be putting these guys on a hoagie bun, you want to make the patties kind of oblong. Each patty should be about 5.5 ounces and be about six inches long. It’s okay if they are pretty thin, they will shrink up as they cook.

I went ahead and made all of my patties and just sat them on wax paper until I could cook them.

About 5.5 ounces.

Searing the Patties

Cooking these bad boys is a two step process. It works like a charm to make a really moist and tasty patty. To start, just sear each patty in a hot pan over medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes per side. This should almost completely cook the patties because they are so thin.

The important part though is that they get a nice sear on them.

Get a good sear on these guys.

Baking the Patties

Once you get all your patties seared, add them to a large oven-safe dish and slather them with your BBQ sauce. If you have a really thick BBQ sauce, I recommend adding about 1/2 cup of water to it to thin it out a bit. It’ll thicken up again as it bakes.

This was a good idea.

Just completely coat all the patties in BBQ sauce and then bake them at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. This will completely infuse the patties with that delicious BBQ flavor.

This will smell good.

The Toppings

I kept the exact same toppings as the original: onions and pickles. I sliced my onions pretty thin though and use way more than two pickles.

Same toppings. Just more.

Finishing the Sandwich

As far as the bun goes, you can toast it or leave it soft. It’s good either way. Pile a patty on the bun with some extra BBQ sauce and then top with onions and pickles.

Done deal.

You can spring for more than two pickles.

Freezing the Sandwiches

These patties actually freeze really well. This means that you could double the recipe and have great sandwichs for a long time. I froze mine by making sure they were completely cool and then putting each patty individually in a small plastic bag with a few spoonfuls of extra sauce. Then I put all of those small bags in a large freezer safe bag.

When you want a sandwich, just cut the plastic off the patty and microwave it for about 2 minutes. Slap it on a bun with some extra BBQ sauce, onions, and pickles and you’re all set. I thought the re-heated version was just as good as on day one.

That's a real sandwich.

I was really happy with how these turned out. They cost a fraction of the original sandwich and now that they are made it takes me less time to make one then it would take for me to drive to McDonalds and buy one.

Most importantly, it isn’t even a competition when it comes to flavor.

If I wanted to make this post super-popular, I guess I could take a play out of the McDonald’s playbook and take it down for a few months and then BRING IT BACK!

Or I could just ask you all to share it. When you hear people raving about the McRib, let them know about the NickRib.

It's like a flat taco!

Betsy would like to thank all of you who voted for the Tex-Mex dish in last week’s poll. She didn’t actually vote and when she saw the results she sighed a sigh of relief.

“I can’t believe you almost had to make a cake. Over Tex-Mex. I would’ve been mildly upset.”

Of course, I explained that much like in a democracy… you can’t complain if you don’t vote!

But she got lucky on this one.

I’ve made a tex-mex style stack before, but this one is a bit more themed around ingredients that normally go in a crunchy beef taco. It’s just layered instead of stuffed which makes it fun!

The Taco Stack

Yield: 4 Taco Stacks

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas, fried crispy
1/4 Cup vegetable oil, for frying tortillas

Beef Mixture:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Cup diced tomatoes
1 small can roasted green chilis
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1 Teaspoon chili powder
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt and pepper

2 avocados, mashed
2 Tablespoons cilantro, mashed with avocado
1/2 lime, juice only (for guac)
Chopped Lettuce
8 ounces pepper jack cheese, grated
Sour cream

Directions:

1) Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add one tortilla at a time. Cook tortilla for 15 seconds and then flip. Cook for a total of 2-3 minutes until tortilla is slightly browned and crispy. Flip occasionally. Then let drain and cool on a paper towel. The tostada will continue to crisp up as it cools.

2) For beef mixture, add diced onion and garlic to a large skillet with a drizzle of oil. Cook over medium-high heat until veggies start to soften, about 3 minutes.

3) Add spices and continue to cook until fragrant, another 2-3 minutes.

4) Add beef and cook until well-browned. Then add chilis and tomatoes and continue to cook until tomatoes cook down, another 5 minutes or so.

5) Grate cheese, chop lettuce, and make quick guacamole.

6) Slather bottom tostada with guac and add a handful of lettuce. Add a second tostada, then cheese, beef, and more cheese. Top with final tostada and a dollop of sour cream.

Frying the Tostadas

You can buy pre-made tostadas in the store these days, but I still like to make my own. The pre-made ones are much thinner and therefore they get soggier and just don’t hold up as well to something like this.

Frying your own isn’t hard. Just add a good drizzle of oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add a tortilla and let it sizzle for 15 seconds, then give it a flip to get both sides cooking. Cook tortillas for 2-3 minutes total, flipping occasionally.

Once the tortillas are done, let them drain on a paper towel briefly. As they cool, they will continue to crisp up.

Not too hard.

Cooking the Filling

I really don’t love pre-mixed taco seasonings, but you could definitely use one if you wanted. I’ve found a combination of spices that I think makes for a really delicious taco seasoning.

I sometimes play with it a bit, but it almost always has these four flavorful spices: cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and chili powder.

Spicy!

When you’re ready to cook the filling, add a drizzle of oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot add the onions and garlic and let them cook until they start to soften up, about 3 minutes.

Then add all of your spices and stir it all together. The spices will toast and become really fragrant as the onions continue to cook.

It’ll smell delicious.

Already smellin' good.

Add the ground beef to the onion mixture and continue to cook until the beef is well browned. Then stir in the green chilis and diced tomatoes.

Good flavors.

Stir this all together and cook for another 5 minutes or so until the tomatoes cook down and most of the liquid is out of the pan. Taste it and season with salt and pepper.

The Other Toppings

Since this is a taco after all, there are a few other ingredients that I consider to be essential: Grated cheese, lettuce, and guacamole.

For the guacamole, I went pretty minimalist here and just mashed up avocados and some diced cilantro and then added the juice of half a lime.

Guac is essential.

Making the stack

There’s nothing too scientific about the stack, and you could stack your ingredients in any order really, but I like this order.

Start with one tostada and slather on a good helping of guacamole. Then pile on some lettuce. The guacamole will help the lettuce stick around.

Straightforward.

Then add a second tostada followed by a handful of grated cheese.

Then top with your hot beef mixture and add another handful of cheese on top.

The hot beef will melt the cheeses and the middle tostada will keep any liquids from making the lettuce soggy.

My favorite layer.

Top with your final tostada and add a good dollop of sour cream and some extra cilantro if that’s your thing.

From the top!

Not only was this completely delicious but it also turned out to be a really pretty dish I think.

Well, pretty for a taco anyway.

It might seem like the best way to eat this is with a fork and knife, but Betsy and I discovered that the best way to eat it is to literally just pick it up and eat it with your hands.

The guacamole and melted cheese will keep everything together.

It’s a bit messy, but so is a taco so just go with it.

Pretty good taco.

As I mentioned in my hash brown benedict post on Saturday, Betsy and I had a few friends from the big city come visit a few weeks ago. This was a big deal. You can pretty much guarantee that if you fly 2,000 miles to visit me, I’ll cook you anything you want.

These friends were easy to please though. Besides brunch, they just asked for something Tex-mex and something grilled. So I decided to slam the two together and make some awesome grilled carnitas.

The benefits of grilling these guys (they are normally braised like this), is that you don’t have to turn your oven on! This might seem like a small win, but if you’re cooking something for 4-5 hours, it’s a big deal. Also, grilled things tend to taste good.

The downside of grilling these guys is that you want to cook them as low and slow as possible. So get ready for a day of cooking. I don’t really consider this a downside, but some people just might.

Grilled Carnitas

Yield: Serves 10.

Prep Time: 20 minutes + Resting Time

Total Time: 10 hours

Ingredients:

1 5 pound pork butt (shoulder) cut. If you get a full pork shoulder (~10 pounds) you can just cut it in half or do the whole thing if you need to feed a million people.
Flour Tortillas
1 Red onion
2 limes, juice only
1/3 Cup spice rub (below)
Salsa Verde (below or jarred is okay)
Cojita Cheese, crumbled
Radishes, sliced thin (optional)
Guacamole (below)

Spice Rub: Enough for a 5 pound pork butt
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon ground cumin

Salsa Verde:
1 pound tomatillos, halved
1/2 white onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic
2-3 jalapenos
1 lime, juice only
1 handful of cilantro
Pinch of salt

Basic Guacamole:
4 avocados, pitted
2 shallots, minced (you can also use red onion)
2 serrano peppers, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 handful cilantro, minced (optional)
1-2 limes, juice only
Pinch of salt

Helpful Equipment:
Oven thermometer
Meat Thermometer
Blender (just for salsa)

Directions:

1) For rub, mix ingredients in a bowl.

2) Butterfly pork butt but leave a piece attached. Don't cut it completely in two. Cover entire butt with rub. Let sit overnight in the fridge.

3) Preheat grill to 250 degrees. Use an oven thermometer to ensure even temp.

4) Cook pork butt for 8-10 hours on grill, rotating every 2 hours.

5) Once butt hits 190-200 degrees, it's done. Then wrap in tin foil and let sit for 30-45 minutes.

6) Use two forks to shred pork butt into strips.

7) As an optional step, mix in 1/4 cup of melted butter in with pork and broil the meat for a few minutes on high to really crisp up the carnitas.

8) Serve with tortillas, guacamole, salsa, onions, cojita, and radishes.

Prepping the Carnitas

There were a lot of variables that went into this dish. Since it was my first time trying it, I decided to follow one of my basic cooking rules which is that if you don’t know what you’re doing, keep it as simple as possible.

That means that I didn’t get fancy with my rub, I didn’t use charcoal or try to smoke the shoulder in any way. My main goals were just to flavor it decently and cook it perfectly. And that’s what I did.

I kept my rub very simple with these guys.

Keep it simple.

I wanted to really maximize the surface area that the rub was on, so I decided to butterfly my shoulder a bit and really coat the entire thing in the rub.

If I would’ve had my way, I would’ve gone with a pork shoulder with the bone in, but the butcher was fresh out so I had to go with the boneless variety. Not a huge deal.

Really feel free to go heavy on the rub.

Butterflied and rubbed.

Now, you could throw this on the grill right away, but you’ll get a lot more flavor out of it if you can let it rest overnight – in the fridge of course.

This normally isn’t a huge deal because since it’s going to need to cook all day anyway, any prep you can do the night before is good.

Grilling the Butt

I’m not sure if you can tell from the photos, but this is a big hunk of meat. It weighed in at about 5 pounds and this was only half of the shoulder. I’d guess that most pork shoulders are 20-30% fat which really works to our advantage here. That means that we can cook it low and slow and the high fat content will make it almost impossible to over-cook.

What you don’t want to do is cook it on a grill that’s too hot. If you do that, you run the risk of completely charring the outside and leaving the inside really tough still. No good.

The only way to make sure your grill is the right temperature is to get yourself an oven thermometer and plop it down right on the grill. If you’re using a gas grill like me, it’s just a matter of playing around with your heat until you get a steady 250 degree heat.

For me, the setting that finally worked was to turn on only the very back fire element and turn it on its lowest setting. With the lid closed, the grill kept a steady 250-255 degree temperature.

The start of something beautiful.

One Note: If your grill has a built in thermometer, just ignore it. Those things are WAY off. Mine was registering 50-75 degrees off the entire cooking time.

One Other Note: If you’re using charcoal/wood, more power to you. I want to do my next one this way. You just have to be diligent about adding coals and keeping the temperature in a good range.

A five pound pork but will need about 9-10 hours on the grill. This was mine after about 6 hours.

I also turned my butt every two hours just to make sure it was cooking evenly.

A bit over halfway.

The Fixings

Ten hours is a long time. At some point during that time, you’ll want to make some good fixings for your tacos.

Guacamole never hurts and is a requirement at my house for any Tex-Mex dinner.

Essential.

I also decided to whip up a batch of salsa verde to go with the pork. I figured the slightly bitter salsa would go really well with the pork.

To make the salsa, just roast all the ingredients except the cilantro and limes for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Then blend them up and season with salt!

Feel free to use jarred stuff.

I also marinated some sliced red onions in a bit of lime juice, sliced some radishes thinly, and crumbled some cojita cheese. In my opinion, the radishes and cheese are optional, the onions are not!

Fun toppings.

Finishing the Carnitas

Let me warn you. When you are cooking five pounds of meat for an entire day, you need a meat thermometer.

You also need a lot of beer, but that’s neither here nor there.

The meat thermometer is really the only way to know when this guy is done. When it hits 190-200 degrees in the center, it’s done. That may seem really high, but that’s the temperature when all that fat is melting away, which is what you want.

Done deal!

When you pull your pork butt off the grill, it will be falling apart. Do your best to keep it in one piece and wrap the whole thing in foil. Let it sit for about 45 minutes. This will give it time to cool slowly so you can work with it. Trying to do anything with it when it comes off the grill is a recipe for second degree burns.

It’ll still be plenty hot after 45 minutes, but you should be able to easily handle it and pull it apart.

Fall-apart tender.

Grab a few forks and get to work shredding. The meat is so tender that it should be a pretty easy task.

Shred it, dude!

You can serve the tacos just like this if you want or you can take it to the next level!

If you want to kick it up a notch, melt about a 1/4 cup of butter and stir the melted butter into the carnitas. Then stick the whole thing under the broiler for about five minutes to get the carnitas extra crispy and delicious.

Not a necessary step at all, but it does add a nice touch if you have the time.

I don’t think I need to tell you how to make a taco. Just pile it high and deep!

The finished deal.

I’m not sure there’s much left to say about these guys. They turned out to be a lot easier to make than I thought they would be.

If you’re in a situation where you need to feed a small army, this is a fantastic way to go.

It should be no surprise that the leftovers make really good burritos or breakfast hash.

Did I just one-up Rachel?

I’ve been known to give Rachel Ray some grief, but in reality, it’s just because I’m jealous of course. She’s made quite a name for herself coming up with inventive and fun dishes. And, without a doubt, she convinced more people in America to cook which is definitely a good thing.

But for some reason I have a hard time following her recipes. Maybe it’s pride. Maybe it’s that I’m pretty sure I can improve them. So it went with these peppers.

I was kind of shocked that they won the poll last week. But, clearly you guys were interested so I did my best to make them and even, I think, improve them a bit.

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 large poblano peppers, halved, cleaned, roasted.
1 1/2 Cups white rice
3 Cups vegetable broth
1 Cup strained tomatoes or tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon cumin, lightly toasted
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Serrano pepper, minced
1 small onion, diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Avocado
Sour cream
Cilantro
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) For rice, add stock, tomatoes, spices, and rice to a medium pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, covered, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Be sure to check your rice for exact cooking times and liquid amounts.

2) For peppers, chop off stems, slice peppers in half and remove seeds. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes per side. They shouldn't be soggy, but should be flexible. Some scorch marks are good.

3) Chop onions and Serrano pepper and add to a medium pot with olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, until onions are soft. Stir in cooked rice.

4) Season rice mixture with salt and pepper. Spoon it into pepper halves.

5) Serve with avocado, sour cream, and cilantro.

Seriously adapted from a RR Recipe.

Making the Rice

While this recipe is in the spirit of the original, it’s really different on almost every level. For starters, Rachel uses a canned enchilada sauce to give her rice some flavor, but I’m a big fan of using real spices instead. It’s not like it’s that much more work to add a few spices and some tomato paste instead of a can.

That said, I did keep mine pretty simple.

The basic stuff.

Add the veggie stock (you could use chicken also) along with the tomato sauce (or strained tomatoes) to a medium pot along with a pinch of salt and all the spices.

Add in the rice and you’re ready to cook!

Good rice.

This will need to simmer, covered, on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes. You should check your rice cooking time though as it might vary a bit depending on what kind of rice you use. Whatever you do though, don’t use the instant stuff. It won’t really hold up to the flavors.

The Peppers

Again, I changed a lot from the original recipe, but I liked all my changes if I do say so myself. For starters, the original used cubanelle peppers, but I subbed poblanos. I think they have a bit more flavor and are a lot easier to stuff.

Just chop them in half and clean out all the seeds.

Easy prep.

When it comes to cooking these guys, Rachel says to grill them in a grill pan. I don’t have a grill pan and the idea of firing up the grill for some stuffed peppers seemed a bit ridiculous. So I just roasted my peppers in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes per side.

You don’t want them soggy, but they should be flexible. Some scorch marks on the outside are nothing to be afraid of. They add great flavor.

After a quick roast.

Finishing the Rice

In a separate pan, add the olive oil over medium-high heat and toss in the diced onion and Serrano pepper. The Serrano is optional, but it gives the dish some nice heat.

Let this cook for a few minutes until the onions are soft and then add in all the rice. Stir it all together, season it with salt and pepper, and you’ll be in rice heaven.

Steamy!

Once your rice is done just add a good amount of it to each pepper half. Don’t worry about over-filling.

In fact, I encourage over-filling.

Fill 'em up!

I suggest serving these guys with some sour cream and fresh avocado.

They can be a side, but we ate them as a meal and what a good meal it was!

Avocado and cream is key!

I’m not really positive if my version was better than hers because I didn’t make hers, but mine was good enough for me. That’s for sure.

You’ll probably have some leftover rice after this dish which is great. The rice is delicious in burritos or just on its own.

I could probably sell these.

Well, it’s officially grilling season here in Colorado. The weather has been just fantastic and will hopefully continue to be amazing for the next few months before it starts getting unbearably hot.

I realize that depending on where you live you might be hating me right now. It’s still very cold in large chunks of the country, but have no fear. Warm weather is on the way.

I’ve been working on a few different rubs that go really great on grilled food and I thought you might all benefit from them. These are all really good on meat, but I think most of them would work equally well on veggies or tofu.

Three Homemade Dry Rubs

Yield: 1/3-1/2 Cup.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Coffee Spice Rub:
Makes a scant 1/2 Cup.

2 Tablespoons whole coffee beans
1 Teaspoon cardamon seeds (or pods would work)
1/2 small cinnamon stick
1 1/2 Teaspoons chili powder
1 Teaspoon garlic powder
1 Teaspoon paprika
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon pepper

5 C's Rub :
Makes about 1/3 Cup of rub.

1 Tablespoon coriander
1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon cardamon seeds (or pods)
1 small cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon sugar

All-purpose Rub:
Makes 1/3 Cup.

1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon fresh black pepper

Helpful Equipment:
Spice grinder!

Directions:

1) If the rub you're making has whole spices, it's always a good idea to lightly toast them in a dry skillet for a few minutes to bring out the flavors. Just toast them until they are fragrant.

2) Add whole spices to a grinder. Pulse them until roughly ground. You don't want them like a dust.

3) Mix in other spices.

4) If you're using rubs on meats, coat liberally. Go lighter on veggies or tofu.

A Salty Mix

If you’ve ever looked at the ingredients on most rubs that you can buy at the store they are mostly salt. This makes sense if you’re trying to make a profit. Salt is cheap. It mixes well. It makes food taste great.

But when you’re making your rubs at home you can cut back on the salt and replace it with real spices that pack a punch. You still want a good amount of salt in the rub, but it doesn’t need to be 50% salt or anything crazy.

Let’s make some rubs!

The Whole Spice

For all of these rubs except the all-purpose one, you’re going to need a spice grinder to really get the full flavor of the rub. Sure, you can find ground versions of all of the ingredients, but it’s so much better to use whole spices. They are more flavorful, the whole spices keep longer, and they are generally cheaper.

The Coffee Rub

For this rub I wanted a dark mix that would hold up well on flavorful meats. You wouldn’t want to use this guy on light stuff like fish or chicken.

Start with whole beans, a small piece of cinnamon and some cardamon seeds. You can use pods also, but I like the seeds.

Any coffee will do.

Grind up these spices and then add in all your other spices to the mix. This rub has the most ingredients in it and the resulting flavors are pretty complicated.

It’s a very good rub though.

Lots going on here.

Once I had my rub mixed up, I coated a thick pork chop with it for testing and grilled it up.

The results were amazing:

No big deal.

The 5 C’s Rub

For some reason a lot of spices start with the letter C. Or maybe just my favorite spices start with the letter C…

In any event, I thought I’d mix them all up and see what happened.

The Five C's of delicious.

For this rub, I lightly toasted my cumin, cardamon, and coriander in a dry skillet for a few minutes until they were fragrant.

Then I just blended them up!

I think this might also be good on popcorn.

The 5 C’s Rub is the lightest of the rubs I made for this post. It has an almost sweet flavor to it that would go well on chicken, tofu, veggies, or maybe even a sturdy fish.

All Purpose Rub

While I was mixing up rubs, I thought I’d give you all the recipe for my favorite all-purpose rub. I use this stuff on everything. It’s great on steaks, chicken wings, asparagus, roasted tofu… you name it.

There’s also no grinding involved. Just take all the spices and stir them up. It takes maybe three minutes to mix up a batch!

Good on shoes!

Grilling Some Chicken

To test out the all purpose rub and the 5 C’s rub, I generously coated a few chicken breasts with both and grilled them.

The breasts on the left are the all purpose rub and the right breasts are the 5 C’s version.

Really good chicken.

I loved all of these, but I really liked the 5 C’s rub. It gave the chicken a really bright flavor that was very unique.

These rubs will all keep for a month or two without losing much flavor. I keep mine in plastic bags, but if you had a few airtight containers, they would keep even better.

Not that there’s any chance mine will last that long…