The Middle of Nowhere

On March 11th we had a travel day from Fort Collins, CO to Reno, NV.

It was about time to stop for lunch and since we were in the middle of no where, there was a whole lot of nothin' around.
We soon found ourselves at a random shopping center in Winnemucca, NV.
This was the kind of shopping center that you probably wouldn't go to unless your bus stopped there for lunch and you had no other choice. 

There was a grocery store, two "interesting" Chinese restaurants, and some place called "Flying Pig BBQ." 

Not knowing what I wanted to eat, I headed to the grocery store to look for something there.

I wasn't feeling the vibe or selection and just as I had decided that I was going to leave, I made eye contact with two of my cast mates from across the store. They had that same "I wanna get out of here" look in their eyes. They came up to me and said, "come on, let's go to the BBQ place!"

At this point, I hadn't eaten red meat or pork in about a year and 8 months, which is why I didn't really think about going to the BBQ place at first.
I used to have a weakness for pulled pork, so sometimes it's a little torturous to be around it, but I was running out of options so we went in.
This place intrigued me to say the least.
Kind of a biker bar vibe and I didn't feel as if we were all living in the same decade. Still, I felt that we made the right choice and that this place could be a diamond in the rough.

The first thing on the menu to catch my attention was the Philly Cheesesteak stuffed giant baked potato. It seemed like it would be amazing, but I still wanted to lay off of the red meat, so I asked to substitute chicken, and the server made it happen.

How could something so simple, taste so incredible?! "The Pig" gets all of their potatoes right from the local Winnemuca Farms, and this was the biggest baked potato i've personally ever seen.
It looked like a small football. It came to the table overflowing with shredded chicken breast, grilled mushrooms, peppers, onions and was topped with melted pepper jack cheese.
The best part about this meal were the 3 kinds of BBQ sauce at the table for us. Original, Sweet and Spicy, and Spicy. I had to try all three, but my hands down favorite was the sweet and spicy. The sauce really brought my potato to the next level...it was the perfect side kick to that shredded chicken. Butter and sour cream had no business being there.

It looked so good I forgot to take a picture BEFORE I started to dig in! Whoops.

 I'm usually not one to order a baked potato as a main dish, but i'm glad that I did.
A valiant effort was given, but I couldn't finish that bad boy.
This is definitely something i'd like to cook up for dinner sometime.
If you're in a chicken philly type mood but don't want the fries and bread, this is the way to go!




The icing on the cake to our experience at "The Pig" had to be the "wall art" in the ladies restroom. Apparently the men's had their own pictures, but I didn't go in their bathroom to find out.

If you ever find yourself in Winnemucca, NV, make a pit stop at the Flying Pig BBQ!

Thanks for reading!

Homemade Pita Pizza

Hey everyone!


For tonight's dinner I decided to put something new together and ended up with some eggplant and veggie bbq pizzas on whole wheat pita. I've made pita pizzas before, but never this kind. I enjoy taking culinary risks and i'm glad I went through with this slightly crazy, non-traditional pizza because it was delicious! :)


I'm not really one for measurements...I like to eye things up and this is an easy to eye up meal.
Here's a list of the ingredients I used, and I'll walk you through the process later. Feel free to swap anything out! :)

• One medium eggplant
• Panko Breading
• Flour
• 3 Eggs
• Various seasonings - Adobo, garlic powder, ground cracked pepper, blackened redfish seasoning
• Tofuyan brand Pita Bread
• 2% milk shredded mozzarella and 2% shredded mexican blend
• Sweet Baby Rays Sweet Vidalia Onion BBQ Sauce
• Broccoli florets
• 1/2 vidalia onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Olive oil
• Peanut (or other oil of your choice) for frying
• Baby spinach
• Sliced portabella mushrooms
• Cilantro
• Avocado

The most time consuming part of this whole operation was definitely the eggplant. I peeled and thinly sliced that bad boy and sent it to the assembly line to be breaded. You can choose whatever thickness you'd like, but I recommend keeping it under 1/2 inch...most of mine were thinner so they would fry faster.

I had four dishes lined up across the counter. The first one was for the eggplant, the next was a bowl with 3 beaten egg yolks, the third was for the flour and last was the panko breading.

Pretty easy, just cover each piece in flour on both sides then dip them into the eggs, covering thoroughly and then finishing off with enough panko to cover up the egg.

I had plain panko breading in the house so I added a few seasonings to kick it up a bit. 

I went with Adobo, ground cracked pepper, garlic powder, and just a touch of blackened seasoning. 

I didn't put crazy amounts in there, but there was enough to give it some great flavor. 

You can or course use whatever seasonings you'd like or even go with pre-seasoned panko or breadcrumbs. I personally like the panko better because it is lighter and gets a great crisp to it.

Once prepped, the eggplant doesn't take long to fry up at all.

Take the oil of your choice (although I would stay away from olive oil as it doesn't work well for frying foods) and put enough in the skillet to fry a few pieces at a time. Make sure not to crowd the pan. 

I like to put the setting on a little higher than medium and see how they fry from there. If you're not sure if your oil is hot enough just stick your finger in th pan...I mean, drop a crumb in and if it sizzles with some enthusiasm, the oil should be hot enough to start putting in some slices of eggplant.You don't want things to get too hot but make sure that they're hot enough. 

The edges should start to brown up a bit when it's about time to flip and the eggplant itself should be transparent looking and soft when finished.

I set up another plate with folded paper towels on it to catch some of the excess oil after they were out of the pan. Sprinkling on a little salt on em after they're out of the pan is a great finishing touch.

Doesn't quite do them justice, but here's a pic of some of the finished eggplant...

First batch...so what if it looks like a sunflower?!

Everyone in the house ended up having a few pieces as I was cooking it, but you get a lot of slices from one eggplant, so I was left with more than enough to slice up and put on our pizzas!

Towards the end of the eggplant project, I preheated my oven to 400 to get ready for the pitas.
The first time I made these pizzas I didn't toast the pita's before adding the sauce, cheese, and toppings, so they weren't quite crispy enough for my liking. If you'd like a crispy pizza, just put them on some foil, top side down and brush some olive oil on them. Let them hang out in the oven until they start to get a little bit brown. I don't cut them in half, I use the entire pita. It makes for a thicker, sturdier crust to hold all those awesome toppings.

Once the pitas were crispy enough, I took them out of the oven and smoothed on some Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet Vidalia Onion BBQ Sauce. I love this stuff! Just enough kick mixed with a little sweetness. Feel free to use your favorite BBQ sauce.
I sprinkled the 2% Mozzarella on first, then added a mixture of sautéed garlic, onions, and portabella mushrooms. Next was the sliced panko eggplant, broccoli florets, shredded spinach, raw onion and another layer of cheese, the 2% mexican blend for a little more flavor.

I made 6 pizzas total, so I tried a few variations, all of which were super tasty. Adding cilantro, sliced avocado, and Cholula hot sauce was my personal favorite!

Here's the pre-oven picture of the first pizza

Post-oven Pizzas...

We all had 2 and they were pretty filling, but it all depends on how hungry you are.

The best thing about pita pizzas is that the possibilities are pretty much endless. There are many varieties of pita out there, along with a boat load of cheese and topping options so if you're not an eggplant fan, make one with your favorite stuff!

In the past i've used grilled chicken, chicken parm, pepperoni, shrimp, and more. It just depends on what you and your guests are in the mood for!

Pita Pizzas are a pretty quick and crowd pleasing meal idea.
You also might want to try making them as an appetizer, just slice into fours, put out some ranch or other dipping sauce and they're ready to go!

I hope you make your version of these sometime...thanks for reading! :)

The Quest for the Greatest Chicken Wings Ever.

It was the morning of January 25th and my tour bus was en route to Buffalo, NY.
It may have only been 8am, but chicken wings were the only thing on my mind.

I had seen plenty of Food Network shows over the years featuring both Anchor Bar and Duff's chicken wings. Buffalo seemed to be a city divided. Some people would jump in front of a moving bus for Anchor Bar wings, while others said those couldn't hold a candle to Duff's. I had to find out for myself.

Anchor Bar

Anchor Bar claims to be home of the first chicken wing, created by owner Teressa Bellisimo in 1964. There are a few story versions of how it happened, but they all point to Anchor being the originators.  (except for one, which says that a man named John Young developed a "Mambo Sauce" and put it on a type of chicken wing. They were prepared in a different way than Teressa's, uncut with the sauce poured on top, not tossed, but there is no real proof that John was first.)


ANYWAY, on to Duff's, which opened in 1946. Owner Louise Duffney served up Duff's first batch of wings in 1969 and they were quickly a hit, selling about 20lbs a week.
Duff's quickly gained a reputation for having the best wings in Buffalo. (Thank you google)

I had high hopes of trying them both, but only being in Buffalo for one evening (and also performing a show) that dream wasn't gonna happen.
Transportation can be tricky while on tour. The cast travels on a bus, so we don't really have the luxury of jumping in our cars and driving wherever we please.
I googled directions for each place and ran into a problem. Anchor Bar was within walking distance of our hotel, but would be closed by time we got done with our show. Duff's was open late but was a 15 minute drive from the hotel.

I realized that I might be leaving Buffalo without trying some legendary wings!
Luckily, that didn't happen because my friend Sunny saved the day!
She happened to be in Buffalo watching our show because her brother Greg is in the cast.
Sunny happily piled 5 of us into her car and we were on our way to Duff's!


I'll spare you details of the restaurant itself...let's get onto the food!


For traditional sauces, they had Mild, Mild-Medium, Medium, Medium-Hot, Hot, Superhot, Death, and Armageddon.
They also had other sauces including Honey Garlic and a variety of BBQ sauces, and i'm sure they're fantastic, but as a first timer I was going with the original stuff.

10 piece medium wings with perfectly crisp veggies!

Our server (and the menu) warned us that Medium wings were HOT, Medium-hot were VERY HOT, and Hot were VERY VERY HOT... Armageddon wings...yeah, probably not a wise choice (unless you're into pooping out fireballs)



I decided on the Medium wings, and for me, that was the perfect decision. I'd say they were at least as spicy as other restaurants medium-hot, or hot sauces. It was the perfect amount of kick for me. My mouth/lips were burning a bit after having the first wing, but the creamy bleu cheese was a delicious help.
I do like my wings with some heat though, so I was happy. :)


The wings themselves were an average size and pretty drenched in their amazing sauce (but without a messy puddle of sauce on the plate!) but somehow still maintained their crispiness. I don't know how you do it Duff's, but bravo.
I also ordered a side of fries, which was massive! You can kind of see them in the next picture, but it does them no justice. They came out in a wooden bowl, piping hot, with the perfect mix of potato and crispiness.

Mission accomplished!

We all stuffed our faces and everyone was happy. Great service and a chill atmosphere...the night was a success!
In retrospect I should have bought a T-shirt, (Yeah, i'm one of those) but these pictures serve as a fantastic memory.

The aftermath!

Now it was time for a crammed car ride back through the freshly fallen snow to our hotel...for dessert of course! 

Sunny got us there safe and sound...aside from being an awesome driver, she is also an amazing baker. She makes the most delicious pie's i've ever had. She brought us a chocolate peanut butter pie. It was topped with mini Reeses cups and had an oreo crust. It was the kind of pie that makes you want to cry...in that good way. 

You can see more of Sunny's awesome creations and even get recipes on her blog For Your Pies Only

*End Shameless Plug* :)

                                                            Final Thoughts 

I really couldn't have asked for more from my Duff's experience. (except maybe for extra wings to-go)

I've eaten a lot of wings so far in my life, and in my humble opinion, I'll have to say that these were #1.

I left the restaurant with a full belly and a big smile. I look forward to returning to Buffalo some time to try out the wings at Anchor Bar, as I'm sure they are also delicious. Let's just say it's a good thing I don't live up there because i'd be eating wings wayyy too often!

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!