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October 25, 2013
By Terrel Strong
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in Recipes

Chicken Noodle Soup

You may have seen a previous post about creamy tomato soup, and how I made a huge point that tomato soup may or may not be better than chicken noodle soup. At the risk of offending chicken noodle soup lovers, I decided to put up a recipe for it.

What You’ll Need

½ cup finely chopped carrot
¼ cup finely chopped celery
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon butter
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried thyme
⅛ teaspoon pepper
2 cups of uncooked egg noodles
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

How to Prepare

Saute the carrot, celery and onion in butter in a Dutch oven until tender. Stir in the broth, chicken and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Add noodles; cook for 10 minutes or until noodles are tender. Sprinkle with parsley.

October 16, 2013
By Adam
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in Catering Advice

Ways to Become The Next Top Chef

If you have a thrill for cooking, and want to step up your game a bit you may want to stop what you're doing, and listen closely to these helpful tips. If you’re going to do something, you might as well be as good as you possibly can at it, and in the cooking realm no exceptions are taken. Most people think they can go from recipe to recipe, and be consider a top dog in the cooking world. While recipes are the fiber of the cooking world, they won’t give you the full key things in becoming a better cook.

1. Listen to Those Around You

If you are a professional cook, or even just a home cook make it an effort to listen closely to someone you know that has skills when it comes to cooking. Their are so many different strong points each cook holds, and if you get to take a journey into a friend, or chefs strong point listen to what they have to say. This will help make your more rounded in the cooking world, and not just a one trick pony. By personally working with different chefs, and friends with different backgrounds, I now know how to cook more cuisines from different countries then I can name on a map.

2. Research

Not all culinary work comes from out of the kitchen. If your going to prepare good food, then you need to do your research behind it. Different foods have different times in the year when the are in season, and at their best. Food has different way of being seasoned, prepared, etc. to make it at its very best. And any good chef in the world will agree that sometimes you can not rely on a recipe for a dish, but by having to go in, and taste the dish until it is perfect.

3. Have Confidence in Your Dish

No one is going to want to eat a dish that a cook made if you describe it as “ yea it’s alright”. You have to put your heart behind it, and know that the dish will be a home run no matter who is eating. Cook how you would want your food to be cooked for yourself, and prepare the dish as if it has a piece of you behind it(not literally though).

October 16, 2013
By Adam
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in Catering Advice

The Chef With No Business

I had the pleasure of working side by side with a chef that new Italian food as good as anyone in the world. Maybe he knew it so well because of years of learning or maybe because he grew up in Italy. I worked for him in a successful restaurant for years, but he told me the first place he acquired didn’t run as smoothly as this on.

I wonder why this was? He told he used the exact same menu for the restaurant, and the location was even better then the restaurant that he owned now. It didn’t seem to make any sense to me of why the first place didn’t work out. Finally, it began to come clear to me why the place didn’t run as well as the current spot he owned, and cooked at.

He began to tell me he ran the place with his brother, and how their was a huge glass window into the kitchen so you could see exactly how your food was prepared, and cooked. He said his brother, and himself ran it that way for a couple months, and at first had a lot of customers, but later fell to almost no one coming in.

He believed in showing the people where the food was coming from, how top quality the dish is, this would make them appreciate the dish more, and the work that goes into it. He said some night he left the place just to his brother, the only person he trusted to run the shop when he was away.

His brother still currently works with us, and when my boss isn’t around he is the one running the restaurant, and cooking. One thing my boss, didn’t seem to notice is how messy his brother is when it comes to cooking, and how hygiene isn’t on the top of that charts for him. There were times where I say this man pick a wedgie from his butt while picking up chicken he dropped on the ground only to later be cooked. I know this is gross, but whenever I brought it up to him he threatened to give me the boot.

This made it all clear to me though, the reason this place is successful is because his brother only works in the back part of the kitchen where no one can see him. I could see how no one would want to go to a restaurant to see a live show of a chef preparing their food while grabbing at himself, and destroying their dishes.

September 24, 2013
By Adam
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in Uncategorized

Different Options Dont Disappoint!

The way you take on a journey doesn’t matter if you get to your destination right? That is why we need to explore our options when it comes to what we decided to eat. People get discouraged by healthier options, or a food option that isn’t in their normal routine. To some people bacon, is just bacon, and a burger is just a burger. What if I told you that these two classic had another way of being prepared, and eaten? Crazy right? not so much. Rather than using ground beef when making your next burger, why not give ground turkey a shot. Ground turkey is healthier than ground beef, but it doesn’t skimp on the flavor. Do the same with bacon, why not give turkey bacon a shot for next sandwich or salad.

I grew to love turkey bacon even more than original bacon, if I said that to myself 10 years ago i wouldn’t even believe. I’ll even request a good turkey burger at my local restaurants from time to time. Crazy how years ago I didn’t even know the realm of which simple food could go into, and now I prefer the alternative to the original. Not saying that I don’t still enjoy a burger, or bacon, but know I have more options to play, and I’m happy because of this.

Different options don’t just stop in the realm of meat, why not try having some egg whites with your toast next time you eat breakfast. Egg whites are just as tasty, and a lot healthier than you would expect.

And for those people that love to use mayo in their tuna, potato, or pasta salads why not give a fresh avocado the starting spot. I found that using fresh avocados instead of mayo makes the dishes a lot better for your body, but still giving satisfying results in your belly. The texture of the avocado is almost the same as mayo, but brings a new, and exciting taste to these classic salads.

September 12, 2013
By Adam
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in Uncategorized

Comics Love Food Too.. No Joke!

I got the chance to catch up with fellow comedian/foodie Nicole Yates this week. Nicole, and I have two things in common we both love food, and comedy. Nicole also writes for a blog called http://didjaeat.com/ which main focus is food. I thought rather than going over some recipes or how to prepare some elegant dish, I’d ask some simple questions, and see what’d we come up with.

Q. What's your favorite food to eat?

Nicole: I love a good ribeye steak, but I also love a really great burger. I could also probably eat pizza everyday for the rest of my life if I could. I’m such a glutton, it’s hard to narrow it down.

Q. Seeing how we both live in Philadelphia do you think there is anywhere else in the world that has a better cheesesteak then us?

Nicole: People who have never been here have no idea exactly what a cheesesteak even is. I was in a really big diner outside chicago a while back. I noticed they had a "philly cheesesteak" on the menu and it made me laugh. I said jokingly to the waitress "Philly Cheesesteak? What's that? A steak on a roll?". And straight faced she said to me "Well, what else would it be?". So that little story sums up the rest of the world's ideas on cheesesteaks.

Q. I'm currently attempting to make every Sunday National Taco Day. Would you support the cause?

Nicole: I would wholeheartedly support that! Would hard and soft tacos take turns on sundays? So many logistical questions!

Q.You have your favorite food dropped on the floor, do you pick it up, and eat it, or just let it go?

Nicole: It really does depend on a wide assortment of things. Where am I when this happens? Will anyone see me? How hungry am I? Is there more of it? Can you believe I'm still single? Me either!

Q. A five star meal made by Chef Ramsey, or a fast food place?

Nicole: If I can pick the foods Ramsey would cook, then I'd pick him. Otherwise, fast food. Mostly because I have no need for offal meats and other gross stuff.

Q. Is their a type of food you will never try?

Nicole: I will never eat bugs. Never. I'm not at all interested in organ meat either. And I hate asparagus and brussel sprouts.

Q. You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Nicole: Cheesesteaks or pizza. Or! My Babci's Goblacki (it's a Polish thing: ground meat and rice wrapped in cabbage leaves and cooked in a tomato soup).

It was a pleasure getting somes answers from Nicole, even though she may have left us with more questions. When you get a chance check out Nicoles site http://yatesycomedy.com/, and if you happen to be around Philadelphia, you can check her out live at the M Room Septemeber 19, or at Ruba Septemeber 26th.

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