DudeFoods.com Food Blog and Reviews

The Popcorn Chicken Chalupa

Written on May 2, 2011 by Nick in Food I Made, Food I Paid For

I wrote a couple weeks ago about how although I enjoy the fact that Yum! Brands (the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) has created hybrid restaurants where you can buy food from more than one of their fast food chains at a single location I still wished they had some choices that combined foods from their multiple chains into a single item. I was even nice enough to get them started on the idea by creating the Triple Decker Personal Pan Taco.

Well, I still haven’t heard anything back from Yum! Brands about my idea. Who knows, maybe they’re just working on a marketing campaign for the new menu. Since these items would pretty much just sell themselves though that obviously can’t be it. The only logical answer is that they simply can’t think of any other new items, so I decided to create one more for them. After this they’re on their own though!

This time I went to a Taco Bell / KFC and purchased a Taco Bell chalupa and an order of popcorn chicken from KFC. The result? The Popcorn Chicken Chalupa, which is pretty much a regular chalupa except for the fact that it’s stuffed with deliciously crispy KFC popcorn chicken.

So, there you go Yum! Brands, I’ve created two great new menu items for you. All you need to do is think up a few more, start selling them and count all the money that comes in!

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The Macaroni and Cheeseburger

Written on April 28, 2011 by Nick in Food I Made

I was all set to make some macaroni and cheese and a burger for dinner one night recently when I thought to myself “why not just combine the two and stuff the macaroni and cheese inside the burger?”

I started off by cooking the macaroni and cheese on my stove top, and while I was waiting for it I flattened out two ground beef patties. Once the macaroni and cheese was ready I spooned some of it on top of the first ground beef patty, placed the second patty on top of that, flattened the edges of my burger and threw it on the grill.

The only problem I really ran across while making this burger was that as it was on the grill and started to shrink it kind of started coming apart around the edges. The burger still tasted great, but if I made one again I’d probably try to flatten the two ground beef patties out a little bit more so they’d cook faster and shrink a little less. Then again, the fact that I bought the cheapest ground beef I could find probably didn’t help me too much with this burger either.

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Ultimate Grilled Cheese Contest Finalists!

Written on April 25, 2011 by Nick in Everything Else

The deadline to enter the DudeFoods “Ultimate Grilled Cheese” contest has passed and I’ve selected my finalists! First off, I’d just likeÂ to say that I’m amazed with all the creative entries I received, and even though there were only supposed to be five finalists, I just couldn’t narrow it down to anything less than nine.

The Finalists:
#1 – The Grilled Cheesus Burger (submitted by Paul and Lori from Burp! Where Food Happens) – Two grilled cheese sandwiches with a bison burger in the middle. The top sandwich is made up of smoked Wisconsin Gouda and caramelized onions, and the bottom consists of smoked Gouda and spicy dill pickles.

#2 – The Grilled Cheese Tray (submitted by Rebecca) – Seven cheeses (Muenster, Cheddar-mozzarella, medium Cheddar, Provolone, pepper jack, Colby and Baby Swiss) along with Johnsonville Old World Recipe Summer Sausage on a ciabatta roll.

#3 – The Crab Grilled Cheese (submitted by Sarah) – Crab meat, mayo, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and ranch dressing between two slices of 5 cheese garlic toast.

#4 – The Schlabst Grilled Cheese (submitted by Bryan) – Pabst cheese bread with pepper jack cheese in the middle and a cup of Schlitz beer cheese soup on the side. Served with a glass of Schlabst Beer (Schlitz on the bottom and Pabst on top).

#5 – Soup in a Sandwich Grilled Cheese (submitted by Jeff from EatWisconsin) This submission takes the classic soup and a sandwich combination and actually puts the soup INSIDE the sandwich using food grade chemicals to turn tomato soup into a gel, which is then combined with Cheddar cheese and place between two slices of white bread.

#6 – Three Cheese Carnitas Mexican Grilled Cheese Sandwich (submitted by Jenny) – Sharp Cheddar and Monterrey Jack cheeses, queso fresco, carnitas, black beans, cilantro, green onion, Cumin, chili powder and cayenne pepper. Served with salsa and sour cream.

#7 – Beer-bread and Bacon Grilled Cheese (submitted by Nicole from On My Table Blog) Two slices of fresh-baked beer-bacon bread with sharp Cheddar cheese on one side, chipotle white Cheddar cheese on the other, and tomato, cherrywood-smoked bacon and a fried egg in the middle.

#8 – The Alvinwich (submitted by Alvin) – A cheese-crusted Belgian waffle stuffed with a sausage, bacon, egg and cheese filling. As Alvin says “It’s literally a grilled cheese sandwich as the cheese itself is grilled on the outside.”

#9 – The Ultimate BLT Grilled Cheese (submitted by Ryan from Leff’s Lucky Town) Three slices of white bread topped with melted American, Swiss and Cheddar cheeses as well as lettuce, tomato, bacon and raw onion.

Now comes the best part; voting for the winner! You can view pictures of all the finalists below, but if you want to vote for your favorite you’ll have to head over to the DudeFoods Facebook page. The sandwich with the most “likes” on Facebook by midnight this Saturday, April 30th will take home a $50 Williams-Sonoma gift card, six packages of Sargento Blend cheese slices, an artisanal bread loaf and some gourmet mustard!

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The Triple Decker Personal Pan Taco

Written on April 21, 2011 by Nick in Food I Made, Food I Paid For

The great thing about Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and and KFC all being owned by the same company is that you can go to hybrid restaurants and buy food from more than one of these fast food chains at a single location. As great as being able to order a Gordita Supreme with a side of Pizza Hut breadsticks or a KFC Double Down with some Taco Bell cinnamon twists for desert is though I really feel like they’re missing out on a huge opportunity by not having anything on their menu that combines foods from their multiple restaurants into one item, so I decided to do something about it.

I headed over to a Pizza Hut / Taco Bell for lunch recently and purchased a Cheesy Double Decker Taco from the Taco Bell side of the menu and a Personal Pan Pizza from the Pizza Hut side and suddenly the Triple Decker Personal Pan Taco was born! It’s quite easy to make actually, since all you have to do is fold the pizza around the taco. The only problem I ran across with this new fast food creation was that since the pizza is pre-cut into four slices it started falling apart as soon as I took my first bite. This could easily be remedied however by just not cutting the pizza at all.

So, if anyone from Yum! Brands (the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) is reading this and you like my idea please feel free to use it. You don’t even have to pay me or anything. I mean, if you want to give me some free food I obviously won’t turn it down, but the Triple Decker Personal Pan Taco is my gift to you!

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Pancake and Waffle Breakfast Sliders

Written on April 19, 2011 by Nick in Food I Made

I absolutely love breakfast, but the fact that I’m not a very good cook usually means that unless I go out to eat I end up making myself one of three things; scrambled eggs, French toast or oatmeal. I’ve gotten sick of eating the same few things for breakfast almost every day though so I recently came up with a new breakfast concoction; mini pancake and mini waffle breakfast sliders!

The great thing about these sliders is that they don’t take any sort of culinary skill whatsoever. I started off by using some egg rings to fry up some perfectly round eggs on my stove. While those were cooking I threw some frozen mini waffles in my toaster and some frozen mini pancakes in my microwave. Once the eggs, pancakes and waffles were done I cooked some round maple syrup flavored breakfast sausages that I had in my freezer, thawed some hash browns, assembled my sliders and enjoyed my meal!

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