Spicy garlic parmesan chicken wings

My husband and kids love the Garlic Parmesan wings from Wing Stop.  After about five years I gave in and tried to make something similar without deep frying them.  The first time I just seasoned them and threw them in the oven.  After that my husband asked me if I could try it with Panko to make them really crunchy.  I tried, and the wings of happiness were born.

Ingredients

2-3 Pounds of fresh party wings (not frozen, must be defrosted)

1 Cup panko breadcrumbs

3 Tbsp garlic powder

2 Tbsp onion granules

4 Tbsp Parmesan cheese (smaller grain the better)

Chipotle powder to your liking I use about 1 Tsp

2 Tsp dried parsley

Pinch salt

1/2 Tsp black pepper

3 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 375.  Coat wings in olive oil.  Add a third of your seasoning to wings and give them a good rub down coating the entire wings in seasoning.  Add remaining two thirds of seasoning to panko and mix.  Line a pan with foil.  Place baking cooling racks over foil (if you have them).  One at a time roll each wing in the panko and place on the baking rack.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Carefully flip each wing over once trying not to knock off all of the coating.  Bake for another 15 -20 minutes until wings reach an inner temp of 175.  Pull out and let rest 5-7 minutes.  Enjoy.

Life hack.  I sometimes sprinkle more parmesan on the wings after I flip them.  Life hack two.  Even though it goes against all of my clean eating tips, my family really prefers that parmesan cheese in the green shaker bottle near the pizza sauce.

Authentic Pork Carnitas

**Pleas note this is an updated recipe but not an updated after pic.  My husband and kids ate the food so fast last night I did not get a picture of it. However this was by far the most moist, and flavorful carnitas I have made to date.
1 large 2-3 pound pork shoulder/butt
1/2 medium white onion chopped
6 cloves garlic chopped
1.5 tbsp sea salt or kosher
2 tbsp black pepper
2 Bay leaves
1 Tsp cumin
1 Cube chicken bullion

warm flour tortillas (or corn its a preference really)
1/2 white onion fine diced
cilantro fine minced

Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Shred with a fork and allow pork to simmer in juice for ten minutes. Serve. Mix diced white onions and cilantro. Place pork on warmed tortilla, top with onions and cilantro and enjoy.

Slow cooker BBQ pulled pork

 Pork:
4 - 5 pound pork shoulder
1 chicken bullion cube
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 yellow onion chopped

BBQ Sauce:
1/2 yellow onion cubed
4 cloves garlic

 1 can tomato paste
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 can pineapple chunks with juice

2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

Combine all ingredients for BBQ sauce in blender and puree until smooth.  Taste for seasoning.  I added a little more balsamic vinegar after tasting.  It is going to taste tomatoe-y until it's cooked down.  Add pork, half of sauce, and all ingredients for pork into crock pot.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Store remaining sauce in blender, covered in the refrigerator.  After the 8 hours using a large spoon drain half of juice from cooked pork, shred and cover with remaining half of sauce.  Allow to cook for another hour until sauce thickens.  Serve and enjoy.  I served mine on a whole wheat bun spread with a little salted butter, and sliced fresh tomatoes.  The boys devoured it.

This sauce can be cooked longer, or even ahead of time.  You can simmer it on low for 2-3 hours then add it to any meat you desire.  The pork can be cooked a day ahead of time, drained and then put back in the crock pot with the sauce and cooked on low in the crock pot for 8 hours if you want the sauce to be really thick.