Buffalo Chicken Wings

It's National Chicken Wing Day! I considered writing that all in caps because I am actually that excited. Now I have to be honest, when I want wings I typically just go to my favorite happy hour restaurant or open a bag. But I decided to make them myself. It's for the blog you know not for selfish reasons at all.

I fell in love with buffalo chicken wings in college. On Friday or Saturday nights we would order pizza and wings from WHOP (Waterville House of Pizza). Yup that's what we called it WHOP. These evenings were a mish-mash of food we ordered and whatever was stocked in our dorm rooms. I got into the habit of having my wings with white rice and Nori Komi Furikake. I know, I know ....some of you are saying what?? It's a delicious rice seasoning with salt, seaweed, ground fish, sesame seeds and several other ingredients. It's delicious and it's been a habit I've kept since college. I still get the side eye from hubby whenever I go in like that. But hey, you like what you like.

Here's the kicker...I don't like my wings fried and then coated in sauce but hubby does. So I knew I had to find a cooking process that would create a nice crispy wing without the breading I can't stand. But I'm not the fryer of the family. Hubby can fry and mom can fry anything but me ...It's just not my style.  Luckily, finding a cooking method that would make the whole family happy wasn't too difficult. Thanks Test Kitchen!!

Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings

Ingredients
12 chicken wings
3 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp powder garlic

Buffalo Wing Sauce
1/2 cup of hot pepper sauce
1/3 cup of melted butter

Directions:
 Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Remove feathers and hair from the chicken. If you're having trouble, it may be helpful to burn the remaining hair and feathers off.

Cut wing into sections. Cut between the joints with a sharp knife. Discard the tip. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.

Mix the baking powder, paprika, salt and garlic powder.

Dreg the chicken in the mixture and place on a wire rack on a large baking sheet.

Cook for 30 minutes at 250 degrees. Then increase the temperature to 425 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes on the top rack.

Once finished, toss wings in "Buffalo Wing Sauce"AKA Hot sauce and butter.

Banana Bread w/Bacon Maple Syrup

You'd probably never guess it but we typically eat pretty healthy here. I'm always looking for great healthy dishes to feed to the family. So I was extremely happy when a colleague of mine gave me several gluten free and dairy free cookbooks. This one recipe for banana bread looked good so I tried it. I mixed up several different flours to create the gluten free flour to make the dish. Then I mashed the bananas and added eggs and vanilla. I even added maple syrup instead of sugar. That's right... I went super healthy on that banana bread.

When I told my mini me we would have it for breakfast, he turned to me and said, "Can we have it with bacon?" What?!? I made this super healthy, might I add delicious, banana bread and my child wants to sully it with salty, fatty bacon. Then I thought about it...bacon might be good. Why not add a nice bacon and maple syrup drizzle. And that's how the banana bread with bacon maple syrup was born.

*Note: This recipe is not gluten free. Nor sugar free. Hey, if you're going to do it, you might as well go all the way.

Banana Bread w/Bacon Maple Syrup and Walnuts

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp of salt
3 overripe bananas
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
2 tsp of vanilla
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of maple syrup
4 slices of bacon

Directions

If baking your bacon...put 4 slices of bacon in to a cold oven. Set the oven timer to 17 minutes and allow the oven to heat up to 400 degrees. After 17 minutes the bacon should be cooked perfectly and crispy. Pat the bacon with a paper towel to remove excess oil and chop the bacon into small pieces.

Set the oven temperature to 350 degrees and spray bunt pan or 4 x8 loaf pan with oil.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Mash ripe bananas with a fork.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla.
Then mix in the oil and bananas.
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.

Removing a moist cake from a  pan can be hard. It is sometimes helpful to spray the cake pan with oil then dust it with a little bit of flour.

Transfer the batter into the pan and bake about 45 minutes until golden brown. If you are using a loaf pan the cook time is about 1 hour.

Once finished transfer the bread onto a wire rack and let it cool.

In a bowl mix the bacon, chopped walnuts and maple syrup.

Place the bread on a serving dish or plate and drizzle the bacon walnut syrup onto the bread.

Now dig in! It's perfect with a cup of coffee.

Grilled Cheese w/Bacon & Tomato

One go to meal for my mini me is grilled cheese. Just like his momma he loves cheese. There's something extremely satisfying about ooey gooey cheese and buttered bread. Of course, it's for the little one so I also try to make sure I've included healthy fruits and vegetables somewhere in his meals.

Adding tomatoes became the easy option since we have a little garden in the back of the house. I just walk outside and pluck it off the vine. Of course, if you've been reading the blog you've noticed that I have a new obsession with baking bacon. I might get passed it, but for now, I'm subscribing to the mantra "Everything is Better with Bacon."

Grilled Cheese with Bacon and Tomato

Ingredients:
4 Slices of Bread
4 Slices of Cheddar Cheese Slices
4 Slices of Tomato (sliced thin)
4 Slices of Bacon
Softened Butter

Directions:

Start by cooking your bacon. Since I bake my bacon and it takes about 17 minutes that allows the time needed for my butter to soften and for me to slice the tomato.

In a frying pan on medium heat, melt a little butter. Then spread a small amount of butter on the bread. Put the bread in the pan butter side down. After a minute or so the bread will begin to toast in the pan. Once it's browned flip it over. Now you're ready to start building your grilled cheese.

Add one slice of cheese to the bread then your sliced tomatoes.
Next add your bacon and another slice of cheese.
Then place your second slice of bread in the pan buttered side up.
Using a spatula flip the whole sandwich. Then with the spatula press down on the sandwich.
Cook for about 3 minutes. That should allow the bread to brown and the cheese to melt.

*Note: After talking to some of my friends I have some other options I'm going to try.
1. fried green tomatoes.
2. beef bacon...yum

Effortless Adobo Chicken

We eat a lot of chicken in our house. So I'm always looking to change it up a bit. Luckily, I grew up in a pretty diverse environment. The majority of my classmates in high school were Filipino. So I was lucky enough to experience some of the culture and the deliciousness of the cuisine. From cassava cake and biko, to adobe chicken I have a couple of clear favorites.

But it's been so long since I've lived in an area with a large Filipino population, I actually had forgotten how much I loved the food. That was until I assigned the "Food is Culture" project to my World History students. One of my students brought in Adobo Chicken and it was absolutely delicious. In addition to having delicious food the student explained of how to prepare the dish. Yippe!! Why hadn't I made this dish before? It was super easy - garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar and a bay leaf. So, in a pinch one night I made it.

Adobo Chicken

Ingredients:

3 lbs of boneless chicken breast
1/2 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup of rice vinegar
4 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Pepper
1 tsp ginger

Directions:

Season your chicken with salt, pepper and ginger then place it in a bowl. Smash your garlic and add it  to the bowl with the bay leaf, soy sauce and vinegar. 

Let the mixture marinate for an hour before putting it in a heavy pot (like a dutch oven). Bring everything to a boil. Then decrease the heat to medium and cook for 2 hours.

The sauce took a little longer to thicken so in the end it cooked another hour until it thickened.

*Note: As you see I used boneless chicken breast because that is what I had on hand. I do believe that recipes like this taste better when you use bone-in chicken. Also, I added a little ginger worried about how my mini me would react but he was fine. You could also add a little sugar.

Hope you enjoy it...it's a little reminder of home for me.

Bacon & Shrimp Fried Rice

One of my favorite comfort foods is shrimp fried rice. I don't know when it happened but It's been that way since I was a teenager. There was a great Chinese food restaurant about a block away and if I had a particularly bad day at school I would go and get a pint of pork fried rice or shrimp fried rice.

When I moved away from the city it got harder and harder to find a place that I really liked. And forget finding a place late at night. So I decided to make my own. After several failed attempts I came across a recipe that change everything for me. I felt like I had finally found the secret to getting the right flavor. Guess what it was...BACON. I know... how wonderful right. So now in the time it takes me to bake bacon, I can make delicious shrimp fried rice.

Warning... I use a wok to make fried rice but you could use a curved frying pan to get the same results.

Bacon and Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients
3 cups of cooked white or brown rice
2 eggs
4 slices of bacon
1/2 pound of shrimp peeled & deveined
1 cup of frozen vegetables unthawed (I like peas and carrots)
1/3 cup of fresh julienned green peppers
1/3 cup of fresh julienned yellow peppers
1/3 cup of sliced green onions
1/4 cup of bean sprouts
2tbsp of soy sauce
2tbsp of sesame oil
salt and pepper
powdered ginger
Chinese Five Spice

Directions
Place the bacon in a cold oven and let it heat up to 400 degrees. Allow the bacon to cook for approximately 17 minutes.

Place a little sesame oil (about 1/2 a tbsp) in the pan. Whisk the eggs together with a little salt and pepper and pour it into the pan. Allow it to cook like you are making an omelette. Once the egg is cooked remove it from the pan and cut it into thin slices.

Add 1 tbsp of sesame oil to the pan, then add your shrimp. Cook for about a minute then turn the shrimp and sprinkle with powdered ginger and Chinese Five Spice.
Then add your peppers, green onions, bean sprouts and unthawed vegetables. Let it cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Toss everything together.

Add the rice and the rest of the sesame oil and soy sauce.
By this time your baked bacon should be done. Once it has cooled, cut it into thin slices and add it and your egg to the pan and toss everything together.

Herb Marinated Grilled Steak

After a long night of good fun and great friends, nothing is better than a great meal with the family. So I was excited when hubby was able to entice my mother and father to come over for Sunday dinner. Hubby is the grill master and despite an extended weekend he hadn't spent any time on the grill. In the summer, he typically lives on the grill. There is absolutely nothing he can't accomplish on that thing. Want it cooked low and slow? He can do it. Want it seared? You got it. Perfectly cooked fish? Yup, he can do that too. Outdoor cooking is not my domain, but what he cooks is so good it makes me reconsider.

So this Sunday we were graced with steak. We don't eat steak often, so when we do it's a real treat. Unfortunately, the last two times we were out and I ordered skirt steak I was disappointed. Well, disappointed no more...hubby to the rescue.

Herb Marinated Grilled Skirt

Ingredients

1/4 cup Parsley
1/4 cup Oregano
1/4 cup Bail
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Pepper
5 cloves of Garlic
3 Onion slices
1/2 tsp of sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp Worcestershire
3 lbs Skirt Steak

Directions
Combine herbs, garlic, onions, olive oil, sugar, Worcestershire, salt and pepper in a blender. Rub mix onto steak and let it marinate for at least an hour.

Place mesquite wood logs in the grill and set it on fire. Let the grill heat to 500 degrees. If you are applying the steak directly to the flame please make sure you turn it every 2 to 3 minutes. Direct heat will allow the steak to sear which will lock in all of the flavor and keep it moist.

Cook the steak on the grill for 10 minutes. 5 minutes if you prefer your steak rare.

Fourth Filled Trifle

Part of what I love about the summer is the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. This  4th of July weekend my friend is having a huge BBQ. Typically her parties provide an opportunity for friends that have known each other for decades to spend some time together. She always has tons of food and it's always a great time. We all catch up and get to see each others children.  It really is a wonderful time. But with such a grand list of entrees, I wasn't sure exactly what I should bring. What do you bring the party that has everything? DESSERT...

Then the questions was, what to bring. I was lucky enough to have a friend make a wonderful strawberry filled suggestion. And I do think I will make that dessert but since it's the 4th of July, I'm going to go Red, White and Blue for dessert. I can't remember the first time I had trifle but I know I thought it was the best dessert ever. Quick and extremely satisfying. How could it not be? Pound cake, pudding, fruit and whipped cream...what more could you ask for?

This dessert idea came from a Taste of Home. I'm making some minor changes to utilize what I have in the house. I'm going to use strawberries instead of raspberries and vanilla pudding instead of lemon pudding. The pudding is more so a personal preference since that's how I originally had the dessert.

Strawberry & Blueberry Trifle

Ingredients
1 can of condensed milk
1 1/2 cups of 2 % milk
1/2 sour cream
2 packages instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups of blueberries
2 cups of strawberries
1 package of pound cake
Sugar
lemon slice
whipped cream
sprig of mint

Directions
With a mixer, mix the condensed milk with 2% milk and pudding mix for about 2 minutes. Then fold in the sour cream.

Squeeze some fresh lemon in the strawberries and blueberries then toss with white sugar.

Cut the pound cake into cubes.

If want the free form trifle shown above use a greased spring form pan.
Otherwise you can use a trifle bowl or a tall clear bowl.

Add one layer of cubed pound cake.
Then a layer of blueberries.
Then add a layer of pudding mix and spread gently.
Add another layer of pound cake.
Then a layer of strawberries.
And another layer of pudding spreading gently.

Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Before serving top with some whipped cream and a few extra strawberries and blueberries for garnish. I also like to add some fresh mint (I have tons in the garden).

My trifle is still in the fridge but below is a mini trifle I made.

Enjoy and have a  HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!