Game Day Buffalo Hot Wings!

Well it's October and the games begin...Basketball games that is. My husband 

LOVES Basketball and he LOVES Buffalo wings.

I am not much of a sports loving person when it comes to regular season games, but I will get into a championship game. Super Bowl I get excited about, Ice skating I love! And any Olympic game I am all over it!

I love Buffalo wings, but I must admit my family only likes the drumettes not the wing so today I will be working with only drumettes. I love eating franks red hot sauce, not only because it is delicious, but I often get coupons for it and save a lot when I buy it on sale.

2 1/2 pounds chicken wings or drumettes rinsed and pat dry

Cooking spray

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup hot sauce or buffalo sauce

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°. Place drumettes on a nonstick baking sheet and spray them lightly with cooking spray. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and ground black pepper and until crispy about 40-45 minutes.

When they are almost done, place 1/2 cup of your favorite buffalo sauce in a small saucepan and add 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Add 1/8 teaspoon

Of garlic powder. (optional) cook on medium heat until heated through.

Remove drumettes  from oven and place them in a large bowl and add the buffalo sauce that has been heated. Mix to coat chicken with sauce. I wanted them a bit crispier, so I put them back on the baking sheet and back in the oven for another ten minutes. When I took them out of the oven I placed them back in the bowl that still had sauce for the first sauce coating. I mixed with the sauce again and served.

I cut the top off a small bell pepper and hallowed it out and added ranch dressing inside.

I hope these drumettes  are a hit with your next game.

Easy Chicken Salad Wrap

I love using leftovers to create something quick and easy.

Nothing in my life is ever really quick and easy, but this meal is.

Quick and easy seems to be the trending thing right now, and so that is what I am focused on right now because I'm hungry!

The other night I made Chicken fajitas and so I am using a piece of grilled chicken and some sautéed veggies from that meal to make a quick lunch.

Ingredients:

1 large grilled chicken breast (leftovers)

2 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise 

1/4 cup grilled veggies

1/3 cup lettuce

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Ground pepper

Chop grilled chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a bowl.

Add chopped sautéed or grilled veggies, mayonnaise, chopped lettuce

Dijon mustard, a  pinch of ground pepper. I added some franks red hot sauce

To mine, because I put that $tuff on everything!

Grilled Chicken Fajitas

I love a lot of things in my small kitchen. I love my new wooden salt box, it makes me feel like I am a chef on the food network. And who doesn't want to be a chef on the food network.  I also love my indoor griller. It is one of my favorite kitchen appliances. I use it often for sandwiches as a panini maker, I use it to grill indoor veggies, I use it to grill buttered sourdough bread and I use it to grill chicken and it comes out so perfect and tenderly grilled.

I start by placing a few boneless skinless chicken breasts in a plastic zip top bag and pound them thin.

I did not have a meat pounder, so I used a heavy, big spoon!

I think it did a great job...for now.

I then make my marinade of olive oil, chicken fajita spice, Italian seasoning, salt and ground black pepper.

While the chicken marinates, I start slicing my vegetables.

Add them in a pan along with a bit of olive oil. 

Sprinkle a bit of chicken fajita spice on the veggies and stir.

These vegetable are so delicious, even the kiddos love them!

This grill is perfect for fajitas!

I love the flavor of the different spices.

Ingredients:

2 large boneless skinless chicken breast

1/3 cup olive oil 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 

1 tablespoon fajita seasoning  ( found in spice isle of grocery store )

1/2 teaspoon fajita seasoning 

Salt 

Ground pepper

4-Flour tortillas 

Begin by placing chicken breast in a zip top plastic bag and pound chicken breast to about 1/2 inch thick. In a separate zip top bag, place 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon fajita seasoning, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, generous pinch of salt, dash ground pepper. Place chicken breasts in bag of marinade, close zip top bag, and move bag around to mix chicken with marinade. Place bag of chicken in fridge and let marinate for about half an hour (more if desired) up to 24 hours. In the meantime, slice bell peppers, onion into strips and place in pan that is coated with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook on medium heat. Sprinkle vegetables with 1 teaspoon fajita seasoning, and a dash of salt. 

Continue to cook until translucent and tender, about5-7 minutes. Remove veggies from pan and place in serving dish or bowl, set aside. Remove bag of chicken and place on indoor grill and cook for 7-9minutes or until chicken has an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. Place chicken on chopping board or dish and slice into thin strips. Assemble fajitas by placing a few strips of chicken, cooked peppers and onion in a warmed flour tortilla. You can add extras like lettuce, guacamole and cilantro if desired. I made a simple guacamole with avocado, a pinch of salt and a dash of garlic powder. Simple and delicious!

Serves 4

Chicken Stew

When I think of chicken stew, I think of family. This recipe was taught to me by MaMa Ruby, my mother-in-law, who I consider, as do many, an expert cook. Seriously, anything that little lady cooks, turns to gold. I learned so many recipes from her along the years, like her Famous Fried Chicken to her Awesome Oreo Crust Cheesecake. Her Short Cut Spaghetti Sauce is a family treat, as is her Everything InThe Pot Chili. I will have ALL these recipes and more on here soon, but for now we are going to start with her chicken stew. MaMa Ruby, this is for you!

Ok so first we start by cubing up some chicken, about 4 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast and set aside.

The first thing we add to the pot is a whole stick of butter to melt. As Mama Ruby always says, "the more butter, the more better."

For this meal, I will be using my favorite le-crueset pot.

Then we add our chicken, finely chopped garlic and a whole peeled onion. "Don't worry" Ma Ma says, "The onion will come out later, we just want the flavor from it!"

Let it cook on medium-high and stir occasionally.

Stir every 5 minutes or so, until chicken is tender and whitened in color.

After about 15 or so minutes add potatoes and carrots. Add more salt and pepper if you like. Stir to combine and cover. Mmmmmm this is gonna be gooood!

Let veggies get tender, then add two cans of cream of mushroom soup. Stir together and lower heat to simmer about 10 minutes.

I served this with yellow saffron rice, but you can pair it with white rice, buttered egg noodles or just plain stew. Either way it's delicious!

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breast

4 lbs potatoes 

1/2 pound carrots

I large onion

I garlic clove

1 cup butter

1 cup water

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Salt

Ground black pepper

Directions:

In a large Dutch oven pot, add 1 cup of butter to melt. When butter has melted add chicken, 1 cup water, finely chopped garlic and 1 whole onion, season with salt and pepper. Cook on medium and cover, stirring about every 5-6 minutes until chicken is tender and white in color, this should take about 10-12 minutes. Add potatoes and carrots, stir to combine. Cover and let veggies do there thing, stirring occasionally about 10 more minutes or until potatoes and carrots are fork tender. Add 2 cans cream of mushroom soup and stir to combine, lower flame to low-simmer and cook about 10 minutes more. Remove and discard onion. Serve with rice or noodles, YUM!