Monday, January 20, 2014

Spicy Parmesan Garlic Wing

Hellllooooooooooooooooo gorgeous!


I am a sucker for a real good boneless wing... but not many restaurants can satisfy my taste buds - especially BWW - I always kick myself for eating there after seeing the bill and not really liking their sauce or lack of sauce you get on your wings. Tonight, the hubby and I killed it on this recipe and with our teamwork in the kitchen - which, let's be real, it's not often he helps (or can be home in time to help with the prep work)! But he does the dishes, so no complaints there :)


For starters - Allan and I started with two boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces. 


For the rest - I worked off these two recipes and tweaked them to my liking

*CopyKat Recipes - Breading
*Simply Scratch  - Sauce

For the breading:
  • 2  cups flour
  • Cumin
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • Paprika
  • Chili Powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • ****Feel free to add the seasonings for your liking! I added extra chili powder and paprika
Dredge your chicken in the flour mixture, through milk, then again the flour mixture. The more times you complete this, the thicker your breading. We only did it the two times!

In a deep pan, heat oil to approx 300-350*. Be sure to have a splatter cover or use a deep enough pan to prevent splatter all over your stove. Wings should be fried 3-5 minutes on each side dependent on the size. 

 Sauce Part 1:
Frank's Red Hot Sauce
4 Tbsp melted butter
Garlic Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Worcestershire Sauce
Grated Parmesan Cheese 
Salt
Pepper

Sauce Part 2:
1 egg yolk
2 tsp water
2 tsp cornstarch

Let your first part of the sauce simmer over the stove for about 10 minutes; until your seasonings start to blend and don't remain separated. Let cool.

Mix part two of your sauce.

Once part one of your sauce has cooled, SLOWLY mix it into part 2; be sure to do only a little of the hot cause at a time and to be continuously whisking - pouring too soon or before your hot sauce cools will cause the yolk to cook itself. 

Your sauce is done :) Toss your warm wings into the sauce and you're ready to go!

 

enjoy!
e.l.l.

Creamy meatball soup

This soup is AWESOME! It's creamy, rich, and packed with veggies (but that doesn't mean it's real healthy...)


Quick and easy recipe:

- Meatballs
- Chopped onion, carrots, celery
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 can Cream of Celery soup
- 1 cup whole milk or cream - we always have whole milk
- 1/2 cup fontina, parmesan, mozzarella, asiago cheese mixture
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup spinach
- Salt
- Pepper
- Basil
- Oregano
- 3 Tbsp. Hot sauce (I used Franks)

1. Start by sauteing your meatballs (not going to lie, I cheated and used frozen No Name wild rice meatballs). Once golden, add your onion, carrots, and celery with some olive oil will onion become translucent and celery/carrots become soft.

2. Add your chick stock, cream of celery soup, and milk. Bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, melt in your cheese, add seasonings, and hot sauce.

4. Once all the cheese in melted, wilt your spinach. Should only take a few minutes - and you're done!

After eating this for lunch, it would be awesome with wild ride added into the recipe as well! -- Noted for next time :)


Enjoy!
e.l.l.


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Lemon chicken sandwich with pickled bell pepper, onions, and pickles




This afternoon's lunch was a trial as I haven't done a lot of a quick pickling before but if Allan and I BOTH liked it, it must be blog worthy!

The chicken is left over from last night's dinner - I seasoned the chicken with Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper/Mrs. Dash garlic and basil  seasoning then pan fried till golden brown. Once browned on each side, transferred to the crock pot. In the pan with the left over chicken bits, I added 1 Tbsp of butter, 1 small onion, and slices of lemon - once onions are golden, add chicken broth to get all of the flavor out of the pan. Once broth is simmering, transfer all to the crock pot - Can cook in the crock pot on low for approx. 4 hours :)
Now to the sandwich!

For pickling vegetables:

2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
Lemon Pepper Seasonings
Pepper
Garlic Salt
*thinly sliced red bell pepper
*thinly sliced onion
----Mix all ingredients and let sit for approx 10 minutes

I shredded my chicken & baked my buns so they were toasty & and assembled  - only ingredients not listed that I used - spinach and a thin amount of mayo for the base!

enjoy!
e.l.l.



Sunday, January 12, 2014

Lasagna


Wanting to make something that could last a few meals and bring comfort during the cold weather/rain that caused is to stay inside over the weekend, we chose to throw together a lasagna! Quick, easy, and makes at least five meals for the two of us :) 


What you'll need:

Lasagna noodles
Pasta sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Gorgonzola cheese
Cottage cheese
Olive oil
Spices - I used:
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb & Table blend
Garlic Salt
Basil Leaves
Thyme Leaves
Crushed red pepper flakes


Preheat your oven to 375*

I started with a mix of sauce and olive oil in the bottom of my pan - then began my layers - 

- Start with layering your noodles
- Add sauce to cover your noodles evenly
- Sprinkle with your desired amount of spices- I used my garlic salt in ONE layer only;substituting this for regular salt throughout the lasagna
- Layer on your cottage cheese, Gorgonzola, and mozzarella cheese  

I did four layers of this - ending with noodles and sauce on top

Bake in the over covered with tin foil for 45 minutes, check and uncover to cook 15 more minutes or until golden



Enjoy!
e.l.l.