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Food, Savory

Spicy Baked Chicken Wings

I forgot how easy it is to make chicken wings from scratch. When a craving hits, I usually beg for us to go to Buffalo Wild Wings, but on a budget and looking for a new recipe to try, I realized I actually knew how to make buffalo chicken wings from when I was a kid. Just hadn’t done it in a really long time.

My mom and I used to make them, but baked, never fried. No thick breaded chicken wings either. I promise, they’re good. And they’re way better for you at the end of the day, which means you can eat more without feeling guilty.

So I experimented. Made a quick buffalo sauce, then added some black pepper (for some more spice) and honey (to sweeten). Sweet and spicy, not bad for my first try. I might just get more creative next time. Anyone have any suggestions?

Spicy Baked Chicken Wings

Gather
20-30 frozen chicken wings
3 tablespoons of butter
3/4 cup of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
2 tablespoons of honey
2 teaspoons of ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a sauce pan, melt butter. Add hot sauce, honey, and black pepper. Cool for 8-10 minutes on medium-high heat until sauce has been bubbling and has started to thicken. Coat chicken evenly in sauce and place on a baking sheet.

Cook in oven for 35-40 minutes or until juices run clear. Turn over halfway and add more sauce to wings.

Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

January 29, 2014 by Roni

Food, Savory

Twice Baked Bacon Cheddar Potatoes

So my roommate came downstairs last night as I was cooking dinner, looked at me and said, “You know, you’ve been cooking with bacon a lot lately.”

I didn’t know how to respond, was this a bad thing?

“I’m sorry,” was my immediate response (although I really wasn’t).

He looked at me, shocked. “No, it smells better than that apple wax burner thing in the bathroom.”

Oh. So apparently bacon overrules apples in my house. Who knew?

Anyway, the reason I was cooking with bacon again was because we wanted twice baked potatoes for dinner. And to be honest, I only really knew what they were from the frozen food aisle and had a faint notion on how to do it. So with a working theory, I whipped up what turned out to be an amazing side dish – with some casualities along the way.

Turns out scooping out the insides of microwaved potatoes is a bit harder than I expected. After the fourth attempt, I was making mini canoes instead of ripping apart the skin and losing what was meant to be the “bowl” for the remixed insides.

Basically, a twice-baked potato starts with a regular spud. Microwave it until it’s soft, then cut it in half and scoop out the insides, leaving enough of it left to serve as a bowl.

Mix the insides with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, black pepper, garlic powder, and a splash of milk. You basically have mashed potatoes. Spoon it back into the potato skins – it’s ok if you spill over – and cover with a sprinkling of cheese. Put in the oven to bake and voila! Twice baked potatoes.

Twice Baked Bacon Cheddar Potatoes

Gather:
3 Russet Potatoes
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
4 strips of cooked and crumbled bacon
3 tablespoons of milk
5 tablespoons of margarine
Black pepper
Garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350. Microwave potatoes until soft, about 8-15 minutes. Cut in half. Scoop insides of potato out, creating a “bowl” and placing potato insides into a large mixing bowl with 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and bacon. Set “potato bowls” in a glass baking dish.

Stir bacon/cheddar/potato with margarine, milk, and black pepper and garlic powder to taste. Once mixed, scoop back into potato “bowls” and sprinkle top with remaining cheese. Bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and top is slightly crisp.

Let cool for 5 minutes, then serve.

January 21, 2014 by Roni

Food, Health

Good Morning Loves

Happy 2014 my loves! A new a year, a new outlook on breakfast! Yes, I’m getting back into actually waking up on time to make myself something to eat. Someone once told (it was probably my good friend Google, or maybe Pinterest) that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gets your body moving, makes sure you’re not starved come lunch time, and basically fuels you for the drive into the office.

I’m in it for the maple sausage. Just saying. I have no problem when our house surrenders to the scent of my home state of Vermont. Which is exactly why I bought some maple breakfast links the other day. And voila! I made breakfast. Woke up early, make a cup of coffee as my sausage cooked in the pan. Made two eggs, and there you go. I had a meal of about 325 calories to start my morning. Not bad, but it does help that I drink my coffee black, so there’s none of that unnecessary sugar and milk calories to count. Heck, if I’m going to cut calories, I’d rather do it on the coffee than on the food.

Anyway, I’m off topic. The point is, I’m going to start eating breakfast again, regularly. I fell off the wagon a few weeks ago, but it seems as good a time as any to work on it again. So here’s to breakfast!

January 8, 2014 by Roni

Food, Sweet

Peppermint Fudge

Are you in candy cane overload yet?

No? That’s good, because I’ve got a recipe for you for a last minute gift. Peppermint fudge. I know what you’re thinking. Fudge? Come on, let’s be more creative than that. Well, I’ve never made fudge before, so this was an experiment all on its own. So I scoured the Internet until I found something that seemed easy enough that I could tweak to fit my needs.

Then I went peppermint crazy. And I got some pretty sweet chocolate goodness. All with just a simple double boiler (a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water) and some chocolate to melt. Yum!

Gather:

1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 candy cane, crushed into small pieces for topping

Line an 8×8 inch pan with a piece of wax paper.

In a double boiler, melt butter. Then add chocolate chips, condensed milk, and salt. Stir until mixture is smooth, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the vanilla and peppermint extracts and stir until combined.

Remove bowl from heat and pour into prepared pan. Careful, the bowl will be hot. Use a rubber spatula to evenly spread the fudge to the edges and smooth the top. Sprinkle crushed candy cane pieces over the top.
Refrigerate the fudge for about 2 hours or until firm enough to cut. Remove from pan. Using a heated knife (run under hot water and dry), cut fudge into pieces. Refrigerate.

December 22, 2013 by Roni

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