Garlic Parmesan Wings

I love chicken wings. Well, I love my wings. I rarely order wings out because I like my wings really crispy. Whether breaded or not, it seems like whenever I order wings at a restaurant they aren't crispy. While I'm happy with my method and like my spicy wings, I do love the flavor of garlic Parmesan wings served at most wing places. I made a batch of spicy wings this week and saved some wings to try to duplicate the garlic Parmesan sauce. I'm happy to announce that I hit a bull's-eye with my first try.

Shopping list
2 dozen wing pieces
Oil for frying
2 sticks butter
5 garlic cloves
Grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Fry wings at 375 degrees for approximately 5 minutes.
I used my fryer but you can also fry in deep pot on stove top, don't crowd the pot
Place wings on foil lined baking sheet after frying.
Bake wings at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.
While wings are baking, peel and press garlic into sauce pan
      -If you don't have a garlic press, you can finely mince the garlic.
Add butter and red pepper flakes to sauce pan and heat on low for 15 minutes.
Toss hot wings in garlic butter.
Place coated wings on paper plate and dust with Parmesan cheese on all sides.
I dusted six wings at a time.
Enjoy with ice cold beer and make plenty to share.

One Awesome Burger

Sorry folks but tonsillitis and a couple of ear infections put me behind in my schedule. I made these burgers before I was down for the count and they were awesome. To be honest, I planned on eating half a burger and finished the whole thing. The burger press was the ideal tool for this task. I love it and have lots of ideas for cool burgers. I intended to make the burgers ¼ pound but stuffing them became hard because the patty wasn't thick enough to hold the filling. So a big burger was born but damn it was worth it.

One Awesome Burger

1lb. ground round
4 slices pepper jack cheese
4 slices thick cut pepper bacon
Salt/pepper
Olive oil

Separated the meat into 4 quarter pound balls.
Press one ball with the burger press into a great patty.
Place two pieces of pepper jack cheese on the patty leaving a small edge.
Press another ball into a patty then place on top of the patty with cheese.
Use the burger again to seal the edges.
Season with salt/pepper on both sides.
*While forming the patties, cook bacon in oven on baking sheet at 425 degrees until desired crispiness (is that a word?)
Heat a skillet on medium high with enough olive oil to coat the pan.
Cook the burgers for 4 ½ minutes on each side.
Place burgers in a 350 degree oven until temperature reaches 155 degrees. (I know that's well done but I'm a food safety girl)
Top your burger to your liking. Enjoy!

Definitely an indulgence but you are worth it!!! Give me a break, I haven't had fast food for 21 days. Still sticking to my “no drive thru for 30 days” plan and thanks to everyone who has sent me encouragement.

Click for a bigger, better, more mouthwatering view.

Barbeque Pork Eggrolls

I had some leftover pork roast that needed to be used and eggroll wrappers are a great way to use leftovers. These barbeque pork eggrolls are delicious and easy to prepare.

1 ½ cups cooked pork

¼ cup barbeque sauce

Eggroll wrappers

Vegetable oil

Dice the pork and mix in bowl with barbeque sauce.

Lay out an eggroll wrapper.

Place two tablespoons of pork on wrapper.

Dampen all edges of eggroll wrapper with water.

Roll eggroll tucking the sides in.

Heat oil to 365 degrees for frying eggrolls.

I used my deep fryer but a deep pot can be used for frying.

Fry eggrolls until golden brown and drain on paper towels.

Makes 6 eggrolls.

These are a quick snack or meal. I love using wonton and eggroll wrapper for all kinds of things and they really are great for using leftovers. 

Farmer's Market Peppers

On Saturday I went to our local Farmers Market. A basket of peppers caught my eye because of the beautiful colors. I bought the basket of peppers for $3. The basket contained a green pepper, a few jalapenos, a couple yellow bell peppers and three purple bell peppers. The farmer at the booth told me to be careful because she threw in a couple of dragon peppers which are extremely spicy.

Farmers Market Stuffed Peppers

My peppers were not large enough to stuff so I sliced the peppers and layered them in the dish with the meat mixture.

Variety of bell peppers
1lb ground sirloin
3 cups cooked rice
15oz tomato sauce
Salt/pepper
Brown ground meat seasoned with salt and pepper in skillet.
Stir in tomato sauce.
Stir in cooked rice.
Season with salt and pepper again to taste.

Remove seeds and ribs from peppers.
Slice peppers into rings.
Layer meat mixture and peppers into casserole dish until full.

Bake casserole at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.



In my basket of market peppers, the farmer was kind enough to add two dragon peppers. She warned me that they were very spicy and to be sure to wash my hands after handling them. It’s painful to touch your eyes after handling hot peppers.
I’m going to place the dragon peppers in a decanter of olive oil to infuse the flavors and make spicy oil. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Be sure to visit your local Farmers Market. We had a great morning walking around looking at all the booths and had a great breakfast taco too.

Time For Pie

The movie Waitress is about a young woman expecting a child and trapped in an unhappy marriage. She is also an amazing pie baker. She creates her recipes and names the pies after things happening in her life. For example, she names her pies things like “Fall in love chocolate pie”, “Naughty Pumpkin Pie” or “Bad Baby Quiche”. This movie is a great comedy and actually very touching. I adore this movie and shared it with a friend of mine while making these recipes to go along with the theme. I hope you’ll give both the movie and these pies a chance.



“Unexpected Guests Tart Appetizer”

(three ingredients that are always in my kitchen)

Filo tart cups (my new favorite thing to keep in my freezer, they have a million uses)
Leftover meat (I had a piece of steak left from dinner earlier in week, any meat will do)
Cream cheese (I used chive cream cheese but plain would work well too)

Place filo cups on baking sheet. Put small amount of cream cheese in each cup. Place a bite sized piece of meat on top of cream cheese. Bake for 10 minutes in 350 degree oven and serve warm. Perfect little bite for unexpected guests that makes you look like a master chef.

“Come Home to Mama Chicken Pot Pie”
(Comforting and a good way to get college kids to visit)

2 chicken breast (skinless, boneless)
1 large potato
1 cup corn (I used leftover corn that was fresh cut off the cob and sautéed with a red pepper, frozen works)
½ red pepper
1 cup peas
1 large can cream chicken soup
1 cup half and half
1 pkg puff pastry
1 egg
Salt/pepper (this dish can take a lot of pepper)
4 oven safe bowls 6 to 8 oz each
Take puff pastry out of freezer to thaw on counter. Boil chicken breasts til no longer pink, remove from pot and cool. Cut potato into half inch pieces. Sauté potatoes in pan with 2 tbl of olive oil and 2 tbl butter til fork tender. Cut chicken into half inch bite sized pieces. Add chicken, corn, peppers, and peas to potatoes and add salt and pepper. Stir in approximately 12 ozs cream of chicken soup (about ¾ of the large can) and 1 cup half and half and heat mixture until hot.

Spread out puff pastry on floured board. Turn bowl upside on pastry and cut around bowl leaving a small edge. Cut four circles from pastry. Spray bowls with non stick spray and fill with chicken mixture. Beat egg in small bowl. With a pastry brush, brush egg around lip of bowl for pastry to stick to. Cover bowl with pastry circle and form to bowl. When all four bowls are covered, brush with egg. Cut a small slit into each pot pie and bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

Delicious homemade comfort food that looks as good as it tastes. Sure fire way to get busy young adults to come home to eat.

“Too Tired To Bake Chocolate Pie”

6 mini graham cracker crusts
1 pkg pudding (I’m using cook and serve chocolate pudding; I like the cooked pudding better)
4 pretzels
Milk
Berries for garnish
Prepare pudding according to package and put into fridge to set up. Crush pretzels in plastic bag. Fill crusts with pudding, sprinkle with crushed pretzels and garnish with berries. Easy dessert that tastes great and is the perfect size after a family meal.

We had a great time watching the movie Waitress and eating these pies. I hope you’ll take a relaxing afternoon and try both the movie and recipes. Let me know what you think!

Treasured Moments

I just got back from a quick coast trip with my whole family. It was incredible to see everyone and I absorbed all the memories I could. This entry is dedicated to my family and my two favorite events of the vacation.


Tackiest Souvenir

Rules:

Purchase the tackiest souvenir of the vacation but spend no more than $5. Everyone gathers and shows the group their souvenir and if necessary proof of purchase to make sure no one spent more than $5. Everyone writes down their top three. We tally the top three and then vote by a show of hands for the winner.

This was our second year of playing this game and I was amazed at the time and effort everyone put into it. Everyone was secretive about their souvenir and took the contest seriously. We had a great time showing off our tacky treasures and the winner took home the trophy which was last year’s winner souvenir. I think this will last for years to come.



Shrimp and Crab Boil
I made this boil for 14 people. I didn’t take pictures along the prep time because I was busy trying to soak up time with my family. I do have pictures of the end result which is 14 people gathered at one table laughing, sharing, and eating. Great day!
(Breaking this down to serve 6)

2 lbs of shrimp (I used deveined, shell on from shrimp counter, $6.59/lb)

2 lbs snow crab (this crab is less expensive and I bought one bunch for each person, $4.59/lb)

2 lbs sausage (your favorite cut into 2 inch pieces)

2 lbs red potatoes (cut in half)

6 ears of corn (shucked and broken in half)

1 lemon (cut in half)

1 garlic bulb (cut in half)

1 onion (sweet yellow, cut in quarters)

2 pkgs crab boil seasoning (I used Zatarans)

Large pot with removable insert that drains. You can certainly use a large pot then strain in strainer placed in sink. The pot with removable strainer is easier and the liquid remains in pot in case you need to add more food.
Add all ingredients besides seafood into large pot with enough water to cover food. Cook until potatoes are fork tender. Add seafood and boil until pink. Drain and dump entire pot on paper covered table. I set out cups of melted garlic butter for dipping. Great with a cold beer.
This meal is definitely our new last night on the beach food. It was easy to cook and everyone had fun and the food was delicious.
“This was better than going to Joe’s Crab Shack!”, Jacob, my 10 year old nephew.

Philli Fix

My son is a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan so I often make him football food to snack on and I have made many versions of a Phillie Cheese Steak.

Roasted garlic on toasted bread is a popular appetizer I make. I decided to try making an open faced Cheese Steak sandwich using a larger version of the garlic toast. This is an easy recipe to accomplish if you understand the time management. The flavors will satisfy a Cheese Steak appetite and is also pretty enough to entertain a gourmet crowd.

It’s full of flavor and I’m hoping it will be able to take the sting out of a Philadelphia loss for my boy.

The list:

Bread (your choice, I’m using a sliced sourdough loaf from the grocery store bakery)

2 heads of garlic (closed at the top and on the larger side)

Steak  8oz (I’m using a small petite sirloin but use your favorite cut)

1 med yellow sweet onion (any onion works but I like the sweet)

Cream cheese 4oz

Milk 4oz

Provolone cheese 6 to 8oz (either slices cut in small pieces or a block and shredded)

Butter

Olive oil

Salt /Pepper

Red pepper flakes

Sugar

Est. cost of open faced Phillie Cheese steak:   $14.95 to serve four sandwiches $3.45 each serving

*Cut the tops off of both heads of garlic exposing all cloves. 

Drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes. Let cool.

*While garlic is in oven, slice onion in half, peel skin, and slice as thin as possible. 

Heat three tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Once hot, add onions, teaspoon of salt, pepper and a tablespoon of sugar. Turn heat down on skillet to medium low. Caramelizing onions takes time. Don’t rush the process because if done correctly these onions are awesome. Cook over low heat for approximately 20 to 30 minutes until completely brown and broken down.

*Set garlic and onions aside.

*Combine milk, cream cheese and provolone cheese in sauce pot. Heat on medium heat until melted and combined. Add pepper to taste. Keep warm.

*Squeeze garlic heads into small bowl removing as much of the garlic as possible. With a fork, smash garlic into a paste.

*Season beef to your taste. I use salt, pepper and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

*Grill, pan sear, or broil your meat to desired temperature. I prefer medium. I’m using a cast iron grill pan oiled with olive oil, with high heat, grilling 4 minutes on each side.

*While resting meat on plate, toast bread in a 425 degree oven after drizzling with olive oil. Turn to toast both sides.

*Slice your beef thinly.

*Spread a thin layer of the garlic paste on a piece of toast and place on plate

*Layer beef across entire piece of bread

*Sprinkle with caramelized onions (more or less to your liking)

*Drizzle cheese sauce over entire sandwich (using a squeeze bottle makes you look like a rock star)

Use a knife and fork or grab with hands but enjoy!

You don’t have to be a Philadelphia fan to enjoy this twist on a Phillie Cheese Steak.

Tip for you party people:   using a baguette instead of a large piece of bread would create a great bite sized appetizer.