Buffalo or Hot wings

I have made buffalo or as we call them hot wings for years. My kids love them and so do the grands. I first had these when my friend Judy made them. She just deep fried the plain wings and rolled them around in a mixture of melted butter and Texas Pete hot sauce. Very yummy! But I have made a few changes over the years. When my kids were little, I would just buy a bag of frozen cut up wings. I would thaw, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then I would spread them out on a sprayed cookie sheet and cook in the oven at about 400 degrees until cooked through and crispy. I would then toss them in a mixture of melted butter and Crystal hot sauce. Pop them back in the oven to crisp up some more. I would serve these with Blue Cheese dressing until Lisa asked why was it called blue? When she got the answer, she quit eating it for awhile even tho she loved it. Ranch is really good too. This is how both my kids make them too.
Hubby and I ate some Buffalo Chicken Bites at a steak house and really loved them. So I came home and had to make some. Here's what I did:
cut up 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breats in small pieces. I then rolled them in flour-just a light coating and fried them until done. I then tossed them in a store bought Buffalo sauce to which I had added a spoon of sugar and some ketchup to cut the "hot" some. I then spread them in a baking dish at 400 for about 10 minutes. Yummy as can be. I have made wings the same way a couple of times, too.

Pink Lemonade Pie

This is so good and easy. I used to have Eric mix it up for me when he was a teenager. Very good on a hot summer's day.
PINK LEMONADE PIE
1 graham cracker pie crust (large one)
1 sm. can (6 oz.) frozen pink lemonade, thawed (can use limeade)
1 sm. container cool whip
1 can condensed milk
Mix together thawed pink lemonade, cool whip, and condensed milk. Beat until smooth and pour into pie shell. Freeze until firm. Garnish with lemon slices.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Went ahead and cooked my "big" meal on Saturday so we could have leftovers all weekend. Baked ham, green lima beans with ham hocks, and Au Gratin Potatoes. Going to add Angel eggs to the mix tomorrow. Here's the taters I made. Nothing is exact, so just give them a try and add or leave out.
6 med potatoes
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 cup shredded sharp cheese
1 cup Italian 3 cheese blend
1 onion diced and 2 green onions (more green the next time I make them)
2 T garlic flavor cooking cream (Philly)or add some garlic powder to the cheese soup.
Milk
Peel and boil potatoes until almost done. Cook diced onion in butter. Cool potatoes and carefully slice half of them. Layer in baking dish that has been sprayed with Pam. Spread ½ the onion over and ½ the shredded chedder and 3 cheese blend. Slice and layer remainder of potatoes top with onions, and shredded cheeses. Warm the cheese soup and cooking cream adding some milk until its “pourable”, and pour over. Bake at 350 for 1 hour until potatoes are done completely. Can easily be doubled for a pot luck. Diced ham or fried bacon can be added for a complete meal.

Ham n Cheese Quiche

I have a neighbor who is keeping us supplied with green onions this summer. I love to cook with green onions and I had been thinking about what to use them in and I thought of quiche. I haven't had any for years and never have made it so I started looking at reciepes and of course there are many. So here is what I used tonight and it was very easy and really good:
HAM AND CHEESE QUICHE
1 pastry shell
1 c. diced cooked ham (or turkey or sausage)
1 c. Cheddar, grated
1 c. Swiss cheese, grated
4 eggs
1/2 c. half & half
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
3 green onions white and green parts sliced thin
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread diced ham over the bottom of pastry shell. Sprinkle with about half the cheese reserving several tablespoons of each cheese for the top of quiche.
Lightly beat the eggs with a wire whisk. Add the cream and seasonings and onions and blend until smooth. Set the shell on a cookie sheet, carefully pour in the mixture. Sprinkle with reserved cheeses. Bake at 375 degrees in center shelf for 30 minutes or until top is puffed up and browned or a knife inserted in the center of custard comes out clean.
Remove from oven and carefully slide onto a wire rack for 5-10 minutes. Garnish and serve hot.

This turned out really good and I fixed some roasted brussel sprouts to go with it:
1 bag baby brussel sprouts thawed and cut in half.
4 slices of bacon
fry the bacon until almost crisp. Spread the sprouts in a oven safe pan and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and some old bay and few spoons of the bacon grease. Crunch up the bacon and mix in with the sprouts. Roast in 375 deg. oven about 20 min. or until done. Serve hot.

Easter lunch April 2011

Here's what we had for Easter lunch:
grilled ribeyes and chicken breasts
Roasted new potatoes with garlic, rosemary and olive oil
Cauliflower Au Gratin (recipe follows)
Bill's Angel eggs (recipe follows)
Homemade pimento cheese stuffed celery sticks

Here is the recipe I used for the Cauliflower, but I'm not going to use the flour roux next time. I will just heat the milk and add a spoon full of corn starch stirred in a bit of cold milk and added to thicken the milk. I like to thicken with corn starch better than flour. I think some bleu cheese crumbles on top would be good too.

Cauliflower Gratin
1 head cauliflower cut into large florets
5 tablespoons butter, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 c grated Swiss or other white cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 of a small onion or 1/4 of a large onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

Blanch cauliflower florets in boiling salted water for about 2 minutes and then drain and set aside.

While the cauliflower is cooking melt three tablespoons of butter on low heat. Remove two tablespoons of the melted butter to reserve for your topping. Then stir in flour to the remaining butter in the pan and continue cooking on low heat for 1-2 minutes to get the flour taste out of the roux.

Add milk and gradually increase the heat stirring constantly and continue cooking until the white sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Stir in pepper and nutmeg. (Do not add salt. There is enough salt in the Parmesan cheese for the entire recipe).

Remove from heat and slowly add about ¾ c of the Swiss cheese and about ¼ cup of the Parmesan cheese a little at a time making sure the cheese is all melted before going on to the next step.

Pour half of the white sauce into the bottom of either a 9X9 baking dish or a 8X13 depending on how many florets you have. Place the cauliflower florets on top of the sauce and sprinkle the onions on top. Pour the remaining half of the sauce on top of the cauliflower.

Top with the remaining Swiss cheese, the bread crumbs, and the remaining Parmesan cheese, in that order. Drizzle the top with the butter you had set aside.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.

Bill's Angel eggs
This is one of those "no measure" recipes but it's a great flavor combo.

Boiled eggs-yolks removed to a mixing bowl
about 5 slices bacon fried and crumbled
shredded pepper jack cheese
chopped jalapenos
mayo
green onion sliced fine
mix all, stuff egg whites, sprinkle with more shredded pepper jack

Ranch Potatoes

This is an easy one and one of my favorites. I first had these at a funeral. I am pretty good at identifying ingredients, but thought it was sour cream. Come to find out it was bottled ranch.
Dice and boil several potatoes. Drain and put in a casserole dish in a single layer while they are still hot. Drizzle ranch dressing over them generously. Sprinkle with shredded cheese, bacon bits and green onions or chives. Cover for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Serve immediately.

White Chicken Chili

I found this stuff called Philly Cooking Cream in several flavors. I looked at their reciepe for White Chicken Chili. Then I studied a few more and came up with my own. I have made it twice and it is pretty good. Here's what you need:

3-4 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 can each drained: Great Northern beans, Chick peas, green chilies, shoepeg corn
1/2 can chicken broth
1 tub Santa Fe cooking cream
1/2 cup sour cream
cumin and chili powder to taste
Saute chicken, onion and garlic add all other stuff. Simmer about 20 minutes.