Monthly Archives: July 2013

Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

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In an effort to make something new using yesterday’s leftovers, I made this. I had just enough chicken from this pizza to make this boring salad a meal. I also whipped up a simple buttermilk blue cheese dressing to go with it. And because wasting a perfectly good dressing would be just plain dumb; I made a batch of delicious hot wings to go with it! I haven’t made these in years, but they’re worth the extra time required. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

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Buffalo Chicken Salad – adapted from The Pioneer Woman

  • Leftover marinated and grilled chicken from this, chopped
  • 2-3 TBSP Franks Red Hot
  • 2 TSBP butter
  • Romaine lettuce
  • avocado
  • cucumber
  • cherry tomatoes
  • Blue Cheese Dressing
  • Extra Blue Cheese Crumbles

Directions-

Place a skillet over medium heat; add the butter and Frank’s Red Hot. Heat just until butter has melted, then add chicken and coat with buffalo sauce. Turn off heat and set aside.
Heap tossed salad into individual bowls. Sprinkle blue cheese crumbles, cucumber, sliced avocado, chicken and cherry tomatoes and top with blue cheese dressing.

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing – adapted from My Baking Addiction

  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 2- 4  tablespoons buttermilk (more to thin out)
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 cup Crumbled blue cheese

Directions- 

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream and milk in small bowl; mix until smooth. Stir in vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and garlic powder until well blended. Fold in cheese. Transfer to container with tight-fitting lid. Chill until serving time. Stir well before serving.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

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My sister shared this simple and satisfying recipe while we were vacationing in California. We made four awesome pizzas together and this one was the standout! We used leftover pollo asada that Dad marinated and grilled the day before. Not even he knows what he threw together for it, so I improvised a super simple marinade for my chicken.  I will make this again next week for company – I hope they love it 🙂 Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza – 

For Marinade –

  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • 1 tsp. sweet paprika
  • 1/4 tsp. cayenne
  • grapseed oil
  • juice of one lemon

Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken breast. Let marinade for at least 1 hour. Cook chicken using your preferred method – we grilled ours. This is more than enough chicken for one pizza. (I used the leftover chicken for buffalo chicken salad)

For Pizza – adapted from Punky Purls

  • 1 ball of pizza dough – at least 14 ounces
  • 1 1/2 cup of cooked and shredded chicken
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • blue cheese crumbles to taste
  • 2 – 3 TBSP Franks Red Hot
  • 2 TBSP butter

Directions – 

Preheat oven to 475 degrees and place a pizza stone on top of a rack set at the bottom of your oven.

Place a skillet over medium heat; add the butter and Frank’s Red Hot. Heat just until butter has melted, then add chicken and coat with buffalo sauce. Turn off heat and set aside. Press dough out into a pizza round about 13 inches in diameter and then dock center of pizza dough. With a slotted spoon remove chicken from skillet and place on pizza dough, making sure you don’t coat the bottom in a thick layer of sauce; unless you like soggy pizza 😉 Generously cover the chicken with your cheese. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust and cheese are golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

Multi-Grain Bread

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I’m always looking for new sandwich bread recipes, so when I came across this one (thank you Pinterest!), I knew it was going to be the next loaf on my long list of recipes to try. This loaf tastes nutty and slightly sweet; and I like that there is a boost in flavor and fiber with this Bob’s Red Mill 7-Grain Hot Cereal. I’m glad the loaves turned out so well, because now I don’t have to find other recipes to make sure this doesn’t go to waste. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

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Multi-Grain Bread – adapted from Country Cleaver

  • 1 cup 7-grain Hot Cereal, such as Bob’s Red Mill
  • 2 ½ cups Boiling Water
  • ¼ cup Honey
  • 1 package Yeast
  • 1 Tbsp Salt
  • 3 cups All Purpose Flour, (15 ounces) *hold back at least 1/2 cup for kneading*
  • 1 ½ cup Whole Wheat Flour, 8 ¼ ounces
  • 4 Tablespoons Butter, melted and cooled
  • ½ cup Oatmeal

Directions –

1) Boil 2 ½ cups of water, pour over 7-grain hot cereal. Stir and let set until temperature cools to 100 degrees, about 1 hour.

2) Into stand mixer bowl fitted with dough attachment, pour in hot cereal. Add in honey and yeast. Turn on mixer and stir to combine. Lastly add in melted and cooled butter. Slowly add in flour. Knead until all ingredients combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes. Add in salt. Knead again until salt has been combined – about 1 minute.

3) Remove dough from mixer bowl, and onto a lightly floured surface. Flatten and knead until dough shapes into a large ball. Pour a small amount of oil into a large bowl. Add dough to bowl and roll around bowl gently to ensure it is coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and towel to keep away light. Set aside in a warm place for one hour.

4) Remove risen dough from bowl and place on lightly floured surface. Pull and stretch dough into a 18×12 inch rectangle. Using a sharp knife divide in half so it measures 2 9″x12″ sheets. Starting from the top, tightly roll each dough sheet into a log. Flip and pinch all ends together with thumb and forefingers. Repeat with other dough log. Temporarily set aside.

5) Sprinkle oatmeal out onto surface and carefully set into two loaf pans. Gently cover with plastic wrap and set in warm place to rise a second time. Let rise for one hour.

6) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you do have a pizza stone, it is a good idea to put in oven and let come to temperature – not necessary, but does make crusts of bread extra crispy and helps distribute heat evenly in the oven.

7) Unwrap loaves and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the center of the loaves reaches 200 degrees. Remove from loaf pans and let cool on wire rack.

Copycat Panera Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I haven’t had any cookies other than homemade for quite some time now, but I make the exception for Panera’s chocolate chip cookies. They are huge and too hard to pass up, especially when the kid at the register asks me if I would like to add one to my order for 99 cents! They are my weakness along with the adult grilled cheese sandwich and the creamy tomato soup!

What did we ever do before Pinterest?? Seriously, I have collected some gems in the past year that I would probably not find if not for the convenient and genius site that is Pinterest! I just stumbled upon this recipe last night and made them today. These are the biggest cookies I have made to date, but there is really no way around the 1/4 cup serving 😉

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(some complimentary cookie close-ups!)

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Verdict: Wow – perfection! I will make these again. I baked off six – for quality control sake, of course 😉 Slightly crispy edges and chewy middles with plenty of sticky, sweet flavor from the dark brown sugar. One is more than enough for this lady! 😉 Thanks for reading, enjoy!

*TIP: If you’re like me and you only buy light brown sugar, you can add one tablespoon of molasses per one cup of packed light brown sugar. Not to worry if you only have white sugar on hand; add 1/4 cup of molasses to one cup of white sugar.

*TIP: I use a disher to portion out the dough onto my cookie sheet, and then I use a fork to scrape the dome off the tops of each to flatten. They bake up as pictured – thanks to all the commenters! I hope this helps.

Copycat Panera Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies – adapted from The Pinning Mama

  • 1 c butter, softened
  • 1/2 c shortening
  • 1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (541 grams)
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 – 12 ounce bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions –

  1. Mix butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy.
  2. Add egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.
  3. Combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and mix together.
  4. Mix dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and blend well.
  5. If the dough is crumbly, stir in water 1 teaspoon at a time until it just holds together. The dough should not be sticky.
  6. Add in chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.
  7. Using ¼ cup measure, scoop out dough and form into a ball. Continue until all dough is balled. Approx 24 cookies.
  8. Place dough in the freezer for 2 hours or up to 3 months.
  9. Place frozen cookie onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 min.
  10. Let cool 2 minutes.

Tequila Lime Chicken

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chickena

Sorry for the radio silence! We recently came back home from our two-week long trip to California. I am really glad to be home again and I’m sure my kitchen missed me as much as I missed it. My husband sustained himself on one meal a day (not home cooked), and these goodies that I made for him before I left! What would he do without me? 😉 Since I’ve been back home, I have tried several new and successful recipes which I will share with you in the next few weeks.

Anyway, on to the recipe! This marinade gives the chicken amazing flavor and it’s a new family favorite. I used chicken thighs and served these tacos with pico de gallo, my fave Mexican rice and refried (in bacon grease!) pinto beans with lots of Monterey Jack cheese. I will make this again and again! Thanks for reading, enjoy 🙂

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Tequila Lime Chicken – adapted from The Pioneer Woman

  • 2 limes
  • 1/2 cup tequila
  • 1/4 cup olive oil (*I used grapeseed*)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced
  • 1/2 bunch chopped fresh cilantro
  • 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (*If you have a few more pieces, this makes plenty of marinade*)
  • Corn tortillas
  • Monterey jack cheese
  • pico de gallo

Directions –

Slice open the limes and squeeze the juice into a food processor or blender. Add the tequila, olive oil, salt, garlic, jalapenos and cilantro. Blend the mixture until totally combined. Add the chicken to a large plastic bag and pour in the lime-tequila mixture. Seal the bag and marinate in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

Remove the chicken from the bag and grill it over medium-high heat. Rotate the chicken 45-degrees on both sides to create nice grill marks, and continue grilling until the chicken is cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Serve with corn tortillas, fresh pico de gallo, beans and rice.