Be the life of a football party, with Hot Wingz!

I made these the other night and let me tell you it was Soooooooo worth the effort! Step aside Dominos, I have the deal here on a great and SIMPLE hot wing recipe. 

What you need:

A packet of wings

1/4 cup of salted butter. Real butter.

Tabasco green sauce, hot sauce like Louisiana hot sauce, or any hot sauce.

Garlic powder.

Canola oil for frying.

Newspaper

Cooling racks and a cookie sheet.

Take the wings and salt them with kosher salt. Then when the pan of oil is hot drop the wings in gently so as not to splatter yourself with oil. 

Cook the wings until they are cooked through and the skin is golden brown and crispy.

Set the wings on the newspaper lined cooling racks 

Take the baking sheet, line with newspaper and top with the racks.

Then in the microwave melt the butter. 30 seconds at a time.

Take the butter out and put 1tsp of garlic to the butter, whisk together with a fork. Then add the hot sauce. Add as much as you want, you reall need to taste it. My fave is the chipotle or green tobasco sauce types. 

Place the cooked wings in a giant bowl and add sauce, toss until coated. Serve immediately! 

This will make you the hit of any SuperBowl or any other party! I promise!!!

Walking and dancing my way to the mailbox.

Today was a short walk. It was a bit chilly and windy out, so to make the most of the walk I decided to walk and dance down to the mailbox. What a sight that must have been. Some blonde dancing down the street like a lunatic with a stroller. It was fun, and my baby got some fun out of it. We enjoyed it. We danced there and walked briskly back home. I was hoping to see some Christmas houses on the way to blog about. But there were none that I saw. Yes it is a few days early but there is a couple houses on one street that are decked up. 

My baby finally ate something, some squash. Not much but he ate something. Then he refused his bottle. AHHHHHH...this kid. I know it is a phase and teething.  So, all I can do is watch him and give him snuggles. Babies need to be nommed on and snuggled often, you know. 

Now I am off to try a new recipe courtesy of a fellow blogger on Blogher.com. Kayln from Kayln's Kitchen . Can not wait to taste it tonight for dinner, roasted Sweet potatoes with red onion and feta. Only, I have shallots not red onion. But it should work, right?

Home made pie, from scratch.

I made my first pie crust and home made pumpkin pie. I have made pumpkin pies numorous times, but this time I decided to make my own pie crust. And wow how easy! If I knew it was that easy I would have done it sooner. And it is Yummy!I think I am getting a hang of being a home maker. My recipe? Well here it is.

.

one day it will look prettier. not bad for my first time!

Butter Pie crust:


2/3 cup of butter COLD. I used salted butter so I could cut down on salt.
2 cups of flour
4-5 table spoons of ICE water


In a mixing bowl combine butter and flour with a fork or dough blade. I used a potato masher. And it worked. Add the spoons of water 1 tablespoon at a time. Work the dough into a round. Place in a freezer bag and store in fridge for an hour or longer. Then roll the dough out when ready on a floured surface.

Pumpkin pie from heaven.
1 can of pumpkin or 1 sweet pie pumpkin(roasted and then mashed)
1 can of sweet condensed milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of  cloves
1/2 tsp of ginger
1/2 tsp of salt
Preheat oven to 425
In a large bowl combine pumpkin and spices with a whisk. Then add the sweetened condensed milk whisk together. In another bowl beat the two eggs then add to pumpkin mixture.
Pour into pie shells or into one REALLY deep dish pie dish.
Back in a pie dish on a cookie sheet in the 425 degree oven for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 350. Bake for an additional 45 minutes. Let cool before serving.
This pie is amazing light and fluffy. It has a great texture thanks to the sweetened milk. So, good.

Pumpkin pie so good you will eat the whole thing!

A Thanksgiving day tidbit.

Oh, Thanksgiving how we love you. For so many it is about family, friends, and being thankful. For me, it is about FOOD. Have you wondered what their Thanksgiving was like? And can you believe there were no pies then, or mashed potatoes, or even cranberry sauce. Food historians believe there was deer, some sort of poultry, and sea foods. Pumpkin may have been there but not as a pie, it would have been more of a sweet mash.  

Here is some true or false. The pilgrims had exotic spices back then to cook with.

True or false.

Have fun. If you have any Thanksgiving trivia post in the comments! Lets have fun.

When was the first Macy's Thanksgiving day parade?

Fall fun! Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies!

I have a can of pumpkin and did  not want pie. So I went to the food network app and found  pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It has everything you could want pumpkin and chocolate.  Done! I had to make them and make them I did!
I followed the recipe but one thing Florida people; you may have to use baking powder with the soda. I made them with the recommended baking soda and poof. They are delish but had a cakelike consistency.  My hubby didn't complain but we will see when they are cold.
So here is the recipe:
3 cups of flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar packed
1 cup unsalted butter (2sticks)
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2teaspoon of baking soda  fl people use equal parts soda and powder. 1 tsp soda and 1 tsp of powder.
1 can of pumpkin
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1  bag semi sweet choc chips.

Preheat oven to 350
In one bowl cream butter and sugar. Then add vanilla and pumpkin. Next add the eggs. I didn't use a mixer, don't have one. Then in a separate bowl sift flour and spices. Add the pumpkin mixture a bit at a time to the dry and stir. Once that has been mixed together stir in chocolate chips.
On a parchment lined cookie sheet spoon a tablespoon full of batter on the sheet. Cookies will bake for 10-15minutes.  Or until cookies are brown.
They are soft cookies.
Can make up to 60 cookies. Courtesy of Food Network. 

Perfecting my cookie recipe.

Today I am trying to refigure my cookie recipe for double chocolate chip cookies. Here in Florida I have noticed cookies go flat or they become cakey mound so dry that you could use them instead of a paper towel. Yuck.
What I have learned recently via Pinterest is using both baking soda and powder. It works. My recipe for this cookie is below.

You will need :
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8tsp salt.
3/4 cup sugar
3/4cup Brown sugar packed.
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2sticks of room temperature unsalted butter
White and milk chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375degree.
In a bowl mix the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla into a fluffy creamy texture. Next add the baking soda and powder. Add salt stir. Add flour one cup at a time. Mixing well then add the chips. About half a bag of each.
Place a drop of cookie batter on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Cook on center rack for 10 mins or cookies are lightly browned. 

TGIF

Happy Happy Friday people!

Today is an alright day. I started to clean out more boxes and I started make my Christmas cards. Yes,it is early. But, if I don't start now I wont get them done in time. And side note SCREW YOU PANDORA! Darn thing keeps skipping.While I was getting things going with my Cricut machine, I went to stamp some cute penguins. I thought, "thought", I had some good ink. Yeah, it was as dry as the desert. So my project is now on hault.On to the next project! Today me and the boy will make some cookies. I am going to play around with some recipes I know. Here in Fl, cookies do not set up like they do up in Missouri. So, I have to play around with my recipes to get things just right.
Today it will be sugar cookies and double chocolate chip cookies. Will post more later. Now it is time to feed little man.

Dinner tonight, sundried tomato couscous with feta

Tonight's dinner is a delectable couscous dish. It has sundried tomatoes, feta, couscous,  and for some heat red hot pepper flakes.
Making this dish made me realize there are a lot of people scared of couscous.  They are afraid to use it and don't know how to cook with it. Many individuals think it is a grain, it is not it is a mini pasta.
This dish is so simple and easy to make. It for my family is a comfort food.
Ingredients:
Sundried tomatoes from a jar.
3 cloves of garlic
1/8 tsp of red hot pepper flakes
2/3 cup of couscous
1 cup of chicken stock
2 tablespoons of olive oil. I used the oil from the tomatoes.
Salt
lemon jui ce 1-2 tsp
Pinot grigio 1/4 cup

I like to prep first. So I used half a jar of sundried tomatoes.  And cut them up. Then I minced the 3 garlic cloves. And set it aside.
I got out a small pot and added the chicken stock and oil. Added a pinch of salt and brought to a boil. When it is boiling stir in couscous and cover. Remove it from heat. It has to stand for 7 mins.
Then in a small sauce pot. Add some of the oil from the tomatoes.  On med high heat cook the tomatoes and pepper flakes. Until heated through and then add the garlic. Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of lemon and then add the wine.Reduce heat amd bring to a simmer. You want it to be reduced. Now if you had them you could add Kalamata olives.
Take the couscous and stir it really quick. After that add the tomato sauce and stir in the feta cheese. Serve.
This makes dinner or lunch for two. This dish is good cold too.

Broke the dinner doldrums

20 minute Chicken Marsala.Yummy!

Have you ever stood in front of the fridge; door wide open and staring at the abyss within. From the fridge  you wander to the pantry and begin the stare down with the pasta and beans.
You haven't picked anything out and have thus entered the dinner doldrums.
I have been in the dinner doldrums for quite some times and fellow bloggers said check out Pinterest. Which I do, but rarely do I use the recipes.
Tonight I broke the cycle and made chicken Marsala. Holy Hera, it was amazing! Did I get it from Pinterest?
My mother and I got a Martha Stewart DVD from our local library and watched her make quick cook chicken Marsala. I remembered the recipe and then made it for my hubby and me.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of flour
Salt
Pepper
1 garlic clove
2 cups of Marsala wine. I used Smithfield. It can be found where the desert wines are. 

 3 table spoons of lemon juice.
4 table spoons of butter unsalted or salted.
2-4 chicken breasts boneless
Parsley for garnish
Olive oil 2 table spoons.
1 package of white mushrooms.

Step 1.
Butterfly the chicken in thick breasts. In a shallow dish mix flour, salt, and pepper. Then dredge the chicken in flour. Add oil to a hot pan and cook chicken for 3 mins on each side or chicken is golden brown. While the chicken cooks I chopped mushrooms and minced the garlic. Place the chicken aside or if needs to cook more put into oven.

Step 2.
Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to the pan you cooked the chicken in. Then add the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms, stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes. The liquid should be reduced. Remove from heat and add the Marsala wine. Then put back on the heat and stir, getting those brown bits mixed in. It should be like deglazing the pan. When it is simmering again, add the last 2 tablespoons of butter, garlic, and the lemon juice. Bring back up to a simmer. It should cook for 2-3 minutes. I did longer and the sauce thickened a bit more. It is a runny sauce. 

Step 3.

Take chicken and place on a serving platter, pour the Marsala over the chicken and top with parsley.  I served it with Idaho instant potatoes. Gasp! I know it was not fresh, but it was as good as it could get. I did not have the time. So, I doctored the classic buttery potatoes with parsley and extra butter. Sandra Lee would be proud of that. Serve HOT!

Making this dish made me come out of that dinner dump and back into the world of what could be. Who said you have to go to a swanky restaurant to get a good dinner like this? For 4 servings the total cost of this dinner was $20. At a restaurant it is what, $12-25 per person? Wow,big difference. This meal took 20 minutes to make and well worth it. So easy to do, I love it. Tomorrow? Well, dinner will be stuffed peppers! Yes, I will post that.