Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese

I love all things buffalo. It's a delicious flavor. My good friend, Lindsay, sent me this recipe and said I simply must try it. So I did, because I always follow directions. Did we love it? Eh. Was it tasty, absolutely. I think it was a little more rich than I expected. I was hoping for more spice. It was then that Lindsay told me she had doubled the Frank's. Ah....that would definitely help! So, without trying it that way, I hesitantly suggest you double the Frank's.

*Little tip, if you want a quick way to shred chicken, the food processor works in a pinch. Just be cautious with it so you don't puree the chicken. A few quick pulses is all it needs.

Ingredients

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
• Kosher salt
• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup hot sauce (preferably Frank's)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 2 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1 pound yellow sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 8 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken and garlic and cook 2 minutes, then add 1/2 cup hot sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 more minute.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and mustard with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk in the half-and-half, then add the remaining 1/4 cup hot sauce and stir until thick, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, then whisk in the sour cream until smooth.

Spread half of the macaroni in the prepared baking dish, then top with the chicken mixture and the remaining macaroni. Pour the cheese sauce evenly on top.

Put the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave until melted. Stir in the panko, blue cheese and parsley. Sprinkle over the macaroni and bake until bubbly, 30 to 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Tomato Sandwiches with Basil Mayonnaise

Carl wanted a tomato sandwich today.  I had no tomatoes, but we were about to leave for the Farmer's Market.  Sounded like a win to me.  I bought some heirloom tomatoes since mine are not cooperating.  Then he took it up a notch and asked if I could make some sort of basil mayonnaise.  Sure!  Why not?  Ina had a perfectly acceptable sounding one, and I had all the ingredients, including basil from the garden, so I got to work. 

Uh, yum!!!!  We'll be using a lot of this, and if I can figure out how to freeze it, I will.  Otherwise, I'll just freeze my basil and use it all year long!  Too bad heirloom tomatoes aren't in season all year long.  That would rock.  I just used some English Toasting Bread I had bought at the market last week.  Carl had two sandwiches...that should tell you something.

Ingredients

• 1 cup good mayonnaise
• 10 to 15 basil leaves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 slices country loaf bread
• 1 heirloom or Israeli tomato, sliced

Directions

Whisk together the mayonnaise, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Spread the mayonnaise mixture on the top of 2 slices of bread. Place the sliced tomato on top of one

bread slice. Place the remaining slice of bread, mayonnaise side down, on top of the tomato. Cut the sandwich in half and serve.

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Uh yeah. If you like buffalo sauce, go make this. I'm not saying anything else.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup cooked shredded chicken, warm
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon mayo (optional)
• 1 tablespoon carrot, grated
• 1 tablespoon celery, sliced
• 1 tablespoon green or red onion, sliced or diced
• 1 tablespoon blue cheese, room temperature, crumbled
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, room temperature, grated
• 1 tablespoon butter.

Directions

1. Mix the chicken, hot sauce, mayo, carrot, celery and onion in a small bowl.
2. Assemble sandwich and grill until golden brown and the cheese has melted, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Notes: I omitted the celery and mayo. I also used a butter substitute for the bread.

Source

Dried Cherry Buttermilk Scones

I was looking for ways to use up some buttermilk and came across this recipe for dried cherry buttermilk scones. I love scones. I had dried cherries. Easy decision.


Need:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, or 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
2/3 cup dried cherries, chopped
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk

For the (optional) topping:
2 tablespoons milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup turbinado or demerara sugar


Do:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and sugar. Cut in the cold butter using a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingers until you can see small pea-sized chunks of butter. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla and buttermilk, then pour into the dry ingredients. Stir with a fork until almost completely mixed, then add in the dried cherries and mix until the dough just starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat it into a circle, then cut 8-12 wedges, placing them on the baking sheet.

Brush the scones with milk, then sprinkle heavily with the turbinado or demerera sugar and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. They should be golden brown on top and feel light inside, or a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. Let cool slightly, then enjoy!

Notes: These are a bit drier than the blueberry scones I make, but still delicious. I froze mine and it took about 20 minutes in the oven from frozen.

*For freezing the scones- flash freeze them (put the scones on a parchment/wax paper lined baking sheet and stick in the freezer) for 20 minutes. Remove, wrap individually with aluminum foil, place in a freezer safe bag and store until ready to bake!

Buttermilk Cornbread Muffins

I found a recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup that I wanted to try (check back tomorrow for that recipe!) and thought I'd pair it with cornbread. A quick search brought me to this recipe for Buttermilk Cornbread. Lucky me forgot that I even wanted to make this, and dinner time arrived without me noticing. I had already made the soup yesterday, so I debated making the cornbread all together. I decided to improvise and just make it into muffins so it would bake faster. I couldn't be happier with my problem solving skills on this one. Definitely a good call on my part!

These are super easy and come together very quickly!

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease an 8x8 pan, or a muffin pan- it makes 12 muffins.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt:
1/2 c butter

Let cool a second, then add:
1/2 c sugar

One at a time, stir in:
2 eggs

Combine and then add to the mix:
1 c buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda

Last, mix in:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Stir until well combined and few lumps remain, then spread into pan and bake 30-40 minutes, or 20 minutes for muffins. It's done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Olga's Bread, Snackers and Cheese Dip

I <3 Olga's. And if you don't know what Olga's is, then you live in the wrong part of the country. They make the most delicious pita bread. It's sweet, but not too sweet. It's soft and chewy. It's delightful. We've been really cutting back on our restaurant trips (if you couldn't already tell by the surge of blog posts), and so I wanted to attempt to curb my Olga's craving by making their bread. I found a copycat recipe, but I'm not sure if the creator has ever been to Olga's.

I attempted making the snackers as directed and I also tried it as the pita bread. It's not that it was bad, but you know when you are expecting one thing and you get another- it tastes awful? It was kind of like that. Granted, after I got the whole disappointment that it simply wasn't a copycat recipe, the bread tasted delicious with my BLT. The snackers, however, were nothing to write home about. And the cheese dip wasn't on the top of my list either. Carl said it was good, I think I was just overwhelmed that it really not what I was expecting. There is another copycat Olga's bread that I want to try, so I'm hoping that will taste more like the real deal. Otherwise, this bread is perfectly suitable for our BLT nights!

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 pkg. dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups Borden's eggnog, canned
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided use

Combine water, sugar and dry yeast in measuring cup and stir to combine. Let stand to proof until doubled (about 5 minutes).

Meanwhile, beat all of the eggnog with only 3 cups of the flour. Set the remaining 1/2 cup flour aside to use when kneading bread later.

After adding about a cup of the flour, work in the yeast mixture beating well. Work in the rest of the flour until completely mixed. Turn into a large, greased bowl and invert another bowl, same size if you can, over dough so you can see it rising.

After it begins to rise (15-25 minutes) work in the last 1/2 cup flour, kneading well into the dough until it is smooth and elastic. Return to greased bowl and cover again to let rise until doubled (about 90 minutes).

Separate instructions for the snackers and bread below.

For the Snackers:

When doubled, turn out onto floured surface and cut into 8 equal portions; roll each into ball and then flatten each with rolling pin to make a very thin circle. Cut each circle into 6 inch triangles. Place these 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet.

Spray tops with garlic-flavored Pam or use plain Pam and dust with a little garlic powder. Then dust well with paprika and seasoned salt.

Bake at 350˚ about 20-25 minutes until firm to the touch.

For the bread:

When doubled, turn out onto floured surface and cut into 8 equal portions; roll each into ball and then flatten each with rolling pin to make a very thin circle. Heat a skillet on medium-high. Do not spray or coat the pan with anything. Heat each dough round for approximately 1 minute on each side, but keep an eye on it and allow to cook until mottled brown spots appear.

Cheese Dip:

INGREDIENTS

* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
* 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted, divided
* 1/3 cup mayonnaise
* 2 tablespoons sliced green onions
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg


DIRECTIONS

1. In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Stir in the Swiss cheese, 1/3 cup almonds, mayonnaise, onions, pepper and nutmeg. Spoon onto a lightly greased pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees F for 14-15 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining almonds. Serve warm with crackers.

Sweet & Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad

Simple. Cool. Refreshing. Healthy. This little salad has it all. It would be great paired up with some Panko Shrimp but also paired beautifully with the Thai Chicken Pizza! Definitely loved this one!

Need:

1 cucumber peeled and thinly sliced

1 carrot, matchstick-julienned

1/4 cup of thinly sliced red onion

1/2 cup of rice vinegar

1/4 cup of sugar (or Splenda equivalent for low carb diets)

1 tsp. of thai chili garlic sauce

pinch of salt

Do:

In a microwavable small bowl add rice vinegar, sugar, chili garlic sauce, and salt. Heat the bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds. Stir the vinaigrette until the sugar is completely dissolved. In a medium size bowl add the sliced cucumbers, carrots, and red onion. Pour vinaigrette over the cucumber mixture until well tossed. Cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy.