Week 7: Buffalo Chicken Wraps--a restaurant favorite brought home

This is one of my favorites to order at Buffalo Wild Wings and other restaurants. I found the original recipe in the Kraft Foods magazine, but true to form I adjusted the recipe even as I made it the first time. So now I consider it mine!!

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

8 frozen breaded Chicken breast strips
1/4 C. low-fat or fat-free Mayonnaise
2 Tbs. Hot Pepper Sauce
2 C. Spinach leaves
4 large flour Tortillas
1 large Tomato, chopped
1 C. shredded Cheddar Cheese

Prepare chicken breasts according to package directions. Meanwhile mix mayonnaise and hot sauce. If you don't want it too spicy, start with 1/2 Tbs. of hot sauce and taste as you add more.

When chicken is done, place spinach leaves down center of the tortillas. Top with chicken, then tomatoes and then cheese. Drizzle with mayo mixture and roll up. Secure with toothpicks if necessary.

Week 6: FoodTV's Potato-Bacon Torte

This sounded so wonderful when I saw it on TV that I suggested to Kate that we try it. After all, any recipe that has cheese and bacon is worth trying!!

Potato-Bacon Torte

2 Pie Crusts, recipe follows

4 strips bacon
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2/3 C. heavy cream
3 medium baking potatoes, peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 C. grated Gruyere cheese
1 egg yolk, whisked with a splash of water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare the pie crusts, recipe follows.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until just crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Crumble the bacon when cool to the touch.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the thyme and cream over low heat to a bare simmer. Turn off the heat and let steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.

Remove the pie pan from the refrigerator. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and then finely slice the potatoes. Working in circles, arrange the potato slices in the pie crust, stopping to season each layer with salt, pepper, and about 1/4 of the crumbled bacon. Continue layering until the pie pan is nearly full. Top with an even layer of the cheese and gently pour cream around and over the entire pie, allowing it to seep down between the potato slices. (You may not use all the cream.)

Roll out the remaining disk of refrigerated dough. Cover the pie with the dough and crimp the edges closed. Brush the top and edges of the crust with egg wash. Make a few slits in the center of the top crust, for the steam to escape, and put the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake the torte until the crust is browned and crispy and the potatoes are cooked through, about 50 to 60 minutes. If the crust edges get too brown, cover them with some strips of aluminum foil. Remove the pie from the oven and let rest at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

2 Pie Crusts

1 C. butter, cubed and chilled
2.25 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
8 To 10 Tbs. ice water

Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps.

Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 re-sealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the torte ingredients.

Catch up to Week 5--Wings!

With the holiday weekend, Kate and I decided to double-dip (so to speak) for our recipes. Long holiday weekends in the summer seem to require BBQ Wings.

BBQ Wings

3 or 5 Lb. bag frozen disjointed chicken wings
1.5 Tbsp. onion powder
1.5 Tbsp. ground chili powder
1.5 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. seasoning salt (or table salt)
1 C. honey
0.25 C. Kansas City or St. Louis BBQ sauce (Kansas City makes them sweeter; St. Louis spicier)

For the grill:
3 C. wood chips of your choice (apple, pecan, cherry or hickory)

Soak wood chips in water so they will smoke instead of burn. Remove the bag of chicken wings from the freezer. Prepare rub by combining onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, black pepper and seasoning salt. Rub the surface of the wings (still in the bag) and let the rub dry for at least 30 minutes while your coals are burning to white. (Closing the bag and shaking it will coat the wings even better.)

Remove the wings from the bag and place them in a (13 ½” x 9 ½”) disposable all-purpose foil pan. In small bowl, combine honey and BBQ sauce. Pour the sauce over the wings in the pan until all wings are evenly coated. Add wood smoking chips to coals. Place the wings on your BBQ grill/smoker grid using indirect heat and smoke.

Smoke wings for 20 minutes. Stir and recoat wings with sauce. When the wings are done, the sugar in sauce should caramelize and turn dark. Continue smoking and checking every 20 minutes. The amount of time it takes will depend on how many wings, how thawed they are and how hot the grill is. Once the sauce begins to darken, place pan on grid over direct heat. Wings are ready after about 20 minutes.

Week 4: The secret Beach chocolate chip cookies!!!

Ok, this recipe isn't really so secret. Mom and I just decided a couple of decades ago to adopt it as our secret recipe.

Beach Family Chocolate Chip Cookies

0.5 C. Sugar
0.5 C. packed light brown sugar
0.33 C. Margarine or Butter, softened
0.33 C. Shortening
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla
1.5 C. Flour
0.5 tsp. Baking Soda
0.5 tsp. Salt
1 C. Chocolate Chips (1 Cup = 6 oz.)

Sift together flour, soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream together sugars, shortening and margarine. Add egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture 1 cup at a time. Once dough is well mixed, stir in chocolate chips.

Place on ungreased cookie sheets by the teaspoon. Bake at 375F for 8 to 11 minutes.

Week 3: Kate's Favorite--Sheppard’s Pie

Sheppard’s Pie

1 Lb. Ground Beef
0.50 Lb. Sausage
1 C. Carrots, chopped
1 med. White Onion, chopped
0.50 C. Water
2 Beef Bouillon cubes
0.50 C. Water
6 Tbs. Margarine
6 Tbs. Flour
0.50 C. Evaporated Milk (Fat-Free)
2 C. frozen vegetables
3 C. Mashed Potatoes (either left-over or instant)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Brown and drain meats; set aside. Microwave carrots, onions and 1/2 C. of water for about 5 minutes. Make sure that the carrots are cooked but not mushy. Do NOT drain.

Dissolve the bouillon cubes in 1/2 C. of water by microwaving it for 1-2 minutes. In a large saucepan, begin to melt margarine over medium heat. After bottom of the pan is covered by the margarine, add flour. Once all the margarine has melted and the mixture has begun to bubble, add the bouillon. Stir until mixture is smooth and then quickly add the evaporated milk. Again stir quickly and make sure there are no lumps. Add carrots and onions, along with the water they were cooked in. Stir slightly to mix and remove from the heat.

Add in the meats and the frozen vegetables. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more evaporated milk, 2 tablespoons at a time. Pour into large casserole. Cook for 20 minutes.

While the meat is cooking, prepare mashed potatoes. When meat is ready, top with mashed potatoes by loose spoonfuls. Once all the potatoes are on the casserole, use the tips of your fingers to be sure there are no peaks that may burn. Return casseroles for 20 minutes or until brown.

Week 3: Delayed

We had to delay our 3rd recipe for a little reason...Ken couldn't eat. He came down with a stomach virus that had him not eating for 5 days. Well, he was eating, if you could call the BRAT diet eating. But somehow eating Bananas, (white) Rice, Applesauce and (dry) Toast wasn't what Ken considered as eating.

Luckily he's beginning to feel better finally. But since we have a crazy week ahead it'll be next weekend before we can make the next recipe.

Week 2: Sandy's comments

We saw this on the Rachel Ray show the morning we were in Vail. Ken and I love Chinese, but the kids weren't too excited about it. When I made this the first time, Kate loved it but Charlie didn't. To keep Charlie happy, I just pull out some chicken and pineapple before everything is combined for him.

This is a little spicy, so cut back the hot sauce if you don't want it spicy. You still want some of the hot sauce, just to round out the sweetness of the pineapple though. I also found that the sauce was too thin, so I've doubled the amount of cornstarch.

This will be a recipe we're making for a long time.

Week 2: Kate's comments

I love it. my favorites part is the pineapple. It would not be the same with Canned pineapple.

Week 2: Recipe from Vail--Sweet 'n Sour Pork

Sweet 'n Sour Pork (or Chicken)

Recipe from Rachel Ray

Rice for 4
2 Tbs. vegetable or canola oil
1 Tbs. hot sauce
Juice of 1 lime
3 Tbs. honey
3 Tbs. soy sauce or Tamari (dark soy sauce)
3 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
8 Oz. canned tomato sauce
1 Tbs. cornstarch
1 Lbs. pork tenderloins (chicken breasts), trimmed of silver skin and cut into 1-inch diced
2 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
2 green bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 slices fresh pineapple, drained and cut into 1-inch pieces
Freshly ground black pepper


Prepare rice.

When the rice is about halfway done, place a large skillet over high heat with two turns of the pan of oil, about 2 tablespoons. While the pan is heating up, grab a small bowl and combine the hot sauce, lime juice, honey, Tamari, vinegar, tomato sauce and cornstarch, stirring to dissolve the cornstarch. Set the sauce aside.

When the skillet is searing hot, add in the pork and cook the meat until caramelized, 3-4 minutes. Add in the garlic, ginger, peppers and onions, and stir fry the meat and veggies for 2 minutes more. Add in the pineapple and reserved sauce and stir everything together. Bring the sauce to a boil and allow it to cook for 1 minute to thicken up.

Season everything with some ground black pepper and serve the sweet 'n sour pork over the rice.

Week 1: Decadant Brownies with Mocha Frosting

Brownies

1/3 C. (Heaping) Cocoa
1/2 C. Margarine, melted
3 Tbs. Chocolate Syrup
2 Eggs
1 C. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
3/4 C. Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt

Heat oven to 350F. Spread in greased pan, 8x8x2 inches.

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add in margarine, eggs and vanilla. Stir together until batter is thick but smooth.

Bake until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool slightly if serving without frosting. Cool completely if frosting.

Mocha Frosting

2 C. powered Sugar
1/4 C. Cocoa (heaping)
2 Tbs. Margarine
1 Pinch Salt
3-1/2 Tbs. Coffee, Very Hot & Strong

Mix dry ingredients. Beat in margarine. Slowly add coffee until frosting is smooth. Enough to frost top of 8 x 8 pan.

Week 1: Kate's comments

I love the Brownies that are the best Brownies is in the world. They rock. If I had to rate 1 to 10 I would rate it a 10.

Week 1: Sandy's comments

I like these brownies because while they are rich, they aren't too rich. I have other recipes that are so rich that you have to have a very tiny serving--too tiny to really enjoy the recipe.

I've been making a version of this frosting since I was Kate's age. Even kids like this frosting, or at least they did if they don't freak out about having coffee!

New Blog!!

I haven't seen the movie "Julie & Julia", but it's caught my attention. I can't imagine trying to cook my way through an entire cookbook though. I think I'd get bored or end up making a recipe that wouldn't appeal to the family. Still, it got me thinking.

Kate and I are going to start an experiment and blog about it. We're calling it "52 in 52". We're going to make together 52 different recipes in 52 weeks. I told her that by the time we're done she'll have cooked more than many girls do before they move away from home.

I got tired of pulling the calculator out of the drawer while I'm cooking so I usually format my recipes using a combination of Microsoft Word and Excel. That way I can easily re-size anything for just 2 of us or for a crowd of 10. I won't be able to do that in the blog, but I'll save a copy everything in that format. I might even make Kate a special cookbook to keep when we're done.

We've made our first dish, so now we'll have to start thinking about the next one...