Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

Yes, another buffalo recipe!  A spicy, fun spin on chicken enchiladas.  

Ingredients:

• 1 lb cooked shredded chicken
• 20oz red enchilada sauce
• 1c buffalo sauce
• 1c reduced fat mexican blend cheese + 1/2c
• 1/4c diced green onion
• 1/4c diced red onion
• 8 flour tortillas
• garnishes: crumbled cojita, bleu cheese or gorgonzola, more diced onion, minced cilantro, diced tomato, sliced hot peppers

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray a baking dish with olive oil.
3. Combine the enchilada sauce and buffalo sauce.  Combine the chicken, 1c cheese, and onion.  
4. Spoon 3/4c of the enchilada buffalo sauce into the baking dish.
5. Divide the chicken/cheese mix among the 8 tortillas, down the center.  Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish.  Pour the rest of the sauce over and sprinkle with 1/2c cheese.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the tortillas start to brown and the sauce is nice and bubbly.
7. Garnish accordingly and serve!

The enchilada to buffalo sauce ratio here was perfect- it was nice and spicy without being overbearing.

BBQ Chicken Tartlets

Bite-sized BBQ chicken appetizers? Yes please!  

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes mini fillo shows (I usually buy the Athens brand)
• 6oz diced cooked chicken
• 3/4c bbq sauce (your favorite store bought, or try my recipe below!)
• 1/3c green onion
• 3oz shredded gouda
• 2 egg yolks
• salt & pepper
• 1/4c half & half or light cream

For the BBQ sauce:

• 2c ketchup
• 1/3 minced shallot or yellow onion
• 1/4c molasses
• 1/4c honey
• 1/4c red wine
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp spicy mustard (I use the horseradish mustard, so good!)
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp worcestershire
• 2 tsp hot sauce
• salt, pepper, dash of cayenne pepper

1. Take the shells out of the freezer and let them stand at room temp for 30 min on a baking sheet.
2. To make the bbq sauce- add all ingredients to a food processor and mix well.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
4. Mix the chicken though light cream and season.  Fill the fillo shells and bake for about 20 minutes, until the filling starts to bubble and the shells start to brown.

Baked Veggie Wontons

We have appetizer night at home every so often... we'll make 3-4 "apps" and have it for dinner.  We also do this a lot for sporting events.  With the Super Bowl around the corner, we've been experimenting with different apps quite a bit lately.  These are one of my favorite "what's in the fridge?" creations that turned into something great.

Ingredients:

• 12 wonton wrappers
• 1/3c reduced fat cream cheese
• 2 tbsp sriracaha
• 2 tbsp grated parm
• 1/3c each- diced tomato, diced artichokes, diced red bell pepper, chopped banana pepper
• 1/4c diced green onion
• salt & pepper
• optional condiments: sriracha & honey balsamic dressing

1. Spray a mini muffin tin with olive oil spray and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Lay out the wonton wrappers.
3. Make the filling: combine cream cheese through green onion and season.  Spoon onto the center of the wrappers, gather the sides and pinch to form a pouch, and drop into the mini muffin tins.  Spray with a little olive oil and bake for about 20 minutes.  You'll want to see the tops and the sides start to brown slightly.
4. Drizzle a little more sriracha on top and serve with some honey balsamic salad dressing alongside.

Italian Stuffed Artichokes

Artichokes...they're not just for dip anymore!  I love steamed artichokes, so I went a step further and made an italian style stuffing.

Ingredients:

• 1 artichoke
• 1/3c part skim ricotta
• 1/3c diced salami
• 1 egg
• 1/4c grated parm + additional for sprinkling
• salt, black pepper & crushed red pepper
• 1/3c italian breadcrumbs
• olive oil

1. Cut an artichoke in half, hollow out the center, and steam the halves.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a baking dish with olive oil.
3. To make the stuffing, combine the ricotta, the salami, the egg and 1/4c grated parm.  Season.  Stuff the artichoke halves and place them stuffing side up in a baking dish.     
4. Top the artichokes with bread crumbs, a little more parm, and drizzle lightly with olive oil.
5. Bake 18-20 minutes, until the stuffing starts to bubble.  

This would be great alongside my chicken piccata!  http://improperchef.blogspot.com/2012/12/chicken-piccata.html

Turkey Taco Pasta

Saw the idea for this on Pinterest and I couldn't wait to try it! I made a few tweaks to put my own spin on it.  If you're not a fan of ground turkey, you could definitely sub ground beef.  You could also go meatless and omit the turkey altogether.  Either way, the result is taco goodness!

Ingredients:

• 12oz medium pasta shells
• olive oil
• 1 lb ground turkey or beef
• 1 small diced yellow onion
• salt, pepper, garlic powder
• 14oz diced tomato (with jalapenos or chiles, preferably)
• 4oz diced green chiles
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• half a packet of ranch seasoning
• 4oz light cream cheese
• 3oz light sour cream
• 3/4c reduced fat taco blend cheese
• optional garnish: hot sauce, salsa, diced green onion

1. Cook the shells per the box directions.
2. While the shells are cooking, brown the turkey on medium high in some olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Drain off the fat.
3. Add the tomato, chiles and taco & ranch seasoning.  Cook on medium for 4 min. 
4. Drain the pasta, reserve 1/2c of the cooking water.  Add both to your turkey tomato mix along with the cream cheese, sour cream and taco blend cheese.  Cook on low for 5-6 min, stirring often to melt the cheese and mix well.
5. Garnish with hot sauce/salsa/green onion

This is one of my favorite super quick and super filling recipes.  A little goes a long way...we had this the other night with salads and had 4 smaller portions for lunches later in the week!

Buffalo Chicken Dip Poppers

If you've been following my blog or Facebook page, you'll notice that I love buffalo chicken and I love jalapenos.  It only makes sense to put them all together, right?  This recipe is a tried and true entertaining favorite.  It's buffalo chicken dip without the chips!

Ingredients:

• 20 jalapenos (or red fresno peppers, or a combination of the two)
• 8oz room temp cream cheese (go reduced fat OR whipped chive)
• 4oz taco  blend cheese
• 1.5c shredded cooked chicken
• 1/2c buffalo sauce
• 1/2c light ranch dressing

1. Halve the peppers the long way (stem to end) and scoop out the seeds.
2. Combine the cream cheese through ranch dressing and mix well to combine.
3. Stuff the pepper halves and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until the filling starts to bubble.

If the jalapenos and the buffalo filling are too much heat for you, you could use milder banana peppers or even bell peppers.  For the bell peppers, cut the tops off, scoop out the inside and add the buffalo filling.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Having today off from work, I wanted to make something for lunch that would carry over into the week for workday lunches.  The solution?  Stuffed Pepper Soup!  Very easy to make and packed with flavor.  It's essentially a meal in a bowl.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 diced yellow onion
• 1/3c diced celery
• 3 diced green bell peppers
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1lb ground beef or turkey
• salt & pepper
• 1c white rice, uncooked
• 2c water
• 1c tomato juice + 1/2c
• 28oz crushed tomato
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• optional garnish: grated parm 

1. Saute the onion through garlic in olive oil for 10 min.  Add the beef or turkey, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the beef has browned.
2. Stir in the rice, mixing well, and cook for 1 min.
3. Add the water, 1c tomato juice, crushed tomato and sugar, as well as some additional salt and pepper.  Cover and cook on medium heat for 25 minutes, stirring every so often.
4. Uncover and add another 1/2c tomato juice if the soup is too thick.  Simmer uncovered for 5 min.
5. Add the allspice, stir, and serve it up!  Garnish with grated parm if desired.

This makes a nice big batch... you've got a good 6-8 bowls to enjoy throughout your week.

Honey Sriracha Wings

If you've never tried Sriracha, please run out and pick some up today!  It's a wonderful chili sauce with so much flavor and it's delicious in and on everything!  These wings were no exception.  I got the recipe from Food Network's website, and the only change I made was adding more Sriracha.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/honey-sriracha-chicken-wings-recipe/index.html

Baked Pizza Rolls

Another great idea from Pinterest...I love that site!  I used to love those frozen pizza rolls that came in the box, but apparently they are not all that good for you :-/  So here is a homemade recipe that is baked and not fried to boot!

Ingredients:  

• olive oil
• 1 small, finely diced yellow or white onion
• half of a finely chopped green pepper
• 2 minced garlic cloves (you guessed it, finely chopped)
• 1/4c finely chopped white mushrooms
• italian seasoning
• 2.5c marinara sauce + additional for serving
• 3/4c shredded italian blend cheese
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4c finely chopped pepperoni
• 24 wonton wrappers 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  
2. Cook the onion through mushrooms in oil for 5 minutes.  Add some italian seasoning and cook for 2-3 min longer.  Remove from heat.
3. Mix together the 2.5c marinara, the cheeses, and the pepperoni in a bowl.  Add the veggie mix.  Mix well.
4. Lay out 4 wonton wrappers at a time on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Add 1 tbsp of the filling to the middle of each, brush the edges with a little water, fold in half (from top to bottom) and pinch the edges to seal.  Repeat until you have 24 ready to go!  Space them about 1/2 inch apart and you may need a second sheet depending on the size of your sheet.
5. Brush the tops with an egg wash and bake 15-17 minutes.  You want the edges to get nice and crispy.  Let them stand for 5 minutes- the filling will be HOT!
6. Serve with some warm marinara.

I only made about 16 of these last night for the game, so I am looking forward to having the rest for lunch today!

Buffalo Cauliflower

Yup, the buffalo lady is at it again!  I can't get enough of these stuff.  Over on Pinterest, I saw the idea for buffalo cauliflower and I had to try it.  As you have seen in previous posts, I am on a cauliflower kick lately so cauliflower + buffalo sauce is a match made in food heaven for me.  I played around with the idea of the batter and settled on a beer batter.  It was not heavy at all and really gave the cauliflower some added flavor.  

Ingredients: 

• 1/4c buffalo sauce + 1/3c
• 1/2c flour
• 3/4c beer (I used Harpoon IPA)
• salt & pepper
• 1lb fresh cauliflower florets
• 1/3c canola oil
• celery salt
• optional garnishes: celery sticks, carrot sticks, ranch dressing, bleu cheese dressing

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (thank you Ashley for the tip!).
2. Mix 1/4c buffalo sauce, the flour, the beer (and you get to drink the rest), and a pinch of salt and some pepper.  Dip the cauliflower in the batter and bake for 20 min.
3. Mix the remaining buffalo sauce, the canola oil, and season with some celery salt & pepper.  Brush this mix onto the cauliflower, and pop it back into the oven for another 5 minutes or so.  The cauliflower should be nice and crispy.
4. Serve with fresh veggies and your favorite dressing to cool it down.

I was a little skeptical when I first saw this, but it's a delicious alternative to chicken!  I will be making this again.  I'm also working on an idea that combines buffalo cauliflower with my cauliflower gratin recipe.  Keep an eye out for that in a couple weeks!

Cheeseburger Dip

I've dabbled with cheeseburger pie, cheeseburger chowder, cheeseburger pizza, and cheeseburgers.  I wanted a dip for last night Patriots game that was nice and filling, so I figured that a cheeseburger dip was the way to go!  I googled a lot of different recipes and checked out Pinterest, and people apparently love Velveeta (not that there's anything wrong with that).  I do not, so I borrowed from past recipes such as my artichoke & pizza dips, which use a shredded cheese/cream cheese/sour cream combo that comes out wonderfully cheesy.  This dip is decadent, so it's perfect for a party (ahem, Super Bowl?) and a little goes a long way!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb ground beef
• montreal steak seasoning
• 1 small diced yellow onion
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 4 chopped cooked bacon slices
• 1/3c chopped dill pickles + more for garnish
• 6oz whipped chive cream cheese (room temp)
• 1/4c light sour cream
• 1/4c canola mayo
• 3/4c shredded taco blend cheese
• 1/2c shredded italian blend cheese
• 1 tbsp worcestershire
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard
• optional garnish: lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard
• serve with: tortilla chips or bread

1. Cook 3/4lb ground beef seasoned with montreal steak seasoning for 5 min.  Add the onion and garlic and cook until the beef is browned.  Drain off the fat.  
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
3. In a large bowl, combine the beef & onion mix through the yellow mustard, and mix well
4. Spoon into a pie plate or other small baking dish and bake for 25 min.  The sides should be bubbly and the top should just start to brown.
5. Remove and garnish with chopped lettuce, red onion, tomato and pickles, and drizzle with ketchup and mustard.
6. Serve with tortilla chips or bread (or both!)

Please check out my other posts today which feature some additional great appetizer recipes for your Super Bowl party!

Mustard & Maple Glazed Chicken

Found a great recipe over on Cooking Light's website.  I loved the concept so I decided to give it my own spin.  Plus it gave me a chance to break out the cast iron skillet again!  Some food doesn't photograph all that well (this recipe being one of them) but don't let it fool you.  It was delicious.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on)
• 3/4c chicken broth
• 1/4c maple syrup (get the good real stuff)
• italian seasoning, salt, pepper
• 4 sliced garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp spicy mustard
• optional: 1/4c potato flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat the oil on medium high in an oven-safe skillet.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and italian seasoning and cook 4 minutes per side in the oil.  Remove from the pan.
3. Add the broth, syrup, garlic, vinegars and mustard to the skillet.  Cook 3 minutes.  Add the chicken back and coat all sides in the broth mixture.  Cook 5 minutes and then transfer to the oven.
4. Cook in the oven for an additional 20 or so minutes, until the chicken is well done.
5. The sauce should thicken nicely and be almost a glaze-like consistency.  If it's a little too thin/watery, add 1/4c of potato flakes after you remove the chicken from the skillet and heat it back on the stove top for another 3 minutes.  Serve the sauce over the chicken.

You will likely get varying results on the chicken cooking time and the sauce consistency depending on which type of skillet/cookware you use.  For best results, use a cast iron or other oven-safe skillet rather than a baking dish.