Coutdown to the Super-BOWL Part II: The Wing

Now, it just ain't the Superbowl without the wing. You know..the Buffalo Wing. It's like the ultimate man snack. And quite frankly, we ladies love 'em too!

True story: about a million years ago, I was a single woman living in my own apartment. Cute little semi-basement studio. Anyway, I had a friend over. Great girl, except she was...well...a little dense. She was the type of girl who made all the Dumb Blond Jokes a reality. Only she wasn't a blond, so I guess the joke is on the brunettes.

So, this one evening, we are hanging out and decided to order some pizza. I said I was in the mood for some Buffalo Wings, would she want to order those too?

She looked at me so sadly and goes, "Oooooh, NO!! How could you eat those??"

I tried to figure out why she was so against these awesome, messy little tidbits. She looked traumatize. And then it dawned on me and I had to ask, "You think the wings come from a buffalo, don't you?"

And she nodded, looking at ME like I was the stupid one. I shook my head and proceeded to ask her "You have seen a picture of a buffalo before, haven't you? Maybe even saw one at the zoo?"

She nodded. Now she was confused.

"Did you ever see a buffalo with wings, friend?"

Now I could see her brain working overtime. She was befuddled. I had to clue her in before she gave herself a stroke from thinking to hard. "IT'S CHICKEN!! A CHICKEN WING!!"

"But why do they call it BUFFALO wings?" was her little "a-ha!" come back. I proceeded to smack myself in the forehead before explaining that they were named after the city of Buffalo...not the main provider beast of the Native Americans who lived on the plains.

And wouldn't you know she still didn't eat the wings after I ordered them? But...this was a girl that was also convinced that Duck Sauce was actually made from Duck Poop.

Now, On To the Buffalo Wing!! It's so simple. So easy. It doesn't need anything fancy done to it. Follow these simple steps and it comes out just as good as the wings from your local Mom and Pop Pub/Grill.

All you need are these:


That's it. Veggie Oil, Wings, Butter, Hot Sauce. Four very simple ingredients. (and salt, but everyone should have salt in their kitchen. KOSHER salt.)

First up, heat the veggie oil up to 350 degrees.


Make sure your pan is deep enough to handle splattering. Or if you have a deep fryer, even better.


Once that oil comes to 350, start dropping the wings in. Watch, because it will splatter and boil. Also be patient and do it in small batches.


Let it bubble and boil in that oil (hey that rhymes!) Let it go for about 25 minutes.

While they are frying up, put the bottle of hot sauce in a small pot and add butter. Let the butter melt away into the sauce, occasionally stirring.


After about 25-30 minutes, take the wings out and drain on paper towels. The skin will be nice and crispy. No need to dredge with flour or seasoning. Just hit them with a sprinkle of Kosher Salt.


Now, if you are like my dad, you will eat them just like this. He swears they are awesome just the way they are. Crispy, salty, and juicy.


But...if you are like the rest of the Buffalo Wing Eating world, you need to toss them in that sauce. Just remove the wings from the paper towel to a bowl. Ladle some of that sauce over them and toss them around.


Then, eat. Or if you are my son....devour.


Can't you just hear the little boy smacking his lips as he digs into them. He loves 'em spicy. He loves them period. I couldn't fry up enough at a time to keep up with him.

In the end, this was his pile o' bones:


And my poor husband only got two wings. (But that is what he gets for making a beer run while I'm making wings.) I did promise him that next time, I'll buy more wings just for him. And then my son made me promise to buy even more just for him.

So...that's it. Fry, Salt, then drench in sauce. Oil. Wings. Butter. Hot Sauce. And you will have those messy, dripping wings where the sauce gets all around your lips and starts to heat up your face. The sauce ends up all over your fingers and you relish in sucking them off. (Yeah, you know you do.) So good.

A quick note, in case the frying is too much fat and such. Make the sauce, let it cool, then pour all over a bowl full of wings. Let them marinate in the fridge. When you are ready, place them on a foil lined sheet, or grill them on the BBQ. I love grilling them on the BBQ. They come out just as good.

If you do choose to fry them, please please PLEASE take extra care. They do bubble and splatter and the oil is VERY HOT. Don't be stupid enough to fry them with a small child or baby in arms or even small pet (though that would be gross...you cooking while holding a pet...and this is coming from a woman who has a zoo in her house.)

*Don't forget to scroll down to yesterday's recipe...Part I of the Countdown to the Super-BOWL, the Nacho. And tomorrow I will reveal my Super-BOWL and a small "beer" for those who don't like beer.

Countdown to the Super-BOWL: Part I

Over the weekend we had the Superbowl. Millions of people across the country overdid it on food, drinks, and noise. The Superbowl has become so much more than football. It has become a holiday for getting together, wacky commercials, beer, and of course FOOD. Big food. Tasty food. Manly food.

This is not a day for gourmet and little, dainty bites. This is a day for messy, lip-smacking, American goodness. And beer. Lots of beer.

Now, I'm not a football fan. I couldn't tell you who played in the Superbowl, except that the Jets DID not. (Hey, I don't live under a rock). But I have grown to love Superbowl Sunday just because it gives me an excuse to cook and to eat. And I love that I cook with my husband's taste buds in mind. I try to cook with his favorite flavors.

This past Superbowl Sunday....I made a Super-BOWL. And I will get to the Super-BOWL. It is awesomeness in a....you got it...BOWL. Super food in a bowl. Get it? A Super-Bowl. I crack myself up.

But...before I get to that Super-BOWL, I made some other snacks. So this post is Part I as we count down to that Super-BOWL. This is about the first snack I made for my husband, my dad, and the kids. And even myself.

It's not Superbowl Sunday without these:

NACHOS!!!!

So simple. So easy. So good.

Dice up a small onion and a half a green pepper.


Brown up about a pound of ground turkey with some salt and pepper.


Add some of this:


This is Taco Seasoning. It comes in a little packet. You can just sprinkle some on, or use the whole envelope. It's up to you and how much kick you want on it. Since my Dad is not one for "kick", I only used a couple of spoonfuls.

Mix it all up and continue cooking. Throw on the peppers and onions and let it cook through.


Just when you are ready to turn off the heat, throw on a can of rinsed and drained kidney beans.

Let it cook about another minute or so.


Now, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cover a jelly roll pan with the tortilla chips of your choice.


Then top with the ground turkey/beans/peppers/onions.


Then comes the good stuff. The glue that holds it all together:


CHEESE!!
Any Shredded Cheese you want. Just pile it on there.

Pop in the oven for about 10 minutes. Just until that wonderful cheese gets all melty.


Ooooh...so.....good!!!!

How can you resist? Look at that goodness.


YUM!

So, good that this was what was left after only about 5 minutes:


This is a great idea for those watching their figures. Use Multi-grain baked chips and low-fat or no-fat cheese and it still tastes good. Who says you can't have nachos if you're on a diet?

And do you like heat? My Dad doesn't. He thinks this is "fancy enough" as it is. But, by all means spice these up with hot sauce in the meat mixture. Or chopped jalapenos. Or crushed red pepper flakes. Why not all three and really go for the gold. C'mon. It's Superbowl food. Make it your own anyway you want.

Stay tuned for tomorrow: Part II as we countdown to my Super-BOWL. The wing.

Tangerine Beef

So, I've been trying to eat better since the beginning of the year. So far, I've been doing pretty well. I love to cook and I love to eat, so rather than go full out on a diet, I've been trying to control portions and cooking with fresh products. This way, I still get flavor and I still get my time in the kitchen.

I have been craving Chinese Food lately. I live in an area where we have some really good Chinese Take Out, but between trying to watch what I cook and eat and trying to save money, I decided to try a new recipe: Tangerine Beef. Let's just say I am SO GLAD I made it. My husband was SO GLAD I made it. And my kids were SO GLAD I made it. If there were any leftovers, I'm sure my dogs would have been SO...well, you get the picture.

Tangerine Beef. It has a bit of prep work, so this is a good recipe for a time when you want to spend some time in the kitchen. It's also a great recipe if you want to impress someone.

Let's get started with the prep work.

You'll need about 4 Tangerines. With one, you will peel and cut into segments into a bowl. Take out any pits too.


With the other 3, you want to zest the skin. Make sure you don't get too deep or you'll get that icky white pith. You just want that fragrant zest. Already you'll be able to start to smell the citrus.



Then, juice the 3 tangerines.



Next, we do our veggies:

Broccoli, just the tops. Cut up.


Red Bell Pepper, sliced into thin strips.


About 3 or 4 scallions, sliced on a angle.


About a Tablespoon of Ginger Root, peeled, chopped and minced.



A heaping Tablespoon of Minced Garlic.


Then, we prep our beef.


It's a top sirloin, about a pound. I trimmed away some of the fat, then sliced it thin. It helps if the meat is still slightly frozen. Makes it so much easier to slice.



Now, let's start cooking!!!
In a skillet, you put about 2 Tablespoons of Veggie Oil and let it heat up. Add the tangerine zest. Let it cook until the bright orange color starts to head over to the brown color side. Don't burn it though! The oils in the zest will start to release and your kitchen is going to start to smell wonderful!


While this is cooking, add about a Tablespoon or two of flour to your sliced beef and toss. Not too much. Just a dusting of flour on the beef.


Remove the zest into a bowl. Add the beef in batches and let it brown up real nice on both sides.



Add the beef to the same bowl the zest is in.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of water into the skillet and add the broccoli. Cover and let it cook for a few minutes. Then add the peppers and scallions. Toss and cook.


The colors are unbelievable in this dish. So pleasing to the eye and they say we eat with our eyes first.

Throw in the minced ginger and garlic. Let it cook another minute or so. Meanwhile mix together the freshly squeezed tangerine juice with some soy sauce. Pour it all over the veggies in the skillet and toss.

Then add the meat....the extra segments of Tangerines for a nice garnish and...viola:


It really is a beautiful looking dish and tastes beautiful too. I served it with rice and we had Chinese Take Out without taking out! Everything was fresh, no MSG, not fattening, not greasy. And it was a big hit!!

Spicy Asian Brisket

My husband has been working long hours. And the weather here on the East Coast has been awful. Like Hoth Planet awful. Like slice open a Tauntaun, stuff me in there and wake me in the spring awful. Seriously, this morning when everyone went to check out Mr. Groundhog and beg him for a sign of spring, he just stuck his cute little paw out of his cozy little den and flip us and Mother Nature off.

So, between hubby's 15 hour days and the snow, ice, sleet, snow, and more snow I have turned to my favorite instrument in the kitchen: The Crock Pot!!

I love my Crock Pots so much, that I own four of them. A small one for sides and dips. A medium one for appetizers or sides or dips for larger gatherings. A Large one for meals. And the Extra Large One that is actually a BBQ Pit Crock Pot.

The thing about Crock Pots is you can get your dinner done early. You can run errands, go to work, nap, watch tv, read a book....and at dinner time, it's done. And if you have someone in your family, like my husband who gets home late, you can eat at a normal time and keep the dinner warm and ready to go when they come home. It won't dry out or compromise the flavors.

Without further ado, I bring you a new recipe I tried last week. Spicy Asian Brisket. It was so good that my son asked for Four helpings. Three at our normal dinner time, then a fourth when hubby came home. Spicy Asian Brisket was my son's bedtime snack. He chose that over cookies, that is how much he liked it.

Here we go:

I started out dicing an onion and tossing it into a bowl.



I added whatever opened bottle of BBQ sauce I had lying around in the fridge.




I would say it was about a half of bottle. Next time I'm going to make my own BBQ sauce for this. I do make an awesome BBQ sauce and I think it will really give this recipe a little personal touch. So, if you make your own BBQ sauce, go for it. Otherwise, use your favorite bottled sauce.

Then, whatever opened bottle of teriyaki I had. This was a great clean out the fridge recipe.



Next was a new ingredient I had never tried before. I was a little hesitant, but I have seen many of the cheflebraties on tv use it, and I do love to try something new.


When I opened the can, I was like..."Huh?" It looked weird. It smelled good though. Smokey and spicy.


It's chipotles in adobo sauce. I ran them through my mini-chopper to give them a quick puree. This really released the spicy/smokey scent and I began to get excited about using it.

Everything went into the bowl and I whisked it all together. Then, I took a large brisket (make sure it's NOT a corned beef brisket. Just a good old plain brisket for this), and I placed it in my Extra Large BBQ Pit Crock Pot. I poured the onion/BBQ/teriyaki/adobo sauce all over the top.


See:



Isn't this a lovely Crock Pot. On Christmas Eve, this baby fits TWO large briskets. On Super Bowl Sunday, you can load this fella up with pounds of wings. I have slow cooked a Cuban flavored large pork roast in it. I. Love. This. Crock. Pot.

Moving on....


I closed the lid and let it slow cook on high for hours and hours. My brisket was still frozen, so I had it on high setting. If you try this recipe and your meat is thawed, then the lower setting would be best.



In the end, I had this:


Since I'm trying to eat healthy for the new year (I haven't lost my Healthy and Wealthy inspiration motto yet!!), I had my slices of brisket over a bed of stir fried sugar-snap peas with garlic.

It was so good. So filling. The sauce gave the brisket just the right amount of heat and kick. Wasn't too overpowering. And the smokiness made it taste as if it had been slowly cooked over low smoke outdoors.

And I can't wait to cook with chipotles in adobo sauce again.