Buffalo Wings and Spicy Seasoned Garlic Fries

Like most people know, the Superbowl is around the corner and even though I'm not a huge fan of football (unless it's the SF 49ers) I'm always a fan of an excuse for lots of food and drinks. Now don't get me wrong, this recipe can totally be made anytime of the year and I know you all will have no problem throwing down, I mean come on, THEY'RE BUFFALO WINGS!!! They're really great and spicy - just the way we like them. We use to go to this place in my hometown that had habanero wings that were completely delicious with a level of spiciness that could make you question your own sanity. These aren't even close to that but it's probably a good thing and the reason why we can make these more frequently. We also wanted garlic fries to go with our bar-food theme which ended up turning into seasoned spicy garlic fries. The recipe for those is at the bottom.

Buffalo Wings

What You'll Need:

1/2 C All purpose flour

1/4 tsp paprika 

1/4 tsp salt

10 chicken wings

oil for frying

1/4 C of butter

1/4 C hot sauce

garlic powder 

pepper 

Start by mixing the flour, paprika and salt. Toss the chicken in the flour mixture and let it sit the fridge for 60 to 90 minutes, or longer if you can wait that long. I read a lot of reviews online and they all said the same thing that I'm going to say - don't skip this step. It helps to make the wings more magical and I wouldn't want you to miss out on that.

When the wings come out they're ready for the 375 degree oil.

When the oil is ready shake off some of the flour from the wings to ensure you don't just burn it. Put a few wings in at a time and cook them for 10 to 15 minutes. Place them on a paper towel to absorb the extra oil.

 

Now it's time to get the sauce ready. And trust me, this is a glorious moment. There's a lot of flexibility with the sauce and the amount of spice that goes into it but one thing that should never be changed is Frank's RedHot Sauce! Just sayin'...

To get the sauce base down (that's what we'll call the simple sauce recipe that can be adjusted). Combine the butter, hot sauce, garlic, and pepper in a pot. After tasting it I added more hot sauce and a little paprika. Just a bit for some more spice.

When all of the wings are cooked and cooled I poured the sauce over them then tossed them around in a large bowl.

We also made some seasoned garlic fries because...well... we were hungry :)

 Garlic Seasoned Fries

The seasoned wings are super easy to make and are a really good addition. Besides they help keep with the theme of appetizer, easy-to-eat food that you could easily make for a game or just for fun.

What You'll Need:

8 cloves of garlic

6 Tbl of garlic olive oil

3 T cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Start by cutting up a bunch of potatoes, pouring the olive oil on them and putting them in the microwave for 3 to 6 minutes.

 Combine the dry ingredients and toss with the microwaved potatoes.

Place them on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle the crushed garlic on them. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 225 degrees.

Delish right?

Serve them with the wings and a beer (or margarita if you're like me) and kick back. I promise you'll absolutely love these too!

Thanksgiving Catch-Up: Blogging Through the Holidays!

I literally have one more final left then I'm on vacation. I've taken a hiatus from blogging so I could focus on pre-final tests and papers, then finals themselves. As always I have soo much to blog but I wanted to let you know how my holidays have been. We're currently getting ready for Christmas (I'll be in full-swing Christmas mode when finals are done) but we've already had some of our traditions here: Thanksgiving being the first one. Mike and I both attended our families Thanksgiving dinners, then I attended my parents' dinner, then our personal one here at home. Three Thanksgivings. Yeah, I'm still full. I won't get into my recipes (except for one that I'll post later) so I'll just let you know what I was up to for my weekend-long feast.

On Thanksgiving day I woke up, watched the parade, then headed off to San Jose to see my family. We usually have that dinner pretty early because my aunts and uncles have dinner with their in-laws too and so on. There was no shortage of food there either.

My uncle and the newest member of our family - his grandson!

I had a great time with my family and enjoyed seeing everyone since it had been so long and I've moved pretty far.

On Friday it was also Mike's birthday (he's a Thanksgiving baby) so we had plans that night but my parents always have their own Thanksgiving for us the next day so I attended that too. This is the spread my mom had for us. It consisted of turkey, homemade stuffing, yams, homemade mashed potatoes, rice (because we're Mexican and we eat it with almost every meal), and cranberry sauce.

Yeah, I rocked this...

Our last Thanksgiving was on that Saturday. I started this tradition when Mike and I moved out last year so we could have our own leftovers. It's really what got me started in blogging again. I had forgotten how fun it could be to cook multiple items at once, and the pressure and satisfaction that comes with pulling it off. Folks, this is for you, I owe you one.This year I found out something about myself. I don't like turkey. I mean I'll eat it, but I usually go after all of the side dishes. And I realized the older I get, the lazier turkey makes me. It's just not my favorite thing, but I made one anyway. Along with my turkey I had stuffin' muffins, mashed potatoes, yams, rice, and a potato salad.

*Confession* I don't know the difference between sweet potatoes and yams and I honestly don't know which ones I made but they were good. Also, I'm sorry if my version differs from the traditional way, I don't know what that is either but feel free to let me know.

These are the ingredients that my lovely father chopped really really tiny for me. He's the best at it. These are bags of celery, green onion, and the turkey neck (let's all ignore the third thing together). I sauteed them in a bunch of butter then added a box of Stovetop stuffing and half a bag of plain stuffing. This is my secret. You're welcome :) unless you do it too.

For my potatoes I did the usual boiling of potatoes and whipped them with cream and butter (calories and I are good friends over the holidays).

My stuffin muffins ready to go....

My yams crushed up with crushed pineapple, walnuts, brown sugar and topped with mini marshmallows.

This is the first time we had this but we got them from Mike's dad. This is the exact recipe we used. Please try them - they're delicious and very unhealthy!!

This is the guest of honor. Not too bad huh? 

Not a bad feast for college students on a budget. We both really enjoyed it too. Don't worry I didn't forget about dessert! I'll be posting my Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe soon. See you all then. Cheers!

Meatball Challenge #1: Grilled Italian Meatball Skewers

I'm doing my first personal cooking challenge. It started when my mom gave me a big bag of frozen meatballs that she didn't want. I was determined to make things other than spaghetti and meatballs or meatball subs (though I'll probably end up making these both). I wanted something new and different and I found my answer while looking through my pantry. Here it is, a simple meal that has tons of flavor and great textures - all on a handy stick.

What You'll Need:

18 meatballs (frozen or fresh)

1/2 jar/can of tomato sauce

2 zucchini 

cherry tomatoes

skewers

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Place around 18 meatballs on a foiled cookie sheet. I guessed I would probably put around three meatballs on a skewer and we would each have three skewers so I only cooked 18. Cook them for 15 minutes so they heat all the way through. I had no idea how these would taste but I went for it anyway.

Next you can get your zucchini ready. You're going to want the pieces around the same size as the meatballs so they cook evenly. I decided to make the pieces square so they would keep the skewers from rolling around with the round tomatoes and meatballs (I thought about this from past experience). This actually really helped.

 

 

Now I don't know about you, but I need more to my meal than three skewers of mostly veggies - especially when I had no way of knowing how they would turn out. I figured since we were having a relatively "healthy" meal I could add a little more fat. I decided to make potato chips too. Cut around 6 potatoes into thin slices and fry in two inches of oil. Place them on a plate with a paper towel on it and sprinkle some salt when they come out.

Lately I've been using the big cans of tomato sauce, but I usually only need about half a can when making food so I store the other half in an empty spaghetti sauce jar. I usually have sauce at hand all the time and I had half a jar in my fridge so I decided to use some to heat the meatballs in. This was a fabulous idea. Put the sauce in a sauce pan and keep on low heat to keep the splattering to a minimum. The sauce is already delicious on it's own but I added some black pepper, basil and oregano for some extra oomph. I think if I made this again I would add chili flakes for some extra spice.

When the meatballs are done, and while they're still hot, place them in your heated sauce. I left mine in for about 8 minutes so they could soak up some sauce (according to Mike and Alton Brown, this works. Good enough for me). At this point the meatballs have all sorts of potential for other dishes.

Mmmmm

When the meatballs were basically done, I left them in the sauce and got my veggies and skewers ready to start assembling. All kinds of veggies would be good with these too. Mushroom and onions would probably be amazing but this is what I had on hand.

I ended up only putting two meatballs on a skewer then I made an all veggie skewer (which was also delicious). Tell me these don't look good already...

I placed the skewers aside and heated up my grill. Confession: I'm slowly starting to fall in love with this grill... in a totally normal way though. It heats in a couple of minutes, DRAINS FAT, and makes food taste better. Yes my friends that is all love.

When my grill was heated I was able to fit most of my skewers on the first round. I cooked mine for 6 minutes with the top closed down, turned them, then cooked them for another 4-5 with the grill open. Since the meatballs are already cooked you just have to cook the zucchini to the texture that you want.

When they're done, plate them and pour more of your tomato sauce over them. Serve them with your potato chips, a cold glass of lemonade, and enjoy.

Overall, I don't think I did too bad for my first "challenge." The flavors were great and the meatballs had a great flavor. This was the perfect amount of food for us too. This makes me very excited about the food that's to come. Stay tuned my fellow foodies.