A chicken wing alternative

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book Copyright 2008

1 pound ground white meat chicken
1/2 small onion, grated
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 cup parsley, chopped I used some dried parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup hot sauce (such as Frank’s)
3 scallions, green and white parts thinly sliced
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream I used lite
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
A couple of handfuls celery sticks
A couple of handfuls carrot sticks

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground chicken with the onion, garlic and parsley, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Flatten out the meat in the bowl and score it into four portions using the side of your hand. Shape each portion into four balls – you should have sixteen meatballs in total. I used my scoop and got more.

Arrange the meatballs on a nonstick sheet pan and drizzle them with EVOO. Place in the oven and bake until the meatballs are cooked through and golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.

While the meatballs are baking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the hot sauce and whisk to combine. Toss the baked meatballs in the hot sauce to coat.

Mix together the buttermilk, sour cream, blue cheese and most of the chopped scallions.

Transfer the meatballs to a serving platter and spike each one with a toothpick or serving fork. Place the bleu cheese dressing in a small serving bowl and garnish with the remaining scallions. Serve the meatballs with the bleu cheese dressing, celery and carrot sticks alongside.
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I love chicken wings but no matter how you make them (fried, baked, whatever) they are kind of a pain to make at home. This meatball version is much friendlier. It's easier to make these for a party (I made the meatballs ahead of time, froze them, then reheated them in the oven while I made the sauce). While I would never make a weeknight meal out of chicken wings, I served these for dinner, even though they were designated as an appetizer in the cookbook.

If you are looking for lighter appetizers to serve, these are a good choice if you make this dressing with light ingredients or buy a light blue cheese dressing. They are not super-light (there is butter involved) but definitely a step up from regular wings and that delicious but decadent buffalo chicken dip that is so popular. Also, these have less sugar than most meatball appetizer recipes.

I wasn't thrilled with this blue cheese dressing. It was okay but not the best. I prefer this one that my baked chicken wing recipe used. Not surprisingly, when I went to RR's site, the recipe called for prepared blue cheese dressing which I would also prefer. That is one thing I've noticed about RR's recipes - they always seem to be slightly different between her books and her site.

I almost forgot to add this to my ground chicken recipe list.

Question of the Day: Do you have a favorite hot sauce? As much as I love Frank's, I've been buying most Crystal since it's less expensive.

Afterschool special

Cream-Filled Cupcakes
Taste of Home Annual Recipes 2000 Copyright 1999

2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa I used mostly natural cocoa but I ran out and had to finish off with Dutch process cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

FILLING:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Chocolate frosting

In a large bowl, beat the sugar, milk, oil, water, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into egg mixture until blended.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups half full. Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small bowl, beat the butter, shortening, confectioners' sugar, milk, vanilla and salt until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Insert a very small tip into a pastry or plastic bag; fill with cream filling. Push the tip through the bottom of paper liner to fill each cupcake. I went in from the top. Frost cupcakes. Yield: 3 dozen.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 each) equals 195 calories, 9 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 16 mg cholesterol, 160 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 2 g protein.
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My house was getting out of control so I told myself that my day off yesterday would be strictly for housework - no cooking or cookbooks. Yet, around mid-day I found myself making these cupcakes. For a while when I was in grammar school, my mom had one day off from work during the week and that was the only day I might expect to find some kind of dessert when I got home. Since my older son had school yesterday, I thought it would be nice to have something waiting for him when he got home since I know how much I used to enjoy that.

They didn't take long. I only made a half batch (18 cupcakes). I was a little short on the 'cream' so 2-3 cupcakes got short-changed. It was super-simple to fill these using my Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator. I love that thing. I do not work for Pampered Chef.

The cupcakes themselves were very good. I did have to use some Dutch process cocoa since I ran out of the regular stuff. It doesn't act the same as regular cocoa powder but it seemed to work. My cupcakes were a bit more rounded on top than usual and that might have been caused by using the Dutch-process cocoa since it has a different pH had reacts with baking soda differently (I still haven't figured that out completely). The flavor was great and I managed not to overbake these cupcakes (for a change) so they weren't dry.

I think I would have preferred something other than a buttercream in the middle. Something something a bit marshmallow-y maybe. The buttercream is good but it wasn't much of a contrast from the frosting which I made basically the same as the filling except I added cocoa. Alternatively I could have used a different type of frosting for a contrast.

Now that I've discovered how easy it is to fill cupcakes, no cupcake will be safe around here.

I bought this cookbook for 25 cents at a yard sale! Great deal. There are a ton of great recipes in it.

Question of the Day: What are some of your favorite kitchen gadgets?

A pretty one

BBQ Chicken Twister
The Pampered Chef More Stoneware Sensations Copyright 1999

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped I used raw chicken and cooked it with the veggies
¾ cup celery, sliced
1 cup onion, chopped
¾ cup green bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 ¼ cups barbecue sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons cornmeal, divided (optional) I didn't use this
1 package (11.5 ounces) refrigerated cornbread twists I used bread sticks. The cornbread twists have been discontinued.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Chop chicken into bite-size pieces and slice celery using 8” Chef’s Knife. Chop onion and bell pepper using Food Chopper. Melt butter in Generation II 12” Family Skillet over medium heat. Add celery, onion, bell pepper and garlic pressed with Garlic Press to skillet. Cook and stir 3-4 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add chicken, barbecue sauce, salt and black pepper. Cook 5 minutes or until mixture comes to a boil, stirring occasionally. Spoon mixture into Deep Dish Baker. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cornmeal over 18” x 12” Grooved Cutting Board. Unroll cornbread twists over cornmeal. Sprinkle with remaining cornmeal. Separate dough into strips using Pizza Cutter to cut along perforations. Starting at center of Baker, twist and place half of strips over chicken mixture in spoke-like fashion. Pinch ends of strips together at center. Twist and place remaining strips around edge of Baker. Bake 20-25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Obviously, use the equipment you have if you don't own the Pampered Chef products called for in the recipe. I baked this in a deep dish pie plate.

Yield: 6 servings. 400 cal, 16 g fat, 1030 mg sodium, 2g fiber
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I love cornbread topped recipes so I was disappointed when I realized that they had discontinued the cornbread twists. I could have used a box of Jiffy cornbread but the 'twist' seemed integral to the recipe so I went with the bread sticks and it worked out.

Sorry about the picture but I was rushed and only got two shots and this blurry, non-flash picture looked better than the other one. I thought this recipe was cute and pretty much a meal in one dish. We had some green beans on the side.

This was easy since I chopped the onions, pepper and garlic in my mini-chopper. I made the chicken mixture Sunday for Tuesday so the chicken absorbed a lot of flavor. I reheated it and then topped it and baked it.

Question of the Day: Is today a holiday where you are? It's Veteran's Day here. My older boy has school but I have off work. Hopefully I can catch up around the house.

More venison (and more on the way)

Barbecue Venison
301 Venison Recipes The Ultimate Deer Hunter’s Cookbook Copyright 1992

2 pounds boneless venison
½ pound bacon I used applewood smoked bacon
1 cup onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup ketchup
½ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
Rice, salt and pepper

I marinated the meat overnight in water, vinegar and salt.

Cut venison into pieces no larger than 1-inch cubes. In the bottom of a Dutch oven or large frying pan, cook bacon until crisp.

Remove bacon, crumble and set aside.

In a bowl or other container, mix all ingredients except venison and rice. Salt and pepper to taste.

I didn't add the vegetables straight to the sauce. I sautéed them with the meat for awhile after it had browned.

Brown venison in bacon drippings. Add bowl of ingredients to venison. Stir well. Cover tightly and simmer about 1 hour or until meat is tender (it took me quite a bit longer becauseI realized my element had come loose during the cooking process so this was actually turned off for who knows how long.). Stir occasionally. Serve over rice.
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I was down to just a couple packages of deer meat left in the freezer and then my husband shot another deer yesterday (archery). This last batch wasn't bad - I hope this next batch is okay. Although, he didn't really mention the size of this deer at all which leads me to believe it wasn't that impressive. There might not be much meat left after the bologna (he always orders a good bit of deer bologna when he gets a deer processed).

Venison is growing on me yet I still approach it with a bit of hesitation each time. I was pleased with this recipe but I think I could have cut the bacon down by at least half. I had applewood smoked bacon which I like but it's stronger than other bacon. The sauce was pretty strong, which is why I chose it. I might get daring and start to pick recipes that don't mask the venison flavor as much. I'm not giving up marinating the meat first. I'm not that brave.

I will add this to my venison recipes round-up.

Question of the Day: Do you have a favorite bacon? Thick? Thin? Maple-flavored? Peppered?

Quick preparation, simple and delicious

Golden Lemon Bread Recipe
The Taste of Home Cookbook Cooks Who Care Edition Copyright 2009

1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk

GLAZE:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.

Pour into a greased 9-in. x 5-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Place pan on a wire rack.

Combine the glaze ingredients; immediately pour over warm bread. Cool completely before removing from pan. Yield: 1 loaf (16 slices).

Nutrition Facts: 1 slice equals 165 calories, 7 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 28 mg cholesterol, 125 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 2 g protein.
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This was one of those simple yet surprisingly good recipes. Glazing the cake warm makes it so good. It's a mild lemon flavor yet very pleasing. I would definitely make this again. I didn't even use a mixer, just a wooden spoon. I had it in the oven in just a few minutes.

My bread did get a little bit more brown than the bread pictured in the cookbook but that is quite possibly just because I have an old, decrepit oven. Next time I might cut the temperature down to 325 degrees F.

I can't say much more about this. Mondays are definitely not my best day. At least I can start getting to bed earlier on Sunday nights now that Mad Men has wrapped up its season.

Question of the Day: I'm too tired to think of one today.