Chicken Wings for #GoJunkFood

I was hanging out on twitter a couple of weeks ago and I saw some talk about chicken wings.  Love me some good ole chicken wings.  Remember when you were much, much younger and could go to the bars for 10 cent (where the heck is the “cent” key???) wing night?  Well I do and still to this day that’s how I like my wings.  Fried nice and crispy, smothered in a nice hot sauce that isn’t too thick or too thin but just right…and oh yah, for 10 cents a piece…LOL!!!

Well those days are long gone.  I think I have seen them advertised for 35 cents on special nights but to me that just isn’t the same.  We do have one wing place where the wings are good, especially if you order them well done!  But mostly wings out are a treat and when we do have a craving for them I make them really quick in the oven…watching the waist line you know and then I can have the sauce or the spices (depending on the mood) just right for me…

Chicken Wings

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Wash wings and remove any feathers that have been left on.
You can cut of the tips and separate them but my family actually fights over the tips (go figure???) so we leave them on. 
Place in a large bowl and toss with about half of the spice/seasoning rub and arrange on a foil lined pan for baking.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown.

Spice/Seasoning Rub for Chicken Wings

1 Tbsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1-1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp paprika

Hot Sauce for Chicken Wings

1/2 bottle of Frank’s Red Hot Original
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 Tbs melted butter

Half of the wings I tossed with the Hot Sauce and the other half I tossed with the remaining Spice/Seasoning Rub.

These wings are part of the #GoJunkFood quest to take your every day bar food and put your own spin on it. Be sure to visit all of the other bloggers involved…

Elle at Elle’s New England kitchen
Paula at The Dragons Kitchen
Chris at Blog Well Done
Renee at Flamingo Musings
Heather at He Cooks...She Cooks

Haystacks in honor of National White Chocolate Day…

This is not a sponsored post, just something I tried and really, really liked. 

Also with it being National White Chocolate Day how could I not?

Now I know these don’t look like much (white cookies on white plate…Doh!) and I am almost embarrassed to post a “recipe” for them but these are really, really good and something we all loved even though none of us really, really love white chocolate!

Fiber One Haystacks

Ingredients:

1 sleeve of Fiber One Cereal (it comes two sleeves to a box)
1-11 oz bag of Nestle white chocolate chips

Directions:

Melt morsels in the microwave until melted and smooth
Stir in one sleeve fiber one until well coated.
Working quickly, using a teaspoon, spoon  out onto a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet into 48 small mounds.
Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator or freezer (I use a zip-loc bag).

Number of Servings: 48  WW Points 1 per serving!!!

***You can use any type of chip that you like for this, chocolate chip, butterscotch chips etc. but we have found that the best are the white chocolate!!!

My favorite quick, one pot meal…

We all need a go to meal.  Something that we have all the ingredients on hand at all times and is fast and easy to prepare right? 
This is mine.  It take me about 28 minutes from start to finish but longer if I use brown rice and guess what?  Everyone in the house will eat it!!!  That’s what truly makes this one pot dish a winner to me!
Bean and Rice Stew
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb ground turkey or beef
1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1 cup of frozen corn
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked rice (brown rice will increase the cooking time)
1 tsp Better than Bouillon beef flavored
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
Heat Olive oil in a large, deep skillet.  cook onion and garlic til apaque and softened.  Cook the ground meat over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain excess fat. Stir in water, rice, beans and corn.   Season with beef bouillon and salt and black pepper. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until rice is cooked and water is absorbed.
***this recipe is super flexible.  Add to it what you want.  I have a friend who adds salsa to it to give it a different touch.  Use green peppers, add zucchini…really whatever you want to add.
****You can use brown rice with this.  It will increase your cooking time but what I have done before is to cook the rice in the morning and throw it in when everything else is cooked and just heat it through.

End of Season Peach Frozen Yogurt

I love peaches and am always a little sad when peach season comes to an end.  Really to me that and the kids going back to school are the true signs of summer ending. 

So when I saw a picture of peach frozen yogurt on Tastespotting the other day I just had to make it.  As luck would have it I had 1-1/2 pounds of peaches on hand.  Perfect for the recipe!!!

Peach Frozen Yogurt (adapted from Tales From a Kitchen Misfit)

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 lbs ripe peaches
• 1/2 cup water
• 2  cups plain whole milk yogurt
• a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup of sugar

Directions: 

Peel peaches, slice them in half, and remove the pits. Cut the peaches into chunks and cook them with the water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the sugar, then chill in the refrigerator.

When the peach mixture is cool, puree in a food processor with the yogurt until almost smooth but slightly chunky. Mix in a few drops of lemon juice.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacture’s instruction. Eat immediately or chill for a few hours if you want it to be harder.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

So we can all do with another way to use up over ripe bananas right?

I had a bunch sitting on the counter and I needed to find a way to use them up.  Sure I could have frozen them but it is so much more rewarding to make something out of them then to shove them into the deep dark abyss of the freezer!  This is what I came up with…

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting (previously posted)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. baking soda (add to pureed bananas)
3 pureed bananas, very ripe

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13" baking pan or two 9" layer cake pans.
2. Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Sift flour several times, then add the salt and baking powder to the flour.
3. To the creamed butter mixture, add the milk and flour (alternating, beginning and ending with flour).
4. Add vanilla and mashed bananas (with the baking soda added to the bananas) to this mixture.
5. Bake layer cakes (9") for 25-30 minutes, oblong (9x13") for 35-40 minutes.
6. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (Hershey Cocoa container)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Angel Food Cupcakes

Topped with White Sparkling Sugar

The girl’s have been asking (read begging) for me to bake something, anything.  I have been in involved in a weight loss challenge with a bunch of people at the BMX track and I really didn’t want to have to pay any money just because I am very weak and will eat just about anything sweet in the house, hence there has been very little baking going on around here!  Now that the challenge is over and I won, I can get on with baking up some goodies! 

Today I thought I would start by baking some cupcakes…trouble was I couldn’t decide how to top them!

 
Topped with Chocolate Frosting (looks like I was frugal with the frosting but the angel food cake is so light it won’t hold up to a lot!)

Angel Food Cupcakes (adapted to cupcakes from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 12 egg whites
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Be sure that your muffin pan is prepared and lined with cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, and 3/4 cup of the sugar, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whip the egg whites along with the vanilla, cream of tartar and salt, to medium stiff peaks. Gradually add the remaining sugar while continuing to whip to stiff peaks. When the egg white mixture has reached its maximum volume, fold in the sifted ingredients gradually, one third at a time. Do not over mix. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 or less full. Refrigerate the remaining batter for the next batch.
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cupcakes are a nice golden color.
4. I rolled some still hot cupcakes in White Sparkling Sugar and allowed the rest to cool for frosting.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (Hershey Cocoa container)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

No-bake Nut Butter Energy Bars

So this was my first attempt at homemade granola bars and I wasn’t even really sure what I was going for.  I guess now I know a little bit more clearly what I want and what I don’t want.  These are good.  I mean really, really good but I would almost hesitate to even call them granola bars.  Maybe I would call them peanut butter and oatmeal bars?

I think next time I would toast the oatmeal with the nuts in the oven for a bit.  Maybe use some crisped rice and less sugar?  Hard to really tell which way I am going to go but I bet the kiddos will love this first try anyway!

No-bake Nut Butter Energy Bars (adapted from Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup orange blossom honey (or agave nectar)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1-1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
3 cups oatmeal
2 scoops chocolate protein powder
1/2 dried cherries (briefly rehydrated in hot water), chopped (can use any dried fruit you like)
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/2 unsalted sunflower seeds

Directions:

Warm the honey, butter, olive oil, and peanut butter in a saucepan until ingredients are soft enough to combine easily when mixed.  remove from heat.

Add oatmeal and protein powder and mix well  Then, add dried fruits, almonds and seeds.  Mix well.

Press into 9-inch square pan.  Let cool in fridge and cut into squares.

***These are good.  Really, really good but not very diet friendly!  Based on cutting the 9-inch pan into little squares and ending up with about 29 of them it is still 4 WW points.  I think you can eliminate the olive oil and butter and that would help but still didn’t decrease the overall points.  The peanut butter just is too much.  Maybe use less peanut butter and add some whole wheat flour?  Need to play around with this a bit…