Pat's New Year's Chicken Wings

There. NOW we won't be stuck at the beach and NOT have the exact recipe. These are obviously my family's FAVORITE wing recipe.


5 lbs. chicken wings
1 c. brown sugar
1 t. dry mustard
1/8 t. ginger
3/4 c. Marsala wine
1 c. soy sauce
2 cloves minced garlic

Cook chicken on a baking sheet at 350 for 30 minutes. Make sauce and let it sit. Pour sauce over the chicken and cook for another 30 minutes. Then turn them over and cook 30 more minutes (1.5 hours total cooking)

Summer Pasta Salad

This is such a "girl" salad. We love it though. When my sis came to visit we downed a whole bowl. It just feels light. Plus, who doesn't want to eat something COLD then a hot meal sometimes on these hot days (I hear the west is having some KILLER heat!)

The trick is finding "mini" noodles. When I used regular-sized rotini it just soaked up ALL the dressing so I ended having to use 2 whole bottle or something. So in the store in the noodle section find a noodle that the box says "mini". They can be any shape.

- 1 box mini noodles
-cucumber, cut up
-celery cut up (you HAVE to have celery, the salad needs the crunch, even though I'm not a HUGE celery fan)
- red grapes, halved
-grilled chicken (cooked and chopped up...........we've done it w/o chicken before but w/ the meat it feels more 
maindish-y)
-One bottle of Poppyseed dressing.....like Briana's.....the one w/ the big peach on the front. (have another bottle on hand just in case you like it more wet. Every noodle is different so it's hard to say how much it will soak up or not)

You cook up the noodles, rinse, Let cool. And add everything else. It tastes best if you let it sit in the fridge for a few hours (I make it during naptime). You can make the ratio however you want, I love a lot of grapes and cucumbers in it and Brooks prefers more meat. Whatever.
Cut up some watermelon to serve and you have a perfect light, summer meal.

Note: When I had Iris someone brought me this as a meal. I loved LOVED it that I asked her for the recipe. When she told me the dressing was just a bottle of salad dressing, I couldn't BELIEVE it!!! And when I've taken this to people they ask about the dressing because it's so good. Funny huh. Must mix w/ the other flavors of the food.....

Frozen Key Lime Pie - 4 Ingredients

Ingredients:

1       9inch graham cracker crust (or oreo)
1       can sweetened condensed milk
1       8oz container cool whip
1/2c  fresh or concentrate lime juice  

*You can add green food coloring to make it look more like a key lime pie 
**You can add a garnish to the top like lime slices, lime zest, chocolate shavings or cool whip

Mix condensed milk, cool whip and lime juice together. Add mixture to graham cracker crust. Freeze for at least 4 hours.

DELICIOUS!!

Aebleskivers & Butterscotch Syrup

I thought about not posting this, because you have to have a special type of pan to make these. They're a Danish breakfast pastry. However, they are so delicious I wanted to post it. Melissa makes these at Christmas time and fills them with jelly. I don't fill mine, but make a butterscotch syrup that my roommate made with them in college. Even if you don't get the pan and make the Aebleskivers, the syrup is so delicious! 

This is what the pan looks like to make them....it's called an Aebleskiver Pan.
   
Aebleskivers 
2 Cups flour
1 Teasppon salt
1 Teasppon baking soda
2 Cups buttermilk
3 Eggs - separated

**I don't buy buttermilk for this, put 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar in with the 2 cups of whatever milk you have and it thickens and curdles it to act as buttermilk.    

Sift together or whisk the flour, salt and baking soda. Add buttermilk and egg yolks. Beat egg whites until light and fluffly, forming soft peaks. Gently fold egg whites into batter.

Heat Aebleskiver pan on medium heat (fyi, it gets really hot and so I end up turning it down to medium-low heat after it initially heats up, about 10mins) Grease each cup thoroughly with spray oil and fill 2/3 full with batter. Cook approximately 1 to 1-1/2mins (per side) until golden brown, flip using a toothpick. 

OPTIONAL: Fill each cup only 1/3 full with batter place a small amount of fruit or jelly in each cup and cover with an additional 1/3 batter.

OPTIONAL: Add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter, it's delicious.

Makes about 35-40.

Butterscotch Syrup
1-1/2 Cup sugar
1-1/2 cubes butter
3/4 Cups milk
1 Teaspoon baking soda
2 Teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter in pan, then add sugar, milk and baking soda. Cook 7mins stirring constantly and barely boiling. Take off heat and add vanila. 

We like to dip our aebleskivers in the syrup and eat with our fingers!

I half this recipe a lot because it makes so much, then we save whats leftover and use it on pancakes or french toast.         

Won Ton Chicken Salad

Here you go Lins....

1 head romaine lettuce
1 head iceberg lettuce
3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1/2 pkg wontons fried and broken into pieces
1 small bag slivered almonds

Dressing:
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup SEASONED rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
4-6 green onions

Blend the ingredients for the dressing in blender until smooth and pour over salad RIGHT before serving.
(Case and I think the more green onion the more flavor it has, so I would do all 6 and I usually go about half to three fourths the way up the stem.) Also, I usually like to cook and shred the chicken the night before and sometimes I cook the wontons the night before and just break them up when I'm ready to use them. If I make this all at once, it feels like it takes forever! If I break it up, it feels like it was easy!!

My Version of Mexican Chicken

So we are towards the end of the month and that means our grocery budget for the month is all gone.....so it's time for me to get creative with what we've got.  I've heard of this Mexican chicken before and I remember my mom ordering it several times somewhere for dinner.  I didn't look it up, just used what I remember the chicken having, which somehow I had it all in my pantry/fridge.  I took some chicken breasts and sliced them in half (I always slice the chicken breasts in half because they cook faster and you can taste whatever is on it way better).  I only seasoned it with some garlic powder on both sides and into the oven they went.  When they where completely cooked, I brought them back out and added everything else.  First, I put a layer of cream cheese on top, then some salsa (as much as you like) and lastly shredded Mexican cheese....a lot.  Then, put it back in the oven to melt the cheese and done.  Gabe and I loved it and he wants me to make it again. I asked him if I should post it on here and he said for sure. So here it is! The best part was how easy is was to make and clean up. I just put some non stick aluminum foil on the baking pan and then threw it away.  All I had to clean was the pot I used to make the rice with corn to go with it.  It was really tasty and fun to eat. 

I know, I am horrible at posting recipes. They are just paragraphs trying to explain what to do instead of a real recipe.  The thing is pretty much everything I make is something I put together out of nowhere (like this chicken) or something that I have know for so long that I don't need to measure anything for it, I already know how the dish goes and just do everything by eye (is that even how you say it?). Sorry you guys! 

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed

1 bag spinach,

1 bunch green onion, chopped

6 oz honey-roasted peanuts

1 box bow-tie pasta, cooked 

6 oz craisins

1 8 oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained

1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted

2 cans mandarin oranges

Dressing:

1 cup vegetable oil (I only put in 1/3 cup)

2/3 cup teriyaki sauce

2/3 cup vinegar

6 Tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Mix dressing ingredients together, pour over cooked pasta and chicken.  Marinate for 1-2 hours.

Mix in the rest of the ingredients before serving.

 

This is a fast and easy dish. I've done it without the chicken and served it as a side and it's delicious! You can do a bunch of variations on the ingredients and so it's easy to throw in what you have and will taste good without everything in it. Our favorite mix is the pasta with mandarin oranges, craisins, green onions and sunflower seeds.