Buffalo Wing Dip

This recipe is a special request from my big brother.  So here's a shout out to Kevin and to Super Bowl fans far and wide.  This is a must have recipe for any event you may be hosting or attending this weekend.  I am always amazed at the rave reviews we get when we bring this dish to gatherings - it's so simple and seems so common (especially in Buffalo), but my guess is while many other recipes call for Blue Cheese this one calls for Ranch and as such is probably much milder than others you see/taste out there.  And of course you can never go wrong with 2 packages of creem cheese!

Hope you enjoy as much as our families do!

Ingredients
1 chicken breast (about 1/2 lb), poached 
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup ranch dressing
3/4 cup Frank's Red Hot
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 bunch Celery cut in to 4 inch slices
1 bunch Carrots cut in to 4 inch slices
1 bag Tortilla chips

To poach the chicken breast you can use water or better yet, use some Frank's Red Hot sauce.  Place the breast in a small pot, just cover the chicken with liquid, bring to a boil, cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.  Allow the chicken to rest in the pan in the liquid for 15-20 minutes (pot should still be covered).

Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred using 2 forks.

In a medium sauce pan heat the Frank's Red Hot and add the shredded chicken.  Stir to combine.  Once the chicken and sauce is heated through, add the cream cheese and ranch dressing.  Cook, stirring until well blended and warm.  Mix in half of the shredded cheese and transfer either to a 9x9 baking dish or to a small slow cooker.  Top with the remaining cheese.

If using a 9x9 baking dish, cook for approximately 20 minutes at 350 or until the cheese is melted and the dip is bubbly.

If using the Slow Cooker, top with remaining cheese and turn to the low setting.  Serve when the dip is hot and bubbly.

Dig in!  But be sure to hit the gym the next day!

Pancakes - Breakfast for Dinner

Sometimes you just have to do it.  After being out of town for the weekend, and coming home to a pretty empty fridge we scouted to see what could be on the menu for the week.  The buttermilk was "going bad" magically the next day according to the stamp on the package so we opted for buttermilk pancakes with bacon for dinner.

I've gotten a lot more adventurous with my baking.  I used to follow all recipes, then I gave up on general cooking recipes for the most part but was still devout in following baking recipes.  I have since given up on those as well.  I look at them for general guidelines, but I like to see if I make a tweak here or there what might happen.

So my Buttermilk Pancake recipe is based on a recipe from a Cooking Light Cookbook circa about 1999. 

1 1/4 Cup Buttermilk
1/2 Cup Oats
1 teaspoon vanilla - I never measure, just pour and pray as my motto goes, also - feel free to substitute almond extract every now and then for splash of something different!
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

Stir together and let the above soak for about 10 minutes stirring every now and then.

While the oats are soaking, in a separate bowl mix together:
1 1/4 Cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt.

After 10 minutes, add 1 egg lightly beaten and 1 Tablespoon of oil to the oat mixture.  Fold the flour mixture in to the oat mixture.  Drop about 1/4 cup dollops on a hot griddle and cook on one side until you see bubbles forming.  Flip over and cook on the other side until done.

This recipe makes about 10 pancakes.

Note:  The original recipe called for 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar to be added to the dry ingredients.  I;ve started switching the brown sugar out with Maple Syrup to keep my ingredients as local as I can - and you are going to put it on top anyway, so why not also have it inside the pancakes.  The Oats, Flour, Maple Syrup and Egg were all locally sourced.  As of course was the bacon. 

Ahhhh....Chili

Chili is such a favorite and we don't make it often enough.  I honestly don't know why.  And preparing to document this recipe once again brought to my attention that I cook for the love of cooking.  Recipes float in my head - reminders from childhood, family, friends, cookbooks or articles, and somehow they come together into a delicious meal, I often don't measure, but enjoy the art of improvising when I cook.  As Dann said tonight, chili will never taste like this again.  It could be driven by the quality of ingredients, the list of ingredients, the order in which they are introduced to the pot, but really who knows.  We just know we like chili and in the end it's similar to the last time - right?

The Chili I finished cooking today was a multi-day process through no fault of its own. 

The tomatoes used in the sauce were from our garden this summer and had been cooked down into crushed tomatoes and frozen in the fall.  The Green/Red peppers were bought in bulk at the farmers market this past summer, sliced and frozen the same day.

The ground beef (from Duink Farm in Hamburg, NY) was cooked on Sunday as I needed some for a dish earlier in the week and thought to just cook it all at one time.  Little did I know the distress this would cause Dann.  My husband, who never has a clue what is in our refrigerator, was VERY aware of the 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef that sat there unused awaiting its swim in the chili bath.

The black beans were from our summer harvest.  If you don't think you have a green thumb, try growing dry beans.  You plant them, then ignore them - so easy! And kids LOVE shelling them.  I LOVE shelling them.  I was always so amazed that out of such a dry paste colored shell could come something so perfectly shaped and ink black.  With assistance from my young friend Emily Morrison this summer and my niece McKenzie this past weekend, the black beans were all shelled.  Monday they went into a water bath to reconstitute and then Monday night they were put in the crockpot over night to soften even more.

The rest of the chili ingredients were also primarily local - onions and carrots from our Winter CSA share through Thorpes Organic Family Farm, garlic from our garden, and a dash of Honey from Bob Colligan's bees. 

I find I cook mostly on the whim of the day.  This morning as I assembled the chili I started the crockpot on low and diced 2 red onions, adding them to the warming crockpot as I went along.  Next added were the carrots - I diced about 4 medium carrots.  I then added what I believe to be the equivalent of 2 Green Peppers.  By the time the peppers where being added to the pot I could smell the onions.  Also about this time I realized my crock was about half full and I hadn't added any meat, beans or sauce yet. Next in went 4 gloves of garlic - pressed.

I stirred the vegetables together and then added the tomatoes- I used 4 small canning jars and 1 large canning jar worth of crushed tomatoes.  Next came the ground beef.  I only added about 1lb because by this time my crockpot was getting pretty full and I knew I still had beans to add and they would also be adding protein.

Of course chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper where added - these are always added to taste, I never measure, I just pour and pray!  I figure heavy on everything but the salt and we'll be good.  I also added a few dashes of a special seasoning my parents get Dann on their trips to Florida - Pirates Bite.  It's a blend of 7 peppers, so this was the perfect dish to include it on!

Everything was in the pot swimming by 7:30am

About 4:30pm I finally added the black beans (about 3 hours before serving), the other vegetables had softened enough and some of the liquid had cooked off making room for the beans.  There were approximately 3 cups of beans added.  I would have liked to have more, but that would have meant I needed to grow more...watch out Garden 2012 - I feel rows of turtle beans in our future!!

I added a dash of honey at the end - about a tablespoon or so.  This helps cut the acidity of the tomatoes primarily and just blends all the flavors together so nicely.

And don't ask me why, but growing up I always remember having chili over mashed potatoes so of course about 1 hour before you plan on serving the chili, dice up a bunch of potatoes (don't peel - skins mash fine and they are good for you anyway and so much less work!) and put in a large pot.  Add some peeled garlic cloves and enough water to just barely cover the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and boil for about 30 minutes (or until tender) .  Add butter, milk and salt and pepper to taste and mash.  I use a hand mixer when adding garlic cloves to my potatoes just to ensure someones doesn't bite into a clove thinking they have a potato! 

Dish up some potatoes and layer some chili on top and dig in.  So delicious!!!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup - with Jalapeno

Butternut Squash stored in our basement

What goes better with zero degree weather then soup? This recipe is a culmination of recommendations from friends, family and flipping through the pages of cookbooks.

Dann & I fell in love with Butternut Squash Soup several years ago on a trip back to Buffalo when we were still living in NC.  We were in town for the holidays and knowing the indulgent attitude one takes during the holidays our friends Bill & Susan were kind enough to invite us over for a soup and salad dinner. Some form of this soup has graced our winter dinners ever since. 
The first several times I made the soup I peeled the Butternut Squash and boiled it in chicken stock along with potatoes, carrots, onion, and celery and then used our hand blender to emulsify the ingredients. While this is a one step process in the pot I must admit, peeling butternut squash is not my idea of fun - even with the fancy peeler my mom bought special for the task. 

Enter the roasting method - my new path to delicious soup!  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Peel the potatoes, cut the carrots and onions in large chunks and put them on a roasting pan.  Drizzle them with olive oil, salt & pepper.  Cut the squash, remove the seeds and place the chunks of squash upside down on the roasting pan - skin and all!  Set the timer for 45 minutes and walk away. 

When the timer dings remove the pan from the oven and let the vegetables cool for about 10 minutes.  Once cooled, the peel comes right off the squash!  Now quite honestly, you can do this entire part the day before and refrigerate until you are ready to make the soup the next day (or do in batches and freeze).  But typically I go right on to step 2.

Step 2:  Place all of the roasted ingredients in a dutch oven and add enough poultry stock to cover the ingredients by about 1 inch.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and add garlic and if you'd like some heat - add a jalapeno!  Simmer for about 5-10 minutes and then use an immersion blender (or blender) and process until creamy.  This was our first time adding the jalapeno and it was phenomenal! 
The biggest surprise for me with this soup is always how creamy it is without ever adding any cream! 

Special Note:  All of the ingredients used for the soup were from our home garden with the exception of the turkey used in our stock (made from the remnants of our Thanksgiving Turkey compliments of Oink & Gobble farm in the Finger Lake district of NY) and of course the olive oil, salt & pepper.  I find it overwhelming that for a few dollar in seeds we can eat like a king and queen from our little acre.

Below is a full list of ingredients used in this latest batch of Roasted Butternut Squash Soup - play around with it and see what works best for you.  Cooking should never be boring, it should always be an adventure!

1 small Butternut Squash
2 medium sized potatoes
1 large onion
2 carrots
Dash Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper
Stock - enough to cover the veggies (about 6 cups+/-)
Garlic
Jalapeno