Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Panini

Buffalo sauce drenched shredded chicken. 

Blue cheese. 

Sharp cheddar cheese. 

Fresh tomatoes. 

Caramelized onions. 

Chewy whole grain bread. 

And bacon. Oh yes, there’s bacon too.

This sandwich is a sandwich’s sandwich. It is a two napkin man’s sandwich. It is what other sandwiches want to be – chewy, gooey, cheesy, and mouth-watering delicious.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this but I prefer sandwiches that are toasted or warmed up a bit. Something about melting the cheese and toasting up the bread just makes me weak in the knees.

Buffalo sauce also makes me a bit weak in the knees, so this panini is right up my alley. I ate one whole one and then another half just because. Brent said he didn't think he could eat his final half, but I told him to pull his britches up and man up. If I could eat one and a half, so could he.

I’ll be eating salad for the next 7-10 days to make up for the calories but it was totally worth it.

Buffalo Chicken Panini

*make 4 sandwiches

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

- 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken

- ¼ cup buffalo wing sauce

- ½ large red onion, sliced

- ¼ cup butter, divided

- ½ cup crumbled blue cheese

- 2 tablespoons sour cream

- 8 thin slices tomato, approx 1 large one

- 4 slices bacon, sliced in half and cooked

- 4 slices sharp cheddar cheese

- 8 thick cut (approx 1”) bread - Choose a good chewy and dense bread

Directions:

1. Start by caramelizing your onions over low heat with 2 tbls of butter. (Click here for a How to Tutorial.)

2. In a small bowl, smash blue cheese into sour cream. Stir well to incorporate and set aside.

3. In a sauce pan, melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat. Add chicken and buffalo sauce. Simmer together until chicken is thoroughly warmed through and well coated with sauce.

4- Assemble sandwiches. Spread blue cheese on one slice of bread and place cheddar on other slice. On top of cheddar add bacon, onions, chicken, and tomatoes in any order you prefer and place blue cheese covered slice on top. (Mine went like this: cheddar, bacon, chicken, onions, tomatoes, blue cheese)

5- Place on a heated sandwich press – a George Foreman-like grill works too – and press sandwich for 1- 2 minutes or until cheese is melted and bread is toasted and browned. If you are using a regular pan, heat over medium, spray with cooking spray and flip sandwich midway through.

6- Let cool for a minute before slicing and serving.

Happy Friday!

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Hawaiian Pulled Pork Sliders

Recipe for: Sweet and Sour Pulled Pork on Hawaiian Sweet Rolls with Spicy BBQ Sauce

A couple of years ago now Brent and I were going to a Hawaiian themed graduation party. We were asked to contribute a Hawaiian type dish and bring it along. I've never been to Hawaii, though I’d love to get there someday, but for whatever reason Sweet and Sour Pulled Pork seemed to fit the theme. Plus, pulled pork generally does well with large crowds.

While everyone at the party seemed to enjoy it, Brent really loved it and over the years he has asked me to make it again. Recently he had a potluck at work and asked for the recipe so he could bring it in.  Since the recipe was never posted here, I figured I would make it again so I could write it down and share it with you.

For his potluck we bought about 14lbs of pork butt, so I slimmed down the recipe for 4-8 pounds to post here. This gives you a little wiggle room in the recipe depending on how many people you’ll be making this for.

One addition I made this time was a spicy BBQ sauce to go on top and I really thought it brought the whole thing together. In fact, the BBQ sauce would also be great on grilled chicken, pork chops or maybe even grilled salmon.

Just a note: In the recipe below for the pork, I separated the ingredients between the cooking liquid and the sauce to pour on top afterwards. I think it makes it easier to follow, even though they use many of the same items.

Sweet and Sour Hawaiian Pulled Pork Sliders

*Makes 20 – 30 sliders or 6 – 8  sandwiches

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

Buffalo Chicken Nacho-Style Potato Chips

I put this recipe in the category of “what in the world was I thinking”; because it is sinfully tasty and let’s be honest - I really should be eating healthy things for dinner, not potato chips loaded with chicken, bleu cheese, bacon, and a spicy, creamy wing sauce.

Though the potato chips were baked and homemade… so I had that going for me at least.

Still, I make these sorts of recipes on nights when Brent is working late so I can eat all of it with no shame. In fact, when he came home at 10:30PM and asked what I had for dinner and if there were leftovers, I hesitated to tell him. I mean what girl eats a whole pile of nacho-style potato chips for dinner?

I do apparently. I just can’t help it. While I love yogurt, fruit, and veggies…I can’t help loving sour cream, butter, and cheese more.

So here is the recipe for you to try. Share them with a friend and or scarf them down all on your own – it’s up to you!

       Buffalo Chicken Nacho-Style Potato Chips

*Serves 4 as an appetizer
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
- 1 chicken breast
- 6-8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 3-4 teaspoons of buffalo wing sauce, adjust to your taste
- ½ cup bleu cheese
- ½ cup scallions, chopped
- homemade potato chips or regular ones

Chorizo and Jalapeno Cornbread Stuffing

Or for you Southern Folk – Chorizo and Jalapeno Cornbread Dressing

In a word… this is NOM. Stuffing is by far my favorite item on a Thanksgiving Day menu. Personally, I love when there is a more traditional savory stuffing and then a different one to eat as well. I actually went to one home a long time ago and they had THREE stuffing dishes. It was heaven, let me tell you.

This stuffing is a bit spicy, so I probably wouldn’t stuff the bird with it if that is your thing. But the good thing about it is that it’s delicious and I believe would make an awesome side dish anytime of the year.

Chorizo and Jalapeno Cornbread Stuffing

*Serves 8-10
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 tablespoons of butter, divided
- 2 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- ¼ cup sliced jarred jalapenos, rinsed and diced*
- 1 lb raw chorizo*
- 5 cups cornbread, dried and crumbled**
- 4 cups chicken broth
- pepper, to taste

* As I mentioned above this is a spicy dish. If you don’t like very spicy things you can reduce the jalapenos to 1 tablespoon and the chorizo to ¾ a pound.
** You can use fresh cornbread or the bag variety. If using fresh, crumble and dry out in the oven on a low heat.

Directions:

Wonton Mission

There are a few things you need to know about this dip:

• The inspiration behind it was solely the desire to make wonton chips. Seriously, I’m not joking.
• I debated between calling this zesty or spicy.
• I took many more pictures of the process to share, but my camera didn’t like me today. She’s an old lady, what can I say?
• I ate all of this dip for dinner tonight. Can we push beach season back a few more weeks?

 So last night BD had Sam the Cooking Guy on and I kept glancing at it while cooking, cleaning, and doing homework. One of his dishes was guacamole and instead of tortilla chips he used wontons to make chips. He’s all about healthy eating on the show and claimed there are very little fat and calories in them, which I could care less about. (Just ask the cellulite on my thighs.) However, the idea of using wontons as chips really intrigued me, so all day I’ve been rolling ideas around in my head for some kind of asian-esque dip to serve them with. I’m sorry but guacamole deserves tortilla chips. (You can check out my guacamole recipe here, btw.) What I came up with is kind of a deconstructed Crab Rangoon. It wasn’t my original intentions but after I started wolfing it down like a cat on tuna fish and thought about the flavors that’s how it worked out.