The way to my husbands heart...

Is via buffalo wing flavored items... buffalo chicken dip, buffalo chicken pizza, buffalo chicken cookies... ok, maybe not that last one, but you get the point. Mr. M loves him any meal inspired by the famous chicken wing and this meal, was no exception. And bonus points for the recipe being derived from Cooking Light!

I am a huge blue cheese fan so after one read through of the recipe, I knew I had to have it. The cheese, once folded with light cream cheese, became very easy to stuff into the butterflied breast and stayed intact surprisingly well during the browning and then sub sequential baking process. That is, until I cut into it, and had a blue cheese moat on my plate. That my friends, is pure heaven.

I made a few minor adaptations to the original recipe, which I've noted below and would make it with the same adaptations again in the future!

Enjoy :)

Blue Cheese-Stuffed Chicken with Buffalo Sauce

(adapted from Cooking Light)

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

2 tablespoons fat free cream cheese

1 teaspoon lime juice

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons 1% reduced-fat milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 1/2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons water

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic

2 teaspoons hot sauce

2 tablespoons buffalo sauce

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast to form a pocket. Stuff cheese mixture evenly into pocket.

Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine milk and egg in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Place panko in a shallow dish. Working with 1 chicken breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour, then dip in egg mixture; dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, flour, egg mixture, and panko.

Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter and extra virgin olive oil to pan; swirl until butter melts. Arrange chicken in pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken over and allow to brown another 4 minutes.

Place skillet in oven. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until done.

While chicken bakes, combine remaining butter, water, Worcestershire, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; cook until butter melts. Remove from heat, and stir in hot sauce and buffalo sauce. Serve sauce with chicken.

Happy New Year!

We spent our New Year's Eve between two parties and where there are parties, there are, of course, yummy snacks!

I chose to bring two types of Sweet Onion Tartletts to the first party and Beer Dip & Easy Goat Cheese Spreads to the second. Everything turned out really very tasty and I would make it all again in a heartbeat.

Sweet Onion Tartletts (Thanks to my girl Emily for the inspiration!!)

Top: Sweet Onion Tartletts with Blue Cheese, Bottom: Sweet Onion Tartletts with Baby Swiss Cheese



Ingredients:

4 large red onions, peeled and sliced into half moons

1 stick of unsalted butter

6 packets of sweet & low

1 package of phyllo dough

salt & pepper to taste

2 tbsp melted butter

8 ounces shredded swiss

8 ounces blue cheese crumbles

Directions:

In a large dutch oven, melt the stick of butter. Add onions and stir to coat with butter. Add sweet & low. Cover & let onions sweat out for 20-25 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the onions are soft & brown, season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove onions from heat. (At this point, you can choose to leave them as is, or stir in cheese. I took half of my onions and stirred in shredded swiss and left the other half plain, and once they were in the cups, then topped them with crumbled blue cheese)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut your phyllo dough into 2 inch
squares. Spray a mini muffin pan with Pam. Place 2 pieces of phyllo in the cup, pressing down. Use a small pastry brush and brush a small amount of melted butter onto the phyllo. Cover the butter coated phyllo with 1 more square of phyllo.

Fill each phyllo cup to the top with desired onion mixture. If you are going to top your onions with cheese, sprinkle the cheese on top of the onion filled phyllo cup.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until browned and bubbley!

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Beer Dip (I adapted this recipe from one on a RI Nestie's fabulous recipe site and it will ABSOLUTELY become a recipe that I will make again)



Ingredients:

16 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 cup beer
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and ranch dressing mix until smooth. Beat in cheese. With your mixer on low, pour in beer in a steady stream. Mix until well combined. Serve with pretzels.

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Easy Goat Cheese Spreads (I bookmarked this recipe from the Pioneer Woman many moons ago and had been waiting for the perfect time to debut it! Nexttime I want to try poppy or sesame seeds... and the dill was by far my favorite!)



Ingredients:

2 packages (11 Ounce) Fresh Goat Cheese

6 Tablespoons Fresh Dill (or More If Needed)

6 Tablespoons Paprika (or More If Needed)

Directions:

Finely chop your fresh dill and spread it out a bit on a piece of saran wrap.

Carefully remove the goat cheese from the packaging and gently roll it over the fresh dill, coating it almost completely.

Pour some Paprika onto a second piece of saran wrap. Roll the second cylinder of goat cheese in the paprika until it is covered completely.

Carefully wrap each roll snugly in plastic wrap and chill until it’s time to serve. (The Paprika Goat Cheese will not do well if kept for longer than one to two hours so don’t make it too far in advance).

Serve with crostini or crackers.