Wingin' It Football Style

When the NFL playoffs start my husband craves wings...there is something about football and wings that just go together like biscuits and gravy. Well instead of purchasing the overpriced, extremely fattening and greasy wings...I chose to make them myself. How hard could it be? Turns out, it wasn't hard at all.

First you want to come up with an easy appetizer that you can entertain with before you serve up the delicious wings. Then choose which kind of wings you want to make. I decided I definitely wanted to do buffalo wings but wanted another option as well, I settled on sesame-soy sauce wings.

When you go to the grocery store you can either purchase regular wings or you can choose drumettes, which I did. I chose two packs of 30 drumettes for each flavor. Then the next most important part is your marinade and giving your wings enough time to marinate.

My easy appetizer was homemade raspberry jam and brie.

I served this on a beautiful cutting board, sliced some pieces of brie and placed a small dollop of jam on top with thin crackers...yum!

Sesame-Soy Sauce Wings
1 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp of freshly crushed ginger
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 fresh lemon (juiced)
salt
pepper
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 Tbsp olive oil
sesame seeds for garnish

Place wings in a deep bowl and pour over soy sauce, ginger, garlic, lemon and cilantro. Use your hands to coat the marinade all over the wings. Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate and let marinate for two hours. After the first hour re-mix to make sure the marinade is coating each wing evenly.

While those wings are marinading start the other set of wings:

Buffalo Wings
2 cups hot sauce
2 Tbsp worchestire sauce
cayenne pepper
salt
1 Tbsp olive oil

With the next batch of wings, place them in another deep bowl and pour over one cup of the hot sauce, worchestire and salt. Use your hands to make sure they have coated the wings, then cover with plastic wrap and let marinate in the fridge for two hours. Same as the first batch, after one hour re-coat the wings. Once the buffalo wings are done, place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes on 350 degrees.

Bleu Cheese Sauce
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 Tsp white wine vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 minced shallot
1 clove of minced garlic
1/4 lb bleu cheese
salt
pepper
celery sticks

While your wings are marinating, make your bleu cheese dip. Mix all the ingredients together and let merry in the fridge until ready to serve. Super easy! If you think the sauce is too thick, add more sour cream/mayo to thin it out.

Once the sesame wings are done marinading, place them on a greased baking sheet  and pour agave nectar on top to create a sticky sauce while they bake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

When the buffalo wings are done, pour the remaining hot sauce on top and coat evenly. When the sesame wings are done baking sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Once all wings are cooled place on two platters for serving.

Simple Salad
arugula
dried cranberries
roughly chopped walnuts
goat cheese

For a simple salad with your hearty wings, mix all these ingredients together. Make sure to wash your arugula and get rid of the root. Add as much of the nuts, cheese and cranberries as you like. Serve with a simple lemony-olive oil dressing and voila a meal that will please any football watchin' man as well as his better half.

Enjoy! xoxo Lo

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so

Take an edible tour into the Asian island of Japan with this delicious, nutrient-rich, flavor-popping meal. One Friday night my husband and I were craving Japanese but we didn't want sushi...what were our options? We found some sushi grade tuna that was encrusted with black peppercorns, we grabbed two tuna steaks and at home we had edamame and arborio rice to make risotto.

I kept the tuna steaks in the fridge to chill as I prepared the rest of the dinner items. Risotto would take the longest, I drizzle my dutch oven with olive oil then pour in a cup of arborio Italian-style rice, I toast the rice and then fill with half water (2 cups) and half chicken stock (2 cups). Cover the rice and let cook for five minutes, stir and add salt and pepper. Cook for another five minutes. Once the liquid starts to absorb in the rice you can add any ingredients you desire. I chose to add sliced mushrooms, onions and goat cheese. Cover once more and the goat cheese should melt into the rice adding a velvety, bold flavor.

Once the risotto is done, set on low heat to keep warm and add olive oil into a saute pan. Then add in the edamame with some salt and pepper. Allow the edamame to saute and become tender. Once the edamame is warmed throughout then plate the edamame with the risotto. Take the tuna steaks out of the fridge and plate. Create a soy, wasabi sauce by mixing a teaspoon of wasabi with each tablespoon of soy sauce. Dip your tuna into the Japanese sauce and enjoy!


Enjoy! xo Lo

Let's Thai this together!

I love Thai food! Some people may think that different culture's food is hard to make but it isn't. Don't know what to do with your leftover pasta, peanut butter, chicken and soy sauce? I've got the answer for you...a Thai feast.

Thai Chicken and Noodles with Peanut Sauce

1/2 box whole wheat spaghetti noodles (or whatever noodles you have)
6 cutlets of chicken (whatever chicken or turkey you have)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
green onion (for garnish)
peanuts (for garnish)

First thing you need to do is put a pot of water on the stove for the noodles. In the meantime, chop up the yellow onion and garlic, put that into a saute pan with a bit of olive oil. Once the onion is golden, add in your chicken (chopped up). As chicken cooks, push it to the side and start with your peanut sauce. Add in a large spoonful of peanut butter into the pan, as it melts add in a tablespoon of soy sauce. Stir the peanut butter and soy sauce together until it melts then mix with the chicken. Add in the coconut milk to make it creamy. Add in the rest of the peanut butter and soy sauce. Cover and let the chicken mixture sit for 5 minutes on medium-low heat. When the water is boiling add in the spaghetti with a tad of olive oil. Check on chicken and taste sauce, add more coconut milk, peanut butter or soy sauce as needed. The peanut sauce should taste like a salty, peanuty, creamy flavor. Once noodles are done, drain in a colander. By this time chicken should be cooked. Put noodles in the bowl top with chicken and peanut sauce. Garnish with peanuts and freshly chopped green onion.

This dish had my husband doing the happy dance, he was definitely impressed and very happy! I hope your company feels the same. This dish is loaded with protein from the chicken, peanut butter and healthy carbs with the whole wheat pasta.

Enjoy! xoxo Lo