Sweet and Spicy BBQ Wings

The sauce was so good for these, I had to refrain from eating it with a spoon.

Sauce:

• Cayenne Pepper Sauce - 1 bottle 
• Habanero Tabasco Saunce - 1/4 teaspoon
• BBQ Sauce (My favorite is Famous Dave's Devil's Spit) - 1/4 cup
• Cayenne Pepper Powder - 2 tablespoons
• Honey - 1/4 cup
• Butter - 2 tablespoons

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat until ingredients are incorporated.

Wings:

Season chicken wings with a dusting of kosher salt, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne powder, garlic powder. Then grill the wings on the BBQ until they are cooked all the way through with nice charred grill marks. Make sure you oil your grill grates so your wings don't stick. Start with your grill on high to sear the outside of the wings on both sides the turn one burner off and move the wings to that side. Leave your other burners on high to keep the heat up. Close the lid and let your wings finish cooking through. After removing the wings from the grill toss in the sauce and serve.

Garnish with celery and carrots and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Butternut Squash Tomato Soup with Parmesan Crustinis

This soup is so delicious and it is another A & E Eats original.  It is sweet and creamy with just a slight hint of heat.  I don't care how much you hate vegetables, if you're willing to try this soup, you are going to love it!  It is perfect for a cool day in Autumn.

Soup:

5 Roma tomatoes - can also substitute your favorite variety. We have used heirloom tomatoes as well.
1/2 small butternut squash.
1/2 habanero chili pepper (seeds and membrane removed).
1/4 of large red onion.

Nutrition Facts generated by Food.com

5 cloves of garlic.
chicken broth
1/2 cup half and half
2 1/2 tablespoons butter

Cut tomatoes in half. Place tomato halves and half of butternut squash in roasting pan. Place in 450 degree oven until tops of the tomatoes and the squash brown slightly.

In a saucepan, sweat your onion, garlic, and chili- onions should be translucent. Skin tomatoes and place meat in sauce pan. Scoop the meat of the squash into the pan. Add desired amount of chicken broth. Make sure soup does not have any squash seeds lingering in mixture.  Use immersion blender to create smooth texture. Add half and half and butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Parmesan Crustini:

Fresh baguette.
Grated Parmesan.

Sprinkle Parmesan on bread.  Three pieces per bowl of soup.  Broil on hi until golden brown and cheese is bubbly.  Serve soup with crustini float.

Comfort food at its best.  Yum!

Serves: 2

Stuffed Bell Pepper

A great recipe for leftover Spanish rice.  This is delicious and chock full of vegetables.

Ingredients:

- Two green bell peppers

-  Half of a red bell pepper, chopped.

- 1/4 cup Spanish rice

- Pollo Asada or any seasoned or marinated chicken

- Monterey jack cheese

- Queso Fresco

- One roma tomato, chopped

- 1/4 cup chopped onion

- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic

- 7-8 diced shitaki mushrooms

- 1/8 cup chicken broth

- One small jalapeno chopped (If you do not like a lot of heat, remove the seeds)

Stuffing Mixture:

Preheat overn to 350 degrees.  Cube the chicken into bite size chunks.  Saute the onion or "sweat" it until it is transculent, add tomato, garlic, and jalapeno, and chicken.  Chop half of the red bell pepper and add to mixture.  Season with salt, pepper, and chili powder.  Let cook until vegetables are soft and chicken is mostly cooked.  Add mushrooms and spanish rice.  Add 1/8 cup of broth to maintain moisture.  Let cook down for a few minutes until chicken is fully cooked.  Add a little bit of the queso fresco.

Green Bell Peppers:

Cut the tops off of two green bell peppers and remove the seeds.  Stuff with mixture and top with monterey jack cheese.  Place in preheated oven until cheese is bubbly and bell pepper is cooked but still slightly crunchy.   

Portabella Mushroom and Brie Bruschetta

This is our favorite bruschetta variation.  It is an original recipe of A&E Eats and it is delicious.

Ingredients:

Nutrition Facts generated from Food.com

- French baguette
- Soft brie cheese
- 2 portabella mushroom tops
- Chopped garlic
- Fresh parsley
- White wine
- Olive oil

Cut the baguette into rounds at an angle.  Place on cookie sheet and drizzle bread with olive oil. 

Chop the portabella mushroom tops
(I recommend removing the stems and throwing them away as they are a little too tough and chewy).  Heat a little olive oil and butter in a saute pan.  Add mushrooms and chopped garlic.  Season with salt and pepper and a splash of white wine.  Cook down until mushrooms are cooked completely.  As the mushrooms cook down they will let off additional moisture.  Once the mushrooms are cooked, drain the excess liquid.  Put mushroom mixture back in saute pan and add the chopped fresh parsley.

Grill the bread until you have some nice grill marks and the bread is nice and crunchy.  Spread brie cheese thickly on each piece of bread.  Since the bread is still hot, the cheese will melt.  Pour mushroom mixture on top.  Serve immediately.
 
Makes: 20 pieces
Serving size: 2 pieces

De-constructed Grilled (Baked) Potato

Even no-occasion everyday meals can be fun with a little creativity and this de-constructed grilled potato is a delicious example of this. 

This is a great variation to the traditional baked potato and the best thing about it is the potato cooks in fifteen minutes rather than a full hour as a tradional baked potato.

Potato dish shown in accompaniment with tender petite filet and sauteed broccolini

De-constructed Grilled (Baked) Potato:

Ingredients:

- Two russet potatoes
- Sour cream
- Butter
- Chopped chives
- Grated sharp cheddar cheese

Slice the potato into thin slices.  Lay potato slices flat on a cookie sheet and season both sides of potato slice with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.  Drizzle olive oil on top.  Grill on high until potato has nice grill marks on the outside and is slighly crispy but soft on the inside.

Melt a tablespoon of butter and mix with two tablespoons of sour cream - use as garnish.  Also, garnish with grated sharp cheddar cheese and chopped chives.

The meat on the plate is a black pepper petite tender beef filet seared on the grill until cooked medium rare (usually about 140 degrees internal temp).  Wrap in tin foil and let the meat sit for a few minutes so the juices do not run out.

The vegetable is broccolini, a hybrid between broccoli and gai lan, sauteed in olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

This whole healthy meal took only 30 minutes to prepare.

The Moist Delicious Cornbread

The Moist Delicious Cornbread

1 cup yellow corn meal

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 cup honey

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk - (I used organic nonfat milk)

1 cup softened butter

1 large egg lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix.  Mixture should be smooth.  Pour into 8 inch baking pan and bake approximately 25-30 minutes or until the tooth pick comes out clean.  Brush with butter while still hot.  Serve.   

Spaghetti and Meatballs

One of my favorite kitchen gadgets is the pasta attachment for the Kitchen Aid Mixer.  There are a few things that taste so much better homemade - fresh pasta is definitely on that list!

Sweet and Spicy Asian Bok Choy Pork

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Sweet and Spicy Asian Bok Choy Pork

Sweet Orange Glaze:

- Terriyaki sauce

- Soy sauce

- Sriracha

- Honey

- Orange juice

- Orange zest

Combine all ingredients.  Adjust amount of ingredients to individual taste.  This sauce is supposed to be the sweet component so I recommend light use of the sriracha.

Pork Instructions:

- 1 pork tenderloin.

Season pork with salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, powdered ginger, and Chinese five spice.  Use the Chinese five spice sparingly.  Brush glaze on pork.  Cook pork on roasting pan at 400 degrees, turn periodically, brushing on more glaze each time.  Set excess glaze aside.  Cook until pork reaches internal temperture of 150 degrees.  Take out of oven and wrap in tin foil for 15-20 minutes.  Once finsihed resting, cut into round slices.

Vegetables:

- baby bok choy

- red onion

- garlic

- red chili powder

- sriracha

- diced hot pepper (we used a serrano pepper)

- chopped tomatos

Sautee in a pan with olive oil onions, garlic, pepper, and tomatoes until onions are translucent.  Once onions are translucent, add bok choy.  Season with sriracha, chili powder, salt, and pepper to taste.  This is the spicy component so be as libral as you are able with your spices.  Cook the vegetables until the tomatoes are slightly carmelized and the bok choy greens are soft but the stems still crunch.

Finishing Sauce:

With the leftover glaze, place in small sauce pan and cook down until mixture becomes thick.  About 10 minutes on medium heat.

Plate:

Place the vegetables on a plate with the slices of pork on top and drizzle sauce on top.

EAT!!