Bleu Cheese Stuffed Buffalo Chicken with Roasted Seasoned Potatoes

My husband loves anything buffalo—chicken wings, crack dip, potato wedges, fries, chicken fingers, etc. Every time we go out he orders wings. He requests this dish quite often and I don't mind since I love buffalo, too. This recipe isn't figure-friendly, but it is definitely healthier than deep fried wings, plus it's delicious. I made seasoned roasted potatoes on the side.

Bleu Cheese Stuffed Buffalo Chicken
Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup ranch dressing

1/4 wing sauce

4 - 6 tablespoons bleu cheese crumbles

1 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly spray baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix together ranch dressing and wing sauce.

Cut a slit in the middle of each chicken breast.

Pack chicken with bleu cheese.

Brush wing sauce mixture on both sides of chicken.

Coat chicken with bread crumbs.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes.

Roasted Seasoned Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes
1/2 green bell pepper

2 - 3 tablespoons canola or olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon ancho chili powder

Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lightly spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Chop potatoes and bell pepper into bite-sized pieces.

Add oil, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper to potatoes.

Shake to coat.

Place potatoes on cookie sheet.

Bake 34 - 45 minutes until potatoes are done.

Razzberry Filled Vanilla Cupcakes

I love to bake, especially cupcakes! The recipe I used the other night for the apple pie cupcakes yielded over 30 cupcakes, so I had a few extra left over. I wanted something other than plain vanilla cupcakes, so I decided to fill them with raspberry preserves. I made these once before for my husband's birthday, but I topped them with cream cheese icing. This time I used buttercream since I already had a batch made for the apple pie cupcakes. I think these are my new favorite cupcakes—they were so good! Since I love to share my baking creations, I brought some of these into work with the apple pie cupcakes. These were the first ones gone. They were a huge hit and everyone raved about them.

Cupcakes:
Bake your favorite white cupcakes. (I used Martha Stewart's recipe. They are a denser cupcake and held up well when I added the preserves. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect white cake recipe, though.)

To fill cupcakes:
Use the cone method to remove a chunk from the center of each cupcake.
Put aside chunk of removed cake.
Fill the holes with seedless raspberry preserves.
Place chunk of cake back on top of cupcake like a plug.
Top with vanilla buttercream.

NO KISSING GARLIC PORK CHOPS

I was looking for a different recipe for pork chops. I couldn't think of anything except the old standby: breaded pork chops—boring. My husband suggested flavoring them with garlic before breading them. At first I was going to melt butter and garlic together and dip them in the butter mixture before breading them. But I didn't have much butter in the house and didn't want to run to the store. I racked my brain and came up with another idea—garlic mayo. I brushed it on both sides, breaded the pork chops, and baked them. They came out moist, and garlicky. These were so good that you can chase away vampires after eating them. My husband named these "NO KISSING GARLIC PORK CHOPS." I will definitely make these again.

Ingredients:
6 boneless, center cut pork chops
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
Garlic salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease baking pan with nonstick spray.
Mix together mayo, minced garlic, garlic salt, and pepper.
Brush on both sides of pork chops.
Coat both sides of pork chops with bread crumbs.
Bake 40 minutes.

Apple Pie Cupcakes

I came across this recipe on a fellow nestie's blog and immediately bookmarked it. My husband and I visited a local orchard last week and came home with honey crisp apples. If you've never tried a honey crisp apple, run don't walk, to the nearest orchard or grocery store and get yourself some. They are the best apples in the world—sweet and crispy. I had a few apples left to use up, so I decided to try out this recipe. My husband loves apple pie, so he was excited when I told him I was making them. He loved these, especially since the apples were still warm when he took a bite. I can't express how delicious these were. They are a perfect fall treat. I took a few of these to work for my coworkers to sample. They enjoyed them as well.

Apple Pie Cupcakes
adapted from: Annie's Eats via Fatty Fat Fats


Cupcakes:
Bake your favorite white cupcakes.
(I used Martha Stewart's recipe. They are a denser cupcake and held up well when the apple mixture was added. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect white cake recipe.)

Apple Filling:
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
2 large Honey Crisp apples

Directions:
Peel, core, and dice apples.
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Add the apples, cinnamon, and sugar.
Mix well.
Cook about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool.

To fill cupcakes: Use the cone method to remove a chunk from the center of each cupcake.
Discard (or eat) chunk of removed cake.
Fill the holes with the cooled apple mixture.
Top with vanilla buttercream.

Cheddar Onion Crusted Chicken

I didn't think I liked French's French Fried Onions. I'm not a fan of green bean casserole. But my co-worker was raving about this baked chicken she made using french fried onions. She said her kids don't like onions and they loved this dish. So I decided to give it a try. She used French's French Fried Onions to coat the chicken and baked it. When I was at the grocery store, I found French's Cheddar French Fried Onions and decide to give those a try instead. This chicken is moist on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and delicious. I think this recipe will work well with pork also.

Cheddar Onion Crusted Chicken
source: French's Cheddar French Fried Onions container

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cleaned and sliced in half
1/4 cup honey mustard
1 cup French's Cheddar French Fried Onions
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat bottom of baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Crush French's Cheddar French Fried Onions and place on a plate.
Salt and pepper chicken.
Brush honey mustard on both sides of chicken.
Coat both sides of chicken with crushed french fried onions.
Place in baking pan.
Bake 30 minutes.

Stuffed Peppers

Since it's getting colder outside (we had our first snowfall here already!), I like to make warm, satisfying meals. Stuffed peppers is just that. These aren't one of our weeknight meals because they are a tad time consuming, so I usually reserve this meal for Sunday dinners. I like to use yellow, orange, and red bell peppers because they are sweeter than green. I also add Parmesan cheese to the tops of the peppers while they are baking for a nice crust on top.

Ingredients:

6 bell peppers, hulled out (I use yellow, orange, and red.)

1 pound ground beef

1 bag boil-in-bag white rice

2 jars of favorite tomato sauce

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided

1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons minced garlic

Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Hull out peppers removing seeds and ribs.

If needed, slice bottoms to make them stand up.

Lightly grease glass baking dish.

Boil rice according to directions.

Drain rice, transfer to a bowl, and set aside.

Brown ground beef.

Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic to ground beef.

Drain ground beef.

Mix together with rice.

Add 1 jar of tomato sauce and a few shakes of salt and pepper.

Add bread crumbs, half of the Parmesan cheese, and cheddar cheese.

Mix until well combined.

Stuff each pepper with beef and rice mixture.

Stand up peppers in baking dish.

Pour 1 jar of sauce on top of peppers.

Cover with foil and bake 1 hour.

Remove foil and sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake an additional 20 - 30 minutes until peppers are soft.

Serve with crusty Italian bread and a Caesar salad.

Chicken Parmesan

I've been a slacker lately. I have good reason since Randy and I were busy celebrating our second wedding anniversary. We hit a local wine festival, ate at a Thai restaurant, and spent the night at the hotel where we were married.

When we got back we were craving Italian food, so I decided to make one of our favorite dinners. I know there are tons of different recipes out there for chicken parmesan and everyone makes it differently. I adapted this recipe from my mother-in-law. She double breads the chicken and pan fries it before baking it in the oven. It comes out nice and crispy.

Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cleaned and cut in half

1 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 eggs, beaten

Italian seasoning, salt, pepper

Canola or olive oil, for frying

Favorite sauce

Provolone or mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

Season chicken with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Coat chicken with bread crumb mixture.

Dip in beaten egg.

Coat again with bread crumb mixture.

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan on high heat.

Fry chicken for two minutes on each side.

Place chicken in a lightly greased pan.

Bake 30-40 minutes until chicken is no longer pink.

Top with cheese and sauce.

Serve with a side of pasta and Italian bread.