Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese by One Fine Cookie

This looks so good for a cold, rainy day!

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

What you need:

For the Chicken

-4 chicken breasts

-about 1-2 cups of flour

-panko bread crumbs OR regular bread crumbs (I like to either buy the ones with seasoning, or add my own seasoning)

-about 1 1/2-2 cups of buttermilk OR one egg

-a drizzle of buffalo sauce (Frank’s works well)

  

For the Macaroni & Cheese

- 6 ¼ cups of elbow macaroni pasta

- ³/4 cup of buffalo sauce, plus about another 1 cup (I like it to taste very flavorful and slightly spicy, so I purchase both regular and hot buffalo sauce for the recipe)

- 2/3 cup of sour cream

- 2 ¹/3 cups of heavy cream

- 1 stick plus 3 tablespoons of butter (this should be cut into 4 tablespoons, 4 tablespoons, and 3 tablespoons)

- 2 teaspoons of flour

-2 tablespoons of flour

 - 8 oz of pepper jack cheese

- 1 ½ pounds, or 24 oz of orange cheddar cheese (Use good quality cheeses from either a cheese shop, gourmet food store, or the nicer cheese section by the deli and produce. Not cracker barrel, or Kraft.)

-2 small onions, diced finely

-3-4 stalks of celery, dice finely

-2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1  ¹/8 cup of panko bread crumbs (I like to either buy the ones with seasoning, or add my own seasoning)

- ½ cup of crumbled blue cheese

- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

For blue cheese dressing

 - 2 oz or ¼ cup of blue cheese (crumbled)

- 1 tablespoon of cream & ½ tablespoon of milk OR 1 ½ tablespoons of half and half

- 1 ½ cups of mayonnaise

-  a dash of salt and a couple of dashes of pepper,  to taste

- 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard

- 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar

For step by step directions visit:

http://www.1finecookie.com/2011/05/seans-buffalo-macaroni-and-cheese-the-reason-we-live/

Chili Chese Fry Cupcakes by One Fine Cookie

These would be perfect "man treats" for football Sunday!

Chili Cheese Fry Cupcakes

Again, these take a bit of preparation, so start early!

For the french fry part,

-potatoes

- salt and pepper (or I like to use Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Seasoning Salt. So much better. Found in spice aisle.)

- olive oil or olive oil spray

For the chili part,

Note: The spices listed are STARTING points! I believe in starting with an amount of spices, then tasting a few hours in and adding more. Also, we all like chili our own way so you need to decide for yourself to leave out hot spices if you don’t like heat or sweet spices if you don’t like sweet. A good cook can look at a recipe and adjust it to their own taste. (Someone wanted a beer cupcake recipe. My beer and bacon cupcake was suggested, and their response was, “Oh I won’t use that I don’t like bacon.” Ummmmm LEAVE THE BACON OUT DUMMY. You people are smart enough to know you don’t have to stick to a recipe exactly. Duh.)

If you have your own chili recipe, then just use that. Make sure it is not too wet or stew-like, though.

Or, my recipe:

- 1  1/2 lbs of ground beef (I like to use a cut of beef and grind it myself. If you like to do this then just 1  1/2 lbs of a good cut of beef, without the bone)

- 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste (remember, this is a starting point! if you don’t like tomato flavor then use less.)

-1 can of kidney beans (If you don’t like kidney beans then just use more ground beef and leave the beans out)

- 1 can of diced and peeled tomatoes

- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

- 1 green or yellow pepper, finely chopped

- 1 large onion, finely chopped

- a dash or more of red pepper flakes (if you don’t like heat start with one dash. I like my chili spicy, so I start with a handful)

- 6-8 teaspoons of chilli powder (same not as the red pepper flakes)

- 6-8 teaspoons of smoked paprika (ditto)

- 1-2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper (ditto)

- 2-4 tablespoons of brown sugar (just as with the spicy, if you like sweet chili go heavy on the brown sugar. If you like less sweet go light.)

- 1  1/2 tablespoons of salt

- 1 bay leaf

- 3-4 tablespoons of cocoa powder (same as the note for the brown sugar)

- 1/2  can or bottle of your favorite beer

- 1 tablespoon or oregano

For the topping,

-sour cream (optional)

-green onions, sliced (optional)

- a block of cheddar and/or pepper jack cheese

For step by step directions, visit:

http://www.1finecookie.com/2011/07/chili-cheese-fry-cupcakes/

Pizza Cake by One Fine Cookie

WOW. This looks so good!

Pizza Cake

Here is what you need:

For the Tomato Sauce,

-  3 ½ -4 pounds  fresh tomatoes (I used a mix of plum tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes. You can also use 2 28 oz cans of whole, peeled tomatoes and cut down the cooking time)

- 1 ½ tablespoons of  good quality olive oil

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- sea salt

- freshly ground black pepper

- onion, finely chopped

- 1 bay leaf

-fresh basil leaves

-red pepper flakes (only if you want a little hint of spice, leave out if you are a sissy)

* You can use a premade jar of sauce, if you must, but try making it fresh at least once. It is worth it.

Also, onion, basil, bay leaf and red pepper flakes are optional. You really only need tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil for a basic tomato sauce.

For Pizza Dough,

-5 cups of bread flour

-2 teaspoons of sugar

- ¼ cup of olive oil

-2 ¼ cups of warm water

-2 packages of active dry yeast (in baking section of grocery store)

-1 tablespoon of sea (or kosher) salt

-all-purpose flour  (for rolling out the dough)

- corn meal (if you are using a baking sheet to cook the pizza on)

* Again, use a store-made dough, if you must. I do encourage to try making this dough at least once. It is fluffy and soft, without the grease or chewiness that other doughs may have. My friend Jen, who does not like pizza dough said she loved this.

For Pizza Toppings (“frosting” and “filling”),

- any assortment of vegetables (I used onions, peppers, and mushrooms)

-cheese (I used 32 ounces of buffalo mozzarella, which is white and comes as a ball or roll, and then 1 ¼ pounds of grated mozzarella. The grated mozzarella is not as good quality as buffalo, but it melts better as a “frosting.” I bought the best quality that I could find and grated it myself. The kind that comes in a bag pre-grated is usually of very low quality and processed. If you do not like to grate cheese, a food processor usually comes with a slicing attachment that allows you to grate cheese fairly quickly.)

-fresh basil leaves

-pepperoni

-spicy italian sausage

OK, so this is A LOT of preparation, but maybe on a rainy Friday night I will attempt this one!

To see the step by step visit:

http://www.1finecookie.com/2011/06/savory-pizza-cake/