ROAD TRIP CHICKEN WINGS!

Howdy Everyone! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I think this may be my last post.  I promise though, that you will find this easy, fun, and delicious recipe to be a perfect Grand Finale!

Today I am sharing another family tradition. As my husband was growing up, his Mom would always cook up a batch of these chicken wings for the family to eat whenever they went on a road trip. It was something they all looked forward to! After we got married, she made them many times for us as a farewell gift for our road trips. Eventually I started making them on my own, and they always come out finger lickin' good! They are also great & portable for picnics or buffets. 

But truth be told, there is nothing quite like pulling into a gas station at 1:30 am, and munching on some buttery chicken wings while you "fill 'er up!! (Randy's favorite part is throwing the bones out of the window at 75 mph.) 

NOTE:  be sure to have hand wipes in the car with you. 

ROAD TRIP CHICKEN WINGS

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

4 lbs of chicken wings, cut in half

2 roasting pans (disposable are fine)

2 sticks of butter, sliced and distributed over raw chicken in pans

Lots and lots of paprika, sprinkled over every piece of chicken

Garlic powder,  sprinkled heavy or light depending on your taste

Salt & pepper, also according to your taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cook chicken, turning occasionally, until sizzling and crispy. Then broil for about 5 minutes, to really crisp them up. Let cool, wrap in heavy duty tin foil, and hit the road!



 I hope you have enjoyed my blog posts over the last few years. I have really enjoyed sharing them with you! May all your adventures in cooking and eating be fun, "fine", and fabulous! XOXO

EASY CHICKEN TACO SOUP

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 7 Hours

Attention all Foodie Friends with a slow cooker!!!

This one dish wonder is a hearty combination of beans, corn, tomatoes, and taco seasonings, slow cooked with white meat chicken. It's deliciously finished with Cheddar cheese & Sour cream, then served with your favorite tortilla chips!

My instincts told me that this would be a crowd pleaser, so I bravely decided to serve it to guests my first time making it. What a hit!! Everyone loved it.

Made mostly of canned ingredients that are easily found in the grocery store, this tasty soup lets the slow cooker do the work so you don't have to! This recipe makes 6 servings.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped 1 (16 ounce) can chili beans 1 (15 ounce) can black beans 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with

green chilies, undrained 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning 3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts Shredded Cheddar cheese Sour cream Lots of tortilla chips!

Directions:

1.	Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.
2.	Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Cut chicken into bite size pieces and put chicken back into the soup. Continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and your favorite tortilla chips. Muy facil y delicioso!!!

FAVORITE CHICKEN & FAR EAST SLAW

FAVORITE CHICKEN & FAR EAST SLAW

Um, Hi Everybody!! I know, I know, you are probably saying "Fifi who?" Well, it's true, I have finally recovered from a very severe case of writer's block. I am back to blogging!

I figured I would jump start my food blog again with two recipes, one that I have been making for 25 years, and one that I made for the first time last week. Both are super easy and yum.

We call this "Favorite Chicken" in our house because it tastes sooo good & goes with almost any side dish. Plus the leftovers taste superb cold (a good "grab and run out the door" lunch) as well as in a sandwich with roasted peppers and mozzarella, or even sliced up over a salad. I usually make a big batch so that we have extra during the week. It's even tasty enough to serve to dinner guests, especially with hot peppers or chimichurri. :-)

Ingredients:
2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast pounded and cut into serving size portions
2-3 eggs, whisked in a mixing bowl
2 cups of Italian bread crumbs in a mixing bowl
olive oil
vegetable oil

 

 

Heat about 1/3 cup of both oils together in a large fry pan. Let the oil get really hot. Meanwhile, thoroughly immerse the pounded chicken into the eggs. Let the excess drip back into the bowl. Then, dip into the bowl of bread crumbs, completely coating the piece of chicken. Place in sizzling oil in fry pan. Fill pan with pieces of chicken and let each piece slowly brown, thoroughly on each side. Once cooked, remove each piece and place on serving platter. That's it! You wont believe how juicy and tasty it will be.

Next I will tell you about Far East Slaw. You see, we use crushed red pepper at the dinner table quite often, so I buy a large container of it at Costco.

On the back of the container, McCormick lists a recipe for Far East Slaw. So one night the family was like "When are you gonna make this Far East Slaw?! We wanna taste it!" (which is understandable since they have sat there and looked at the recipe so many times while eating). I went out and got the ingredients, and made it the very next night, changing a few things to my liking. Another easy and delicious recipe! It definitely has a distinct Asian taste to it. Next time I think I will add cooked chicken breast and sesame seeds, and serve it as a main course salad.

Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) bag of fresh coleslaw mix
1 cup of chopped radishes
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Mix all ingredients together, toss and refrigerate. Serve cold.

So there you have it folks! Something old, something new, everything Fifi-tastic! Thanks for following my blog and I promise to keep sharing Fabulous things with all of you, my Foodie Friends! XOXOX

Dee-Licious Sri Lankan Dinner!

Hello Foodie Friends! I know you have been waiting very long for this special post! Thank you for your patience. A dear friend of mine, Dee Gunawaithe, is from the lovely and amazing Land of Sri Lanka. Dee is an absolutely fabulous cook! She loves to cook, and make people happy with her delicious concoctions.

She came to my house one day recently, and taught a group of our friends how to cook several Sri Lankan dishes. She works so fast in the kitchen that it was hard to keep up with everything she was doing!! We took notes as best we could, and today I am going to share 2 of her recipes with you. Dee, like any professional cook, does not use exact measurements, so I have tried to give you an idea of how much she used of each ingredient. You can add more or less of anything depending on your taste. Give these recipes a try. You wont be sorry!

Chicken Curry (so tender and yummy)

6 lbs of chicken, cut into cutlet pieces

½ onion, sliced

½ inch thick slice of ginger, minced

3 small hot peppers, sliced down the side to open but left whole

7-8 cloves of garlic, minced

7 tablespoons veg. oil

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin powder

6 oz tomato paste

Less than one tablespoon tamarind

Salt, to taste (Dee uses lots!)

1 ½ cans coconut milk

Water

Directions-

Mix onion, ginger, pepper, garlic in large saucepan and saute with the vegetable oil on high.

Add chicken into spices, turn to low.

After evenly covered, add chili powder, cumin, tomato paste, tamarind, salt and coconut oil. Also refill the empty can 1 ½  times with water, getting the coconut off the edges of the can and pour that in too. Mix evenly and leave on high for about 2-5 minutes..

Switch to low, cover and let it cook for about 20 minutes.. garnish with parsley and serve.

                                                                   

                                            What a magnificent main course!

Sri Lankan Rice  (this is no ordinary rice, let me tell you)

10 cups white basmati rice

½ onion, in long slivers

6 cinnamon sticks

7-8 cardamom (nuggets?) cracked open with the handle of a knife

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

14 cups cold water

Directions-

Rinse rice in strainer

Saute the onion slivers, cardamom, and cinnamon sticks in the vegetable oil in a large saucepan on high for about 5-7 mins..

After sauteed, put all ten uncooked cups of rice in sauce pan with mixture. cook that way for a few minutes.

Then, pour all of the cold water into the rice and spices. Bring to boil on high.

Turn to low after boiling.

Turn and stir periodically until water is absorbed.

Dee cooked so many different things that night! It was fabulous.

Hopefully Dee will teach me more Sri Lankan cooking techniques soon. Thank you Dee, for an amazing meal!

CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

I struggled with the title of this post. I wanted to call it "The Best Condiment in the Whole Wide World" or "The King of All Sauces", but I couldn't come up with anything  royal or prestigious enough to describe its worth. The bottom line is, I just cannot say enough about Chimichurri!

A long time ago, I found the recipe in a pamphlet that Willams-Sonoma was giving out. Back then, I started making it to accompany Argentinian Steak Kabobs, and it was a huge hit. Slowly over the years though, I have discovered that Chimichurri can be used as a mouthwatering topping for any cut of steak, beef, chicken, sausage, fish, even seafood!

Every time I serve it, guests beg for more, even after eating it with the main course. Usually they just slather some on their plate and then mop it up with bread! Mmmm....



Once, I was even asked for an entire vatful, "To Go", apparently so this person (who shall remain nameless) could take it home, and bathe in it.....               ?

That is taking it a tad bit too far if you ask me, but anyway.....

Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

(A quick note: I am happy to say that the subscription feature to my posts seems to be working again. But in order to enjoy all the fun my blog has to offer, feel free to go directly to the blog itself. www.fifisfinefoods.blogspot.com  


CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

1 CUP PACKED FRESH CILANTRO LEAVES
3/4 CUP PACKED FRESH FLAT LEAF PARSLEY LEAVES
4 LARGE GARLIC CLOVES, CHOPPED
2 FRESH JALAPENO CHILI PEPPERS, SEEDED
1 TABLESPOON OREGANO
1 1/2 TEASPOON SALT
1/2 CUP OLIVE OIL
3 TABLESPOONS WHITE WINE VINEGAR
3 TABLESPOONS FRESH LIME JUICE

IN A FOOD PROCESSOR OR BLENDER COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS AND PROCESS TO FORM A SMOOTH PUREE. COVER AND REFRIGERATE UNTIL READY TO SERVE. (CAN ALSO BE FROZEN FOR UP TO TWO WEEKS. DEFROST BEFORE SERVING.)

How I Won My War With A 5lb Bag of Frozen Vegetables

You gotta love Costco. They really do offer great products at a fabulous price! Last time I was there, I purchased a 5 pound bag of ORGANIC frozen vegetables. How exciting to find organic veggies on the cheap! I proudly placed the bag in my freezer as soon as I got home. Ahh, this purchase definitely made me feel like a wise and terrific wife and mother.

As a few days passed, I contemplated what to do with my healthy selection. I settled on making a vegetarian dinner one night! I began happily sauteing a large portion of the veggies in some lime juice, garlic, white wine. After tasting it, I decided it still needed a little kick, so I went ahead and added some hot sauce, a little soy sauce, and a sprinkle of corn starch. Then I turned up the heat a little bit, and kept stirring.

What the heck was I doing?

As I was cooking, my daughter Jen came in and said: "What's that smell?"  Trying to salvage my dignity, I simply told her that we were having an Organic Veggie Stir Fry with Rice for dinner. Silence. Uh oh. Something was telling me that this meal wasn't heading in the direction that I was hoping.

The four of us quietly suffered through the strange tasting meal. My dog wasn't even hanging out under the table waiting for scraps like she usually does. My husband was trying desperately to be enthusiastic about it. Suddenly, I could not stand the silent tension for one more minute..... I said "I hate this dinner! No one has to finish it! Let's just put the rest in the trash!"  The smirks and giggling confirmed that I was not the only one who thought it tasted gross.

Those stupid vegetables! And the worst part was, there was still TONS more vegetables left in the bag!  Could I secretly just throw them away?   No...I couldn't just waste perfectly good organically grown food. What was I gonna do?

I thought long and hard, and then it came to me. How about Chicken Pot Pie? We were having friends over to watch the Grammy Awards. I was determined to make personal Chicken Pot Pies for everyone! I combined ideas from a few different recipes, and then immediately got to work.

So I guess you are wondering what happened. Well, the pies looked amazing and tasted terrific! I felt good about serving up a healthy one dish meal while simultaneously conquering my fears....about a 5 lb bag of veggies. Here is my recipe.

Chicken Pot Pies 
(This recipe is good for 6 very large personal pies, or 8 regular size personal pies.)

2 boxes of puff pastry sheets (found in the freezer section), thawed
3 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and cut into cubes.
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, softened
1 cup chicken broth
7 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained
4 cups of mashed potatoes (homemade or store bought)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray Pam in bottom of pie plates. Roll out the puff pastry sheets a little, and line each pie plate with enough to cover the bottom and sides, as well as overlap over the top of the pie a bit, as well. (See photos) Whip together the mashed potatoes, cream cheese and chicken broth until fully blended. Then add chicken and veggies; make sure everything is mixed well.

Divide evenly amongst pie crusts, and then fold puff pastry over the top. Spray a little Pam on the top.

Place them in the oven for 40 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Wanna know something a little scary? My 5lb. monster bag of

organic veggies STILL isn't empty!! 

Hear ye, Hear ye! Chicken Pot Pies for everyone!!

LET'S HAVE A CHICKEN PICKIN'!

Hi Y'all! It's been a coon's age since I've had myself an old fashioned Southern supper....so I've been fixin' all week to have a Chicken Pickin'! What in tarnation is goin' on over here??

OK, enough with the southern accent.. so what is a "Chicken Pickin'"?

Well, in the American South, a "pig pickin'" is a dinner which involves the barbecuing of a whole hog. Often the hog is basted with sauce while cooking. When the cooking is complete, the meat should ideally be tender to the point of falling off of the bone. The meat is then "pulled" into traditional Carolina-style pork barbecue, or may even be picked off the hog itself by the guests. (It is from the latter that this dinner gains its name.)


For those who have tried it, you know there is nothing more deeply satisfying than a steaming hot Pulled Pork sandwich! Today I am going to change things up a bit; I'll be using chicken and a crock pot for our "Chicken Pickin' "! So read on, if you want to make an easy dinner that's really tasty and a little different from the usual same-old, same-old. Plus, your kitchen is guaranteed to smell wonderfully delicious...

PULLED CHICKEN RECIPE
4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons yellow or brown mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large onion cut in half and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
hamburger buns or soft rolls

In the bottom of your slow cooker crock pot, whisk ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, mustard, chili powder, salt, pepper, and Tabasco together until well combined. Then mix in chicken and onions, stir until all chicken is coated. Cook on low 4 hours or high 2 hours. That's it.

Then just use a fork (or similar kitchen tool) to "pull" the chicken into barbecue strips as seen in photo. At this point you can toss it with the sauce in the crock pot if you like it juicy, or you can drain out some of the sauce, and then toss it, if you'd like it a little on the dryer side. Keep it warm in the crock pot until you are ready to eat.

Serve on a toasted bun with melted cheddar cheese. Mmm..the traditional side dishes are cole slaw, baked beans, and hush puppies with sweet tea or beer. We decided to enjoy ours with a deli pickle, our favorite potato chips and a cold brewsky while watching the football game! What's better than that?!

Well, butter my biscuits!! I reckon y'all will go HOG wild once you get a taste of this Chicken Pickin'!!  An' ya won't be bitin' off more than you can chew neither, 'cause the fixin' is as easy as water off a duck's back! So jes' gimme a holler, and let me know how yers turns out!

Chicken that "jumps in your mouth"

As a teenager, I worked after school at a real estate appraisal firm. My boss Don, (in addition to being an appraiser) was also a magnificent chef. From time to time he would share one of his prized recipes with me. This recipe for Chicken Saltimbocca is one of them. "Saltimbocca" translated is "jumps in the mouth", and this tasty Italian entree definitely lives up to its name.

CHICKEN SALTIMBOCCA
2 lbs. boneless chicken breast, cut into serving size pieces
salt, pepper, paprika
all purpose flour
2 eggs beaten with 2 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
2/3 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup whipping cream

Pound each of the pieces of chicken to desired thinness. Heat butter and olive oil on medium heat in wide frying pan. Dip chicken first into egg mixture, drain briefly, then coat with flour. Place chicken pieces flat in frying pan and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

Then arrange chicken in a single layer on a shallow baking pan or ovenproof platter. Cover each piece with a slice of prosciutto and then sprinkle each with parmesean cheese.

 Bake uncovered in oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, add wine and cream to drippings in frying pan, straining out any large chunks. Cook, stirring over medium-high heat until mixture is reduced. Pour sauce over chicken. Then, bada bing! Your entree is ready to serve.

You can serve this with whatever side dishes you choose. I usually serve it with sauteed spinach & garlic, plus my husband's famous mashed potatoes (recipe coming soon). You've really hit the jackpot if you have some italian bread on hand, to mop up the delicious juices left over in your plate! Mmm...gotta love it!