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So, um, HIIIIII!!!!!  Jeez I’ve missed you guys!  :D  My parents’ short visit is now over, and it’s time to get back to daily life.  We had a great time eating, drinking, swimming and generally playing around for the whole time they were here.  I have a couple of new recipes to share…stuff that I made up especially for Mom and Dad, and I can’t wait to share them with you.  This is one of those recipes. :)  Let’s start with the title: Fiery Buffalo Chicken Burgers….

According to the :

“Fiery:  Adjective:

Consisting of or containing fire.
Burning or glowing.
Using or effected with fire.
Easily ignited; flammable.
Feverishly hot and flushed: fiery cheeks.
Being in an inflamed, usually painful condition: a fiery boil.”

Buffalo wings are one of our favorite party foods.  Hot and spicy, perfect with a beer.  Everybody loves Buffalo wings, right?  So I got to thinking…We love chicken burgers, why not try to make a Buffalo version?  Wonderfully delicious, tangy and spicy, with a little blue cheese and celery to cool it down just a touch…This particular recipe might burn the roof off of your mouth if you’re not that into nuclear holocaust hot, so keep that in mind if you do decide to try these. lol  The heat can easily be scaled back by using Frank’s rather than Tabasco, and leaving out the extra cayennes.  But why on Earth would you want to do that? ;)

 

Ingredients:

2 pounds (1 kilo) ground chicken breast
1 egg
1/3 cup bread crumbs
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, minced
salt and pepper to taste
a generous splash of Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup flour (about)

1 cup mayo
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon ranch dressing powder
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
pepper to taste

2 tablespoons butter
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
4 fresh cayennes, sliced
2 bottles Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
pepper to taste

8 buns, lightly toasted
celery to garnish

Preparation:

Prepare the burgers first…mix chicken, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, seasonings and Tabasco until thoroughly combined.
Carefully form 8 patties and dredge in flour.
Reserve on a plate.
Prepare the dipping sauce/dressing.
Combine mayo, vinegar, milk, ranch powder, blue cheese and pepper.
Cover and reserve in the refrigerator.
Now prepare the sauce.
Melt butter over medium heat, then add garlic and saute until golden.
Add cayennes and toss around a bit.
Remove from heat and add vinegar and Tabasco and stir to combine.
Reserve.
Heat a bit of olive oil or butter over medium heat and pan grill the patties. Depending on the size and thickness of your burgers, this should take about 5-6 minutes per side.
When burgers are cooked through and golden, add sauce to coat the patties. (You may want to add a little water so that the sauce coats the burgers well–not to cover the burgers, just so that the sauce is evenly distributed, then cook it down a little)
Serve burgers on toasted buns with blue cheese sauce and celery.
Be sure to have plenty of napkins on hand and lots of cool beverages! lol

Hi everyone!  Sorry I haven’t posted much, and even more sorry that I won’t be posting too terribly much in the next week or so.  My parents are here for a visit, and between the prep and all the fun we’ll be having, I don’t know if I’ll be taking the time to set up shots of the food we’ll be having.  Much love to all of you, SEE you SOON! XOXOXO

Elle.  She is SUCH an amazing cook, and one of my very bestest friends in the whole wide world.  We met long, long ago at a recipe site, and have been friends ever since.  She’s like my internet sister.  I mean really, we have so much in common it’s scary.  Well, not *scary* really, just uncanny.  lol  So, I’ve posted many times about my dear friend’s recipes, and am SO happy that she’s finally started a blog of her own to share her amazing recipes and photos.  Last week, she posted a recipe that made me want to run–not walk–to my grocer to buy the ingredients, like, right then.  Seriously.  But, since my food budget had already gone over for the week, I had to wait until this week to make her recipe.  MAN that sucked to have to wait, but you know what?  It was SO worth it.  This one is going into regular rotation, folks.  It’s quick, easy and absolutely fabulous. I made a few slight changes to the recipe, as noted below.

Ingredients:

2 pounds (1 kilo) chicken fillets (fairly thin fillets)
2 eggs + 2 tablespoons water, beaten
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
olive oil for frying
1/2 pound (100 grams) provolone cheese, sliced or grated
1/4 pound (50 grams) ham, minced (I just used a thick slice and minced it)
1 small can roasted peppers (I cheated and didn’t roast my own :O lol)
1 handful of chopped chives

Preparation:

First dip chicken in beaten egg, then dredge in bread crumbs.
Season with salt and pepper and reserve on a plate.
Repeat with all fillets.
Heat oil over medium heat in a larger skillet.
Fry fillets about 4 minutes per side, or until golden and cooked through.
While frying, preheat the broiler in your oven.
Remove chicken fillets to a paper towel lined plate to drain off excess oil.
Line a baking sheet with foil, and then arrange cooked chicken on the sheet.
Top with peppers, ham and cheese.
Season with a little oregano if you like.
Broil for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.
Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve.

Ok.  So here I am.  In the middle of a “winter” depression sort of wallowing state…and BAM!  Out comes the sun.  The warmth.  The joy of breathing the air that sustains us.  The little push I needed to get the fack out of my house and do something.  So of course, where *does* one go when one wants to get out and explore new territory?  Tread new ground and experience new sensations?  Well, the Central Market of course.  Duh.  *rolls eyes*  “What stuff is fresh and wonderful and juicy and succulent today?  What awaits my dear windowless, but filled with birdsong kitchen?” I ask.  The answer?  Artichokes.  And Mushrooms.  And a few other things to tantalize the senses.  You see…it’s artichoke season!  Being from Minnesota, up until recently, I had no idea wth an artichoke really even was in its original state, let alone how to prepare one.  But last year,I made it my bidnez to learn.  This year?  I made it my bidnez to look beyond the typical artichoke dips, and dipped artichokes for that matter and decided to stuff that puppy.  Well, it really wasn’t a puppy….I’m not *that* adventurous (or heartless), but it was hella good, let me tell you….the mushroom stuffing is almost like a paté, but not quite. 

 

This was a bit of a mistake at first, being all zealous with my food processor and stuff, but in the end, it wound up being better than I expected.  Yay!  All hail mini food processor! Woot!  Lookit what came of the adventure in veggie shopping—first, the ingredients:

BTW…if you’re not terribly familiar with fresh artichokes and how to choose them, here is a quick tip:  Be sure to choose heavy artichokes for their size.  The outer leaves should be a little tough, but not loose or soft.  If you can find them without the brown edges–even better.

Ingredients:

6 artichokes
1 lemon, halved (half to lemon the artichokes, half to throw in the cooking water)
sea salt to taste
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely minced
1 cup minced mushrooms (fresh)
1/2 cup minced ham (omit for vegetarian)
1/4 cup cream
grated parmigiano to taste (about 2-3 tablespoons)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped chives to taste
2-3 tablespoons grated parmigiano
1 tablespoon bread crumbs

Preparation:

First, prepare the artichokes.
For instructions on how to do this, please consult this post, with the following exceptions:
First remove all tough outer “leaves.”
After having rubbed the chokes with lemon, remove the stalks and centers with a paring knife.
While the artichokes are boiling, prepare the filling.
Using your mini food processor, mince first the garlic, then the onions, then the mushrooms. (If you don’t have one, you can obviously do this by hand, but for me? I saved a huge chunk of time using the gadget. lol)
Heat butter over medium high heat.
Saute garlic first, then add onion and saute until translucent.
Add mushrooms and saute over medium heat until liquid has evaporated.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add in ham and stir.
Add in cream, stir around and reduce a bit.
Add in some grated parmigiano cheese.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
When artichokes are finished cooking (it should take about 15 minutes, more or less…depending on the size of your chokes), drain and cool sufficiently to handle. (VERY important. I burned the crap out of my hand trying to stuff them while hot. *such* an idiot. :P)
Add chopped chives to filling mixture and stir.
Fill artichokes with mushroom filling.
Combine a bit more Parmigiano and the bread crumbs and top the chokes with this mixture.
Broil for about 5 minutes or until golden.

Hello everyone! :)  I have a new addition to the canaryfamily to announce…we have a new Canary, named “Sesame!” :)  He’s such a cute little guy…yellow, grey and white with a voice like Frank Sinatra. LOL  He especially loves the spin cycle on the washing machine (he lives in our patio/laundry room off of the kitchen).  Ahem….I don’t know who he takes after with that spin cycle thing.  Certainly not Dalí, the gigantic Belgian Shepherd who is terrified of the patio/laundry room area. lmao 

So, please, join me in welcoming Sesame to the canary house.  Which now has an actual Canary.