My Love for Buffalo Chicken

No secret here...one of my very favorite foods right after pizza and burgers is buffalo chicken...gosh, how I love that hotness! I'm not a big fan of blue cheese so I have to use ranch dressing in place of that and how yummy that is! Here are a few buffalo chicken recipes I have made lately. Needless to say I have a bunch more to try! Will share those later! Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
8 oz. shell macaroni
½ c. celery, chopped (2 stalks)
½ c. carrots, chopped
½ c. Frank’s hot sauce
1 c. ranch dressing
1 lb. chicken

Cook your chicken however you want. I like grilling mine on an indoor grill as it is WAY faster than boiling or frying or baking. Mix it along with the other ingredients and chill in fridge. You may add more hot sauce or dressing to your taste.

Buffalo Chicken Potato Casserole
1 1/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips
1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce (recommended: Frank's Red Hot)
6 cups frozen southern-style hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing (I used ranch)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 10-ounce can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup corn flake crumbs (I used crumbled Ritz crackers, out of corn flakes)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup chopped green onions (about 3 medium)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13 x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In medium bowl, stir together chicken strips and wing sauce.

3. In large bowl, stir together potatoes, dressing, cheese and soup. Spoon into baking dish. Place chicken strips over potato mixture.

4. In small bowl, stir together crumbs and butter. Sprinkle on top of chicken strips.

5. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes; uncover and bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender and juice of chicken is no longer pink when center of thickest pieces are cut. Sprinkle with green onions.

Buffalo Chicken Casserole
1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken strips
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced (about 1 cup )
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (such as Frank's)
1/4 cup blue cheese dressing

Cook the rice in the water as directed on the package.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook the chicken and celery in the oil for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat. Add the stewed tomatoes and the wing sauce to the chicken.

Spray an 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon the rice into the dish to cover the bottom. Place the chicken mixture on top. Do not stir.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Drizzle the dressing over the top of the cooked casserole.

Serves 4.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza
• 4 Servings

Ingredients
• 1 tube (13.8 ounces) refrigerated pizza crust
• 1 cup buffalo wing sauce, divided
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon each garlic salt, pepper and chili powder
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Celery sticks and blue cheese salad dressing

Directions
• Unroll pizza crust into a lightly greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan; flatten dough and build up edges slightly. Bake at 400° for 7 minutes. Brush dough with 3 tablespoons buffalo wing sauce. Combine cheddar and mozzarella cheeses; sprinkle a third over the crust. Set aside.
• In a large skillet, cook the chicken, garlic salt, pepper and chili powder in butter until chicken is no longer pink. Add the remaining wing sauce; cook and stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. Spoon over cheese. Sprinkle with oregano and remaining cheese.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing. Yield: 8 slices, 4 servings.

Editor's Note: This recipe was tested with Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce.

New Snowmen Lightbulb Ornaments

Told ya I was on a roll didn't I? Sure hope I can keep this motivation! These are a couple of lightbulb ornaments I managed to get painted up. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did painting them! Love me some lightbulbs!

Painting Season Has Begun!

I just can't understand why it takes me about 6 months after Christmas to get motivated to paint again but I just need to accept that is the way it is! I have reopened up my Etsy shop and am trying my best to get it filled. I actually feel like I'm getting a jump start on Christmas although it is already July...where on earth did spring go? I was on vacation all last week and managed to get a few new designed ornaments painted but ran into a humidity problem. When I went to varnish them the paint pulled off on one and on the other one the paint bled into another color...needless to say I just about cried. I managed to wipe off enough of the varnish and paint over the parts that needed to be fixed and they are good to go now. Now if only the weather would cooperate. I'm anxious to get them into my store! Here are a couple of banana gourd santas I did manage to get painted a few weeks ago and the weather must have been just right coz I didn't have a humidity problem. All these years I have not had a problem with the weather but now I do? What is going on out there? Hope you enjoy these...I have wanted to paint checks like this on ornies forever!

Baked Club Sandwich Rounds

This is a sandwich I made recently and I can say that it sure tasted mighty good to be such an EZ recipe. The Pillsbury Crusty French Loaf bread had a wonderful taste to it. I would not hesitate to make this for friends or family. Enjoy!

Baked Club Sandwich Rounds

Ingredients:
1 lb. bacon
1 (11-oz.) can Pillsbury Refrigerated Crusty French Loaf
4 oz. (1 cup) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 oz. thinly sliced cooked deli turkey
2 oz. thinly sliced cooked deli ham

Preparation Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Cook bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towel; crumble.

2. Unroll dough. Sprinkle cheese over dough. Top with turkey, ham and bacon. Starting with long side, roll up dough; press edges to seal. Make 3 to 4 slits in top of loaf. Place on sprayed cookie sheet.

3. Bake at 350°F. for 23 to 28 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Cut into 1-inch diagonal slices.

Santa Wine Bottle

My goodness...has it been before Christmas since I last blogged? I am SO sorry! Been so busy painting my home. I do have a few craft painting projects in the works and this is my latest. I have painted a full body santa on a wine bottle before but never just his face. I have wanted to paint this for quite some time. Fun to paint! I have a few spools primed and ready to be painted and will show those once they are done. Naturally, they have santas painted on them as well. My heart just belongs to santa, what can I say?

Candy Cane Concrete Edging

A fellow crafter friend of mine who frequents the same craft forum as I do requested that I put this on my blog so here it is! I painted this as a request from my dear sister-in-law...she wanted candy canes and that is what I gave her! My first thought was the stripes across the top of it...this will probably be my first and last concrete thingy to paint...I'm gonna stick to ornaments! LOL Enjoy!

Pizza Night - Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza

I have decided that every week I am going to try a new pizza recipe using the Pillsbury thin pizza crust. It tastes good and is so EZ to use! This is my latest pizza recipe I tried. It is quite yummy! Happy pizza night to ya! Next I'm trying a buffalo chicken pizza recipe! Love me some buffalo chicken!

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU PIZZA

1 tube refrigerated pizza crust
1/2 cup Alfredo sauce (I used Ragu Roasted Garlic Parmesan)
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
10 breaded chicken nuggets, thawed and cut in half (we had a rotisserie chicken that needed to be eaten and I used that)
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
You can add veggies to it but I didn't.

Unroll dough into a greased 15x10x1 baking pan (I used a pizza stone and did not grease); flatten dough and build up edges slightly. Bake at 425 degrees for 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Spread with Alfredo sauce; sprinkle with garlic salt and Swiss cheese. Top with ham, chicken nuggets and mozzarella. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown (took mine about 12 minutes – just watch it).

These are the changes I’m gonna make next time I make this because I do this when I make homemade pizza dough (makes crispier crust):

Place dough on pizza stone and roll out. Prick with fork. Drizzle crust with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake 10-12 minutes. Spread layer of sauce over crust and add other ingredients per recipe. Bake 10-12 minute more. I may try Canadian bacon too.