Month: February 2013

Chocolate Party

 Have you ever been to a chocolate party? Where everything on the tables is made from chocolate? We had one on Friday afternoon at school put on by the 5th grade teachers. It was a hoot.

 Wouldn’t you like a taste of this DECADENT Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake? Oh heavenly yum, was it GOOD! I think it was a favorite. I took a picture after I’d gobbled half of it up.

Here it is before I bit into it….it’s a lot prettier here…..Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes….The icing is made from butter,
powdered sugar and peanut butter. And of course a peanut butter cup. Yum. Each one felt like it weighed a pound in your hand!
I must admit that I was a piggy and ate 2 of these bad boys….The cupcake itself has a peanut butter cup in the center too! 

I found THIS RECIPE online at All Recipes.com. It’s my favorite recipe website. I’m trying these for sure! 

She melted some chocolate and swirled it on top of the cupcakes but I’d probably be too lazy for that. A candy peanut butter cup on top is plenty of lovin for anybody. 
Peanut Butter Frosting (recipe from All Recipes.com)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/3rd cup cream 
Mix the butter and peanut butter, add in half the sugar and half the milk and mix. Then add the rest and mix again. Frost cooled chocolate cupcakes and top with a peanut butter cup cut in half. Enjoy!

 Then of course you just HAVE to have a Texas sheet cake made with fudgy chocolate icing!

 Chocolate chip peanut butter cookie bars were also one of my favorites….I love these things!

 Brownies cut into a heart shape….so cute! There was row after row of chocolate madness!

Chocolate eclairs and plain bon bon bites.

 Then the real fun began. We were to take 1 piece of each kind of chocolate on the tables.

And there were at least 10 different kinds of chocolate candies to judge on a scale of 1 to 5 on a rubric. 
I think Bliss Chocolate was one of the winners and also the Lindt chocolate was good too. 
Here was our voting tables….with our ballots. We had fun categories do judge like “when broken does it have bubbles”  and “smooth and creamy on your tongue”. It was fun discussing the merits of chocolate. I was just happy eating it all! 

And here is our judging ballot for the chocolate party. It was fun. And I think we were happy campers all afternoon in a chocolate coma!

Paradise Bakery Copycat Chicken Walnut Salad

Walnut Chicken Salad with Fresh Parmesan Cheese…just like Paradise Bakery…only with a little bit added….

Have you ever had the Chicken Walnut Salad at Paradise Bakery and Cafe?  I love that place. They give you a cookie with each order. I like a little sweet with my salad or soup, ya know?

The Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie at Paradise Bakery….
Yummy place for salads and a quick lunch…

I’ve actually gone there twice in one week once, just to eat their soups and salads.  My favorite is the Chicken Walnut. And I can’t pick a favorite soup. They are all really good there.

The Asian Salad is pretty good at Paradise Bakery too….but….the Chicken Walnut is the best.

 The only thing is….they DON’T put enough walnuts in the salad. No way. I always go up and ask, “Did you forget my walnuts?” And they ALWAYS tell me “NO”.  I just like a lot of crunch in a salad.

Their sandwiches are pretty good too…

Chicken Walnut  – One of my favorite salads there!  Here is what they say is in the salad……
Our famous Chicken Walnut salad  on top of romaine lettuce tossed with Caesar dressing, garlic croutons & parmesan cheese. 

My favorite seasoning salts; Johnny’s Garlic Salt and Johnny’s Seasoning Salt. 

Use up lots of your fresh veggies….I added some purple onion to my hubs…he’s an onion lover!
I just got some fresh shredded Parmesan cheese from the deli… 
I like sweet, red peppers in mine.  We both love cucumbers too…and the Walnuts of course…
And you gotta love some Texas Toast garlic croutons. Or make your own out of  buttered and toasted bread. Just  drizzle butter and garlic salt on top. My favorite brand is the Johnny’s Garlic Season Salt.  These are my 2 favorite seasoning salts. I use them in almost every dish. 



So here are the INGREDIENTS  for 2 salads
Romaine lettuce cut into bits 
1 tomato cut into wedges and then halved
1/2 cucumber cut into spears and then chunked
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese (or more to your taste)
Seasoned croutons
1 grilled chicken breast cooled and cut into chunks
ground pepper
1 Tablespoon for each salad of Caesar dressing. 
1/4 cup walnuts (or more if you like)

Add some black pepper to it right after tossing….

Directions for Chicken Walnut Salad
Cut up all the veggies and lettuce and place into 2 salad bowls. Add the fresh Parmesan, the chicken and the walnuts. Add Caesar dressing and  croutons and shake on some black pepper.  Enjoy!  

Yum…this is sooooo tasty and yummy!

Buffalo Chicken Tenders with Wingers Copycat Sauce

Buffalo Chicken Tenders…with Copycat Wingers Glaze and Buttermilk Ranch Dipping Sauce….

 I LOVE Buffalo Chicken. But I like the sauce to be a bit hot and a bit sweet. After some trial and error, I think I have the perfect, delicious Super Bowl Party food!  These Buffalo Chicken Tenders are soooo yummy! They will really be a crowd pleaser…and they are not hard at all. You probably have all of the ingredients at home right now, except maybe for Franks Hot Sauce and Buttermilk.

Yummy Buffalo Chicken Tenders….Perfect for  A SUPER BOWL PARTY FOOD! wOO hOO!

Well My class voted on who would win the SUPER BOWL this Sunday, and it looks like 49ers have it. Losers have to
do 12 push ups. I hope I don’t lose again, like last year. Those push ups get harder to do every year! Anyway….Hope you have fun on Super Bowl Sunday watching the game. 

INGREDIENTS BUFFALO CHICKEN TENDERS in Wingers Copycat Glaze 
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk 
2 chicken breast fillets cut into 1/2 inch strips OR 8 to 10 chicken tenders



 

2 ingredients I had to purchase to make the Buffalo Chicken Tenders…Buttermilk for the dipping sauce and
Franks Red Hot Sauce for the Buffalo Glaze on the Chicken….

I used a leftover chicken breast sliced into strips  and some purchased chicken tenders for this recipe…..
Wash and pat dry the Chicken Tenders before breading them….

Directions: 
Combine flour, salt, peppers, and spices in a bowl. Whisk together egg and buttermilk in another bowl. Dip chicken pieces in buttermilk/egg mixture first and then roll into the flour mixture. 
Dip chicken strips into the buttermilk and egg mixture….then dredge into the flour and spice mixture….
Flour and spice batter for dredging the  Buffalo Chicken Tenders in after dipping in the buttermilk egg mixture.  


 Set the plate of chicken tenders in the fridge for 30 minutes. Heat up a frying pan with oil  (1/2 inch in pan) and add a few Tablespoons of real butter just before frying. It makes the flavor better. Then fry chicken a few minutes on each side till it’s golden. 


Lay fried chicken pieces on a napkin to soak up excess oil. Then mix up your Buffalo Wing Sauce. 

Put the Franks Hot Sauce into a pan and add the brown sugar and real butter…..mix it up!  That’s it! 

 Then pour it over the fried chicken or toss in a large salad bowl with the chicken….either way works great.


I read this cool review on taste testing the top 4 rated hot sauces to decide which one to buy for my sauce recipe. Here it is from Serious Eats.

All 4 hot sauces were in my local market but this is the one recommended by Serious Eats! 


Boneless Buffalo Wings Glaze (like Wingers)
1/2 cup Franks Louisiana Hot Sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar (or use 1/3 cup if you like heat more than sweet)
2 Tablespoons Real Butter

 This is very similar to the flavor of Wingers Buffalo Wings….very sweet and a hint of heat.


Dipping Sauce for Veggies & Boneless Wings 
1/3 Cup Greek Yogurt
1/3 Cup Ranch or Blue Cheese Salad Dressing
Mix it up and use for a great dipping sauce

All I do for dipping sauce is mix half greek yogurt (plain) and half ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing depending
on who loves which dressing! My hubs is a blue cheese man. I love the ranch flavor.


Put celery, cucumbers, red peppers, carrots out in bowls to dip with your Boneless Buffalo Chicken Tenders with Wingers Copycat Glaze 

This would be a perfect football game food or a party appetizer of any kind. How about for the Super Bowl? Yum. Dig in!