Keeping food warm :)

I've learned to accept that birthing babies cost more than my perfect physique (by that I mean my boobs lol). It definitely has impaired my ability to multi-task successfully like I did years ago. I've also adapted things I've learned in the past to work for me now. Case in point - cooking for the family while I'm trying to pull apart bickering children and switching laundry and answering the phone and on and on. Always ends up that only one part of the meal is warm when it's time to eat. Then I remembered the food warmers that commercial kitchens use to keep dishes warm until the entire meal is ready to go out. I started turning the oven on to its lowest setting (170) and using it as a warmer. Now my eggs stay warm while I'm making pancakes and those stay warm while I'm making hashbrowns. French fries stay warm with the burgers until I'm done frying them in batches. :) And most importantly -- mama always gets to eat HOT food even when she's the last to sit down.

Boneless Hot Wings :D

 Ok I've done it. 

After lots of trial and error, I've found the sweet spot -- the perfect boneless hot wings. Crispy on the outside, tender inside. 

I use boneless chicken thighs - chicken breast doesn't have the same depth of flavor that the thigh does when you're talking about wings. The taste is spot on. And they are perfectly crispy from the "breading" technique. Hubby raves. And you get more bang for your buck with thighs vs wings - which makes me rave. :D ok enough chatter, let's make some BL Hot Wings!

You'll need:

Boneless chicken thighs (trimmed of excess fat and cut into strips)

Cornstarch (don't sub with flour! This is what makes them crispy!)

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt/Pepper

Hot sauce

Butter/margarine

Oil (to fry)

Also, have handy:

A gallon ziploc bag

A colander

A plastic Walmart bag

Turn on your oil and get it going. 

Season your chicken with the garlic & onion powders and salt and pepper.

Put some cornstarch in the ziploc bag and add the chicken.

Zip (I leave air inside) and do the hippy hippy shake.. 😂 

Now, put your colander INSIDE the walmart bag and dump your chicken in it. 

(Sorry the photo isn't fabulous at portraying this!) hold the sides of the colander and handles of the bag together and gently shake to get the excess cornstarch off. Toss the bag - no mess baby! BOOYA!!! 

By now your oil should be ready. Fry the chicken in batches and drain on paper towels (brown paper bags or coffee filters work great as well when you don't have PT). 

Microwave equal parts hot sauce and butter/margarine (it goes a long way so I usually start with a few tbs of each). I do this in a bowl that has a lid - which makes the next part a snap. 

Add chicken, put lid on and.... 🎶Shake it to the left...Shake it to the right🎶 Ok I'll stop now. 

And we did it! 

Perfect boneless hot wings everytime! You can definitely just toss the chicken in whatever other wing sauces you want - if you feel adventurous, here's 50 different wing sauces to try in one link! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/articles/50-wing-recipes.html

The chili-ranch, maple-bacon, and cola-glazed ones sound super yummy!

You can make big batches and freeze too! (Spread chicken out on freezer-paper lined cookie sheet and freeze for a few hours --- keeps them from being a large lump of chicken pieces frozen together.) Just bake at 450' for 10-15 minutes on a greased foil-lined pan. 

There ya have it. And more importantly, I now have my recipe documented for future reference. I have a bad habit of not writing down my recipes because I'm SURE I'll remember them. LOL

Til next time, friends....

That time of year!

So I found this on my Timehop this morning -->

And may I digress for a second and just say that I totally LOVE Timehop - it will come in useful when I actually do my Project Life scrapbook that I got for my birthday like 4 years ago and hasn't even been opened yet... *hangs head in shame*

Back to the heating pack. I've found the best filler for them -- birdseed! It stays hot for a long time (nearly all night) and molds to your body so well. :) my kiddos have begged me to make one for each of them. Although if you want one in 2 minutes, you could just pour some birdseed in a pillowcase and knot it. Gets the job done (ask me how I know LOL).

Story of my life...

Yep - again, I started my blog up and said "I'm going to post on this everyday!" And two days later... *crickets chirping*

So. Let's try this again with no "x amount of posts per x amount of days" stipulation. I guess it's too much pressure for willowy me :) 

But I do have some stuff I want to toss into the good ol' blogosphere, so I suppose random postings will keep whoever decides to follow along (probably just my mom LOL - hi mom!) on their toes and coming back in hopes they'll find something new. 

Yeah, that's what it is. I'm inspiring spontaneous excitement among others. See how awesome I am at taking a pile of personal poo and turning it into a beautiful flower of giving to others. 

Or some crap like that.

Off to turn 10 random kitchen ingredients into something edible for the people....