Friday, January 30, 2015

Buffalo Chicken Bites (Low Carb)

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 I'm still counting down to the Super Bowl here at Curry and Comfort.  This recipe is definitely going on my game day party table.    Now tomorrow I will share a big round up that has loads of recipes from this week as well as some from previous years so you will have lots of ideas to pick from before the big day. 

Like I said before, I'm not excited about watching the game... it's all about the game day food for me.   My kids also really just enjoy the food so this recipe is for my daughter and me today.  She loves hot sauce... yes.. you heard me right.  She can add a few dashes of hot sauce on loads of stuff.   She also is not crazy about the bones and skin on chicken wings.  So this is a boneless and skinless way for her to enjoy them.  

These little beauties are also near and dear to my heart because they are not battered or breaded.  They are nice and low-carb so I can also enjoy them (a lot of them)!

They are pretty quick to make and I serve them with some crispy celery sticks, your choice of ranch or blue cheese dipping sauce and a lot of toothpicks so people can grab and go. 



 Ingredients:
2lbs boneless and skinless chicken tenders 
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 celery stalk sliced
1 jalapeno pepper sliced
red chili flakes to taste (optional)
1/3 cup hot sauce (I used Frank's brand Hot Sauce)

 Directions:
Cut chicken tenders into large bite size chunks.  Marinate for 30 minutes on the counter (to take the chill off before cooking) with salt, black pepper and garlic powder.  Heat up 2-3 Tbs canola oil in a large nonstick skillet and then add chicken.

Once chicken is browned, add sliced celery and jalapeno pepper.  Saute for a minute and add 1/3 cup hot sauce and some red chili flakes.  Cook for about 15 minutes stirring occasional until all the juice and hot sauce get absorbed by the chicken.

 Once chicken is fully cooked sauce is absorbed, you can add a little more hot sauce if you desire.  Then serve on a platter with some toothpicks, fresh celery sticks, ranch and/or blue cheese dressing.  Serve hot.  Enjoy.


 



Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Mango Salsa

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 We are just a few days away from the biggest football game of the year... the Super Bowl!  So, when I was given the opportunity to purchase a bag of Tyson Crispy Chicken Strips and come up with a recipe using them, I decided to make something that would be fun to eat while watching the game.  

I went to the store with my kids yesterday and I think we stood in front of all the bags of Tyson Chicken in the freezer section for about ten minutes.  They had a lot of opinions on what I should get with my coupon.  They wanted to pretty much try everything Tyson carried.

I knew I wanted to eat the chicken strips in a lettuce wrap because I am a bit obsessed with using lettuce wraps with everything these days.  I also knew the chicken had to have the flavor of buffalo wings... it's the Super Bowl after all. 

The next step was to think about a topping to really make the whole dish fun and extra delicious. I decided to go with a sweet, spicy and fresh mango salsa.  

The final dish was so easy to pull together.  While the chicken strips baked in the oven, I quickly cut and diced up my mango salsa.  What a treat, we were enjoying them for lunch in less than 30 minutes. These will be a big hit at the Super Bowl party this weekend for sure.  




Ingredients:
1 bag Tyson Crispy Chicken Strips
Romaine Lettuce as needed (washed and ends cut)
Favorite Hot Wing sauce (as needed)

Mango Salsa
1 ripe mango diced finely
1/2 red bell pepper diced finely
1/2 white or red onion diced finely
1-2 jalapeno peppers seeded and diced finely 
juice of half a lime (2-3 tsp)
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1-2 tsp honey or agave syrup
salt to taste

 Directions:
1.  Bake Tyson Crispy Chicken Strips per package instructions.
2. Cut base of romaine lettuce and wash and dry leaves well. 
3.  Make mango salsa.
4.  Brush on hot wing sauce as much as desired over each strip.
5.  Assemble lettuce wrap by placing two leaves of romaine lettuce with one chicken strip.  Then top with mango salsa. Enjoy.  


 

Disclosure:  I was given a coupon to purchase one bag of Tyson chicken for this post.  I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own. 


Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Bacon wrapped Smokies with Pineapple and Jalapenos

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Did you know that the American football is called a "pig skin".  So of course I had to have an appetizer using little smokie sausages (they look just like footballs) to celebrate the Super Bowl. I have seen the bacon wrapped smokie recipe floating around for a while on various food sites like Kraft, Allrecipes etc... so I bookmarked in my brain to make them for a party.  

I decided I wanted to jazz the little cuties up a bit to represent my love of sweet and spicy food.  So I added a canned pineapple chunk and nice slice of jalapeno to make them beyond delicious.

I made a practice round today so I could try them out before the big game and  I can't tell you how excited I am to serve these in a few days to my guests.  Oh goodness there were almost "can't stop eating them" good.  They were also really easy to make because I had a little assembly line of the ingredients in front of me to make it go even faster. Before I knew it, I was just wrapping and rolling until I had a whole tray full of them to bake off.

I actually decided to make three versions of the appetizer so everyone one could have a choice of sweet, spicy or traditional.  I  made some that were smokie with bacon only (traditional), some with a smokie with pineapple (sweet) and finally a lot of the loaded smokie with pineapple and jalapeno (sweet and spicy).  They all were a hit, but my family (especially my son) loved that loaded ones. 

You will have the crowd cheering you on if you make these amazing appetizers for your game table. 



Ingredients:
1 package of little sausages (smokies)
1 package sliced bacon
1 can pineapple chunks (optional)
2-3 jalapeno peppers sliced (optional)
brown sugar as needed
toothpicks

Directions:
Gather all your ingredients.  Cut each slice of bacon into 1/3 (so you can wrap 3 smokies with each slices of bacon).  Place the smokie sausage, pineapple chunk and jalapeno slice on the bacon and roll the bacon around and secure with a toothpick.

Place on a baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper for easy clean up.)   

 Sprinkle each one with a good pinch of brown sugar.  Bake in a 425 degree oven (center of oven) for 17-22 minutes or until bacon becomes crispy.  Remove from tray and serve hot.  Enjoy.






Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Buffalo Chicken and Spinach Dip

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The Super Bowl should just be called the Buffalo wing/sauce Bowl for me.  I think it's a must to have at least one kind of  Buffalo wing sauce dish or dip to enjoy before, during and after the big game. 

This is an easy chicken dip that I jazzed up with some creamy buffalo wing sauce.  I also tried to add a lot of extra veggies into this dip so it was not just a bowl full of cheese, chicken and sauce.   I mean, you want to eat it and enjoy it... but not feel so guilty about it, right? 

So I added carrots, celery, onion and spinach into this dip to make it a littler healthier and better for you.  I also served the dip with an assorted tray of veggies (carrots and celery sticks), chips and breads so everyone had their favorite dipper/dunker.

I know with this dip in my sights... I will be watching the dip bowl... and not the Super Bowl. 



Ingredients:


Buffalo Chicken Dip:
4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (poached)  See notes below*
1 large onion finely diced
1/2 green bell pepper or 2 jalapenos seeded finely diced
1 stalk celery finely diced
1 large carrot grated
1 cup frozen
chopped spinach defrosted and squeezed-dry
1/2 cup of hot sauce or more as needed (I used Frank's)
1-2 tsp grated garlic
red chili flakes to taste
salt and black pepper to taste
1 (8oz) brick cream cheese (regular or low fat)

1 1/2cups sour cream 
1/2 cup ranch salad dressing (or blue cheese salad dressing)
2 cups shredded cheese (I recommend Mexican Blend) 


Serve with: Veggies, chips or toasted bread 
 
Note:  To poach chicken breast, just place chicken in pan covered by water. Simmer on medium until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken and shred.

Directions:

Poach chicken and then put in the food processor to shred or shred with two forks.  Set chicken aside until later.  In the same food processor chop carrot, onion, bell pepper and celery into fine dice.  Heat large wok/skillet with 1 Tbs of canola oil and saute vegetables for several minutes and season with salt and black pepper.


Next add defrosted chopped spinach,  garlic and chili flakes. Saute 2-3 minutes.  Then turn stove off and add the brick of cream cheese and stir well.  The heat from the vegetables will soften the cream cheese. 

Finally add the ranch dressing and sour cream, shredded chicken and hot sauce.  Mix well and taste for salt and seasoning.    Then place dip into a baking dish sprayed with some cooking spray.  Top with shredded cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve with veggies, chips or toasted bread.  Enjoy.



Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Game Day Creamy Avocado Jalapeno Dip with Cheez-It Crackers and Pringles

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BigGameSnacks #CollectiveBias




My husband loves football!  He doesn't like to make plans on Sunday so he can reserve his spot on the couch to watch all the football games on TV.   Then of course there is the Saturday college football and Monday Night Football games to watch as well.  You can pretty much block out the calendar during football season for him.  Since football is such a big part of our family life for so many months of the year, the kids and I get into the spirit by making all the game day food that we can enjoy while my husband is hooting and hollering over the game.



I'm always looking for fun game day snack inspirations so I headed on over to http://snackablemoments.net and I found loads of dips, nachos, kid-friendly snacks, stuffed burgers and more.   

One thing I definitely know I will be having on our game day menu is some quick and easy dips to put out with lots of chips and crackers.  One of their favorite dips is my spicy and creamy Avocado Jalapeno Dip.
 
 


My kids really love chips and crackers because they like anything that has a serious crunch.  So, I am always on the hunt for chips and crackers when I go to the store.    Have you heard that Pringles has a tortilla chip now?  As a big Pringles fan, I was so excited to find them amongst all the other great flavors at my local Walmart.  I also stocked up on boxes of  Cheez-It Grooves and bags of Cheez-It Crunch'd.  





My local Walmart made it easy for me to find the Cheez-it crackers and Pringles Chips because they placed them on big pallets at the front of the store and throughout the grocery department.  I also found them easily in both the chip aisle and the cracker aisle that were right next to each other at my Walmart.
 
Follow Cheez it crackers and Pringles on Twitter and Facebook:
Twitter: @Cheezit and @Pringles
Facebook: Cheez-It and Pringles



    To make my Creamy Avocado and Jalapeno Dip you can follow my easy step by step instructions with photos:


    Ingredients:
    2 ripe Avocados (medium size)
    1 cup sour cream 
    1/2 a large red onion finely diced onion (you can also use yellow onion)
    1-2 seeded and finely diced jalapeno peppers (to your taste)
    1 tsp cumin powder 
    Salt and Black pepper to taste
    Lime juice to taste (juice from 1/2 a lime or up to a full lime)

    Directions:
    1. Remove skin and seed from the avocado. Squeeze a little lime juice to keep the avocado from browning. 
    2. Diced the onion and jalapeno finely.  Remember to remove the seeds from the jalapeno to control the spice level.
    3. Next add the sour cream.
    4. Then season with cumin powder, salt, black pepper and lime juice to taste.
    5. Mash all ingredients with a potato masher until creamy.
    6. Serve immediately with chips and crackers or refrigerate with a layer of plastic wrap pressed against the dip to keep air from browning the avocados.



    This entire dip was completely cleaned out of the bowl by my family during the game.  They loved eating the dip with the Cheez-it Grooves and the Tortilla Pringles.  

    I better head back to Walmart to restock my munchies before the Big Game Day that's coming up next week.

    I've shared my favorite game day dip with you;  I'd love to hear about yours! Leave a comment sharing your favorite game day dip and inspire me for the next big game.





    Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.