Buffalo Chicken Wrap

I love appetizers and when I can make them at home it's a good thing. It's funny how food goes in trends like many other things in life. Years ago you could get escargot, and Oysters Rockefeller on every menu. Then it was anything Cajun or blackened, and I'm sure a lot more trends until...now where you'll find spinach, artichoke, pesto and Buffalo this or that....



One of my favorite starter that I had in a local restaurant was Buffalo Chicken dip served with warm tortilla chips. As I was eating this wonderful appetizer I was thinking "hmmm...I could make this"..



So I did to try to get the same flavors of the dip, but added a few twists of my own. I wanted to make this for a filling in my crepes, but I didn't get a chance. I used these fluffy tortillas that I had in hand and just made a wrap.



I added the blue cheese separate because my daughter eats a lot of things, but not blue cheese or mushroom.

• Buffalo Chicken Wraps

1 cup shredded cooked chicken

4 oz cream cheese

1 small onion finely chopped (optinal)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup hot pepper sauce (I used Franks)

3 oz blue cheese

1 stalk celery julienned

1 carrot julienned

• In a sauce pan saute the onions until tender, add the cream cheese until smooth and creamy, then add the chicken and broth until well mixed, then add in the hot sauce and mix well. You can add the blue cheese at this time if you want and everyone likes it with blue cheese...or you could always add ranch dressing but I like it with the blues cheese. Adjust the consistency with the broth and the heat with the amount of hot pepper sauce that you use.
•  Lay the filling on the wrap, add blue cheese,  shredded carrots, celery and what other toppings that you'd like, cilantro, pickles, lettuce what ever you like...go wild!!



These little wraps are good for a snack or lunch. I did warm it up it when I brought it for lunch, but I'll bet it would be good in a bento lunch too.



I just missed the shot where our neighbor's cat was sitting directly under the bird feeder with the squirrel on top, but this one gives you an idea!



A Few Things - This and That for Quick Meals

Just thought I'd stop in and try to put a post together. I think this is the longest I've been away without saying anything. I just hate using the excuse that I am so busy at work and then trying to keep the house running, meals on the table, lunches made, chores to be done and just about drop into bed each night. I have to keep moving when I get home from work to get anything done. Otherwise once I sit down, boy it's hard to get back up!!
So to relax a little I enjoy walking the beach and collecting sea shells...here are a few I've picked up off the beach lately. We were collecting some things for Maranda's Marine Biology project



This is my husbands busy time at work...people need their jet skis when the weather is this good!! The pro racers need their race skis ready for the up coming race season! So often my daughter and I will eat earlier and he will have to warm his dinner up when he gets home.

To squeeze some greens into a one dish meal, I often add spinach to it, like soups and here in my lasagna.



Nice and cheesy and you can't even tell it has some healthy spinach!

Lasagna is a good meal for him to warm up...and plenty left for lunch or to freeze for later.

A walk along the bay front is relaxing, I always enjoy the way the sun plays off the boats and water.

Yes! Just as good the next day!!

Just throwing some ideas out there. Scrambled eggs made with verde sauce, queso blanco, flowering chives, wrapped up in a fresh tortilla.

Was good for breakfast or lunch!

So here I had an idea how to use sweet soy sauce,. My mom used to make meatloaf for us when we were growing up and she would use ketchup and brown sugar for the topping while baking. It was a little too sweet for me. Well I make my meat loaf different because I don't use ground beef usually ground pork or ground turkey sometime add in some ground chicken. Anyway I just love the flavor of this thick medium sweet soy sauce that I have, so I thought it would work great for a topping instead..

Not quite, as it still tasted good, the sauce wasn't quite thick enough and ran off to caramelize on the baking dish.

Course I love scraping good caramelized dripping off the bottom of a pan. It did give it good flavor, but I have to figure out what I need to do to make a good sauce thick enough to stay on top. Maybe add it a little while after baking some.

Sitting at a outside table at a restaurant enjoying a view like this makes any food taste good. It is worth the price. 

An easy way to make leftovers tasty. Tortillas do come in handy for this. A little chicken, cilantro, fresh squeeze of lime, Mexican cheese, fresh spinach, and tomatoes if you like!

None of these really have recipes so I didn't post any, but I just wanted to share some ideas for things you can throw together for the busy weeks that sometimes sneak up on you! I really admire those who can plan out their weekly menu. I just am not one of them. I like to see what looks good in the store, and use up what I have in the pantry and fridge.
I had some purple potatoes, and sweet potatoes are always easy to find, along with any white potato, and onion. Saute in some good olive oil, rosemary and thyme or your favorite herbs, salt and pepper. Confetti potato hash was a hit!!

The purple potatoes look prettier on the inside than they look before they are cut.
Hope this helped you with some quick supper ideas. I am just happy that I was able to get it out there. I have been off line all day, and off and on throughout the past week. It is so strange that it will do this. I think it is our splitter, even though we replaced it. So our phone and Internet will go down, but not cable TV. We will jiggle the connector, hit the reset button, sometimes it works and some time it doesn't work. We've replace the cable coming to the house, upgraded to an expensive splitter and this will still happen...off and on, no rhyme or reason! Sheesh! Talk about frustrating!! So this brings us to our last relaxing photo...

... of course I couldn't leave you all without a beautiful Florida sunset!

Leek, Bacon and Pea Risotto

Finally I made Martha Stewart's leek, bacon and pea risotto for Martha Mondays! I know it's not Monday and it was only about six weeks ago, seriously. It just goes to show you ...it's never too late!  This was Sassy Supper's choice and it was a good one, I just didn't get a chance to make it then. This week I had some organic leeks, and used up the end of the organic arborio rice, and I also had some bacon that was left over from breakfast and was already cooked!! Perfect I thought of this recipe.
About the only charge that I made to the recipe was the pre-cooked bacon..oh and I used up the chicken broth that I had on making chicken noodle soup for my "sickies" so I used beef broth, it was okay, but I'll bet it would be much better with the chicken broth.



Since I didn't have to cook the bacon, I added a little bit of oil in the pan to cook the sliced leeks until they were nice and tender.



After the leeks were tender I added the chopped bacon, then the arborio rice.



Cook until edges turn translucent, about a minute. 



Pour in a cup of white wine, and cook until absorbed about 2 minutes.



After adding all the broth a cup at a time, and the rice is al dente about 35 minutes, add the peas with the last cup of broth, then stir in the Parmesan cheese. Remove from heat and cover while you let it stand for 2 minutes. 



Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Top with a little fresh grated Parmesan!


All week at work we had staff appreciation at school.





One day they brought in pies from a local Amish restaurant...



We had plenty to choose from



We were given a glass with the school name on it. The the nurse and I got beautiful flowers for school nurse day, we each got one form the Principal and one from a frequent flyer clinic visitor. Even though I am not a nurse, but I play one at school :) no I am the health room aide who does take care of the children when they get hurt, or sick, I give meds, check blood sugar, help them change clothes when they wet their pants or spill chocolate milk. I give them shoes, shoelaces, belts, cereal, milk, juice, bandaids, and safety pins when they need them. I fix eye glasses too! But the worst part of my job is trying to reach some parents, it usually takes us a minimum of three phone calls per student before we can reach someone... that is if we can reach someone.

When we arrived at school on Monday morning this is what greeted us...

A gift from a student, wonderful macaroons!

More sidewalk art...

On Tuesday they gave us breakfast, and then lunch today (Friday). So we had a wonderful week other than all the bumped heads at P.E. and a 911 call for a broken arm on the monkey bars to a new student just this week! Welcome to Florida!.

Purple Potato and Blue Cheese Gratin

 

I am feeling better didn't get much of the cold I thought I was going to get...the ginger tea and Emergen-C must of worked. Now my daughter and husband both picked up something, they have a cough that won't stop and it wasn't from me! I know because mine didn't last the weekend, a whole week before.

Anyway I have to think of things that sound good and comforting for a cold. I already made my daughter a big pot of chicken noodle soup, and then my husband finished it when he can down hard with the same thing. I was thinking mashed potatoes...because when I first felt bad we went out for dinner our Friday night usual...we went to a new place where we could watch the Tampa Bay Rays play. I just ordered mashed potatoes, they described it s a house specialty. OMG it looked like motor oil poured on top, and it didn't taste much better. I have never had such a thick, dark gravy on mashed potatoes before. The waitress said it was a mushroom based, it reminded me of Marmite, and that was the only good thing about it...or it is what knocked the "cold" out of me. Haha! I joked with them we should go back and order that for them!

Well, instead I had some beautiful purple potatoes, and wanted to do something a little different, so this is what I came up with...mostly with good tasting things that I had on hand!

Purple Potato and Blue Cheese Gratin

Ingredients

• 8 purple potatoes, thinly sliced
•  1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt or salt and pepper
• 1 leek sliced thin
• 1/2 cup cream   or half and half
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese

Directions Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Coat a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with butter.
Overlapping each slice, place a layer of potatoes, and leeks in the baking dish. Season each layer with salt and pepper, or seasoned salt, adding crumbled blue cheese as you go.
Pour the half and half and minced garlic into the dish; push down on potatoes to evenly distribute the half and half. Top with grated cheese.
Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Carefully remove the foil, and bake uncovered for 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top and the potatoes are tender and gratin is not runny. Remove from oven and top with a little more blue cheese if desired.

This doesn't look that pretty in the photo, a little better in person, but it sure did taste good! Of course I like blue cheese, and with the purple potatoes it just seemed to go together!

We are having staff appreciation week as school this week. We should have some nice things happening all week. Tomorrow they are bringing in breakfast! I'll keep you posted!

Strawberry, Banana, and Nutella Crepes

After the savory crepes, which we enjoyed very much BTW...now we had to try some dessert or breakfast crepes...

So I have some Nutella in the cupboard (always) fresh fruit, and left over crepes...perfect!!

 

Spread some Nutella on half the crepe, slice up some bananas, and strawberries, lay them carefully in place, then fold it in half then half again...

I pulled out the Ghiardelli chocolate sauce to drizzle on top and yum, yum...I actually did have this for breakfast!

Crepes with Chicken, Avocado and Bacon

My turn to once again choose for Martha Mondays, my pick was crepes! but I am just posting it now! Almost a week late. I did  make them on Monday, but couldn't get a good photo after dark, so I saved some and had them the next day too. My computer is so slow and old I am getting a new one. In the meanwhile I have to use my husbands on the weekends or evenings. I feel so neglectful to you all...
I'll be back in full swing soon, and back to my regular visits and posts.

We had FCAT testing the last two weeks and everyone is on edge...teacher, students, and parents. In the clinic we get the kids come in when the test is done because they came to school sick just for the test. We try to encourage them do satay home and do the make up test. You can almost hear the sigh of relief from everyone. Now we are working on field trips, and school end stuff, getting ready for next year.

Now back to the crepes my choice this week was made because this was another things I have always wanted to make and really have no idea why I haven't. I like to order savory crepes when we go to a favorite breakfast place in town...turkey dill. Since I don't have that recipe for their sauce, it reminded me of a hollandaise with dill...anyway, I decided to make up my own to go with chicken, bacon, avocado and tomatoes. I also added some green onions to a couple of them for the savory breakfast crepe.

I made a creamy dill with yogurt and a chipotle mayo sauce. The crepe recipe was easy to follow and I first tried making them on my 13" round griddle that I use to make dosa on and it's good for quesadillas. It did not work that well for the crepes because it needed the edge of the pan to create the round edge of the crepe, so I pulled out my 9.5" green pan and that one worked out great. Just lightly buttered the pan and it didn't stick at all.
For the Chipotle Sauce: 1/2 cup Greek Style yogurt, 2 tablespoons mayo, 2 teaspoons chopped chipotle in adobo sauce or chipotle powder.
 

Yogurt Dill Sauce: 1/2 cup Greek style yogurt 2 tablespoons fresh dill (chopped) or 1 teaspoon dried dill 2-4 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon key lime juice pinch of garlic powder salt and pepper to taste.
I used the sauce on the inside and out.

I now know how to make crepes and found out how well the keep in the fridge for a couple of days. I will see how well they freeze. Next I'm making dessert crepes, with Nutella, strawberries and bananas!

We have been having picture perfect weather over the last few weeks, cool nights,  sunny days right around 80 degrees, we really couldn't  ask for better weather. But we really need the rain, we often get 30 or 40 percent chance and it never rains at our house, maybe just a sprinkle. Of course when I water my plants it rains, and on Saturday it rained when we were shopping downtown Venice, FL. :D

When we got home we had a couple of Mallard ducks at the bird feeder, then they were hanging out by a little puddle in the middle of the driveway. It must be dry at their house too.

Now I have to get ready for this weeks Martha Monday!