Ranch chicken firecrackers

snacks Leave a comment

Out of desperation comes one of my favorite new snacks! Isn’t that often the way?

My friend Traci made me some firecrackers (fire crackers? Two words?) last summer and was kind enough to scribble down the recipe for me. I made some more of them last week but was trying to talk myself into something more substantial than crackers for lunch, when it occurred to me I had a cold roasted chicken in the fridge. Enter inspiration.

I shredded the chicken, tossed it in some ranch dressing, and put that on top of the firecrackers. It’s spicy with the peppers and cool with the ranch chicken, and oh so tasty!

Ranch chicken firecrackers

Ingredients

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 package dry ranch seasoning
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 3-4 Tbsp. crushed red pepper, depending on your spice preference
  • 3 sleeves saltine crackers
  • Cold, cooked, shredded chicken
  • Enough bottled ranch dressing to lightly coat chicken (these last two depend on how much you want to make, obviously)

Instructions

  1. Add oil, seasoning, spices, and crushed pepper into a one-gallon zip top bag; seal the top and mush it all around till everything is well combined
  2. Add in the crackers and shake them around a little to coat them with the oil and spice mixture
  3. Let it all sit in the bag for a good 12 hours or so, flipping the bag over any time you think of it, till all the mixture is absorbed into the crackers
  4. Once those are ready, just shred some cooked chicken with a fork (leftovers are your friend, here), toss it in as much ranch as you like, and put that on top of your firecrackers. So good!

North Carolina pie

dessert 4 Comments

This recipe comes from Crook’s Corner restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C. by way of Katie Workman, by way of NPR. It was tweeted and retweeted and favorited all over the place till I decided I just had to try it out. This turned out to be an excellent decision.

It’s very similar in construction to key lime pie , with the obvious difference of a Saltine crust, which is fabulous. This pie is sweet and tart and salty all at once — everything a summer dessert should be.

North Carolina pie

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 sleeves Saltine crackers
  • 1/2 cup softened butter
  • 3 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • whipped cream and coarse sea salt for garnish (which I completely forgot)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Crush the crackers pretty finely, but not to complete dust. Add the sugar and knead in the butter till the mixture holds together like dough
  3. Press into an 8 inch pie pan, chill for 15 minutes, then bake for 18 minutes or until the crust is slightly browned
  4. While the crust is partially cooling, beat the egg yolks and milk together, then mix in citrus juice, making sure everything is completely combined. Pour into the pie shell (it doesn’t need to be completely cooled), and bake for 16 minutes or until the filling has set
  5. Chill pie completely now, and serve with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkling of sea salt

Make this. You will not be sorry. 🙂

Honey mustard dressing

uncategorized 5 Comments

I have started making, and liking, my own mayonnaise. This is kind of huge, y’all. I try to periodically go back to foods I think I don’t like and try them again. I read somewhere that your taste buds change every seven years or so, so foods you don’t like now you could find irresistible in seven years! That’s kind of cool. It worked with broccoli, after all. So I tried with mayo and had another success! While I am shocked to find I love it just on a sandwich, I am also loving how easy it is to make dressings like Caesar dressing and this honey mustard — and how much better they taste with homemade mayo!

I came up with this one by throwing some stuff in a jar, as I am wont to do, and eyeballing measurements. For y’all (oh the sacrifices) I made a second batch and actually measured.

Honey mustard dressing

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup mayo
  • 1 Tbsp. mustard
  • 1 Tbsp. honey
  • 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Put all ingredients in a jar and shake the heck out of it

I mean, seriously. So easy.

Now, speaking of jars! My love of Mason jars is somewhat legendary. I make coffee in them. I freeze broths and soups in them. I make tea and more tea. I give presents in them! And my friend Vanessa and I spend a significant amount of time hunting the pretty colored ones in antique stores (fortunately we live in Nolensville where antiques abound). So when Vanessa emailed to tell me that Ball was coming out with BRAND NEW BLUE JARS there may have been some squealing. The folks at Ball were kind enough to send me a case of these gorgeous things (and I may or may not have ordered another case; ahem) and I’m just in love. The yellow honey mustard looks so pretty in the blue! The jars are to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ball Brothers’ “Perfect Mason” jar; I agree that they’re pretty dang perfect.

So we’re clear: the jars (okay, half of the jars) were free from Ball. The fan-girl opinions are my own and already well documented. 🙂

Tangy BBQ sauce

lunch, supper 1 Comment

I started looking for a vinegar based BBQ sauce recipe because I so much love the tang of the Dixie sauce at Martin’s BBQ. This is a fairly thin sauce, as you can see, so it’s more suited for mixing in with the meat than as a topping on a sandwich (although, honestly, I did both — because it’s good). My “Gooble-ing” as Kiddo says, brought me to this recipe.  I halved it and made a couple tweaks and it turned out pretty great!

Tangy BBQ sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 1 Tbsp. hot sauce (I used Louisiana)
  • 1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt

Instructions

  1. Bring all ingredients to a simmer in a saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is completely dissolved. Cool and enjoy! It’s much tastier if it’s had the chance to chill in the fridge for a day or so

 

Enjoy!

Baked Elvis oatmeal

baking, breakfast, kids, snacks 4 Comments

I’m not a stranger to baked oatmeal, but I love how Beth of Eat. Drink. Smile upped the ante with the addition of all her yummy fruit! I adapted her recipe a bit to use up what we had (super ripe bananas) and to add something both my kids are guaranteed to eat: peanut butter!

Baked Elvis oatmeal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups uncooked old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 very ripe bananas, fork-mashed
  • 3 Tbsp butter (see instructions)
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter (see instructions)

Instructions

  1. Combine oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl
  2. Heat the butter and peanut butter together in the microwave till just melted, then let it cool slightly
  3. Make a well in the middle of your dry ingredients; add in the egg and beat well, then add in banana and butter/peanut butter mixture and stir well
  4. Pour into a buttered 8-inch square baking dish, and bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes.

 

This is such a great breakfast, and easy to keep around for snacks as well! Be sure to check out Beth’s original post for all her awesome fruit combinations, too. What fruits will you try with it?

P.S. Lost without Google reader? ME TOO. But try this: Follow my blog with Bloglovin