Weddings, PhDs, and Life. Oh My!

We have been oh so busy these past few weeks in the Little Kitchen.  We travelled to BC for Brother in law's wedding, came home for Dr. Sister's convocation to see her claim that beloved PhD, then had Brother in law and his wife come here for more wedding celebrations.... All that mixed in with everyday life means we have been on the go.  Here's the run down:

First things first: I am happy to announce that Sheila Syms is the lucky winner of the VH prize pack! Congrats!

Second: We had a blast in BC and even had some time to do some sightseeing, including the Capilano Suspension bridge!!

Third:  I managed to use another tasty sauce from my VH pack to make some Korean BBQ chicken wings.....very tasty!

(wash and pat dry some wings, coat them with sauce, place in a 350 degree oven until crispy. Just make sure to give the wings a toss half way through and even pour some more sauce on them.)

Fourth: I had fun making cupcakes to help celebrate the wedding.

Fifth:  The Boy gets to go to WE Day Tuesday. I am excited for him also, one of the girls he went to Africa with gets to speak!

Sixth:  We already have some snow here and I am not too happy about that.  I think this means some comfort food and warm pjs every night.

Seventh:  As happy as I am for all the joyous occasions as of late, I am looking forward to some down time and cooking time!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Wholey Chicken Wings Batman!

Chicken wings are a favourite in the Little Kitchen.  I make chicken wings more often than I write about.  If I actually wrote about chicken wings as often as the boys actually eat chicken wings then this blog would be called "Little Wing on the Prairie".  I kid you not....wings are no joking matter.

We are making the effort to be more healthy lately so when it came time to dredge the wings in flour, I reached for the whole wheat flour instead. The boys claim that these wings were the crispiest wings ever...even better than the other wing recipes I've posted about such as this post, this post, or this post.  Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I made these wings again last night with the same crispy baked goodness.  This is another one of those recipes where I didn't really measure too closely on this one.

Crispy Baked Chicken Wings - printable recipe

Big ole package o' wings

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp dry mustard powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black peper
• (If you have it on hand, 1 tbsp smoked paprika goes well with this mixture too!)
• 1 pkg chicken wings and drumettes (This was a Costco size package)

Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line 2 baking sheets with a sheet of foil and a sheet of parchment paper. I find the wings get crispier on parchment then they do if you use a silpat or silicone sheet liner.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients until well blended.

Rinse the chicken wings with cold water and drain.

Dump the wings into the flour and stir to coat all of the wings. Use your hands or a fork...what ever works to get each wing coated.

Shake the excess flour off the wings.

Spread the wings out on the sheets.  If the wings are too crowded together, they will not crisp properly so make sure to give each of them their space.

Bake for 25 minutes then flip the wings over and rotate the pans.

Bake for another 25 minutes.

Once these wings are done you can douse them with your favourite hot sauce.  (Or any sauce you like)

I opted to toss some of the wings with some Hawaiian black lava sea salt and pepper for the most amazing salt and pepper wings EVER! (If only I had a lemon to zest and add to the salt and pepper....mmmmmm)

 Tasty, tasty, tasty...

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Spice Up Your Night

Not only does the Little Kitchen have a weakness for bacon, it also has a weakness for all things chicken wings! After our disappointment in the heat department with the Sriacha glazed wings, we went all out with the wing recipe from the Jan/Feb edition of Food Network magazine. This recipe consisted of a marinade, a rub, and a glaze...three levels of spicy, tasty goodness...lets have a go, shall we?

There are three steps to getting these wings spicy. The first step is the marinade, the second is the rub/spices, and the third is the glaze for the last little bit of cooking. These layers make for a very flavourful and mighty spicy wing!! If there happen to be leftovers, they get a little bit more spicy the next day!!

Chile Rubbed Wings
From Food Network Magazine, Jan/Feb 2011

First make the marinade so you can give the wings plenty of time to get all happy in the fridge!
In a blender or food processor, place:

• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 2 jalapenos
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (okay, so I used a little bit more)
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 1/2 tbsp oil

Give it a whirl until all chopped and blended.

Put wings in a zip top bag, pour the marinade over, seal the bag and mush it around until all the wings are coated.

Park the wings in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Make the rub!

In a bowl, mix together the following spices:

• 1 1/2 tbsp ancho chile powder ( I couldn't find ancho chile powder so I used a package labled hot chile powder...just no smokiness)
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

To make this easy, I dumped the wings from the bag into the bowl with the rub. I then used my hands to mix it all up and evenly distribute the rub.

Spread out on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 450F for 20 minutes, flip the wings over and bake for another 20 minutes or until crispy.

In a large bowl, mix together: (ok, I mixed this in a small bowl, then poured it over so I wound up messing up 2 bowls...oops)

• 1/4 cup sriracha sauce
• 1/4 cup honey

Place the hot wings into the bowl and mix it up so that all of the wings are coated in this sweet and spicy goodness.

Place the wings back on the baking sheet and bake until crispy and sticky...you can broil them until crisp if you'd like.

Enjoy with something cooling such as veggies, chips, or milk...these were quite warm!!

Serve these tasty little wings of spicy goodness with some fresh veggie and dip to help cool the mouth...if you need..

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!

Winna, Winna, Glazed Chicken Wing Dinna

Who doesn't love chicken wings? In the Little Kitchen, everyone loves wings.  Of course we don't make them as often as we would like but every now and then I come across a new recipe that we just have to try.  Today was one of those days.  Well, I actually got this recipe the other week when my latest edition of Everyday Food arrived in the mail.  We just didn't get to make the wings until today...they were will worth the wait.

R2D2 approves this recipe

Sriaracha Glazed Chicken Wings
From Martha Stewart, Everyday Food Magazine
January/Febuary 2011
Page 120

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp plus 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp  grated and peeled fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 1/2 lbs chicken wings split

I love this because you measure everything into the dish you will be baking the wings in so there is minimal dish dirtying!!

Into your glass (or pyrex) baking dish, measure out all of your ingredients, except the wings.

Preheat the oven to 475F.

Stir or whisk it all together.

Add the wings, tossing to coat.

Let the wings marinate for about 1/2 an hour


While the wings are baking, give them a toss every now and then.

The original recipe says to bake the wings for about 30 minutes until the sauce is thickened and the wings are cooked through.

I cooked these ones for about 40 minutes.

The next time, there will be a next time, I will cook these even a bit longer and perhaps broil until crisp as the inhabitants of the Little Kitchen do enjoy a crispy chicken wing.  These were so unbelievably tasty and flavourful.  Although I will also up the amount of the sriracha suace the next time as well.  Needs a little more heat to suit the tastes of the Little Kitchen.

Winna Winna Chicken Wing Dinna!!

After a busy last half of the week, we are spending a Saturday evening at home watching a movie (and the baseball game).  It is nice to slow things down for the weekend.  I still have to finish my yard work before the snow flies but tonight I am cooking a few tasy favourites and relaxing with the boys!

Now over the past year or two I have been testing different mixtures of coatings to make oven  roasted chicken wings crispy. Wheat flour, corn starch, mixtures of the both, different seasonings...the list goes on! I like using a corn flour and corn starch mixture as it not only makes for a really crispy coating but it is also safe for my gluten free friends!

Tonight however, I tested out the corn starch/corn flour mix and was told they were the best wings I had ever made!  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!

To make the tastiest oven roasted hot wings ever:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Prepare a baking sheet with either a silicone baking sheet liner or some parchment paper.

 In an extra large zip top freezer bag mix together:

• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 1/2 cup corn flour (you can use regular flour or all corn starch but the all the corn products make for a nice crispy coating)
• Note: You can use 1 cup of four if you wish, the wings will still turn out fabulous! 
• 1 tbsp paprika (smoked if you have)
• 1tsp onion powder
• 1tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• pinch each of salt and pepper
• any other seasonings you feel might be tasty (tonight I added some old bay seasoning)

Once these ingredients are all mixed up place in the bag:

• 1 pkg of chicken wings and drumettes rinsed in cold water and patted dry (tonight I used a 1.5 kg package)

Seal the zip top bag and shake things up a bit until all the wings are coated.
Take the wings out of the bag and shake off the excess coating.
Arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet
Bake for 20 minutes and then turn the wings over.
Bake for another 20 minutes.
Turn the broiler on if needed to brown the wings and give them an extra crispy coating.

Just before serving, transfer some wings to a large bowl and douse and toss them with the sauce of your choice.  Anything you have on hand is a viable option such as:

• Frank's redhot sauce (a house favourite)
• BBQ sauce of choice
• Honey garlic sauce
• Teriyaki sauce
• Lemon pepper seasoning

Some things in our house are sacred.  Homemade mac and cheese is one of them.  I don't make it very often but when I do, it is sooooo good.  The start of any home made mac and cheese is the bechemel sauce which gets the addition of cheese.  Making the bechemel sauce is one the first jobs my Mom let me do in the kitchen.  I think she was suprised that I had the patience to stay in the kitchen and keep my eye on the sauce.  I might be weird but I do find something relaxing about watching the sauce thicken as I stir it.

To make mac and cheese:

Put a large pot of water on to boil and boil according to the package instructions for firm pasta:

• 1 lb pkg of elbow macaroni (or any other shaped pasta you have on hand)

In a medium size pot:

• Melt 4 tbsp butter
• Stir in 4 tbsp flour
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• Continue to stir this mixture for 1 or two minutes to cook out any raw flour taste

Add to this mixture (called a roux)

• a couple dashes of hot sauce
• 2 cups of half and half cream (you can use milk but then you risk the milk curdling as it cooks and curdled milk does not make a nice textured sauce!)

Stir/whisk quikly as you add the half and half to keep lumps from forming
Keep the heat on medium and continue to stir fairly often whild it thickens.
You will soon notice the mixture is thick enough to coat a wooden spoon and some thick but slow ripples appear in the pot as you stir.
At this point add and stir at the same time:

• 1 can of evaporated milk

This won't water down the sauce too much and it will thicken again quickly.  I find waiting to add the evaporated milk helps to prevent it from curdling.

You have now made a bechemel sauce!!
To your wonderfull bechemel sauce, add:

• 4 cups of shredded cheese

This is one of those time where you can really play with the recipe!  This can be all chedder, just make sure you use a sharp or old cheddar.  Or you can use any mixture of cheeses you like.  Be creative.  Tonight I used sharp cheddar but that was what I had on hand.  Some cheesy ideas"

• provolone
• mozzarella
• monteray jack
• colby
• havarti
• gouda
• asiago
• parmesan

 Mix the cooked pasta with the cheese sauce and pour into a baking pan.  Make the crumb topping to put on top before you bake:

• Melt 2 tbsp butter and add:
• 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Mix together until the crumbs are all coated in melted butter (add a little olive oil if the crumbs look dry)

Sprinkle the crumbs evenly on the top of the macaroni and cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven until the topping is golden brown (about 30 minutes).