Buffalo Hot Wing Pretzels

I have now made these a few times in the past month, I love them that much.  This is not even remotely a healthy recipe, but I am already a sucker for hot wings and anything buffalo flavored.  A great bonus to this tasty little snack is that they pack that hot wing kick without the huge mess.  I made a batch of these for our beach trip from a recipe I originally found on Mom In Time Out.  They were good, but they turned out a little Worcestershirey for me. A little tweaking brought me to the recipe below, which has a little more of a buffalo kick without the aftertaste of Worcestershire. It is definitely my favorite.

Buffalo Hot Wing Pretzels

Super easy and a great game day snack

Makes: 1lb Pretzels

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 30-45 minutes

Ingredients:
½ cup Frank’s buffalo wing sauce

½ cup butter

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp seasoned salt

16 oz bag of pretzels

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300F and line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Melt butter, wing sauce, and Worcestershire sauce over medium heat until combined. Stir often; this should take less than 5 minutes.
3. Add garlic powder and seasoned salt
4. Empty the entire bag of pretzels into an over sized bowl
5. Drizzle hot wing mixture over pretzels and gently toss until all pretzels are coated. 
6. Spread pretzels across parchment paper somewhat evenly and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until dry.

If you have extra time, let the pretzels sit for 10-15 minutes after coating. If really gives it an extra pop of flavor. Hope you enjoy!

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No-knead Wheat Bread

Who knew it was so easy to bake your own bread?  I don't buy bread anymore because there is no way for me to eat a loaf before it goes bad.  Not that this recipe didn't make more bread than I could eat, but I feel like it is way more acceptable to share fresh baked bread with a neighbor than trying to get someone to go halvesies with you on a bag of sliced store-bought bread.  An additional benefit to making your own bread is the wonderful smell that will fill your home.

I found this recipe on the side of a bag of Gold Medal all purpose flour and thought, "I bet I can do that." You can find the original recipe here.  For the most part, I followed the original recipe.  The few changes I made included using mostly whole wheat flour and cutting back on the salt.  The bread is best within the first couple days (and amazing when eaten fresh out of the oven).  I will definitely be experimenting with added herbs and cheese in the coming weeks.

No-Knead Wheat Bread

Makes 4 small loaves

Ingredients: 
3 cups lukewarm water
5 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 package active yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse sea salt

I used a stand mixer and allowed the dough to set in the bowl with a towel over it. The dough rose for about 2 hours at room temperature.  I then transferred the dough to the refrigerator where it stayed for an hour.  This step wasn't completely necessary, but it did make it easier to handle.  You can tell from my picture, I got a little excited with the flour.  It is very necessary for handling, but too much will make it a little tough.

Hope you enjoy!

Cinnamon Raisin Granola

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I love cinnamon. Also, raisins, the original favorite dried fruit. I love mixing the combination into oatmeal and of course adding cinnamon to oatmeal raisin cookies. I’ve never tried making granola before, and couldn’t believe how easy it was. With the honey and brown sugar, this isn’t the healthiest snack, but it is very filling. I love eating it dry for a snack, or with cold milk or yogurt. With a little warm milk, this would make a great cold weather snack.

CINNAMON RAISIN GRANOLA Quick and easy homemade granola Prep time: 10 minutes Bake time:  30 minutes INGREDIENTS: 3 cups old fashion or steel cut oats 1 1/2 cup raisins 1 cup sliced or slivered almonds 1/4 cup ground flax seed 1 tbsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg a pinch of salt 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup grape seed oil (you could also use coconut or canola) 1/4 cup brown sugar DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 300F and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Once again, grind the flax seed. A coffee grinder would be ideal for this, but I used a food processor/blender. It took a little more patience and stirring but still worked well. Combine the oats, raisins, almonds, flax seed, cinnamon, nutmeg and sea salt in an over-sized bowl. In a small saucepan and over medium-low heat, combine the oil, honey and brown sugar. Stir frequently until the brown sugar starts to dissolve, this should take no more than 5 minutes; do not bring to a boil. Pour the hot sugar mixture over the oat mixture and stir. This isn’t something you would need a mixer for. Just a few quick stirs to make sure everything is coated and you’re good to go. Spread the oat mixture on the parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes. After the initial 15 minutes, stir/flip/turn the granola. Check and turn the granola every 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Mine was done in 30 minutes, but I have a gas oven- which can be a little dryer of a heat. Let cool. I left mine on the cookie sheet for a few hours. NOTES: Deciding when the granola was done was probably the hardest part of this process with all the cinnamon in there. I taste tested each time I pulled the pan out and stopped when the granola started to reach a crunchy consistency.                                                                                                     Hope you Enjoy!

No Bake Energy Cookies

I've made a couple batches of these over the past week and I really like how they've turned out.  It's similar to eating cookie dough, but with a little less refined sugar. I've been enjoying them as mid-morning snacks
and they have been super filling.  Kept refrigerated, the cookies should be good up to a week.

No Bake Energy Cookies
A healthier and energy filled sweet treat

Makes about 24 cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Set Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashion or steel cut oats
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1/3 cup white chocolate chunks (finely chopped)
1/4 cup protein powder
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1/3 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Directions: 

1. Line a couple of large cookie sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Grind the flax seed.  A coffee grinder would be ideal for this, but I used a food processor/blender.  It took a little more patience and stirring but still worked well. 
3. Combine the oats, peanut butter, honey, flax seed, white chocolate, and protein powder. You could also add dried fruit or nuts. 
4. in a separate bowl, mix together the chopped almonds and chocolate chips
5. Roll the dough into a ball and flatten into a cookie shape. Dip into chocolate-almond mixture and place on parchment paper. 
6. refrigerate 1 hour and enjoy!

Notes: 
If the oat concoction isn't sticking together very well, try adding more peanut butter.

Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

Over the past few months I have developed some type of aversion to coconut, which is really unfortunate considering how much I love coconut. I typically break out on my face after eating actual coconut or drinking coconut milk (which is delicious by the way). Until this week I hadn't really had much of any issues with coconut oil unless I used mass amounts of it, but using my EOS lip balm one too many times led to another annoying reaction.  Most allergies can progressively get worse with each exposure, and while I have had no other allergy related symptoms, I think its probably best to quit while I'm ahead.  This weekend I've started cleaning coconut out of my house.  I had almost exactly 3/4 cup of coconut oil in the kitchen cabinet, and being the good decision-maker that I am, I decided to use it to make some blueberry oatmeal cookies to take to work. I have made these a few times before and really love them. Not to sound like a chubster, but eating a warm one almost feels like a hug, and it was also really hard to avoid eating this cookie dough. I’m sure this won't be my last time making these, but I may be reverting to butter in future cookie making.



Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies
A summer twist on the classic oatmeal raisin cookie

Makes 24 cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
¾ cup coconut oil
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups old fashion oats
1½ cup blueberries fresh or frozen

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper. The paper isn’t completely necessary, but it is easier to get the cookies off the pan and to the cooling rack.  If you don’t use parchment paper, just be sure not to butter or grease the pan.
2.  Cream together the coconut oil and sugars on medium speed. I left the mixer going about 4 minutes. It isn’t going to look very creamy, as butter would, just make sure it is well mixed. Add the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla; the concoction will look something like brown sugar soup at this point.
3.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, then slowly mix the dry mixture with the sugar mixture. 
4. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to fold in the oats and blueberries. I used frozen blueberries; making It a little easier to fold the berries in without breaking but also a little harder to mix and scoop as your dough will start to freeze if you don't work quickly enough. Don’t worry if you do break blueberries, it’s inevitable, the cookies will still be delicious. 
5. Bake for 16-20 minutes. I made some pretty large cookies, a little smaller than a golf ball when all rolled up. Because of the size and the fact that I used frozen berries, it took a little longer to bake, closer to 20 minutes. Leave the cookies on the pan for a minute or two before moving to cooling racks.  Enjoy!

*disclaimer… coconut oil melts at 76ºF. As it is summer in Alabama and I live in a very old house, it was about 77ºF-80ºF in my kitchen at the time I was baking these; do not try to combine coconut oil with any type of cold ingredients (ie. cold butter or milk). It doesn't go well.

Brunch in Denver

I think it's safe to say brunch was my favorite part about Denver. On Saturday morning, Ray and I had brunch at Trattoria Stella, a charming little place on East Colfax (note the stained glass panels in the windows). I had eggs Benedict over fried green tomatoes, topped with steamed asparagus and greens and potatoes and all other types of goodness.  The meal was also accompanied by mimosas. Everything was so fresh and delicious. 

                    

Sunday morning we mozied over to Snooze, because you should have brunch everyday when you are on vacation. There was a bit of a wait but we were able to give a cell number and go for a downtown stroll.  The restaurant is located on the corner of Park and Larimer and is only a couple blocks from Coors Field.  It was worth the wait!  I had a snooze in the city and the green eggs and hamwich (and also a mmm mmm mimosa).  The sandwich was basically a spinach omelette topped with some delicious cheese on chibatta bread.

If you are in the denver area, you should definitely check out one or both of these great restaurants. 

Marshall’s Diner and Downtown Frankfort, Kentucky

Downtown Frankfort is such a cute town.  It is full of old buildings in cute colors. There are train tracks running through the very center of town, and unbelievable close to a few buildings. The only thing strange I noticed was the lack of people out and about.  I’m sure that was mostly due to the extreme cold last week, but it seemed like the kind of town where you would pass the friendliest people on the street.
We ate at Marshall’s Diner for lunch one day. It was such a cute place; very cozy with a home town feeling.  However, the food was less exciting.  I didn’t order anything special (just a chicken wrap with fries), but the chicken was slightly overcooked and nothing really had any flavor. Other people’s meals were drenched in gravy and no one really seemed too impressed by the end of the meal. I believe the diner recently reopened, possibly under new management? Hopefully things will improve for the adorable diner.

The Dragon Pub, Frankfort, Kentucky

I spent the last week at a control of particulate emissions training course in Frankfort, Kentucky. I know, it sounds like a blast, right?  We were in class for 8 hours a day and really did nothing outside of that time, but eat.  We ate out for 3 meals a day for almost 5 days, and we were able to find a few little gems.

The first night, we found the Dragon Pub on urbanspoon.  It seemed like it was a little more of a bar than a restaurant.  We were the only people in the restaurant (which generally makes me nervous) but I think the entire town had migrated to Louisville for a basketball game.
We had a lot of fried food!  We started with Brew Sticks, Crispy Artichoke Hearts and Dragon Scales and I then had the Pub Burger.  Everything was fried and delicious but the real favorite of the night was the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.  I only had a taste, but it was awesome.  It is the love child of bourbon and beer, both of which I love, and I may have bought a 4-pack as a souvenir.

Brew Sticks - Our unique version of a cheese stick. Our own homemade Beer Cheese wrapped in a thin won ton wrapper and fried until crispy. Delicious!
Crispy Artichoke Hearts -  lightly dusted and fried. Topped with grated parmesan. With a lemon garlic aioli
Dragon Scales – Our famous homemade chips drizzled with spicy Dragon wing sauce and sprinkled with bacon, cheddar, blue cheese crumbles and creamy blue cheese dressing
Pub Burger – Our 6 oz. beef patty, topped with homemade Newcastle Beer cheese and a freshly battered onion ring on a grilled pretzel bun. Delicious!

Jonah’s Fish & Grits

Thomasville, Georgia is this adorable little town located just north of Tallahassee, Florida. On one of my most recent trips to see my favorite guy, we went up to Thomasville to explore the small city and have dinner. We ate at Jonah’s Fish & Grits and sat outside, on the patio. The place had so much character and such good food. We had the fried pickles which were served with their blue cheese aoili. For dinner, I had the grilled shrimp and scallops with the peach tree salsa

PEACH-TREE SALSA: made with peaches, pineapple, lime juice, red bell-peppers, caramelized red onions, fressh cilantro ad spices

And Seth had the shrimp and grits

SHRIMP & GRITS sautéed shrimp, bacon and chives in a light cream sauce drizzled over roasted vegetables and white cheddar grits

Both meals were delicious (I know because I helped Seth eat his) The crème brulee also looked delightful but we were way too full after our delicious dinner.

Sa Za Serious Italian

I have only been to Sa Za’s once, but I am a little off put by the urbanspoon rating. Seth and I had a date night in downtown Montgomery a couple of months ago. We didn’t really make any plans; we just decided to get out of my parents house for the evening. After strolling around the Montgomery Riverwalk we had dinner at Sa Za’s Serious Italian.

Despite it’s mildly ridiculous name, it is a great little place on the corner of the Alley. We did not have a reservation so we sat at the bar, but it was actually a fun place to sit since we could see the pizzas being made. We had the Firenza which comes “layered with goat cheese, caramelized onions, roasted grape tomatoes, mozzarella” and added chicken and spinach. It was probably the best pizza I’ve ever had. The goat cheese wasn’t overpowering and was deliciously complemented by the caramelized onions. To drink I had a Wise Guy “captain morgan spiced rum, malibu rum, bacardi 151 rum, pineapple & cranberry juice, lime & cherry garnish” and it was great. In addition to the food, the restaurant had a great atmosphere. I would definitely recommend!