Buffalo Cauliflower Bites

So I could have taken a fancy photo of these but I was on a cooking frenzy and on my way out the door, so it's in a Tupperware container and so not showing off how delicious these little morsels really were. I love appetizers and when they are veggies it makes me even happier because you can eat almost as much as you want without that little counter in your head going 200 calories...300...400... CRAP. So please enjoy these with ease and serve it up with ranch, blue cheese dressing or all by themselves!

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of fresh cauliflower chopped from stalk  (about 2 heads I would say)
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• olive oil
• 3/4 cup hot sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a large bowl take the cauliflower pieces and drizzle them with olive oil. Be sure they are coated.
3. Next add garlic powder, salt and pepper to the pieces and mix well getting the spices on every piece. Bake on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes
4. Combine butter and the the hot sauce of your choice, tabasco, sriracha, franks, ect. and drizzle over the top of the pieces after baking. Then bake for an additional 5 minutes.
5. Serve with dip of choice!

Been on a roll with successful pinterest recipes! Feels pretty good. Happy Eatings Everyone!

Coconut and Oatmeal Cookies

I have a regular schedule where fridays are a part of my weekend. It's a day I usually use to catch up on chores, read or binge watch netflix because everyone I know is either at work or in school. Pshhhh. So I take it in as a weekly 'me' day. Today I decided that I would be little miss kitchen and bake some cookies and other random things so I can continue to ignore the load of laundry waiting to go downstairs... I should have named them Procrastination Cookies...

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsps honey 
• 2 tbsps maple syrup 
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned whole rolled oats 
• 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 2 tbsp hot water
• 1 tsp baking soda

Directions:

1. In a microwave your butter for about 1 minute.
2. Then in a larger mixing bowl combine sugar, honey, syrup, and your butter. Whisk well.
3. Next add your flour, oats and coconut, combine well. Mixture will look sticky.
4. Heat up your water in the microwave for about 1 minute, slowly add baking soda so it wont bubble over.
5. Take either a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop and create  11/2 inch size balls from the mixture. Place on a large plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours. 
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray cookie sheets with non stick spray. 
7. Place balls 2 inches apart on sheets so they don't melt into one another. 
8. Bake for 9-10 minutes for soft cookies or 11-12 for a crispier cookie. Do not bake any longer than that or else coconut shavings will burn. 
9. Let cool for about 10 minutes. 
10. Serve!

I hope these turn out for you, they were terribly easy to make and quick, with time in between to do laundry... I guess. Happy Eatings!

Honey Sriracha Chicken

I got a little spicy in the kitchen today, meaning I do what I always do and add sriracha to a recipe. I'll even just put it on tortilla chips for a snack. I can't get enough of the stuff, its seriously addicting. For any tabasco lovers out there still feeling hesitant towards the asian chili sauce, do yourself a favor and get a bottle next time you go to the store. For those of us already addicted to it's charms, remember the scare a few months back of the plant being shut down in California? I went out and bought a few bottles just in case the prices sky rocketed. Oh naive little me. Anyway enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1lb chicken breast
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1/2 inch grated ginger
• 1 heaping tbsp sriracha
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbs rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp flour
• ¼ cup chopped green onions

Directions:

1. In a small bowl mix together garlic, ginger, sriracha, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, brown sugar, and water. Whisk until brown sugar is dissolved.
2. Next add flour and mix well so there are no more flour clumps in the sauce.
3. Take chicken and 1/2 of the mixture an marinade in a shallow pan or in a gallon plastic bag for 15-30 minutes. 
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook chicken for 30 minutes. Basting half way through with sauce in pan.
5. While chicken is baking take the second half of the mixture and heat in a small pan until thickened into a glaze. When chicken is down spoon the glaze or the top.
6. Top with green onion. Serve!

Eat up you spicy readers! Happy Eatings!

Spicy Chicken Stuffed Yams

      Have I mentioned my love of all things potatoes? It ranks right up there with cheese and Syrah wine. I just like how they can be sweet or savory and they're cheap and filling. I haven't tried a recipe that I haven't liked yet and this one is not an exception, it was all things sweet, spicy, savory and just plain delicious. A lot of people raise their eyebrows when I make sweet potatoes or yams the main part of a dish, like my Yam (or Sweet Potato) and Black Bean Enchiladas, but I say tssk tssk where is your sense of adventure!

Ingredients:

• 3 medium yams
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1/4 cups olive oil
• 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 1 table spoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 frozen cups spinach
• 5 ounces mozzarella
• sour cream for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Wash potatoes and cook. (I usually cook them in the microwave, 20 minutes is better than 60)
3. Put chicken in a baking pan, with a little olive oil salt and pepper and bake for about 25-30 minutes.
4. When sweet potatoes are done cut them in half and take out most of the middle, place in bowl and set off to the side.
5. When chicken is done, place on cutting board and shred with two forks.
6. In a medium sized bowl combine the olive oil, lime, garlic, oregano, pepper flakes, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. 
7. In a small fry pan defrost and cook spinach, when cooked, combine with shredded chicken in a bowl. Keep warm.
8. Heat oven up to 400 degrees. Take your sauce mixture and drizzle some on the potato skins, and bake for 5 minutes.
9. When done stuff with chicken and spinach, drizzle with remaining sauce and top with mozzarella cheese.
10. Bake for about 10 minutes until cheese is melty.
11. SERVE!

Scarfed these one down quick, we were hungry and this hit the spot. Hope you enjoy it and happy eatings everyone!

Easy Homemade Alfredo Sauce

I have tried in the past to make my own alfredo sauce, just because the 4 dollars a jar seems outragious to me and I would rather save and do it myself. Each time I dared myself to try again it was either, too runny or clumpy or too thick, so it took a lot to muster up the will power to do this again knowing full well it could end in utter failure. But this is how we learn in the kitchen, we try and try again until we find our recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 3 tsps garlic powder
• 2 cups milk
• 6 oz grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/8 tsp  pepper
• 1/2 cup flour

Directions:

1. In a medium sized sauce pot melt your butter then add your cream cheese and garlic powder and whisk until cream cheese is melted.
2. Next add your milk, parm and pepper and stir well.
3. Then you want to slowly add your flour to thicken the sauce and whisk it so they're no clumps of flour left.
4. Remove from heat, and let cool, sauce will thicken. If it's too thick for your taste then add milk to thin it out a bit.
5. This made about 2 pint sized jars of alferdo so it should go for 2 meals!

Well I hope you enjoy this recipe, the original had no flour so for you gluten-free people out there I believe it would be totally doable. I added the flour because it wasn't thick enough for my taste, anyway happy eatings everyone!