Spicy Honey Chicken from OBB

Confession, there really are just two reasons I have not posted for a long time.  One is I got pregnant and stopped cooking until I had the baby.  And two, I have been cheating on my usual recipes...I have a new love affair with the website Our Best Bites.  At least one or two dinners a week, and a handful of side dishes come from these girls.  I own the cookbook and frequent their website a lot and really love their stuff.

After I had the baby, I jumped right back into baking and cooking like my usual self, but I felt silly posting recipes as an amateur always using other recipes but my friends and neighbors keep asking if what they are eating is on my blog and most of the time I say "No, it is from Our Best Bites."

Then the Apple Dumplings recipe was requested which is from Allrecipes.com, and then I made Green Chile Chicken which is one of my "originals" and someone was begging for that recipe so I thought I should update the blog with a few more of my staples and give the credit where credit is due!

Now back to Our Best Bites, they are FANTASTIC, but many of their recipes just take too long and are a bit complicated.  The point of my blog is easy and yummy.  One of their signature dishes is this Spicy Honey Chicken and we LOVE it here in our house.  Everyone eats multiple servings (the baby included!) and you can't go wrong.

The best part?  It really is easy.  No marinating, takes less than 30 minutes (and really only 20 if you have the spice mixture pre-made like I do.)  and you can stock up on ingredients a month out so it is a go-to dinner.

Ok, enough of the prelude.  Go buy boneless, skinless chicken thighs and honey....and then do this:

INGREDIENTS:

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 2lbs  

***I don't even thaw...one of the first steps is trimming the fat and I just do that under running warm water on a plate in the sink and they are ready by the time I am done. And I will echo what they say about this...just use thighs, breasts or tenderloins just are not as good.
2 t vegetable oil

Rub
2 t granulated garlic
2 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t coriander
1 t kosher salt
1 t cumin
1/2 t chipotle chili powder

Glaze
1/2 C Honey
1T Cider Vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine the rub spices in bowl and mix well.

2. Use kitchen shears (or a pair of clean scissors) to trim off any excess fat from the chicken pieces.Pat dry. 

3. Drizzle oil over chicken and rub in with your hands to lightly coat all the pieces. Then toss chicken with the spice rub to coat all sides well. Use your hands and get in there! Grill chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side, until cooked through.

4. While chicken is cooking, warm honey in the microwave so it’s not so thick. Add the vinegar and combine well. Reserve 2T honey glaze for later. Take the rest and brush on chicken (both sides) in the final moments of grilling.  If you don’t have a bbq, try it on an indoor grill pan or use your broiler. Just be sure to open a window in case you burn your glaze!

5- Drizzle extra glaze over chicken on the plate after you pull them off the grill

YUMMY!  Great plain, or with rice, or on salads.

TIP:  Make a large "batch" of the rub and have on hand

1/2 cup granulated garlic
1/2 cup chili powder
2 tbls onion powder
2 tbls coriander
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup cumin
2 tbls chipotle chili powder

Country Apple Dumplings

So, I got this recipe from Allrecipes.com and have to say it is one of my most requested.  The best part about it??  IT IS SO EASY!  And you know what the secret is?  A can of Mountain Dew.  And THAT, my friends, automatically makes it a WT recipe.

So worthy.

Country Apple Dumplings

INGREDIENTS

2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
2 (10 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Mountain Dew

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.

3. Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew (or other citrus soda, like Mellow Yellow or even Squirt would work) over the dumplings.

4. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Serve with cool whip, ice cream or just eat it straight out of the pan like my husband does :) 

Monkey Muffins

I am going to take no credit for these balls of buttery goodness topped with sweetened condensed milk (yes, read that again...YUM!).  You can see the original recipe with pictures at The Pioneer Woman

Like Monkey Bread, but personalized and even gooier.  Mine are in the oven right now.

INGREDIENTS

• Refrigerated Biscuit Dough, Cut Into Thirds.....**I did the large ones and cut them into fourths (She also says you can used leftover bread dough, but we're white trash, we use dough from a can that pops)
• Butter
• Sugar
• Ground Cinnamon
• Sweetened, Condensed Milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to muffin tins. Sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon. **She originally says "a scant" (meaning a little less than) a tsp of sugar per cup...to be a little more healthy ;)

3. Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin.

4. Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle on more sugar and cinnamon.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

6. **My Favorite Part**  Remove from oven and immediately drizzle plenty of SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK over the top of each one. Be generous! Allow rolls to sit for a little while to absorb sweet, sticky milk.

 7. Scoop out with a spoon and serve to hungry humans.

Apple Cake and Butter Sauce

My friend found this in a Taste of Home magazine and served it at a baby shower.  This stuff is heavenly. 

INGREDIENTS
Cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 large Granny apples, peeled and grated

Butter Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup half-and-half or cream
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in apples.

2. Pour into a greased 13x9-in. square baking dish. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in sugars and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over warm cake.

Cheesy Meatball Soup

My kids love those frozen meatballs you get in a huge bag from Costco so I am always looking for new recipes to make with them (you can only do Grape Jelly and Chili sauce so many times.)

I decided to try making a soup with them one day and this is what I came up with.  Surprisingly, it was really good!

INGREDIENTS
**Disclosure:  I threw this together, measurements are estimates...use your best judgment**
4-5 red potatoes cut up into bite sized pieces (I didn't bother peeling them but you obviously could)
3 tbls butter
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup green pepper, diced
1 can sliced carrots, drained
1 cup chopped broccoli
6 cups broth or water with bouillon (I did beef, but chicken would be fine)
20 or so meatballs (however many you'd like)
2 tsp Tabasco sauce (optional)
1 jar of processed cheese or 1/2 of the large package of Velveeta cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Boil potatoes for about 10 minutes until softened a little bit. Drain and set aside

2. In large pot, sautee onion and peppers (you can add celery, too) in the butter until onions are transleucent

3. Add potatoes, carrots, beans, broccoli (and any other veggies you'd like, i.e. corn, beans, etc.) , broth,, meatballs and bring to boil.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

4. Add Tabasco sauce and cheese.  Stir until cheese is melted.

ENJOY!

Pumpkin Cobbler

My sister mentioned pumpkin cobbler on her blog the other day and my mouth started watering.  It is that time of the year, and this is one of my favorites. 

INGREDIENTS
1 package yellow cake mix  (save 1 cup for topping)
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or your choice of spices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg)
1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk

Topping:
1 cup yellow cake mix (dry)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Combine all but 1 cup of the cake mix, 1 egg, and melted butter and press into 9x13 pan

3. Mix pumpkin, 2 eggs, spices, 1/2 cup sugar, and milk. Pour pumpkin mixture over the cake mix crust.

4. Combine 1 cup cake mix and 3/4 cup sugar. Cut in 1/2 cup softened butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle mixture on top of pumpkin mixture.

5. Bake for 45-55 minutes (do not overbake...should have a slight jiggle.)

EAT!  This is awesome warm or cold, with Cool whip, ice cream, or plain.  I saw a recipe that "frosted" it with a cream cheese/cool whip spread, which sounds heavenly!  I'll have to try that and will update if I think it's worth the extra effort.

Ummm, Wow Dip

Not sure what to call this stuff but it is yummy!!  Serve with crackers, celery or tortilla chips...it will be gone!  And don't tell anyone what is in it, just make them eat it.

INGREDIENTS
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and shredded (or 2-3 cans of shredded chicken)
1 jar of Litehouse chunky blue cheese dressing
1 jar of buffalo sauce (Louisiana Hot Sauce seems to be the favorite)
1 lb. bag shredded cheddar cheese
1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese

DIRECTIONS
Throw it all in a Crock Pot on low for a few hours. Stir occassionally. (You can also mix all together and bake it for 30 minutes or so)
Serve with celery, crackers, or chips. Or french baguettes. Or whatever.
It's good.