Wingers Style Wings with homemade amazing sauce.

What you need:

• Raw unfrozen chicken wings. In the store you can get them bulk packs with about 20 to 30 pieces in them. When you are getting ready to cook them, they will need to be completely thawed out so that they will cook completely in the short amount of time they spend in the deep fryer without burning.
• A home deep fryer or a good size pot on the stove (cast iron is best) filled with oil up to the fill line for the fryer or about 3 inches worth in the pot.
• A fry thermometer or another food grade thermometer that can handle high temperatures. The fry oil needs to be at least 350 so that the chicken will cook up crispy and completely.
• A plastic bag with flour, just flour.
• A plate to put the floured pieces of chicken on as they come out of the bag.
• A plate or pan with a cooling rack on it to put the chicken after it comes out of the oil to drain.
• A good size bowl to toss the chicken pieces with the sauce in.
• A plate to serve everything on.
• Celery pieces cut to a preferred size.
• A little serving bowl with ranch or blue cheese dressing. I would recommend Litehouse brand.

Amazing Sauce Recipe

·       1 part brown sugar

·       ½ part apple cider vinegar

·       1 part honey

·       ½ part corn syrup (this adds thickness and sticking power to the chicken)

·       ½ part of a hot sauce that has a really good flavor

·       A hot sauce with some real firepower

·       Liquid smoke

In a bowl combine the brown sugar and vinegar. Stir all together until the brown sugar is dissolved in the vinegar. Add the honey, the corn syrup, and small squirt of the liquid smoke. Stir it all together until all of the ingredients are completely combined. If you don’t have corn syrup around, you can do this with just honey, but the vinegar is a pretty effective solvent and the sauce after you add the hot sauces won’t be as thick as I think that it should be. It will still taste great, but the thicker sauce will stick to the chicken a lot better. Once everything is combined, put in your hot sauces. Use the firepower one until it is hot enough for ya.

Making your wings

Okay let’s make some wings. Set-up your prep area so you can work in one steady flow. Get your oil in whatever you are using and heating. Take its temperature as often as you need to until it reaches 350 degrees. In the meantime, take your thawed wings and put about 3 or 4 into the bag of flour at a time. Toss them around so that they are lightly coated. Take them out of the bag and shake off any extra flour; they only need to be lightly coated. Put them onto a plate to rest and let the flour bind to the chicken a little before they go into the oil. Depending on how many you are cooking, work in batches of no more than 3 to 5 at a time. They will need to cook for about 6 minutes. When they are done, they should float to the top and turn golden. They will float before the time is up. Keep them in the full time so that you can make sure the chicken is completely cooked. Take them out, let them drain, and toss them in the amazing sauce until they are completely coated. Put them on a plate and serve them up with the blue cheese dressing and the celery. Drizzle any leftover sauce over them and enjoy! You are going to need lots of napkins.

Pumpkin Dip

I made this recipe several years ago for a small gathering. This year, after making pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, I had left over pumpkin and remembered this dip! It took me a while to find it again, so I'm sharing and saving it here so I don't forget. A friend blogged it HERE, and it was yummy!!

Her recipe is:

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 15oz can pumpkin
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp pumpkin spice (or nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon)
1 tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.
Gradually mix in the pumpkin.
Stir in the spices and orange juice until smooth and well blended.
Chill until serving. Serve with the best gingersnaps you can find for dipping.

Swedish Meatballs from Scratch

Fantastic recipe for Swedish Meatballs. Found it on a website called Damn Delicious. Here is the link to the original post on the website. Family loved it and it makes plenty for a family of five. Made a slight change from the original recipe by adding the dried parsley directly to the gravy instead of using it as a garnish.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

FOR THE GRAVY

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups beef broth
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg yolks, allspice, nutmeg and cooked onion; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1 1/4-to-1 1/2-inch meatballs, forming about 24 meatballs.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

To make the gravy, melt butter in the skillet. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in beef broth and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in sour cream and then the dried parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Stir in meatballs and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and thickened, about 8-10 minutes.

Serve immediately by themselves/on buttered egg noodles with a salad or other vegetables on the side.