Buffalo Wild Wings Asian Zing Gone Gourmet: Spicy Sweet Peach Mango Drumsticks

After contemplating how to top last week's Friday night dish, I came down to what men love most--flavorful chicken wings. The only thing I don't like about paying for wings at the restaurant is the price for what it's worth--meatless wings that leave you licking the greater portion of the bone than the actual meat. So, when I went to the grocery store, I saw amazing jumbo wings that were 4x the size of the wings you would buy at a restaurant. Then, next to it

I saw drumsticks almost the size of turkey legs (if you been to Disney World, you'll what I'm talking about--the roasted turkey leg that brings you images of childhood episodes of Fred Flintstone demolishing a leg of meat in the Stone Age). It's quite...I can't even explain. Looking at someone in the 21st century tearing at the gargantuan piece of meat just makes me cringe a little. Anyways, now that I think about it, the drumsticks aren't quite the size of a turkey leg, but it is much bigger than what you'd get at a restaurant :)

Guess how much it was? $8 for 10 gigantic drumsticks. Now that's pretty awesome :) So here's the lowdown on how to cook up these amazingly flavorful, finger-licking, good drumsticks!

Preheat the oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit and lay parchment paper on 2 baking sheets. Put it aside for now.

Liberally cover the drumsticks in a dry rub, which consists of garlic powder, chipotle powder, cayenne, freshly ground black pepper, and a pinch of salt. Then, sear the drumsticks on all sides in butter until the skin is crispy and golden brown. There is nothing like crispy chicken skin!

Place the seared drumsticks on the baking sheet and put it in the oven. Cook it on one side for 30 minutes and then turn the drumsticks over on the other side for another 30 minutes.

While the drumsticks cook, create the sauce that will bring it home! Here are the ingredients. I went on a crazy experimental mode, so after the first two ingredients, I actually did not measure the rest of the ingredients. I just let my palate guide me, so next time I'll update this with more precise measurements.

1/4 cup hot sauce

1 stick of butter

Peach mango preserves

Soy sauce

Honey

Light brown sugar

Melt the butter in a saucepan and then whisk in the hot sauce. Try experimenting on your own and let your palate guide you to a balanced sweet and spicy sauce that will make your loved ones finger-lick through the entire meal :)

After the drumsticks are done, pour the sauce over the drumsticks and top it off with fresh chives and sesame seeds! 

The appetizer/side that I used was fresh celery with a blue cheese yogurt dressing to cool the heat from the drumsticks.

We hope you enjoy this as much as we did :) From our kitchen to yours--as Paula Dean would say!

According to John: "My favorite part was the thin, crispy outer skin and the subtle sweetness. It fell right off the bone!"

Anyways, we hope you enjoy. Good food + Good company = A great time!

Thank you, Lord, for providing us food and time to eat and enjoy together. I'll cook for you in heaven one day! Amen =) 

Romantic 3-course Friday Night Specialty: Potato + goat cheese napoleon over a spicy peach mango sauce, shrimp pesto penne, and banana creme pudding w/ fresh raspberries

The 4-day week after Labor Day went by in a blink of an eye, but it didn't make my Friday any less worth it! We all needed a treat to celebrate the closing of a hard-worked week :)

Well tonight's dish was a race against the clock. I had my own share of pretend play as a Masterchef in my very own MasterChef kitchen! With John arriving at 7 pm, my challenge from 4 pm until 7 was to 1) go grocery shopping, 2) prep the food, 3) clean the house, 4) cook all three courses in time, and 5) freshen up!

Well, to give you the long story short, I conquered the MasterChef challenge. The night was sweet and romantic in our very own home :)

The Appetizer:

Potato goat cheese napoleon

over spicy peach mango sauce

2 Kennebec potatoes, goat cheese
Peach mango preserves, cayenne
Heavy cream, chives

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain + cool. Pour heavy cream in skillet, add preserve, and a dash of cayenne for a balance of sweet and spice! Assemble the napoleon -- sliced potato then goat cheese -- on top of sauce. Sprinkle with fresh chives!

The Entree:

Shrimp penne in fresh pesto cream sauce

1/2 lb of fresh shrimp, dried penne
For the pesto: Fresh basil, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan, fresh ground black pepper, & salt.

Mix ingredients for pesto in food processor. Pour olive oil in slowly. Cook shrimp and season w/salt + black pepper. Cook penne al dente. For the sauce, pour heavy cream + add fresh pesto. Cook down then add penne + shrimp. Toss and enjoy! Sprinkle it w/ a little parm for some love!

The Dessert:

Banana cream pudding topped with fresh raspberries and crushed graham crackers

2 banana cream pudding
Fresh raspberries
Graham crackers

(Took a shortcut for time-sake!) Pour banana cream pudding in ramekins.
Top w/ fresh raspberries + crushed graham crackers!
 It's a bit sweet, but the tartness from the raspberries create a wonderful balance on your palate!

The Ambiance:

Pretty orchid candles
Soothing music

A bit cheesy, I know! I laughed to myself as I set the ambiance for the room--felt a bit silly since I don't really do this sort of thing, but it was fun :)

Music: Relaxing piano music

According to John: "Each dish had an extra unique aspect that only Andi could add to. Nothing like coming home to lovely meals and my lovely wife."

Anyways, we hope you enjoy. Good food + Good company = A great time!

Thank you, Lord, for providing us food and time to eat and enjoy together. I'll cook for you in heaven one day! Amen =) 

Labor Day Dinner: Slow Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches w/ Fresh Coleslaw

Low and slow is the theme of the day on this Labor Day! A day where we can enjoy the island mentality of taking it easy. In line with the day's theme of low and slow, the menu for today's dinner is Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich topped with fresh and crunchy coleslaw!

If there's one food that takes a lot of love, it just might have to be the pulled pork. It takes a lot of tender loving care to get it flavorful and tasty not just the day of, but the night before! Now, that's love!

So, usually for pulled pork you use a pork roast, but I chose to use 3.5 lbs of boneless pork loin. I liberally rubbed down the pork with a dry rub, which consists of chili pepper powder,dry mustard, brown sugar, garlic powder, and salt.

I've put it in the refrigerator in a zip lock bag to marinate overnight. Let the flavors sleep on it :)

I woke up nice and easy at 8 am to put my lovely pork into the slow cooker to cook low and slow through the day until dinner time! To help it retain the moisture while giving it another layer of flavor, I added 6 oz of tomato paste and 1/2 cup of water in the base of my slow cooker. Then I snuggled in the pork and let it cook on low. If you're using a probe, you want to make sure the pork loin reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Let it cook on low for at least 3-4 hours. Most slow cookers will automatically switch to warm once it is cooked through. Allow it to stay on warm as it soaks up the moisture softens the tenderness of the meat.

About 3 hours before dinner time, prepare the coleslaw! You need:

• 2 lbs green cabbage
• 4 carrots
• 1 yellow onion
• 1/2 low fat mayonnaise
• 1/4 Dijon mustard
• 2 TSP cider vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 TSP black pepper
• 1 TSP cayenne
• Pinch of salt

Shred all the vegetables in a food processor. For the dressing, add all the ingredients, whisk, and fold it into the coleslaw mixture. Chill it in the fridge for at least 2 hours so that the slaw develops it's flavors into one triumphant symphony! 

An hour before dinner, shred the pork with two forks. This can be pretty time consuming! Then you can use it as-is or add a favorite BBQ sauce to bring it up a notch. I like smokey taste in my pulled pork, so I'm using a hickory smoke BBQ sauce from Trader Joe's! Haven't tried it yet, so I'm putting it to use in this dish :)

Once you mix in the BBQ, in a hot pan, warm it up, put it on a bun (toast if you'd like!), and top it off with the refreshing slaw!

According to John: "Oh my gosh, Andi! This is one of the best things I ever ate!" (He had to come over and give me extra hugs and kisses after the first bite) :)

Anyways, we hope you enjoy. Good food + Good company = A great time!

Thank you, Lord, for providing us food and time to eat and enjoy together. I'll cook for you in heaven one day! Amen =) 

The Dish That Says Home: Signature "Spaghetti" and (Dessert) Strawberry, Grape, and Pineapple Rum Smoothie

The Dish That Says Home: Signature "Spaghetti"

For those of you who may not know, John is away during the week studying hard for his doctorate in physical therapy. The school is quite the distance away from home so he leaves on Sunday nights and comes back on Friday evenings--not the most ideal situation in our newlywed stage, but we need to do what we have to do. The weekends are now more special than ever and the food we share becomes one memory after another. For him, it's home. With God's presence and love at the center, we feel blessed and comforted in this place we call home where food and company brings us together to enjoy each other in sharing our lives together--quite the special moment :)

The hellos have been nothing but joy and warmth, but the goodbyes every Sunday night have been pretty tough. Luckily tonight, there are no goodbyes since tomorrow is Labor Day and we both have the day off. I wanted to cook something John absolutely loves to enjoy on our Sunday night without the goodbye :)

Tonight, I made one of my signature dishes--"spaghetti". Why the quotes? Well, spaghetti refers to the actual pasta used, not necessarily the sauce. For the pasta, I used linguine because we like the wider width of the noodle better, but this is just preference.

The sauce is what brings "spaghetti" to life. My sauce is chunky with flavor combinations that burst on every taste bud on your pallet. The secret is to enhance the flavors of the ingredients and balance the flavors. Check it out:

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh ground beef

6 oz. Sliced mushrooms

1 Red bell peppers

1/2 Yellow bell peppers

1/2 Red onion

1 TBSP minced garlic

2 TSP Red pepper flakes

3 TSP Sugar

1 TBSP Fresh Italian parsley

2 TSP Dried parsley

Tomato basil sauce

Salt

Pepper

1 TBSP unsalted butter

In a deep skillet, add a tbsp of butter and melt it down to coat the bottom of the pan on medium heat. You can use olive oil to do the same, but I like the buttery taste that the meat absorbs without the greasy taste. When using oil, sometimes when you add your sauce, the oils come up and it does not look very appetizing--butter solves that problem :)

Add 1 lb. of fresh ground beef and immediately season with a pinch of salt and fresh ground black pepper. Add 1/2 a tbsp of garlic and cook it down until the meat browns. While the meat cooks, dice the red and yellow peppers, 1/2 red onion, and finely chop the fresh parsley.

First, add the red and yellow peppers into the skillet with the meat. The red pepper is a traditional ingredient in most Italian dishes, but the yellow pepper is not that common. The reason why I use both in my spaghetti sauce is because the red pepper gives a subtle kick and the yellow pepper adds a slight sweetness in every bite. Now, I told you about the key to my sauce: enhancing the flavors of the ingredients. Later on, you'll see what I'm talking about.

After the peppers, add the mushrooms. It's important to add the ingredients that cook the longest first. Mushrooms cook relatively quickly and they absorb so much flavor, so in cooking it after the meat and peppers, it's going to absorb the meat flavor with the subtle kick of the red pepper and the delicate sweetness of the yellow. While it absorbs, it's also going to add an earthy flavor to the mixture too! Lastly, add the onion. The onion also works to add a sweetness!

The creation of the spaghetti sauce is all about patience. A fast cook in creating the sauce limits the extraction of all the flavors into one harmonious symphony. Give the ingredients time to cook and mingle together on low heat!

To the ingredients in the skillet, add 2 tsp of red pepper flakes to enhance the flavor of the red pepper. Then add the dried parsley to release its flavor through the ingredients. The fresh parsley will release its flavor in the sauce. Having the dried parsley present in the ingredients allows the flavor to come through in both the sauce and the chunks of goodness.

Now, add your tomato basil sauce. I like using a simple sauce because the ingredients have so many flavors in them. Getting a sauce that has a strong flavor of it's own might outshine the flavors of the actual ingredients in the sauce, thus defeating the purpose of flavor extractions and the harmony we've come to achieve!

Let the sauce mingle with the ingredients for a few minutes so the flavors will mesh. Add the last half of the minced garlic and cook it down for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the 3 tsp. of sugar. Why sugar? Well, I like to enhance the sweetness from the yellow pepper and the onions. It provides a nice balance from the kick you get from the red pepper and red pepper flakes. It's all about balance! Let it cook for another few minutes and finish it off with fresh parsley!

On al dente noodles (spaghetti or whatever you prefer), pour the sauce over and enjoy!

Strawberry, grape, pineapple rum smoothie

Ingredients: 2 cups fresh strawberries, handful of green grapes, 1 banana, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/3 cup Cruzan pineapple rum, ice. Blend. Enjoy :)

According to John: "It's a little bit of sweet from the peppers with a small kick. Pasta cooked al dente as usual. It's just good! The smoothie is sweet creamy goodness. Had to steal more of her's! Reminded me of St.John."

Anyways, we hope you enjoy. Good food + Good company = A great time!

Thank you, Lord, for providing us food and time to eat and enjoy together. I'll cook for you in heaven one day! Amen =)