Buffalo Chicken Bites from Pinterest

Okay this was the first completed project from my vacation. http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/09/24/buffalo-chicken-bites/

Gordon doesn't like macaroni and cheese and that is what my 4B had planned for dinner. So I thought I would help her out and fix an additional something.  I didn't really care for them, but Gordon REALLY liked them and my girls liked them as well.  But I didn't follow the recipe that was given at the website because I didn't have all the ingredients and this wasn't a planned vacation excursion.  This was a spur of the moment excursion.  So this is what I substituted:

-I used canned chicken for the cooked shredded chicken (partly because 3B was complaining that we had SOOoooOOO much canned chicken in storage).  I opened the three little cans and one of the large ones.
-For the hot sauce, I substituted Sriacha sauce.  I used 1/4 cup for most of it. Since Gordon likes his food hotter than the rest of us, I added another 1/4 cup to his portion which equalled about 1/5 of the recipes.
-I LOVE cream cheese, so I used all 8 oz and it was the Fat Free version of cream cheese.
-I probably came close on the amount of shredded cheddar cheese I was suppose to use.
-I didn't have any mature enough green onions, so I went out to my garden and retrieved some chives - which I generally like better anyway.  (Though, we are big fans of cutting off the tops of green onions and leaving the bulbs in water to regrow - which we learned from Pinterest.:o))
-I did use white flour.
-I think I had one egg left, so I pulled out some powdered egg whites and mixed them in with the "juices" the chicken was packed in.
-I don't think anyone in my family particularly likes corn flakes, so we seldom have them in our home, but Special K Protein Plus is a constant (because of Thrive! which you'll learn more about in weeks to come OR you could read a really old post).  We just smooshed these up and used them in the place of the corn flakes.

We did bake them on the parchment paper (I can't remember which Pinterest project I originally bought that for, but glad we had it hanging around the house) at 350 degrees F for approximately 25 minutes.  They held their shape fairly well.

As I said before, my family quite liked them.  So I hope you give them a whirl either from the original recipe or from my out of the pantry renovation.

Stay tuned...for more of Pauline's Pinterest Vacation

P.S.  I have four children:  one son and three daughters.  They are all my babies, so the oldest (at 19!) is sometimes nicknamed 1B on down to the youngest called affectionately 4B (at 12! and not really a baby anymore).

Popcorn Popping

I love popcorn! I share that love with one of my children. It's always frustrating to go to the cupboard and not find a bag to throw in the microwave. (Yes, it brings out the "grrrssss".)

A number of years ago, I learned the trick of microwave popcorn in a paper bag. If you don't know it - here it is: 1 brown paper bag, 1/4 c of unpopped popcorn, and microwave. I program the microwave for the "Regular Popcorn" setting and let it pop. Make sure you fold the open end of the bag closed at least twice before starting the microwave.

Lately, I haven't felt quite right about pre packaged microwave popcorn. Perhaps, all the media stories are finally infilitrating my psyche, I don't know. I've been making excuses for not buying microwaveable popcorn, much to the chagrin of my popcorn loving child.

Many of you know, I'm also very attached to Tupperware. Did you know that some of the Tupperware is made from bullet proof material? Well, I've been meaning to test that, not with bullets, but with popcorn. (I figure the popcorn popping is like bullets being shot off, wouldn't you agree?) I DID IT!!! And I'm happy to report that neither the popcorn nor the Tupperware let me down. (You should have seen my happy dance, then again perhaps not...)

I used a larger Vent N Serve, the large round one first, with butter and programmed the "Regular Popcorn" setting. Apparently, the microwave cannot sense the popcorn popping or not popping. So I burned my first batch (which I'm sure the birds are grateful for). Sometime in my past my brain had stored the fact that popcorn takes about 3 minutes to pop. I then programmed the microwave for 3 minutes and listened for the popping (you know 5 seconds between pops...). It worked. (Oh, and make sure you pop the vent or it will do it for you - talk about bullets.) Later in the week, I tried popping in my stack cooker (largest configuration) without any fat. That worked also.

Once again, I know there are those of you that are not partial to microwaves. Please just enjoy my joy in finding another way to enjoy popcorn.

Easiest Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

I have the easiest bread recipe in the world. It's so easy, my children can make it. I've tried this on 8 year old girls just hand kneading it and it works. So here's the recipe:


1 3/4 c warm water
1 heaping T yeast
1 T sugar
1/3 c oil (I prefer olive oil)
1/3 c vital gluten (optional)
4 c + whole wheat flour (sometimes I combine with other flours, such as quinoa or kamut - then the vital gluten might be essential rather than optional)
1 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degress. Mix the warm water, yeast and sugar together first. Add the oil and vital gluten. Add 3 cups of the flour. Then add salt. Change your mixing blade to kneading hook or begin hand kneading at this point and add approximately 1 more cup of flour to your dough. If you're using a mixer like a Kitchen Aid, your bowl should be "clean" on the sides. Knead for 3 minutes, whether hand or machine kneading. Take your dough and SLAM it 12 times on your counter. Place dough in greased bread pan. TURN OFF oven and place bread in the warm oven for about 30 minutes (the dough will have risen over the top of the pan). TURN ON the oven again (without removing the bread) to 350 degrees and bake 30-45 minutes. (I usually bake for 40 minutes.) Take the bread out of the oven and put on cooling rack. I like to let my bread cool for awhile before cutting it, but if you like it hot, just make sure you cut a really thick slice or it will fall apart until cooled.

Cooking Preparation Tip - chicken

Okay, I cannot believe I'm back all ready. Tonight for dinner, we had a chicken enchilada casserole. The recipe can be found at www.7daymenuplanner.com week of 7/19/09. (Aside: I love this site, though I get the menu in the Sunday AJC - but just in case I miss a week...)

Anyway, the recipe calls for cut up chicken. I don't know about you, but I'm not fond of this chore. I had microwaved (please don't hate me for microwaving, just don't microwave if you don't want to) the chicken breasts then cut the chicken with my kitchen scissors in the bowl without even touching it. (Actually it only calls for cooked chicken and I assumed it was to be cut up - go figure.)

I hope this little tip makes sense.

P.S. My children also liked the Chinese chicken burgers (we used turkey) without the hoisin sauce from the 7/19/09 menu.