"Wingers" Sticky Finger Salad

This is the most awesome salad ever!! I got the Sticky Finger recipe from my good friend TerriLyn. Then Larry pieced together the rest of the ingredients for the salad. The sticky fingers themselves are so versatile. They are good on quesadillas, salads, or just on their own. Enjoy!


Sticky Fingers Sauce
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c. ketchup
1 T. honey
2 tsp. Louisiana hot sauce(more if you like it spicy!)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Pkg. frozen breaded chicken strips

In a saucepan over low heat, combine all ingredients except chicken. Warm sauce, stirring occasionally while you cook the chicken. Follow package directions for cooking the chicken. When the chicken is done, toss it in the sauce, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 5-7 min. or until sauce thickens and becomes sticky.

*Larry has discovered that if he follows the directions to fry the chicken rather than bake before adding it to the sauce, the chicken turns our crispier.

Sticky Finger Salad
salad greens(iceberg or romaine, or a combination of both)
sticky finger chicken tenders, cut up
cherry tomatoes
chopped red onion
Craisins
grated cheddar cheese
ranch dressing

Assemble your salad, and enjoy!!

Pesto Pizza with Pine nuts and Feta

This a really yummy gourmet pizza recipe I got from a friend from Missouri. She also has a cooking blog called Sisters Cafe. I just use my pizza crust recipe located here.

Pesto Pizza with Pine nuts and Feta
Preheat Pizza Stone in 400° oven Roll out prepared pizza dough and place on preheated pizza stone. (I don't have a pizza stone, so I just preheat my oven, and then sprinkle my pizza pan with corn meal before I put the dough on.)Top pizza dough with the following ingredients in order:

1) Pesto - You can use store bought, or make your own, which is actually really easy and tastes better. Below is a the pesto recipe I use when I can get basil cheap, like from a farmers market. (LIBERALLY spread pesto over the pizza, so you can’t see the dough through it, and up on top the edges so the crusts will have pesto on them as well.)
2) Feta cheese (about 4 oz)
3) Red onion slivers (about 1/3 onion -I like lots of red onion and tomatoes)
4) Chicken pieces (about 1 1/2 Grilled Lemon marinated breasts, diced and cooked) - recipe follows
5) Tomato slices (1-2 tomatoes, bite-sized slices)
6) Mozzarella cheese (to your liking)
7) Pine nuts (sprinkle over top)

Bake in 400° oven for 18-20 minutes.

Pesto - This is a Barefoot Contessa recipe. It is super good, and super easy.
¼ c. walnuts
¼ c. pignolis
3 T. diced garlic (9 cloves)
5 c. fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ c. good olive oil
1 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 30 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is finely pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Serve, or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top. Makes 4 cups.
*If I am able to get a lot of basil then I will make a bunch of pesto and freeze it in oiled ice cube trays. After it freezes, just remove the pesto cubes and store in Zip-lock bags. Its great on pasta too.

Grilled Lemon Chicken
Juice of one lemon (~3 Tb lemon juice)
3 Tb oil
1 tsp minced garlic (~ 2 medium-large cloves)
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp oregano
1 lb chicken breasts

Marinate chicken overnight. If I'm using this for a pizza or salad, I dice the raw chicken and marinate it that way. If it's diced it has more surface area to marinate and then you can get away with only marinating it for 8 or so hours. You can grill this indoors or outdoors, or you may use a skillet.

Snickers Cookies

These are so yummy!

Snickers Cookies
½ c. sugar
½ c. firmly packed brown sugar
½ c. butter, room temperature
½ c. creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 ½ c. flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
30 mini sized Snickers candy bars (about one bag)

In large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, butter, and peanut butter. Add vanilla and egg. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and add to peanut butter mixture. Shape dough smoothly around each candy bar, making sure the bar is completely covered, without having a lot of excess dough. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350°, check at 12 minutes, and take out when they are slightly golden. Cool a minute or so and remove from cookie sheets. Delicious served warm.

Raspberry White Chocolate Blondies

These are amazing!! The first time I made them, the pan didn't last through the end of the day. So yummy. I've had to adjust the cooking time/temp a little. The edges seem to cook really quickly while the center is still uncooked, so i've lowered the temp a little, i've also covered it loosely with foil before to keep it from browning too much. Just watch it, and adjust accordingly(it may must be my oven). Also, i've never used the sanding sugar, I think its kind of expensive. So I will sometimes just sprinkle a little bit of regular sugar on top. But I think its fine without any sugar on it too. I've also made it with blueberries when I didn't have raspberries. They were good too, but I think the raspberries are better.
Enjoy!


Raspberry White Chocolate Blondies -from the Picky Palate
¼ Cup butter
¾ Cup white chocolate chips
½ Cup sugar
¼ Cup brown sugar
1 Cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ Cup white chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons sour cream
1 Cup fresh raspberries
½ Cup finely chopped pecans
2 Tablespoons sanding sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in microwave safe bowl. Stir in ¾ Cup white chips until melted and smooth. In a large bowl add the sugar, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and ½ Cup white chips. In a small bowl whisk the eggs and sour cream. Pour into the dry ingredient bowl along with the melted white chip mixture. Mix until just combined.

2. Pour into an 8×8 inch baking dish lined with foil that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. Top evenly with 1 Cup raspberries. Mix the chopped pecans and sanding sugar in a small bowl until combined then sprinkle over top of blondies. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick comes clean from center.
9 blondies

Baja Chicken Pizza with Bacon and Cilantro

This is another recipe from a friend from K-ville(You can check out her cooking blog here). Very yummy! I just used my pizza crust recipe found here.

Baja Chicken Pizza with Bacon and Cilantro

3/4 c. Open Pit BBQ sauce
2 c. cooked, diced chicken
3/4 - 1 lb. good bacon, cooked and torn into medium pieces
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
1/2 c. thinly sliced red onion
1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven and pizza stone to 425 degrees. With lightly greased hands, form dough into a pizza crust by using fingertips to spread dough outwards on counter top. Once in a disk about 6-8 inches in diameter, hold dough up by one edge and rotate around to let the weight of the dough stretch itself out, taking care to not let the center get too thin, but encouraging the edges to stretch as well, until 14 inches in diameter. Remove hot stone from oven and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place dough on hot stone and situate so it fits nicely over stone. Brush sauce over crust with a pastry brush or bottom of large pasta spoon,getting some on edges of crust. Then sprinkle chicken, bacon, half of cheese, then red onion and cilantro over as well. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 12-15 minutes until crust and cheese is lightly browned.

Oreo Bon Bons

Oreo Bon Bons

1 package Oreo cookies
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
Almond Bark

Crush up Oreos to crumbs.(I grind them in the blender in small batches.) Mix crumbs thoroughly with cream cheese(I think mixing with my hands works the best). Roll into balls(they don't need to be very big because the coating makes them even bigger). Melt almond bark according to package directions. I use vanilla flavored, and I find it easiest to melt it in the microwave. Dip cookie balls in the almond bark. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper. You can then drizzle them with chocolate bark, or just melted chocolate chips or bakers chocolate. Refrigerate to help the coating set. I think these are best chilled. They freeze well and will last a while.

*These are a family favorite and a hit with everyone who tries them. They make great neighbor gifts. So good!!

Cafe Rio Feast

This is amazingly similar to Cafe Rio's pork salad. It is delicious!! I got all of these recipes from various friends when we live in the 'Ville, and we will be forever grateful.

Café Rio Pork
3# Pork roast (butt or shoulder)
1 c Worcestershire sauce
1 t dried oregano
1 t powdered ginger
1 t salt
1 t chili powder
1 t garlic powder
2 T dried minced onions

Cook all ingredients in a crock pot all day. One hour before serving, remove roast and shred it, dump out cooking juices. Put shredded pork back into crock pot and add…
1 c dark brown sugar
1 c red enchilada sauce


Cafe Rio black beans
1 can black beans
1/3 cup tomato juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. cumin
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro

Heat oil, cumin, and garlic. Throw in the rest until warm

Café Rio Lime Rice (Larry said this was better than Café Rios lime rice)
1 c white rice
2 T chicken broth, + broth to cook rice in
1 T fresh lime juice
1 T garlic powder
1 T dried minced onion
Pinch of salt

Cook all ingredients for rice directions, substituting chicken broth for water. When rice is done, add…
½-1 c chopped cilantro
1 T fresh lime juice
1 c green enchilada sauce

Guacamole (Larry said this was a good guacamole recipe, we just couldn't get very good avocados. I cut this recipe in half, and we still had plenty of guacamole.)
4 ripe Haas avocados
3 Tbs squeezed lemon juice (I think I add more)
8 dashes Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup small-diced red onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 medium tomato, seeded, and small-diced

Cut the avocados in half, remove the pits, and scoop the flesh out of their shells into a large bowl. Immediately add the lemon juice, Tabasco, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and toss well. Using a sharp knife, slice through the avocados in the bowl until are finely diced. Add the tomatoes. Mix well and taste for salt and pepper. (I'm pretty sure I always end up adding more salt.)


Café Rio Chicken salad Creamy Tomatillos Dressing(I used this on the pork salad, so I didn’t make the chicken, but I’m including it in case you want to try it with the chicken.)

3 Tomatillos
1 c. cilantro, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 c. buttermilk
½ c. sour cream
½ c. mayonnaise
1 pkt. Ranch buttermilk dressing mix

Husk and cut the tomatillos into quarters, put under a broiler for 7 minutes, then chop or mince. Mix together all ingredients and chill.

Saute chicken in olive oil and garlic. Serve on top of lettuce topped with cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese with the dressing.

How to assemble a Café Rio Salad:
One very large tortilla, toasted with a little cheddar cheese (We like to use the uncooked tortillas found near the cheese section. Then you just heat them up on a low temp in a frying pan, and then melt a little cheese on it.)

chopped greens (romaine, I think)
lime rice and beans (your choice of pinto or black)
your choice of meat (their famous BBQ pork, steak, or grilled chicken)
pico de gallo
guacamole
a few cilantro sprigs
a lime wedge
some kind of Mexican style cheese, when Larry looked it up online it is called Cotija cheese. I found it near sour cream.
tortilla strips, fried and crispy
creamy tomatillo dressing