Sriracha Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are one of my favorite grilling treats. Grilled or baked, slather those wings with some hot sauce and plop them next to a dish of blue cheese and it's a pretty happy day. Grill them with sriracha and it's a whole new kind of awesome day.

This marinade is so good that I feel sad every time I have to add the raw chicken to it. I always save about a half of a cup of it to brush onto the wings as they grill... and dip a chip or carrot into while preparing everything. It's tasty stuff.

Marinade:

-for 25 wings-

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 limes juiced up

6 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup traditional hot sauce

1 cup sriracha 

1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon black pepper

Steps

1. Prepare marinade (mix together all the ingredients in a ziplock bag) and add the chicken wings and let sit for as long as possible in the fridge.

2. Place wings on a hot grill toward the edges. As the wings start to cook and the sauce appears to be dry or gone, bring the wings closer to the center of the grill and brush on additional marinade. 

3. Cook the wings till fully cooked and have a bit of that good ole' char look.

4. Serve with a side of blue cheese dressing and celery.

Locke-cumber (No Mayo) Slaw

What are the things I like about cole slaw? It's crunchy, it can be refreshing and it adds a little ruffage to a meaty grilled meal. Surely, cole slaw, and I, can do better than that. And we did.

I am not a mayo person and a lot of mayo can drastically destroy many things for me. Cole slaw is one of those things. This recipe replaces mayo with avocado. You will not miss the mayo. I promise. Also, with a heavy addition of lime juice, cilantro and jalapeño, this slaw goes from refreshing side dish to "heck yeah, this is the only dish."

Ingredients:
1 small red cabbage chopped
1 cucumber carefully de-seeded and sliced into small thin pieces
1 avocado
2-3 limes juiced
1 bunch cilantro chopped
1 jalapeño diced
pepper to taste

Steps:
Chop, mix and serve.

Note: You can easily forgo the cucumber, but it does add a refreshing quality to the dish. However, it can make the dish too juicy if not properly de-seeded. For the same reason, NEVER grate the cucumber.

Grilled Eggplant Napoleon (because of its conquering status, not layering ingredients)

Eggplant. Hard to convince many people that it's actually really good. This recipe does that.

Many of my recipes are spawned by a thought process of, what are some of my favorite things to eat and how can I make them all work together? Lot's of bad recipes happen this way, but some of my best happen too.

Simply put, this recipe is eggplant, tomato, basil, mozzarella and parmesan layered and baked. For your ingredients list, you will also need olive oil, garlic and ground pepper.

You can get really complicated in how you make this. Below is the simplest version.

Steps:
1. Slice eggplant into really thin (but not so thin there are holes) circles.
2. Slice tomato into thin slices.
3. Mince garlic and mix into 1/4 cup of olive oil.
4. Brush olive oil and garlic mix onto both sides of your first layer of eggplant and place on your flat baking surface.
5. Layer on top of each eggplant slice: tomato, grated mozzarella, basil leave.
6. Repeat layer stack on top of each original stack (two stacks total).
7. On top of each stack grate parmesan and ground black pepper.
8. Place in oven at 325 degrees and bake for 25 minutes.
9. Serve with bread.

Note: If you prefer a more crispy eggplant, only do one stack instead of two.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Who Needs Meat Tacos

This recipe has made me reconsider meat in tacos forever, except for pork or shrimp...maybe.

Ingredients:

Taco Filling
1 medium sized sweet potato (diced)
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1/3 cup chopped green onion
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/3 teaspoon ground pepper

olive oil for pan

flour tortillas

Avocado Topping

1 avocado

1/2 a cucumber (diced)

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

small container of goat cheese

Directions

Chop sweet potato and add to boiling water. Let boil for 5-8 minutes.

Add sweet potato to hot large skillet with olive oil.

Sauté potato for a minute or two and add rinsed black beans.

Chop green onions and add to potato and beans.

Add spices and adjust to taste.

Let the mixture cook for a few minutes and stir often.

In the meantime, prepare avocado topping. Cut avocado, dice cucumber and mix in all ingredients except the goat cheese.

Heat tortillas.

Remove taco filling from skillet and add to tortillas.

Add avocado topping and dollops of goat cheese.

Eat 'em up!

Tomato, Onion, Kale, Ginger and 5qts of Healthy Soup

It's winter, which means big pots of hearty soup.

Ingredients:
3 medium yellow onions (thinly sliced)
4 roma tomatoes (diced)
2/3 bunch kale (finely chopped)
64oz tomato juice
32oz water
4 cloves garlic (minced)
3 tablespoons fresh Ginger (grated)
1/2 tablespoon oregano
1/2 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1/4 tablespoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Sauté garlic, Ginger and onions.
When onions are tender add the kale.
When the kale has cooked down add tomato juice and water.
Bring to a boil.
Add spices and lemon juice and let simmer for 10-15min adding/adjusting spices to taste.
Add tomatoes right before serving.

Notes:

For this recipe, we toasted slices of French bread with Gruyère to top each bowl of soup before serving.

oldest beer

Chicken Noodle Soup - Get Healthy Because I Love You Style

Sometimes the people I love (or even just like enough to make soup for) get the flu, and during those times having a handy home-made chicken noodle soup recipe is my ticket to dishing out a bowl of happiness.

Ingredients:

Soup
2 stalks celery (halved and sliced)

2 carrots (sliced)

1 large white onion (thinly sliced)

1 cup fresh parsley (chopped)

1 large lemon

4 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

2 cups uncooked elbow pasta

1lb chicken breast (cut into small pieces)

3 large cloves of garlic (minced)

2 tablespoons onion powder

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Crust Topping
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6 to 8 Tbsp ice water

Directions:

Soup
Heat large pot with a spoonful of olive oil.

Sauté garlic and onion on low heat until it smells delicious or the onions are more translucent.

Add chicken and cook until chicken browns and looks cooked.

Add vegetable broth, onion powder and water and raise heat to bring to a boil.

Once the soup is boiling turn down the heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add carrots, celery, parsley, and crushed red pepper.

Squeeze the entire lemon into soup (watch for seeds).

Add pepper and adjust spices to taste.

Let simmer for a few minutes and turn heat off while you make crust topping in the meantime.

Crust topping
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl add flour, salt, sugar and butter.

Cut the butter chunks into the flour (I recommend a large whisk if you don't have a mixer).

Once the mixture turns into small little balls add the tablespoons of water.

Begin to mix the dough after the first 4 tablespoons of water, adding each tablespoon till correct consistency.

The dough is ready as soon as it collects together into a ball (no more water!).

Cover your dough rolling surface with a handful of flour.

Place dough ball in the center, flatten with you hand, and begin to roll dough from the center outward.

Once the dough is thin and wide enough to cover your pot, cover the soup and pot with dough.

Add slits and use remaining bits of dough to decorate.

Place soup and crust in the oven and bake for 25-30minutes or until crust is brown.

Notes:

This soup is also fantastic without the chicken or the noodles.