Football Sunday is Football Fun Day

So, apparently Sunday is a huge football day. You would think that after living in the US for about 22 years I would have learned that by now.  Eh, then again, football has never really been a part of my life.  But things change when you become friends with real men lol.This past Sunday, we woke up early (yes, 1 pm is early for me) and turned on the games and cooked up some deliciously tasty game day food.  Since there were only two of us, I figured I shouldn't go overboard with the cooking (which, trust me, happens wayyyy too often).  So, I decided to make chicken wings and seven-layer dip....but I skimped on the dip a bit and mine was just five layers this time.I was actually really, really excited for this because I had never made chicken wings from scratch before, and my culinary curiosity was all over the place!  So, I'll finally get on with it and get to the feature presentation.

Chicken Wings

You know, I didn’t really become a fan of wings until very recently.  Just the whole concept of the messiness didn’t sit right with me.  However, within the last year, I guess I’ve just come to appreciate the appeal and realized that maybe, just maybe, the mess might totally be worth it.Keep in mind, these opinions of being worth it were based on wings at restaurants or like Papa John’s or something.  I’ll have you know that homemade wings are by-far the much much MUCH tastier option.  And I never would have figured any of this out if I hadn’t decided to experiment and play around with making chicken wings. The results of my experimentation??Three styles of cooking. Deep fry. Grilled. Roasted.Three sauces. Cajun buttermilk-battered. Chipotle cola glaze. Chinese barbeque.According to one of my taste-testers (usually the most convenient best friend that’s around at the time), all the sauces were delicious, but the main reason one was better than the other was the style of cooking.  Apparently grilling on the stove gets a ‘meh.’ reaction.So, let me familiarize you with the sauces and styles.I started off with 20 wings. Well, technically what I bought was two packages of “wingettes.”The first one was the

Deep-Fried Cajun Buttermilk-Battered Wings

Ingredients

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup hot sauce
• Kosher salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning

Process

1. Mix together about a cup of buttermilk and ¼ cup of hot sauce.  Add a sprinkling of salt and soak the wings in this mixture for about 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix together about a cup of flour and a 1 tsp paprika and 1 tbsp of Cajun seasoning.  Add a pinch of salt.
3. Once the 30 minutes of marinating are up, drain the wings and cover it in the flour mixture.  Deep fry it in 350 degrees F oil for about 10 minutes, until they’re this darkish golden color.
4. Take them out and place on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.

The second one was the...

Grilled Chipotle Cola-Glazed Wings

Ingredients

• 1 cup coca cola
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp pureed chipotle in adobo sauce

Process

1. Mix the ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Let it boil to the point that it’s reduced to about a half cup.
3. Toss the wings in vegetable oil and grill for about 10-15 minutes.  In the last 5 minutes, brush both sides of them with the sauce you made.

And the very last one was the....

Roasted Chinese Barbeque Wings

Ingredients

• 2 spoonfuls of hoison sauce
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Process

1. Toss the wings in vegetable oil, and roast in the oven for 40 minutes at about 425 degrees F.
2. Mix together the 5 ingredients until it’s a smooth sauce. (The butter might look a little clumpy, even if it’s room temperature, but when you put it on the freshly-roasted wings.
3. About 35 minutes into it, coat the wings in the sauce you just mixed together and watch the butter melt.

And once you have them all prepared, deliciously enjoy with ranch or blue cheese dressing! :)

Seven-Layer Dip

This is easily one of the quickest, yummiest snacks that is perfect for a large group of people. Or a small group of people. Or yourself lol.  And there’s really not much to it either, so after some minor prep, layer away and savor the taste.

Ingredients

• 1 can of refried beans
• 1 lb ground chicken (or I guess any meat you want), optional if you want a vegetarian version
• Sour cream
• Salsa
• 2 avocados
• 1 tsp Chipotle peppers, in adobo sauce
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Jalapenos for the top

Process

1. Heat the refried beans up.  I just did it in the microwave, but you can stove it too.  I added garlic powder, salt, and some cumin, then stuck it in the microwave for about 2 minutes.
2. Heat some oil in a skillet, add some garlic if you want and then cook the ground chicken.  Add cumin, salt, chili powder.  If you want to be lazy, just get a packet of taco seasoning and use that instead.  I was even more lazy and made my “seven”-layer dip vegetarian and skipped the meat altogether.
3. Chop up your ripened avocados and mash them up.  I like to add a dollop of sour cream and two spoons of salsa.  If you want, you can chop up a little red onion and add that.  Add a small splash of lemon or lime juice, the tsp of finely chopped chipotle peppers and mix.
4. Now for the layering!
   1. Refried beans at the bottom
   2. Ground meat
   3. Sour cream
   4. Salsa
   5. Guacamole
   6. Shredded cheddar cheese
   7. Add a couple jalapenos for the top
5. Eat it with Tostitos. Ohmygodsogood.