Starter

Mini Hot Chicken Bites Recipe

8 · Aug 30, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Oh, are you in for a treat today! With football season right around the corner I’m sure you are looking for a few new game time treat for the crew. These Mini Hot Chicken Bites are going to be a touchdown for sure.

Back in the spring I had an opportunity to travel to Nashville with my fellow Old El Paso bloggers and we did a taco tour down in the heart of Nashville. We basically had a taco crawl through town. It was so fun and tasty! One of our first stops was The Southern a famous oyster and stake restaurant down in the heart of Nashville. They are famous for many things but the one we had a chance to try was their famous Nashville Hot Chicken & Waffles.

Now, if you’ve never tasted or even heard of Nashville Hot Chicken, you’re in for a treat. This is a special recipe that they have down south that takes fried chicken to a whole new level. They smother the chicken in a special blend of spices and then let it sit over night letting the spice fill the chicken with amazing flavor. Then they put it through the normal frying process and it’s AMAZING!

That alone is a fantastic meal but The Southern goes a step further and pairs it with beautiful light waffles and a drizzle of maple syrup and it’s divine. After that trip I was inspired to make something of the sort using our favorite Old El Paso Mini Taco Boats.

These are like little bites of Nashville that your family and friends are going to LOVE!

They are two bites of scrumptious hot chicken with the tang from the pickle with a little honey drizzle that you guys will fall in love with. Click HERE to grab the recipe at Old El Paso!

Disclaimer // This is a sponsored post for Old El Paso. I am a member of the Old El Paso Blogger program and I am paid to help develop recipes for them. As always, I will never promote a brand that I don’t truly love and believe in.

Tomato Tart Recipe

536 · May 27, 2016 · 7 Comments

+ This Tomato Tart Recipe brought to you by the folks at Bushel Boy Farms™ +

One of the first things that I think of when it comes to summer cooking is my favorite TOMATO!

I think I’ve said this before, but I LOVE tomatoes!

A few weeks ago, I shared a lovely Tomato Jam recipe that is perfect for those BLT’s, burgers, wraps… Pretty much anything that you want to add a little kick of tomato to.

The key is getting really good tomatoes!

Because of that, I was thrilled to find out about Bushel Boy Tomatoes™ grown right here in the USA, in Minnesota to be exact.

The crew at Bushel Boy has developed a fabulous greenhouse system that helps them grow tomatoes year-round. Yep, even in January they have beautiful red, vine ripened tomatoes ready for us to add to our salads and sandwiches. I don’t know about you, but a nice good tomato in January is pretty awesome!

The Bushel Boy Tomatoes are pollinated with bees… the natural way. They also limit the amount of pesticides used and have eliminated herbicides all together. You can find all kinds of tasty ideas at the Bushel Boy Facebook.

Today, I’m sharing a fantastic Tomato Tart that is perfect for a light lunch or dinner. Paired with a nice garden salad, it’s the perfect summer meal!

You can make them as individual tarts or make one large tart for everyone to share.

Here is a quick video to show you how I make them…

Tomato Tart from WhipperBerry from Heather Thoming on Vimeo.

Tomato Tart Recipe

Save Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

This scrumptious tomato tart is the perfect light summer meal!

Author: Heather // WhipperBerry

Recipe type: Light Meal

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

2-3 Bushel Boy Tomatoes
1 store bought pie crust
1 egg
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup chive cream cheese
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
chives

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450˚
Line your tart pan or baking pan with the pie crust, gently press down on the top of the pan to remove excess dough.
Pierce the the dough with a fork and place in a 450˚ oven for 8 minutes.
Remove tart shell from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg then combine the ricotta cheese, chive cream cheese, ½ of the parmesan cheese, salt & pepper.
Fill tart or tarts with the cheese mixture.
Top the tart or tarts with fresh sliced tomatoes.
Season the tomatoes with salt & pepper and then top with parmesan cheese.
Place in a 400˚ oven for 30 minutes for a large tart and 20 minutes for small tarts.
Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes, then serve with a nice garden salad.

Balsamic Chicken Bites Recipe

7 · Jan 21, 2016 · 1 Comment

+ This Balsamic Chicken Bites Recipe is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tyson Foods, Inc. All opinions are entirely my own. +

It’s getting EXCITING!!

THE BIG GAME is almost here!

No matter who you are rooting for, the Super Bowl is always a fantastic time to gather with friends and family to enjoy some crazy excitement together and to enjoy some fantastic food!

Whether the game is a wild ride or a blowout, you want to make sure your game time snacks are ON POINT!

The Super Bowl just isn’t the Super Bowl without a scrumptious, tempting spread of all kinds of snackable treats. Just like any event or holiday, you want to make sure you have some great recipes that are tried and true so that you can look like a kitchen ROCKSTAR!

You can find all kinds of fantastic ideas at Talk About Delicious or the Talk About Delicious Game Pinterest Board. It’s packed full of great ideas. Today, I have a tasty recipe for you as well. Our family’s favorite Balsamic Chicken Bites…

What I LOVE about this little bite sized treat is that it’s on the healthier end of the typical game time snack spectrum and it’s packed full of flavor. It’s also super easy to make, you can even make it a head of time which is fabulous, since you don’t want to be bogged down with food prep when you’re with your friends and the game is on.

I typically head to Walmart to gather all of my supplies. I love using the fresh Tyson® Chicken found in the refrigerated meat section of the store. Then I grab the rest of the ingredients for my marinade, one of the stars of the show.

For the chicken marinade you’ll need–

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt & pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Cut two Tyson® Chicken Breasts into bite-sized pieces and add your dry ingredients.

Then add your wet ingredients and mix well. Store in an air tight container or Ziploc bag for at least one hour or up to 4 hours. This is a strong marinade and you don’t want to over do it with those bite sized pieces of chicken.

Now, this marinade is one of my go-to recipes when it comes to making scrumptious chicken meals for the family throughout the year. When I am using it with whole Tyson® Chicken Breasts, I can marinate it overnight and it will be just fine. I normally serve it with a lovely salad and some French bread and you’re good to go.

Once the chicken is full of that balsamic flavor, you’re ready to cook your chicken. Typically if I am cooking whole breasts, we grill them BUT, since these little gems won’t really work on the grill AND it’s February… I cook them inside either on a cast iron grill pan or a cast iron pan. I LOVE my cast iron cookware, I’ve grabbed most of my pans at Walmart. They are fantastic and you can’t beat the price. I purchased the pan I’m using in the photo below for less than $15!

Now these little gems cook pretty quick. I heat-up my pan until it’s screaming hot and then I turn down the temperature to medium. I add a little olive oil to the pan and then place the chicken into the pan making sure not to over crowd them or add too much liquid to the pan. You want to sear them, NOT boil or steam them. I typically cook them in batches. Turn them after 1-2 minutes and continue to do so until you have a good sear on them. Make sure to keep a close watch on them. Because of the high sugar content, they can burn quickly.

These little balsamic chicken gems cook pretty fast, usually 4-5 minutes but you’ll want to check the temperature to make sure they are fully cooked and are safe at 165˚. Remove from pan and set aside until you have finished cooking all of your chicken.

Tyson® Balsamic Chicken Bites

Next, all you need to do is assemble your Balsamic Chicken Bites. You’ll need…

cherry or grape tomatoes

balsamic chicken gems

buffalo mozzarella pearls

Now, the key to making this appetizer sing is to pair the Balsamic Chicken gems with some scrumptious bite-sized tomatoes like these cherry tomatoes still on the vine or some lovely grape tomatoes. Either one will work really well.

I use a large toothpick and feed a tomato onto the toothpick followed by a balsamic chicken gem and then cap it with a buffalo mozzarella pearl.

It’s super slick. You can either serve the chicken warm or cold. They taste great either way. I like to lay out a few basil leaves to set the Balsamic Chicken Bites on…

… I love how it adds some lovely color and some fresh vibrant flavors to your Super Bowl spread!

Looking for more GAME DAY ideas? Don’t forget to visit Talk About Delicious for more fantastic ideas and then visit your local Walmart to stock-up on all your game day goodies!

Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

0 · Dec 17, 2015 ·

Oh, stuffed mushrooms… How I love thee!

Seriously, I love them!

BUT, let’s go back a ways… I remember sitting in the school cafeteria when I was a little first grader, sitting with all of my friends. At one point someone started talking about foods they hated and mushrooms became the number one food on the hit list. I remember sitting there not really knowing if I loved, liked or hated mushrooms, but if all of these 1st graders hated them, I must too!

That was the beginning of my war against mushrooms. My mom didn’t cook with them often, but when she did, I most definitely turned up my nose and refused to eat whatever she had served. Mushrooms were poison!

Fast forward 10 years and I found myself at a Christmas Party hosted by one of my friend’s Mom and they were serving stuffed mushrooms. Heavens… There was no way I was going to try that evil concoction! Then they were passed my way and luckily my Mother had taught me good manners, I graciously took one and then started to sweat trying to figure out how to wiggle my way out of this pickle. Everyone was gushing over the mushrooms and I could feel the pressure to try these nasty little bits. I steeled myself for a rough experience and tried a little bite to save face and not look like a little jerk and then… The heavens opened!

ARE YOU KIDDING?!

Is this what mushrooms taste like?

Boy was I mislead! Darn you little first grade friends!

It didn’t hurt that these little gems where topped with a lovely concoction of sausage, bread crumbs, cheese and who knows what else. They were amazing!

That my friends was the beginning of my love for mushrooms especially stuffed mushrooms.

This is one of those gem recipes that is great to pull out when you really want to impress your guests. It’s really easy to make, but it looks labor intensive. It’s also one of those recipes that mostly uses ingredients that are easy to store in your pantry and if not, they are easy to grab at your local Market.

I ran to my local Walmart here in Lincoln…

And grabbed some mushrooms, Progresso™ Italian Style Bread Crumbs, sausage (you can find my favorite sausage brand HERE), onion, parsley, parmesan cheese, cream cheese, garlic & white wine.

I usually keep some Progresso™ Bread Crumbs in my pantry at all times. They are perfect for this recipe and so many others like chicken parmesan, meatballs, eggplant parmesan, meatloaf, oven “fried” veggies… The list goes on and on. They’re PERFECT for these stuffed mushrooms!!

Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

+ This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten’s Stuffed Mushroom recipe +

20-25 button mushrooms or petite portobello mushrooms

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons white wine

1/2 of a small to medium onion

1 lb mild sausage

2 garlic gloves minces

1 cup Progresso™ Italian Style Bread Crumbs

2/3 cup cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

Directions

Clean mushrooms and remove stems. Do not discard stems. In a bowl pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the white wine over the mushrooms to marinade them while you’re prepping the sausage stuffing, set aside.

In a medium sauce pan add the remaining olive oil over medium high heat.

Add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add sausage and cook until nicely browned, 8-10 minutes. Then add garlic and the remaining mushroom stems chopped into fine pieces. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.