Buffalo Chicken Salad

Ever have those times when you make a really good recipe and you have every intention of posting it, but you just don't have the time?  It's been like that here for awhile now. 

To bring everyone up to speed, I'm now taking my third BSN class and I'm just over half way done with that degree, I resigned from my job, and school is now out for the summer.  I took a Saturday and drove up to Wisconsin to spend the day shopping with my BFF and it was awesome.  Rigs finished well in track and I'm thankful that is over with. 

Enough about me, let's talk about this salad.  A nice leafy green salad topped with buffalo chicken breasts and blue cheese dressing.  To give the chicken breast the taste of a buffalo wing, I first boiled the chicken in cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt; I then sliced the chicken breasts and sauteed them in some butter and hot sauce.  I sliced some green onions and celery stalks into the salad, and topped it all off with a homemade blue cheese dressing.  It was amazing.  Rigs ate it without complaint, but she loves wings.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• water
• one bag salad mix.  (I used the very veggie one)
• 2 stalks of celery thinly sliced
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup low fat buttermilk
1/4 sour cream
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese (adjust blue cheese up or down based on taste)
butter
hot sauce

Place the chicken breasts, kosher salt, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper.  Add just enough water to cover the chicken.  Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, remove chicken from the boiling water and let set until cool enough to slice, about 10 to 15 minutes.  When cool, thinly slice the chicken.

In a medium size saute pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon hot sauce, adjust hot sauce and butter based on your taste preferences. Add chicken and saute over medium heat until chicken is thoroughly coated and starting to take on a slight golden brown color.  Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, buttermilk, sour cream, vinegar, and sugar.  Stir in blue cheese and add a pinch of salt, stir until well combined.  Set aside. 

In a large bowl, combine the salad mix, sliced green onions, and celery.

To assemble:  Place lettuce mixture on a plate, top with buffalo chicken, topped with blue cheese dressing.  Enjoy!



Lasagna Pizza Bread

To say the least, this week has been trying.  I formally resigned from my job here in town, it just wasn't working.  Took some flack from management for that, but in the end it was my decision to make based on what was best for me.  Rigs had a grand total of 3 track meets this week along with the semi-formal dance tonight. 

Speaking of that, when did junior high sports become more about breaking records than trying something new or having fun?  I was disheartened to hear a parent tell their daughter if they ran in a certain event they would NEED to break that school record as well.  Really?  Here's my two cents, kids need to be kids.  As much fun as winning is, it has to be okay to loose as well.  Time to jump off my soap box and get back to the task at hand, lasagna bread pizza. 

So this pizza is completely tasty and SUPER easy to throw together.  The original recipe called for ciabatta bread, but I used french bread.  Talk about delicious.  It's like getting garlic bread and lasagna in one bite.  I'm having a hard time trying to describe this.  Crunchy, soft bread, rich tomato sauce, and warm gooey cheese.  It looks like pizza, but tastes like lasagna.  Give it a try.

Lasagna Pizza Bread
Source: Everyday with Rachael Ray

• 1 pound ground meat
• salt and pepper
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
• 1/4 cup onion grated
• 3-4 cloves of garlic grated
• a handful of torn basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 cup ricotta
• 1 12-14 inch loaf of bread (I used homemade french bread)
• 2 - 2 1/2 cup Italian blend cheese
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a food processor combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, 2 tablespoons olive oil, season with salt and pepper and pulse until smooth.  (I know I said pulse, but who actually pulses anything.  If your like me, you flip the thing on to high and call it a day)  Pour tomato mixture into a sauce pan and simmer until thick, about 15 minutes.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a saute pan and cook the meat until no longer pink. 

Combine ricotta with a handful of the Italian blend cheese and a sprinkle of dried parsley and mix.

Slice your loaf of bread in half and place on a baking sheet.  Top each half with some tomato sauce and the ground meat.  Dollop on the ricotta mixture and sprinkle with remaining Italian blend cheese.  Bake until cheese has melted and bubbly, about 10 minutes.  Cut into large chunks to serve.