Do Buffalo Have Wings?

I wanted to share with you all my New Years Eve and Winter Classic Menu!! Go Blues!!
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​Buffalo Chicken Wings

I am not a fan of buffalo chicken wings. They are messy for one, and I just don't like the taste of buffalo sauce. BUT my boyfriend sure loves his buffalo wings, so for the Winter Classic (Yay Blues!) I made these. The recipe itself tells you how to make the sauce. I followed the recipe, but didn't think it turned out very good. It looked buttery and tasted too buttery. So we just ended up using Syberg's sauce and scrapped what was made on the stovetop. From what I've been told they were pretty good,but not amazing. Which is

interesting because everyone loves Syberg's sauce. I wonder if it's different when using it at home versus ordering it at the restaurant? Hmm. I bought an electric skillet for this and I'm in love with it. It was so easy to use and so easy to clean up. I may start using this for everything. The temperature was easy to set and consistent throughout the whole cook time. I can't do that with my stove top!! I'll give this recipe a thumbs up. 

Northeast - Chicken

Click here for Taste of Home recipe
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Lick-the-bowl-clean Hummus

First of all, this Hummus was pretty easy to make. Saute some onions and then puree everything in a food processor. It smelled really good when it was done, however I wouldn't say I wanted to "Lick the Bowl Clean." Because the recipe called for sweet onions, that is what I bought at the grocery store. I would say that this was a big mistake. The hummus was way to sweet for my liking. I even tried to buy my favorite pita chips to eat it with - Parmesan Garlic - but it still wasn't able to mask the taste. Needless to say this whole batch it going to end

up in the trash, which is really sad since I spent my hard earned money on this. I guess it was bound to happen eventually... maybe I can try eating it while drinking? Nah I don't think that would work. Anyone have an idea? I may just endure it. I do love these pita chips. 

Thumbs way, way down.

West - Appetizer - Dip

Click here for Taste of Home recipe
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Beer Margaritas

Since New Years Eve was this past weekend, I decided that it would be a fantastic idea to pick a beverage from the cookbook to make, and hopefully enjoy. That brought me to the Beer Margaritas. Loving margaritas, I felt like this would be the perfect drink to ring in the new year, and it was! The one thing that caught me off guard was there is no tequila in this recipe. It's just lime juice, vodka, water, and beer. It was super easy to make. One can of lime juice concentrate made about 2L of the drink (2 pitchers,  I'm  pretty  sure  my  pitcher  is 1L but I 

could be way wrong on that one!) They were delicious for sure. I used Land Shark as the beer of choice (ya know, to make it more beach like), and opted not to add fresh lime slices or salt on the rim. The one thing I would change for next time, I'd want to strain the lime juice before mixing the ingredients. I hated that once I got to the bottom of the glass it was full of pulp. Gah, pulp! Other than that, this drink was delicious and I would definitely make it again! 
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Midwest - Drink

Click here for Taste of Home recipe
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Chili con Queso

If you readers know me personally, you know that Queso is my favorite food. If you readers don't know me personally, this just in: QUESO IS MY FAVORITE FOOD EVER. Because I don't like Buffalo Wings, this is what I chose for myself to eat during the Winter Classic. It was both delicious and super easy to make. Instead of in the microwave, I ended up just making it in a small crockpot: I felt like it would be more consistently melted and less burned this way (I am not a pro at heating things up in the microwave). This recipe is a little different than I

would normally make it. Yes, it uses Velveeta, but instead of Rotel, it used green chilies and pimentos as the main ingredient. Sounds really weird, but it was strangely really good. Who would have thought to put some diced pimentos into Queso dip? Not me, but thanks Taste of Home cookbook for helping me realize this geniusness. I would definitely make this again.

​Thumbs way, way up. 

Southwest - Appetizer - Dip - Cheese

Click here for Taste of Home recipe

​[Recipes 28-31]