Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells

If there are two kinds of food just about everyone loves, they would have to be buffalo chicken wings and stuffed shells.  I think this may even be a case where the final outcome is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 15 jumbo pasta shells
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 Tablespoons chopped chives
• 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
• ¼  teaspoon each of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder
• 5 Tablespoons butter
• 1 bottle of Cholula (5 fl. oz) (or whatever hot sauce you like)
• ¼  teaspoon each of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (yes, again)
• ¾ cup grated cheese

Before starting anything else, go ahead put a large pan of water on the hot burner so it can come to a boil.  Add lots of salt and your shells and follow the package instructions for cooking them.  You’ll probably want to add a couple extra shells in case any of them crack.  When they’re finished cooking, drain them and rinse them well with cool water.  Next, start on the sauce.  In a pan over medium heat, melt the butter with the hot sauce. 

Once it’s melted, go ahead and add ¼ teaspoon of each of the spices.

Stir and bring it just to a simmer, then remove it from the heat and set it aside.  It should look something like this:

Cut the chicken breasts into cubes. 

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and sauté over medium heat. 

Once it’s cooked through, use your spatula and chop it into smaller bits.  Could you use a knife?  Sure, but that would require dirtying a cutting board and knife, so I opted for this method.

You want them fairly small. 

Pour the hot chicken over the cream cheese. 

Stir them until they are thoroughly mixed together.  Add the herbs and spices and stir them in, as well.  As you know from my buffalo wings post, I like ranch dressing with my wings, rather than blue cheese, so these are the herbs and spices used to make ranch.  If you prefer blue cheese with your wings, you're weird, but feel free to experiment using a mixture of cream cheese and blue cheese. 

Open one of your cooked shells and fill it with the chicken and cheese mixture. 

Coat the bottom of a pan (8x8 was perfect) with a thin layer of the buffalo sauce and place your shell inside. 

Repeat with the rest of the shells and pour the remaining buffalo sauce over the top. 

Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350° for 25 minutes, then uncover and top with grated cheese. 

Back into the oven just long enough to make the cheese ooey, gooey, and delicious. (like 10 minutes) 

Hubby had a friend over that evening, and I warned him it was experiment night because I’d never made these before and, as usual, wasn’t using a recipe.  When we finished he asked when the next experiment night was, so I guess that means he approves.  Personally, I thought they were absolutely fabulous.  Next time I think I might use ground chicken because, well, I’m lazy, and that will make less work for me.  I’ll probably also double the recipe.  We didn’t have any leftover, but if we had, I’m sure they’d have reheated beautifully. 

What two dishes would you like to see combined into one?

Inspiration

and a bit of nothing in the house for breakfast.

I have long been a fan of spice cakes, and Taneasha's post (with lovely guest Elise Logan) totally reminded me of that. I also had no cereal or bread in the house this weekend. And grocery shopping on an empty (but caffeinated, always have coffee in the house) stomach is not a good idea. So, before I ventured forth to restock my pantry I needed some breakfast.

Cake!

What? If I'd made it in muffin tins, no one would even blink. But because I put it in a square pan and call it cake, it's no longer appropriate for breakfast?

Breakfast Cake

What you need:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c melted butter
• 1 orange
• 1/2 c sugar (or honey, totally doing it with honey next time)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c flour
• 1 c almond flour (aka finely ground almonds)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp allspice

 

What you gotta do:

I suppose I should admit here that I was totally winging it with this one. Granted, I had recently bought some almond flour and had been researching recipes, but still, flying by the seat of my pyjamas on this one....

I did remember to preheat the oven to 350.

And to use some of the melted butter to butter an 8x8 square pan, and then also to butter the parchment that I lined the pan with. Didn't remember to take a pic to prove it though, so you'll just have to trust me. Trust me.

In a medium bowl, beat all 3 eggs with a fork. (Oh, um, I hadn't washed dishes either, so I was working with the bare minimum of tools). Beat in the melted butter and the sugar. And then add the zest from your orange. Yes, the whole orange.

In another bowl, combine the flours, spices, and salts (sodium bicarbonate is chemically a "salt").

At the last minute add the vanilla that you forgot to put in the ingredients pic to the egg bowl. Yes, there is yogurt in the pic, and no, I didn't use it. Changed my mind.

Now, dump the dry into the wet and mix with a fork.

And then dump it all into the pan.

I sprinkled mine liberally with cinnamon sugar. Perhaps a little too liberally...

I'm not convinced that an excess of cinnamon sugar is a bad thing, mind you.

Bake for 20 minutes.

When I poked it with a toothpick after 20 minutes, it was definitely done. But then the middle fell...

I'm not sure another 3-4 minutes would have made the difference in keeping the middle up though, because with only 1/2 cup of wheat flour, I was concerned about leavening anyway.

The batter definitely rose (likely mostly thanks to the eggs), but the lack of gluten may have made the structure a little flimsy at the points where it needed the most help.

Muffins might have been a better idea after all.

Sure tasted damn good. Amazingly moist too. Definitely need to try this one again.

Yay cake for breakfast!

What's your favourite questionable breakfast?