A spicy kick to chicken salad

So listen. I love chicken salad ('cept without grapes or nuts.) I also love, love, love buffalo sauce. I began my love affair with buffalo sauce after I got married. I had always enjoyed wings but that was as far as that went. But then I married a man who loves hot sauce, buffalo sauce, hot salsa, etc. I began making homemade wings, chicken strips with buffal sauce, buffalo chicken salad... anything and everything.

Then a few weeks ago I had leftover chicken and nothing to do.

So I created this recipe.

It's BUffalo Chicken Salad.

Yum!

Take chicken, tomatoes, celery, bleu cheese crumbles (opt.), buffalo sauce (I LOVE Texas Pete), and sandwich rolls.

Dice your chicken, tomatoes and celery. Mix with buffalo sauce in a bowl. I did not (for the record) add bleu cheese crumbles so I also mixed in ranch. You could mix in bleu cheese dressing if you are more of the traditional bleu cheese, celery and wings kind of chef.

Fill your rolls and dig in.

Hope you enjoy. Happy cooking!

Compartmentalize you life

Just to let you know I am not advertising for any company in any way for pay. These are just something I found that I LOVE and I'll let ou know the store I bought them at and for what price. You can find similar things at lots of stores made by different companies.

It's kind of a running joke at my house that I live for these storage containers. I buy them all the time and whenever I need to re-organize I buy some more. But listen. They are AWESOME. I cannot live without them (completely hyperbolic of course). So. Just wanted to share these with you. They stack and they're small enough to fit in a number of places.

.94$ at Wal-Mart means you can't go wrong!

This is a smal pantry we bought because we moved int this apt. and there was no place for food! But if I had left it as is I wouldn't have fit half this stuff so... brilliant!

So if you live in a small space or you just want your cupboards to look cleaner and more organized, go out and get some!

Oh. And of course, you can label them. The ones in my buck-a-roo's room are labeled, but I can't get a picture since he is sleeping (blessed sleep!).

Happy Organizing!

Freeze'yer cookies

Okay. I don't know about you guys but when I make cokoies I have WAY too many on hand after. I can give them away or eat them all and make myself sick. BUT. I really don't want to quarter my recipe or anything to just make a batch of cookies when I feel like it.

Plus. Remember how I want to be one of those typicla 1950's moms who has cookies for her kids when they come home from school and stuff? But baking a batch of cookies every day... not so much.

SO.

Listen. I came up with this great idea (and I know I am not the first to do this):

Make your recipe. Bake the cookies you want or need for the day.

THEN. Separate the rest of your dough into balls. Lay them out on a cookie sheet and stick 'em in the freezer. Once they are frozen transfer to a freezer bag. You will have homemade frozen cookie dough.

The benefit:

If you want to make a dozen cookies for your kids and/or their friends, if you need a quick plate of cookies to take to a sick neighbor or new mommy you will have dough readily available.

I do this with chocolate chip. I am sure you could do it with any other kind of dough.

My tip: bake on a lower setting for longer once you pull the dough out of the freezer for baking. I just made a batch from the fridge and they browned before they were 100% cooked on the inside.

Have you done this before? Which types of dough did you freeze? Was it worth the time?

Happy baking!

p.s. my recipe is jut the Nestle Toll House Recipe BUT use 3 C. flour instead of 2 1/4 for fluffier, softer cookies. AND I usually lower the amount of salt I put in recipes, but trust me, you need all the salt they call for or your cookies will be over-sweet.

I try to make them a little healthier by using 1/2 AP flour and 1/2 whole wheat. Other than being able to a little bit feel the different texture, I think they taste the same otherwise. PLUS, if your kiddos are getting cookies they probably won't notice they are almost healthy!