Buffalo Chicken Bites

Great Superbowl snack choice!! These were well-liked and much neater than buffalo chicken wings. Relatively easy to make and turned out crunchy and just a little spicy. Originally from http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/09/buffalo-chicken-bites/

Ingredients:

• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1/4-1/2 hot sauce to taste (I used sriracha)
• 3 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 3/4 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3-4 cups Corn Flakes cereal, crushed

Directions:

1. To make the shredded chicken, I took about 5-6 chicken thighs and put them in a slow cooker with a little olive oil and chicken broth and cooked it on high for four hours.
2. Once that was down, I pealed off the skin and shredded the chicken with my hands.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with some parchment paper.
4. In a large bowl, combine the shredded chicken, cream cheese, hot sauce, cheddar cheese and green onions. Mix well.
5. Place flour in a shallow dish, eggs in another dish, and crushed cornflakes in a third dish.
6. Roll a heaping tablespoon of the mixture into a ball and roll around in the flour, then the egg, then the cornflakes. Repeat for the entire bowl.
7. Place on baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.

Note: If you want to make some of this ahead of time, you can freeze them right before you bake them.

Eggplant Parmesan Meatloaf

This recipe was a really big hit! Meatloaf kind of rubs me the wrong way, but adding in the flavors, the eggplant, and the cheese made it more appealing to me and tasted amazing. The recipe originally calls for ground beef, but we aren’t big red meat eaters to we went ground turkey.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds ground turkey
• 2/3 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 1 and 1/2 cup jarred tomato-basil sauce
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large eggs, at room temp
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 1 medium eggplant, trimmed and cut into 6-8 1/2 inch thick slices
• 1/2 cup coarsely grated mozzarella

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the ground turkey, basil, parmesan, 2/3 cup tomato-basil sauce, breadcrumbs, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, garlic, eggs and onion until combined.
3. Press the mixture onto the bottom of a nonstick baking sheet or pyrex pan. Bake until cooked through, about 20-25 minutes.
4. While the meat is cooking, in a large skillet, heat the EVOO over medium-high heat. In batches, add the eggplant slices and cook until lightly browned, 2-3 minutes.
5. Turn the slices over and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 more minutes.
6. Remove the meat from the oven and arrange the eggplant slices on top of the meatloaf in a single layer.
7. Spoon the remaining tomato-basil sauce on the center of each eggplant slice.
8. Top with the mozzarella cheese and bake for about 5 minutes, until the cheese in melted.