Buffalo Chicken Calzones

I am a good girlfriend. A very good girlfriend. The Boy had noticed when a fellow friend in town tweeted about buffalo chicken calzones she made that were “fugly” (in her own words). He loves buffalo chicken and pizza (like most men), so of course this sparked his palate. Finally, one day before beginning a long night of work, I began a batch of homemade pizza dough. Later in the day when I could have been napping I whipped up these buffalo chicken calzones. Luckily they weren’t difficult to make, and I still had time for a little photoshoot before I left.

Now for the kicker. Why I’m such a great girlfriend. This makes two LARGE calzones. I could have taken one with me to work, and probably eaten it over the span of 2 nights. But I didn’t. I left BOTH of them for The Boy. See, I am good to him.

(But I did take a healthy bite out of one of them, how else could I properly review them for the blog?) These are great comfort food, especially manly comfort food. They were hot enough for my tastes, but of course “Fire Mouth” (The Boy) could have handled more heat. Fix this, and show your man how much you love him!

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Buffalo Chicken Calzones with Bleu Cheese Dipping Sauce

from Food alla Puttanesca

Ingredients:

1 lb pizza dough
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
2 tsp plus 1/2 cup hot pepper sauce, divided
3 tbsp butter
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup pizza sauce

For dip:
1/3 cup bleu cheese, crumbled
1 cup sour cream

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together bleu cheese and sour cream, set aside.

Preheat oven to 450-degrees. Melt butter in a hot skillet and cook chicken thoroughly until opaque throughout and no pink remains.

In a bowl, mix together pizza sauce and 2 tsp hot pepper sauce; set aside.

When chicken is cooked through, reduce heat and add 1/2 cup hot pepper sauce, tossing to coat. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Drain chicken if necessary.

Divide dough in half and roll out into circles. Place half of pizza sauce mixture, chicken, and mozzarella cheese into each calzone, close, and seal the edges by pinching the dough with a fork. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until dough is browned. Serve with bleu cheese dip.

And this time last year, I was breaking in my brand new Kitchen Aid mixer by making these Fantastical Fudgy (low fat!) Brownies. Yum… I need to make those again!

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Chocolate Almond Butter

I like to set these crazy rules for myself, then see if I can stick to them. My latest rule is “I’m not going to buy any peanut butter till after Christmas.” You see, I LOVE peanut butter. Like, love love love love love love love peanut butter. I have a couple favorite brands, all the natural kind. And I even really enjoy the fresh ground kind where I flip a switch and watch it go from nuts to paste right before my own eyes. I don’t eat the peanut butter “spread” that most people think of when you say peanut butter, but the kind that has at most 2 ingredients: peanuts & salt. I began to notice I was going through a lot of it, and I should probably cut back. So, that’s when the “No buying peanut butter till after Christmas” rule came about. Not more than 3 days after I finished the last jar of peanut butter, I had quite a hankering for some fabulous nutty spread.

What to do, what to do? I realized I had just about a cup of almonds left in a huge Sam’s Club size bag, and the little voice in the back of my head remembered for the LONGEST time I’ve wanted to try to make my own almond butter. I just never did because, I could always buy it from a grocery store. Except for now, due to my new rule. So why did I make this? Here are my two arguments:

#1 This is ALMOND BUTTER, not peanut butter.
#2 I am not buying anything.

So technically, I’m not breaking any rules, right? Right.

This is every bit as delicious as the chocolate almond butter at Whole Foods. No wait, this is MORE delicious. It’s basically amazing. I can’t believe I didn’t try it sooner. I think I was just afraid the Magic Bullet Blender couldn’t handle it, but it did a great job!

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Chocolate Almond Butter

yields approximately 1/2 cup

Ingredients:

1 cup raw almonds
1 Tablespoon chocolate chips
1/2 Tablespoon cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark, cuz I LOVE it)
1-2 tsp peanut oil

Directions:

In Magic Bullet Blender (or food processor, Vita-Mix, or whatever is strong enough) pulse almonds until well-chopped. Once well chopped blend or continue to pulse until it becomes finely ground and begins to stick together like a dry paste. Add in chocolate chips and cocoa. Blend until well combined. (At this point mine was still a dry paste that didn't hold together in a spreadable form, and wasn't moving around anymore when I pulsed the blender.) Add peanut oil, and blend until it becomes a spreadable paste. Add more oil if necessary.

I kept mine in the fridge, but before I used it, I zapped it in the microwave for short bursts until it was spreadable again.

And this time last year, I was enjoying some Cranberry White Chocolate Bars and Margaritas (I know, in November?).

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Beer Bread

Beer bread is one of those recipes I kept seeing and seeing, all over the place. I kept meaning to make it. And now that I finally have, I can’t help but ask myself “WHAT WAS I WAITING FOR?!?!?”.

I made this one Sunday when I had also whipped up another batch of Turkey Pumpkin Chili (with beer this time). This bread is SO VERY simple to mix up. In just a matter of minutes the bread was ready for the oven, where it baked for almost an hour. This bread was perfect for a lazy, cool fall day spent watching football. Even if you are scared of baking homemade bread, like I used to be, this is foolproof and delicious.

This bread tasted amazing while still warm; the beer is subtly detectable in my opinion. It’s there if you know to look for it. I was afraid it wouldn’t taste nearly as delicious once it cooled, but those fears were undeserved, as we managed to gobble up nearly every slice. Quite a feat for just two people. It’s buttery, comforting, and hearty. After taking my first bite, I actually had to restrain myself from texting all of my friends, and insisting they make this.

(Chelsea Rae, I think you oughta make this for your new hubby sometime, along with a big pot of chili! I know it doesn’t get cold in Hawaii like it does in KY, but maybe it would make you feel like you’re back home!)

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Beer Bread

adapted from Ezra Pound Cake, using Maris of In Good Taste's tip for whole wheat flour

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer light beer or ale (I used a pumpkin ale)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-x-5-x-3-inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer into the dry ingredients until just mixed.

Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan. Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter. Slide a baking sheet onto a lower rack to catch any butter that might overflow from the loaf pan.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until golden brown. Serve immediately.

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Birthday Giveaway WINNERS

So there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is, my birthday celebrations are over. The good news is the giveaway is over! Whoo hoo!

I had an amazing couple of days. I walked into my edit bay at work, and saw THIRTY SIX cupcakes awaiting me!
My good friend Kristen made a HUGE batch of healthy and delicious cupcakes. I ate two while I was thanking her over the phone. Thank God for speakerphone.

My friend from Louisville remembered my blog post a while back about a new “cupcakery” that opened near my work, and had six cupcakes delivered to me! Because I was the birthday girl, I took one bite out of each of them to ensure that I would not have to share.

Friday I went out with a couple friends to Mirror, where I got this amazing butterscotch bread pudding my friend Beth nearly insisted I try. (Seriously, she saw I tweeted about going to that restaurant, and she replied AND TEXTED ME telling me to get it!)
And I had a busy but fun Saturday that included a group of friends driving from as far as 3.5 hours away to come and surprise me!! I walked into the swanky sushi bar Virago, and there they were. I seriously had NO IDEA they were doing that.

Believe it or not there were even more things that people did for me including flowers and pumpkin pie, to name a few! I can’t believe how many people care so much me. Thank you to EVERYONE!
Ok ok, now you probably want to know who won, right? WELL…. the winners are (thanks to random.org):
Congratulations!

You won the Frame by Frame Baking

And you won the Cupcakes book!

Of course both of you won a cinnamon grinder. I’ll be contacting you today about your prizes!

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