Honey Siracha Baked Wings

Super Bowl 50 is quickly approaching, in fact it's only 3 days away! If you were wondering I love Manning and as much as I'd love to see him go out with a win, Cam Newton and the Panthers are unstoppable. I've digressed, I won't spit out any nerdy NFL stats on y'all today. 

I created this recipe about a week ago (cue Schmoney Dance) because I wanted a healthier alternative to frying chicken on game day and risk my house and hair smelling like it, petty I know. If you know me, then you know I absolutely love chicken wings now add in honey, garlic, and Siracha.

Mexican Lasagna

 Heartwarming. Cheesy. Gooey. Flavorful. Easy as all get out to make. There are few components of this meal that I easily swapped out to try and make a tad healthier. I created the original recipe for this Mexican Lasagna when I lived in Nashville and it was pretty gluttonous, so this time around I tried to lighten the Mexican Lasagna recipe up a little bit! What I love most is how easy it is to make, how delicious it is with a pretty unique flavors combo's, and you can always make ahead and bake later.

 For this recipe I used whole corn tortillas from the farmers market instead of flour tortillas and my fave, green Chile sauce!! I would say what the hardest part of this recipe is.... but realistically there isn't a hard part. The most labor intensive process is cooking and shredding the chicken! Like me, I assume most people are short on time so I cooked the chicken in the crock pot, this made the cooking and shredding aspect a breeze!

To make the chicken creamy I mixed it with a 1/2 a block of fat free cream cheese and low sodium taco seasoning. I typically don't use packaged seasoning, but like I said I was short on time, no judgements y'all!! Trust me... you're going to LOVE this Mexican Lasagna, only thing missing is some margaritas!

Here's how I made them:

Red Velvet and Cinnamon Crepes

I know, I know Red Velvet is typically a Christmas flavor but when you have a whole bowl of crepe batter and you want to change thangs up you get a little creative! A few months ago I found this Red Velvet elixir at Homegoods on clearance and hopped to it,  I've never used it so I figured why not the cinnamon crepes were already done! 

It honestly took me 4 years to grow the courage to even attempt crepes! They always seemed so hard and out of my scope of cooking, I mean they're crepes... they're French cuisine. Ray Ray from Cincinnati finally decided to tackle these and make Red Velvet and Cinnamon Crepes, honestly they came out a complete success **Trophies**! 

The first time I tried to make crepes I actually used boxed pancake mix (which I never use anymore) thinking it was about the same. NAH. It's not. Here's a few tips for success when making homemade crepes: 

- Use a good Teflon coated pan, I've used cast iron and they are really hard to flip and you typically will have to grease or butter that type of pan. 

- Once you pour your batter quickly begin to swirl it around your pan, otherwise it'll all stay in the middle and have the consistency of a pancake and be too thick. 

- Slowly add in flour to avoid clumps in your batter. Don't worry, mine had a few tiny clumps... it adds character! 

- Make sure your pan in the right temperature! These crepes are THIN and will burn asap if they temp isn't right. I used medium heat, anything hotter will burn the edges and not cook evenly. 

 Here's how I made them:

Apple Pie Pancakes

It's finally fall y'all and I love just about anything spiced. Now I love pumpkin spice just as much as the next person, but all these apples are on point this time of year, and Sweetango Apples are finally in Cincy, so it's only fitting I make apple pie pancakes right?  I also didn't want to go to the grocery store and buy anything, so I just used what I already had in my kitchen.

Funfetti Pancakes

I've been craving pancakes for awhile now and this Sunday I actually had time to make them, the prep is super easy and fast. The product is the best pancakes you've ever tasted. I mean... for real... you'll never need to go to IHOP again.  This is def going in the new  'Cheat Day Meals' Tab! Don't worry I'm creating a protien baked donut recipe with plenty funfetti in it, that'll be up later this week!

Similar to the Pink Lemonade Margarita Waffles I made a few weeks ago you'll also use boxed cake mix. The pancakes are already pretty sweet so I didn't want to use a powdered sugar based frosting or syrup. Instead I made my on whip cream frosting from heavy whipping cream, a tablespoon of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of almond extract, I whipped it until peaks formed then put in the fridge until my pancakes were done!

These pancakes were perfect, I'm talking fluffy, sweet, colorful, and seriously made me do my 'this dish HITS' dance. Sorry guys, only my dog gets to see that!

Here's how I made them: