Superbowl Snack: Air Fryer Buffalo Wings

I got an air fryer two years ago and for the most part, I bring it out when I want to cook frozen food fast - frozen fries, corn dogs, or veggies.

But I've been trying to use it more.  It's been hit or miss.  It took several different recipes and variations before we finally found a chicken tender recipe that got them nice and crispy (hint: the secret is adding the oil to the panko before breading instead of spraying or drizzling oil on the breaded chicken.)

So far the most successful air frying has been buffalo wings.  Which is perfect, since this weekend is the Superbowl and I'm willing to bet it's the day with the highest buffalo wing consumption of the year.  (Feel free to check me on that)  I know that we always have wings on our Superbowl menu.

The thing I love about making buffalo wings in the air fryer is that you don't need any additional oil to get them nice and crispy.  Part of this is due to the fact that chicken wings are already a bit fatty because of the skin to meat ratio.  Which is the other nice thing about the air fryer - that fat, drips right off an into the bottom of the fryer, which means your wings aren't sitting in a bed of grease while they cook.  So they come out perfectly crispy and dry!

I've been playing around with the sauce on these, and finally hit upon a declared winner last night.  You are free to use whatever hot sauce you prefer, but after experimentation, we decided our favorite was the classic Franks Buffalo sauce.  You'll also notice this recipe uses ghee in place of butter, which, combined with the Frank's sauce, gives the wings a really great buttery flavor to make up for the fact they're not dripping in oil.

Air Fryer Buffalo Wings

1 lb chicken wings (separated into drums and flats if necessary)

1/8 cup ghee

1/4 cup Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1. Place chicken wings in air fryer.  Depending on size of your air fryer you may need to do this in 2 batches.
2. Cook at 375 for 15 minutes.  Flip the wings over and cook for an additional 12 minutes.
3. While the chicken is cooking combine ghee, buffalo sauce, and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl.
4. Toss the cooked chicken wings in the sauce and serve.

Crave Wednesday: Buffalo Style Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

You guys know how much I love tradition.  Well, apparently Thatboy feels the same way, because we have gotten into a very routine Father's  Day.  Then again, it is filled with all of his favorite things so you can't really blame him for wanting to do it every year.

We start out at the Original Pancake House so Thatboy can have his 49er pancakes.  The little guys don't mind this at all.

The shirts were Thatkid's idea.  We were at the mall when he saw it and wanted it.  Then he saw a matching adult one and decided we had to buy it so he and Thatboy could wear it on Father's Day.  We tried to find one in Thatbaby's size, but no go.  I did manage to find the next best thing for him though - a t-shirt with a parrot wearing the same shirt!

After Thatboy took the boys to play tennis, which is new this year, although a fairly common Sunday activity for the boys.  But really, they were killing some time before our main draw of the day - the waterpark!

This is the third year in a row we've headed to the Wave Waterpark for Father's Day.  We rent a cabana, so there's always a nice, shady place to sit, and then hit the water activities.  These year was especially warm, so it was especially appreciated.

We spent more time in the pool this year than years past.  Guess those swim lessons are really doing their job.

Although there definitely was some lazy river time.  Just not nearly as much as years past.

The waterpark is in Vista, which is home to a great many of San Diego's breweries.  We decided on Indian Joe's to round out our Father's Day.

We grabbed a space outside, which gave the kids a little leg room while Thatboy and I shared a flight of beer.

One of the reasons we chose this brewery is because they had food.  Which meant we could grab dinner there.  Sunday night Native Kiicha Frybread was there, serving up amazingly delicious frybread.  The kids had hot dogs wrapped in frybread while Thatboy and I had jalapeno frybread.

It was amazing, but a weekend of eating like that (Saturday we hit up the fair) left me feeling totally gross come Monday.  I love fried food, but when I actually indulge in it, I am reminded that fried food does not love me.  Right now the foods that sound good are fresh fruits and vegetables.  I'm living off of smoothies and salads.  And trying to convert traditionally fried foods into a non-fried variety.  Like these buffalo wings.  Buffalo wings are typically fried before tossing them in wing sauce.  These are skinned and baked instead.  And what gives them the special kick is the fact they aren't just tossed in wing sauce, they are slow cooked in them.  Allowing the sauce to penetrate into the meat itself instead of just on the fried skin.

Buffalo Style Drummettes with Blue Cheese Dip (From Cooking Light)

Cooking Spray

3 lbs chicken wings, skinned

3/4 cup thick hot sauce

2 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp low sodium Worcestershire sauce

6 cloves garlic, divided

1 cup 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1 cup fat free sour cream

6 Tbsp blue cheese, crumbled and divided

1/4 cup canola mayonnaise

1. Preheat oven to 450.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Place chicken on the pan and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.
2. Spray chicken with cooking spray and bake for 7 minutes.
3. Combine hot sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and 2 cloves of garlic (minced) in a slow cooker.
4. Place chicken in slow cooker, tossing gently in the sauce to coat.  Cook on high for 3 hours.
5. When chicken is done, beat the cream cheese in an electric mixer at low speed until smooth.
6. Add sour cream, 3 Tbsp blue cheese, mayonnaise, and the remaining cloves of garlic (minced).  Beat until smooth.
7. Stir in the remaining blue cheese.  Serve with the wings.

I am My Own Worst Enemy

This week's theme for Eat.Live.Be. For a Better 2011 asks us to discuss our biggest challenge.

I could tell you my biggest challenge is time. There are never enough hours in the day.

I feel like I start the morning at a mad dash and don't stop running around until about 10 minutes before it's bedtime. And then I fall into bed, anxious about having to start it all over again the next day. I could say my biggest challenge is lack of time. But that isn't it.

I could tell you my biggest challenge is my warm, comfy bed.

I'm worn out from the day before and there's nothing that sounds better than a couple extra minutes of sleep. I've already told you one of my primary motivators to run is that I have to get out of bed to walk Thatdog anyway. I could say that my cozy bed is the biggest challenge I face. But it isn't.

My biggest challenge is my own laziness. Because even with the time constraints, I could always get up early on days I don't run to head to the gym for strength training. And I already do this on days I run, so my bed can't be that enticing.

I have to force myself to get up from my desk each day to fill my water glass because otherwise I'm too lazy to move. In fact, that's the main reason I don't snack or eat dessert - I'm too lazy to get up and head into the kitchen. I have to carry water with me on the weekend because I'm too lazy to go seek it out if it's not on my body.

So how do I handle these challenges? Well, I'm a big fan of accepting your weaknesses. I can't stop being lazy, but I can work with my own laziness. I already told you that I've taken to carrying water with me on the weekends to ensure that I can keep up with my "drink more water on the weekends" goal. And as for the laziness with heading to the gym, well my solution is to go after work. Even if it means eating dinner a little later. Even if it means staying up past my bedtime to get everything done - it's a good thing I didn't make a resolution to get 8 hours of sleep a night!!

Next week's topic is What's Your Favorite Healthy Change - How has a healthy change you've made been helping you?

And here are a list of the other bloggers participating:

• Sarah - www.sarahscucinabella.com
• Cate - www.sweetnicks.com
  
• Maris - www.ingoodtasteblog.net
• Chris - www.melecotte.com
• Faith - www.clickblogappetit.com/
• Kristen - www.dineanddish.net
• Emily - http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/
• Jenna - http://stopdropandblog.com/
• Joanne - http://www.joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/,
• Casey - http://www.thestarnesfam.com
• Patsy - http://familyfriendsandfood.blogspot.com/
• Tri-Fit Mom - http://trifitmom.blogspot.com/
• Claire - http://cookiedoc.blogspot.com/
• Allison - http://sweetflours.blogspot.com/
• Jen - http://njepicurean.blogspot.com/
• Leslie - www.thehungryhousewife.com
• Rivki - http://www.healthyeatingforordinarypeople.com/
  
• Claudia from Journey of an Italian Cook
• Jennifer - http://lick-a-plate.blogspot.com/

I thought this would be a good time to share my ultimate lazy girl dinner. You may have heard of the world famous, often duplicated "salsa chicken." It's got to be one of the easiest dinners to make since you really just combine salsa and chicken. Well, if you want to get even lazier, you make "salsa wings." Why are they lazier than salsa chicken? Salsa chicken requires a fork and a knife, while salsa wings? Just your grubby little fingers. Although, maybe they are labor intensive since you'll have to wash your hands before AND after eating them.

Salsa Wings
12 chicken full chicken wings
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 500. Cut off chicken wing tips and cut wings in half at the joint. You should now have a wing and mini-drumstick for each wing.
2. Combine salsa, honey, and ginger in bowl. Reserve half of this mixture.
3. Toss chicken with the remaining salsa mixture. Bake 35 minutes, turning once halfway.
4. Toss chicken with the reserved half of the salsa mixture.