Grandma Stahle's Turkey Dressing

With Thanksgiving this week, I thought I'd share my family's beloved recipe for dressing/stuffing. Growing up, this dish was present at every single Thanksgiving dinner that I can remember. And horribly, I have to admit that I "didn't like" stuffing when I was young! Can you believe that? I flat out didn't eat it until I was in Jr. High and finally decided to actually try it - mmm. There's been no turning back since. And it wasn't until I was away from my family for a couple of Thanksgiving holidays, where this stuffing wasn't present, that I realized that not all stuffings taste the same. There are so many different kinds out there, but this one is the one that makes my heart sing. It brings back so many memories of home, my grandma, my family, and years of wonderful holidays.

GRANDMA STAHLE'S TURKEY DRESSING:
3 cubes butter
5 to 6 cups liquid (chicken broth & milk)
Lipton chicken soup flavoring (not noodles) or 3 to 4 Tbsp. chicken base
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
salt & pepper, to taste
LOTS of sage (most of a 0.5-oz. bottle)
2 loaves white and 1 loaf whole wheat bread, crumbed (or 2 (10-oz.) boxes bread crumbs + 1 loaf wheat bread)

Melt butter with water and Lipton soup stock or chicken base; add celery and onion. Pour seasonings over bread crumbs, then pour liquid over top and mix in (can add milk if not moist enough--crumbs should be soft, not too crunchy). Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

D's Favorite Whole Wheat Bread

We make a lot of bread in our house, especially since my husband, Todd decided to become a master at artisan bread baking. So I tend to leave most of the white flour-based breads to him, but whole wheat is my domain. I grew up in a house where we ate whole wheat everything - bread, pancakes, waffles . . . you name it. So when it comes to sandwich bread (artisan breads are a whole separate matter), quite honestly, I have a hard time even looking at white wonder bread-types, let alone the thought of eating them. (The only white sandwich bread I will eat is Grandma Sycamore's, which can be found out in Utah - that's my one exception).

So, this is my family's favorite whole wheat bread recipe, which my mom passed on to me from Walton Feed. It is incredibly moist and oh-so-yummy!!!

Since I'm a huge fan of whole wheat, let me just share a few tips with you. Nowadays, I use almost exclusively hard white wheat. There are a lot of people out there who aren't crazy about whole wheat because of the texture or density of it. The hard white wheat, as opposed to hard red wheat, is not as dense or quite as nutty flavored, but still contains all the same nutritional value as the red wheat. For this reason, I can often substitute up to half of the wheat in things like cookies, etc. and people don't even know the difference.

I've had people ask me where to buy the hard white wheat, and it's super easy if you live out west, especially Utah, where you can get it at grocery stores like Macy's or emergency preparedness places. Out here in Iowa, I have to drive to an Amish store and buy it there, but I can buy it in bulk and it's great.

My next tip is that if at all possible, it is ideal to use freshly ground wheat because after it is ground, it starts losing some of its nutritional value as it sits on your shelf. That doesn't mean that the ground whole wheat you've had for several months isn't still healthy - it is - but it is at it's absolute nutritional best if you use it straight from the grinder.

Ok, you're probably sick of my ranting, so I'll get on with the recipe! This recipe makes 4 loaves and fills my Bosch mixer completely. So if you have a smaller kitchen aid or other smaller mixer, you should probably cut the recipe in half or it won't fit.

D's FAVORITE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD:

3 Tbsp. yeast

1 tsp. sugar

1 cup warm water

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup oil

2 Tbsp. salt

3 3/4 cups hot water

5 Tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar

12 cups whole wheat flour, divided

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. In a large bowl (or mixer), mix the honey, oil, salt, 3 3/4 cups water, lemon juice and 6 cups of the whole wheat flour. Add the dissolved yeast mixture to the bread mixture and mix for 7-10 minutes to get the gluten working.

Gradually add in another 6 cups whole wheat flour; knead for 5 minutes in mixer (if kneading by hand, mix all ingredients and knead by hand for 10 minutes. If dough seems too sticky, add enough flour to get past sticky point, but remember that too much flour causes bread failure).
Let stand for 10 minutes. Divide and shape into 3 to 4 loaves (I always get 4 big loaves out of this). Place in greased bread pans and let rise until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. This is so good while it's still warm with homemade jam!

Tamales!

We have quite a few hispanic families in our ward, and at a recent Cooking Club activity, they were kind enough to teach us all how to make tamales! This was a totally new experience for me and a lot of fun. I especially liked the chicken ones. Here's how to make them:

Basic Tamale Ingredients:

Corn husks (Hojas – found in Latino Food section of Walmart)
Manteca (lard) or shortening
Tamale flour (Arina para tamales – found in Latino Food section of Walmart)


Corn Husk (Hojas) Preparation:

Soak in saltwater (with roughly ½ cup salt in 8 cups of water) for ½ hour, then wash husks until soft enough that the strands start to pull off. While soaking, begin preparing filling of your choice: verde, raja, or sweet.

Green Sauce (Salsa Verde):

10 tomatillos
1 jalapeno
1 garlic clove
5 chicken breasts
½ T. black pepper
salt to taste

Take off stems of tomatillos, jalapeno, and garlic. Boil these in water together until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain; puree in blender. Return to saucepan. Add in 5 cooked and shredded chicken breasts and ½ T. black pepper. Boil these together for 5 minutes.

Mix flour (arina para tamales) with water as directed on package to prepare for tamale filling. Cover lower half of soft corn husk with a thick layer of flour mixture, then add a spoonful of green chicken sauce. Roll the tamale and then fold the top down.

Raja Filling:

4 bell peppers
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
4 large tomatoes
1 container of queso fresco (Mexican cheese – found to the left above the cream cheese in Walmart)

Sauté bell peppers (your choice of color), onion, garlic, and tomatoes in light oil until soft. Cut the queso fresco into small rectangles, big enough to fit into half of a corn husk. As with green sauce, spread flour mixture on lower half of tamale. Place rectangle of queso fresco in the middle and spoon sautéed vegetable mixture on top. Roll tamale and fold top down.

Sweet Filling:

If you would like to make some dessert tamales, reserve some corn husks to soak in sugar water instead of saltwater. If desired, add red food coloring with flour mixture. After filling tamale with red flour mixture, add in crushed pineapple, raisins, craisins, cinnamon/apple, or whatever sounds good to you!

Steam tamales for 30-45 minutes, or until none of the filling sticks to the outer corn husk when gently pulled away. Enjoy!

Apple Crumb Pie

OK, I just took another trip out to the apple orchard today to pick some fabulous apples and I am always just inspired by the feeling of fall in the air this time of year. It's amazing! And every time that I have a stock of apples on hand, this delicious dessert comes to mind and I have to make it. I like apple pie. It's a good thing. I really, truly, passionately LOVE crumb topping from apple crisp. The beauty of this recipe is that it combines the goodness of both of those desserts into one, amazing whole.

I got this recipe several years back from another one of our New Haven friends, Jen Brewer. We made it while she so graciously hosted our family for an away rotation at the Mayo Clinic. I learned a lot of great recipes from her on that trip that I adore. Thanks, Jen! BTW, I seem to remember this recipe coming from an ex-girlfriend of Jerry's! Kinda funny :-)
APPLE CRUMB PIE:
Filling:
10-15 apples, peeled & cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup sugar (+)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (+)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Topping:
1 cube butter, chilled, but not too hard
1/3 cup heaping sugar
1/2 cup heaping flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 pie crust

Put pie crust in bottom of pie dish. Load apple mixture on top - should be heaping. Make the topping by cutting the butter into sugar and flour until crumbly, then sprinkle over top of apple pie. Wrap tin foil around edges of crust to keep from burning. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. This tastes fabulous served warm with ice cream.

Don't you just love that this recipe uses "heaping" so many times. That's just my kinda thing :-) Enjoy!

Turtle Fondue

Todd and I celebrated Valentine's Day last night with a nice candlelight dinner. I got take-out of some of our favorite Indian food, and for dessert made this YUMMY turtle fondue that I saw on Feeding My Enthusiasms. I think it was our favorite fondue yet! So delicious and super easy to make.

TURTLE FONDUE:
Adapted from Perfect Recipes For Having People Over by Pam Anderson
8 oz. caramels, unwrapped
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
¼ cup finely chopped pecans, pre-toasted at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes until fragrant
¼ cup milk
Fresh fruit, such as apples, pears, bananas, strawberries, grapes or figs; larger fruit cut into bite sized pieces
Cubes of pound cake, pieces of shortbread cookies
Dried fruits like apricots, peaches or figs

Combine caramels, chocolate, nuts and milk in a small heavy saucepan (or a fondue pot) and heat over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth and warm. (I melted the caramels with the milk by themselves first and then added the chocolate and nuts and found it easier this way). Serve in small bowls with skewers (or fondue forks) for dipping fresh and dried fruits and pound cake. Dip cookies while holding end of the cookie.If you have a fondue pot, use it. If you use the heavy pot, the fondue sauce retains the heat fairly well. If it starts to cool off, simply return the pot to the stove and reheat.

Serves 2 to 4.

Caramel Brownies

With Valentine's Day here and the scent of chocolate everywhere, how can I not post one of my favorite chocolate recipes with caramel? These delicious, chewy brownies are often requested in our house and they definitely don't last very long!

CARAMEL BROWNIES:

1 German chocolate cake mix

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 cup chocolate chips

1 pkg. Kraft caramels (about 10-oz. or so)

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 cup nuts (optional, for turtle brownies)

Mix first three ingredients into a stiff batter (if you want to make turtle caramel brownies, add the nuts to the mix now). Spread half the batter in a buttered 9 x 13" pan. Bake for 6 minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle chocolate chips over first half after baked and while hot. Melt together the caramels and 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Spread out the melted chocolate chips. Pour melted caramel over baked portion. Place remaining batter over caramel - don't try to spread, just piece it on. Bake for 18 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool for 1 hour and then cut into squares.

They are so yummy!

Quick & Easy: Chicken Fettucine w/ Tomato Alfredo

This tasty meal has become a family favorite in our house! It's got great flavor, makes enough for more than one meal (I love that!) and is simple to make.

CHICKEN FETTUCCINE W/ TOMATO ALFREDO
1 lb. chicken, cubed
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 cup cream or half & half
1 pkg. McCormick pasta alfredo sauce
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp. dried basil leaves
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 lb. fettuccine, cooked & hot

In a large skillet, cook chicken with onions, garlic in a little oil. Add the rest of the ingredients, except fettuccine. Cook until heated through, then toss with hot fettuccine.

Serve with hubbies fabulous bread and tada...dinner is served.

Breakfast/Brunch: Crepes & Whole Wheat Pancakes

First up is a recipe for crepes. Crepes are so versatile that you can really use them for any meal from breakfast to dessert, which is the beauty. I'm pretty new to making crepes because I was really intimidated for a long time and afraid of messing them up. But, they're actually quite easy and you just eat them right away anyway - so who cares how beautiful they look, right? Someday maybe I'll perfect them...for now we just enjoy eating them.

This recipe is from Tante Marie - BASIC CREPES:
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. flour
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. brandy (opt.) - (or you can use vanilla - that's what I did)

Place flour in a large bowl, add milk and water gradually, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Beat in eggs, salt, vegetable oil and brandy (or vanilla extract), if using. Make sure batter is very smooth, then set aside to rest for at least 20-30 minutes.Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease and pour a measure of batter onto the skillet. Pick up the skillet and swirl the batter around until it even coats the entire bottom of the pan.Cook until the edges come away from the pan and the top of the crepe looks almost dry, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook the other side for about a minute.Fill with jam (or other desired filling) and serve immediately.Makes about ten 10-inch crepes (can be doubled or tripled)
Some of my favorite homemade crepes are nutella with banana and ham with provolone cheese. Yum!

Next, I'm going to share the recipe for my family's pancakes. These are the wholesome, filling pancakes that I grew up with. I don't remember my mom ever, even once, making pancakes from a mix or box. We always had whole wheat and to this day, I just can't be fully satisfied with any other kind.

FROMM FAMILY WHOLE WHEAT PANCAKES:
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 to 2 Tbsp. oil

Beat eggs; add soda and buttermilk. Add remaining ingredients and stir until smooth (add more milk if too thick). Pour onto griddle and bake until almost stopped bubbling; turn over and bake on other side. Serve with homemade jam or real maple syrup.

Brunch: Filled French Toast & Mega Scones

OK, the slacker finally got around to posting close to the right day! I promise I have been meaning to post, and I've been taking pictures and everything...but I swear I can't even keep track of the days anymore and the weekends just pass me by. Please forgive me.

Here's a couple of recipes that are tasty for a weekend brunch.

Filled French Toast:
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup nonfat milk
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
8 slices white or whole wheat bread (or French)

Filling:
4 Tbsp. cream cheese
2/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp. fruit preserve of your choice
maple syrup & additional confectioner's sugar for serving

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet with unsalted butter or cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the cream cheese, ricotta, and confectioner's sugar. Stir thoroughly by hand or with hand mixer to blend. Stir in the preserves.

Dunk 4 pieces bread into milk mixture to soak. Lay each on a cookie sheet. Spread with an even amount of filling. Dunk remaining bread into milk mixture and place on top, sandwiching filling. Bake until bottom has toasted, about 7 minutes. Turn and bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Serve right away, drizzled with maple syrup and dusted with confectioner's sugar. (Can make the filling the night before and store, tightly covered, in refrigerator.)

Note: I think next time I am going to toast both sides of the french toast by themselves for a few minutes and then put the filling in and bake - just to make sure it is nice and crisp.


I got this next recipe from 101 cookbooks and I am in love with it. I love that it uses whole wheat and is hearty and grainy. And you can put whatever you want in the middle for lots of variations. Yum!

Raspberry Mega Scones:
4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or I used white wheat flour)
3 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. fine-grain sea salt
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4" cubes
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups half & half (or cream or whole milk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of one lemon
2/3 cup raspberry preserves (or anything of your choice)

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Using a food processor, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles little pebbles in a beach of sandy flour (about 20 quick pulses). You can also cut the batter in using a knife and fork. Pulse in the sugar. Add half & half, vanilla, and lemon zest. Pule or mix until dough just comes together - don't over mix, but if the batter is too dry add more cream a bit at a time.

Turn out onto a floured piece of parchment paper or Silpat mat. Divide dough into two equal sized pieces and set one aside. Take the first piece and roll out into (roughly) a 9x9" square, 1/2" thick. You want to keep the dough from sticking to the mat/paper if possible, so sprinkle more flour if needled. Slather the slab of dough with the jam and fold the left side of the dough in toward the center. To discourage dough from breaking or falling apart, I fold it in by folding the Silpat/parchment in and then peeling it back afterwards. Fold the other side in using same technique. Slide onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat with other piece of dough. The two scones will fit on one baking sheet, but give them a few inches between each other so they don't bake into each other. Brush with a bit of cream (optional), and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden where the scones touch the pan. When scones come out of the oven, brush them generously with the glaze and let cool. Slice into pieces as big or small as you like.

Holiday Cookies

One of our family to traditions is to decorate sugar cookies each year around Christmas. We generally always try to invite another one or two families to come and do it with us. This year we had Todd's sister's family over to join in the fun. I've tried a LOT of sugar cookie recipes over the years searching for one that I really like. Today I tried a recipe that I got from my sister-in-law and I really loved it. I like my sugar cookies thick and super soft, and that is exactly how these turned out.

SOFT SUGAR COOKIES:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add remaining ingredients and mix together. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours. Roll out to 1/4" thick and cut into shapes. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

FROSTING:
6 Tbsp. butter
1 lb. (4 cups sifted) powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

If you're daring, you can try doing some of your sugar cookies the way Todd's family has his whole life - you brush the tops of the dough with milk and then sprinkle with any flavor jell-o powder before baking. It gives you all kinds of great flavors and isn't quite and sugar-sweet at going the route of tons of frosting and sprinkles, etc. We like both kinds in our house.

Party Night - Holiday Treats

Oh my word - I'm such a slacker! I think Fridays have just been skipping right by me and disappearing. Forgive me for being late. Here are a couple of easy recipes for some festive holiday treats we like to have made up for when we have people over during the holidays.

HOLIDAY PRETZEL TREATS:
bite-size waffle shaped pretzels or ring (round) pretzels
Hershey's hugs
M & M's - preferably the mint ones you can find this time of year

Heat your oven to 170 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and place pretzels in a single layer on baking sheet. Top each prezel with an unwrapped Hershey's hug (or you could use kisses). Bake for 4 to 6 minutes (white chocolate melts more quickly), until the chocolates start to get shiny. Remove from oven and quickly press an M & M into the center of each hug or kiss. Allow treats to cool for a few minutes, then place in refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes.
Another variation of this recipe is to use caramel kisses on the pretzel and press with a nut on the top (turtle). Yummy!

SWEET CHEX MIX:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup karo syrup
1 big box Rice Chex
1 big box Golden Grahams
2 cups slivered almonds
2 cups shredded coconut

In a medium pan, melt butter and then add sugar and karo syrup. Bring mixture to a boil; boil for 2 minutes. Pour immediately over dry ingredients. Make sure everything is coated. Spread our on a cookie sheet to dry - can be a little sticky when done.

Party Night - Lava Cakes

I'm late posting this because we were out of town last Friday, but I wanted to share a very tasty and very easy dessert that you can make for a party crowd.

LAVA CAKES:
1 (18.25-oz.) box dark chocolate cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 bottle Hershey's hot fudge topping
vanilla ice cream (or flavor of choice)
Magic Shell chocolate topping
caramel for garnish (optional)

You make the cake mix according to the directions on the box and then pour 1/2 cup batter into the greased cups of large (Texas Size) muffin pans. If you only have one of these pans you can cook it in two batches (the batter will make anywhere from 8-12 cakes). Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Turn out cakes to cool. The cakes will be served upside down, so you might have to cut off part of the domed top so they will lay flat when turned over. After you have flipped over the cooled cakes, use a knife and cut out a 1 1/2" diameter chunk in the center of the bottom (now the top) of each cake to make a hole. Scoop out the cake so that you have about a 1 1/2" hole - this is where you will secretly pour the hot fudge for the lava. Spoon about 2 Tbsp of fudge into each hole in the cakes (you can put the "top" of the cake back over the opening to hide it more if you want).

At this point, you can store the cakes in a sealed container in the fridge until ready to serve. When you want to serve them, heat each cake in the microwave for 20-40 seconds, or until you see the fudge begin to bubble. Let is rest for 30 seconds or so and then place a big scoop of ice cream (we really like vanilla and cookies & cream) on top (hiding the hole). Pour a coating of Magic Shell chocolate topping over the ice cream and serve on a plate that has been garnished with caramel sauce. Yummy!!!

Party Night - Egg Rolls

Sorry for two deep fryer posts in a row, but if we get it out we figure we should make it worth it! Here's a recipe we really love for pork egg rolls. We make these when we know we have missionaries coming over to eat a bunch of them.

PORK EGG ROLLS:
1 pkg. regular flavor pork sausage
2 (16-oz.) pkg. cole slaw mix (I usually use less than this because I think that's a bit overpowering)
3 Tbsp. fresh ginger, finely chopped
3 Tbsp. fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. (18-20) egg roll wrappers
vegetable oil for frying
spicy mustard, sweet & sour sauce or soy sauce for dipping

In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until no longer pink. Remove from heat; add cole slaw mix, ginger, garlic, pepper, and salt - mix well. Transfer to a colander to drain; cool 15 minutes. Assemble egg rolls as directed on wrapper package, using 1/3 cup sausage mix for each roll.

To cook: in a wok, dutch oven or fryer, add oil to 3" deep; heat to 375 degrees. Fry 4 at a time for 3 minutes or until golden brown; drain on paper towels. Serve with your favorite sauce...here's one of ours:

LION HOUSE SWEET & SOUR SAUCE:
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. ginger root
2 cloves garlic, minced

Mix together the brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in chicken broth, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Bring to a boil and cook 2 more minutes to thicken.

Party Food - Buzzard Eggs

Last year our family had the opportunity to live in La Crosse, Wisconsin during my husband's intern year of residency. We have so many wonderful memories of this beautiful town and would consider going back to live there someday. In the top 10 of our favorite things about La Crosse would be Buzzard Billy's! Some good friends of our told us about the Buzzard Eggs and we decided to try them out. Wow. We were sold from the first bite. If you are ever in the Midwest and happen to go near one of their 4 locations, you should go and get some of these. You won't regret it. If we were lesser controlled people, we would have indulged in these tasty balls of goodness probably a couple times a week. But being the incredibly strong-willed people that we are, we held out with only getting them every other week or so (wink). It's an Ebbert famly favorite.

Knowing that we were going to be moving from La Crosse, we decided that we needed to figure out how to make them ourselves so that we could indulge every so often in Buzzard Egg goodness. Here is our version (but know that it pales in comparison to getting the real thing...)

Buzzard Eggs:

you only need a handful of ingredients for these - bacon, chicken, jalapeno peppers, and pepper jack cheese (and oil for frying).
I like to use chicken tenders, but you could also use chicken breasts and cut it into smaller pieces. Each buzzard eggs uses 1/2-1 chicken tender, 2 pieces of bacon, a couple slices of jalapeno, and a small chunk of pepper jack cheese.

The chicken needs to be thin enough to wrap around the chunk of cheese and jalapenos. So you wrap the chicken arond them first and then grab your bacon and start to roll it around the chicken.
The biggest key for these is to make sure that you bacon wraps everything up securely, or else you'll end up with melted cheese leaking out of the ball, and that just ruins all the fun. As a side note - don't try to use toothpicks to hold them together! We tried this and it just creates a conduit for the cheese to run out of. Just wrap the bacon tightly around it and you'll be ok. We wrap one piece around in one direction, then wrap the other piece around in the opposite direction to close everything up nicely.
Here's what they look like when they're all rolled up.

I should also note that we're still experimenting with this a bit. On this night we used thick cut bacon and it tasted great, but it made it harder to get the cheese melted on the inside. But another time when we used thin bacon, it has too many holes in it and the cheese melted out. So...look for bacon that isn't cut so thin that is tears apart, but you don't necessarily have to use thick cut. Helpful, aren't I?

Throw these babies in the deep fat fryer or in a pan with hot oil. It is supposed to be 400 degrees for about 11 minutes (the ones we made were a bit bigger, so we had to cook them for a few minutes longer).

You eat the buzzard eggs by cutting them open and dipping them in ranch dressing. I haven't figured out how to make Buzzard Billy's awesome homemade ranch yet, so for the time being we are using this copy cat version of Outback Steakhouse's Ranch Salad Dressing:

1 tsp. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (buttermilk recipe)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper

1/8 tsp. ground red pepper

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl; mix well. Cover bowl and chill dressing for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Tada! There you go - tasty Buzzard Eggs. Oh yeah, and don't be intimidated by these babies just because they have jalapenos in them. I don't like things that hot, so I just take the jalapenos out after it is cooked and it leaves a nice kick of residual flavor in it for me, while Todd glories in the full pepper. My kids absolutely LOVE these as well. They instantly start salivating when we ever say the name. Serve with a nice salad (to alleviate some of the guilt). Happy eating!

Seat Number 2, intro

Deanna- intro by Kristy

Let me introduce you to Deanna, or "D" as she is affectionately called by family and friends. The first time I met Deana was over a delicious lunch that she and another friend prepared. my husband and I had come to New Haven to scope things out prior to moving to Yale for Medical School. They graciously invited us to dine with them. I remember exactly what was served around that lunch table 4.5 years ago. Chicken salad wraps (grilled chicken, plain yogurt, fresh dill, lemon juice...it was delish!) and fresh cut pineapple.

When I think of pineapple, I often think of D. Did you know that a pineapple is the symbol for hospitality and welcome? The symbol of a pineapple and all that it entails very accurately describes D. You will always feel comfortable in her presence, and this girl knows how to host! Did you know that she and her husband, Todd, are graciously hosting my husband for a whole month while he completes a clinical rotation in the town where they now live? A whole month!!!

Deanna is the queen of homemade. She knows how to make everything from bread to salsa and jam to peanut butter. If you want to know how to make something like this from scratch, D is your go-to diva. She has also made some of the most adorable birthday cakes you have ever seen for her two kiddos, Alia (5) and Lawson (3).

Deanna is not only a fantastic cook, but a great friend. She loves to play games, and while she is sometimes pessimistic about her position in the middle of the game, she often pulls out with a win! She knows how to organize (and loves to do it!) better than anyone I know. And, you will never find a stray hair anywhere in her home due to a loathing she developed while having to clean a barber shop every morning as an undergraduate student.

I have always been able to count on D for anything. Her recipes and ideas are no exception. If I’m looking for something that is sure to be a hit, the recipes I have gathered from her, along with her ideas are one of the first places I turn to! I’m sure glad she’s part of this table for 7.