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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Better than Bdubs Buffalo Wings

My taste buds go through various cycles and I tend to become obsessed with various taste for weeks, maybe months at a time.  Lately a favorite of mine has been Buffalo sauce.  I have been wanting to eat it constantly and on everything.  But what goes best with buffalo sauce more than chicken wings.  While I am not unknown to go for the full fat fried and dunked in sauce version I tried a lighter version recently that I was delightfully surprised by.  I found a pretty decent way to bake chicken wings and still get that nice crisp skin you want and be juicy inside.  My sauce recipe comes from AllRecipes.com with a slight alteration due to personal taste.  Best part is this recipe is just in time for the super bowl.


The original recipe makes a ton of sauce, and I usually just cook for 2 for I make enough to cover about 10 whole wings with some left over to save for dunking chicken tenders in.  I always thought buffalo sauce just involved hot sauce and butter.  But this recipe really kicks it up a notch with the extra stuff.  The key to having the wings come out nice a crisp is having the wings roast on a cookie rack in the over so the oil drops down and air circulates well, as well as brushing it with oil.  I prefer to use whole wings mainly because I'm lazy and don't care for cutting up wings.  And don'tskim on the kosher salt and fresh pepper.  They will always be way better than table salt and pre ground crap.  And to make the sauce less spicy just us less hot sauce to your taste.

Baked Buffalo Wings


Wings
10-15 whole chicken wings
Vegetable oil
Kosher salt
Fresh cracked pepper

Sauce
1/2 cup Frank's RedHot® sauce
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste

Preheat over to 400 degree.  Rinse Chicken wings and pat dry with a paper towel.  Place wings skin side up on a metal cookie rack and place that on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil to keep oil for messing up the pan.  Brush skin side of wings with oil.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste.  Roast in over for 20 minutes.  Turn wings and roast another 10 minutes.  Turn once more and change oven to broil.  Broil wings skin side up for about 5 minutes or until skin is crisp and lightly browned.  While wings cook combine the all the sauce ingredients in a pot and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer while stirring with a whisk. As soon as the liquid begins to bubble on the sides of the pot, remove from heat, stir with the whisk, and set aside for use.  Once wings are roasted place in a bowl and toss with sauce

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Foster Dog: Hanzel (Hanz)

Hanz' favorite place, sitting in the corner of the couch.  


Help us find Hanzel his forever home!    


Quick Facts


From: Kansas City Pet Project (Link to profile)
Gender: Male
Age: 6 years (estimated)
Altered: Yes
Breed:  American Pit Bull Mix
Came into Foster:  Jan 11th, 2013
Reason for Intake: Stray
House Broken: Yes
Kennel Trained: No, he escapes from kennels, but is not destructive when left in the house alone
Leash Trained: Yes, but does best with a Gentle Leader
Rides in Car Well: Yes
Bathtime:  He does great and does not freak out, he even gets in the tub on his own (with the help of a cookie or too)
Groomers: Yes

Does well with…
Other Dogs: He can be selective (read more below)
Cats: Not Yet Tested
Other Small Animals: Yes, he has been around 2 fancy rats
Children: Not Yet Tested

His Favorite Thing: Sleeping on the couch and cuddling
His Least Favorite Thing: getting his teeth brushed
He is Motivated by:  Attention and love
Commands He Knows: Working on sit, down, how to stay out of the way in the kitchen, and asking permission to get on the couch.

Interesting Fact about Hanz: He has the loudest most violent sneeze you will ever heard, and has the magical ability to always lick you right as you are opening your mouth. 





















Hanz is a lovable pooch who is a great ambassador for his breed.  Hanz shows that not all pits are the terrible beasts everyone thinks they are.  He is a total lover who is happiest just cuddling all day with you on the couch, as well and keep you warm in bed.  He loves acting as a foot warmer or a pillow for you.  He is motivated by love and attention and while he likes treats he does not get too excited about them (nowhere near as much as our dog Eva). He also doesn’t seem to know what toys are all about, but he does enjoy chewing on a kong.  If he get's real playful he might chew on a rope toy. He tends to only bark when other dogs do, or when he hears unfamiliar sounds from outside.  He barks when people come to the door, so he makes a good alarm system :) but it is best to take him into another room before the people enter so they can meet him without being intimidated by him.  Once people are inside and he has met them he relaxes and just lays back down on the couch. 

He is a mellow dog who tends to match his energy level with other dogs around him.   However if you have an excitable dog or one who is selective I would highly recommend you do a dog to dog meeting to make sure Hanz and your current dog get along.  He does tend to correct other dogs who he thinks are being too high energy by nipping them, which may come across as try to start a fight.  But at KCPP they just call him a fun hater, because he would go around in play groups correcting other dogs who were getting too rough while playing.  Basically, he acts like a grumpy old man sometimes who has to put young whipper snappers in their place:) We have a female 5 year old dog who is very mellow as well with small burst of playfulness and they get along great.  

Hanz is house broken and has very good manners in the house and learns new house rules quickly.  While he loves the couch and the bed he knows at our house he can’t get up until he is invited (unless we aren’t home, then all bets are off).  He has occasional spurts of energy and playfulness, mostly when you get home for the day.  Then he loves to go outside and run circles around the yard…gallop is really more the word.  It is difficult to keep Hanz in a kennel since he seems to be part magician and always gets out. Even after adding locks to the latches of his wire kennel he still managed to undo the bottom one and wiggle his way out.  The good news is he is not destructive when left alone in the house, he just want to be in a more comfortable place than a kennel. 


It looks like Hanz was a stray for a while because he has a lot of tartar and plaque buildup on his teeth and some look chipped for what he has eaten.  Due to this he has pretty bad breath but is very leery to getting his teeth brushed and fights it a lot. His glums have shown signs of bleeding.  I would recommend whoever adopts Hanz takes him to see the vet to get a good professional teeth cleaning and then get him use to regular dental care.  Hanz does well when it comes bath time and doesn’t fight you hardly at all, but he does get a little bit of dry skin, so a conditioner should be used with each bath, and he could also benefit from some fish oil with his meals.  Other than that he appears to be a happy healthy boy.