Plates of Penrose: Buffalo Chicken & Cauliflower

A healthier mix of a favorite. Instead of carb-loading on macaroni or chips with buffalo chicken, I mixed in cauliflower.

Now, you could use fresh cauliflower and steam it on the stove then season and mix in with your cooked chicken. But, like me, you could also buy this great mix: Birdseye Steamfresh Buffalo Cauliflower.  You could also get a steamer bag of regular cauliflower and season it to taste, but I found this bag to be really good.  Steam this in the microwave as directed while you do the following...

I diced my chicken breasts then seasoned with some chili powder, Kick'n Chicken, Dry Ranch seasoning, and tiny bit of garlic salt.  I'm Italian so we cannot use just one spice... Then cooked on the stove. As the chicken was almost cooked through, I added Buffalo Ranch dressing and Texas Pete (or Frank's Red Hot, to taste).  You could also add in 4oz cream cheese and/or shredded mozzarella.  Once the chicken is cooked all the way, add in the steamed cauliflower and mix it up.  An easy, one-pot kind of meal :)

Since I did not put in the cream cheese it was not as thick as a dip, just a normal sauce.

We ate it with some homemade cheesey bread. I had never done home-made but this was really good and simple!  Tasted just like Texas Toast but the slices were not as thick.  Spray a baking sheet with Pam, then lay your bread slices down.  Sprinkle with garlic salt and Greek seasoning.  Melt 1/3-1/2 stick of butter in the microwave then pour out evenly over the seasoned bread.  Top with shredded cheese of your choice (we did mozzarella) and cook in the oven.  You want the cheese to melt and the bread to toast, which generally takes about 5-7 minutes with your oven at 350 degrees.


Enjoy :)

Plates of Penrose: Momfessionals Recipe Club

Today I'm linking up with Momfessionals for the Recipe Club exchange.

I'm sharing my Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese, and I can't wait to see some great recipes from all of the other ladies!

My original post on this recipe a few weeks ago can be found here.


Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:
--Chicken (I used tenderloins but you could also use breasts)
--Hot sauce
--Dry Ranch seasoning
--Chili Powder
--Onion Powder
--Macaroni noodles
--Velveeta Cheese package

Directions:
*If you are able, marinate your chicken in some chili powder & dry ranch seasoning overnight. No worries if you don't have time for that though!

On your stovetop, put cut-up chicken in a pan and season with chili powder, onion powder, and dry ranch seasoning.  A light dusting of all three is enough, just to cover the tops :)  Mix together with some hot sauce and continue cooking.  Boil your water in a separate pan and then add in macaroni noodles.  Once macaroni is cooked, drain water then put back on the stovetop over medium heat with half of a Velveeta cheese package, some more hot sauce (to taste) and a little bit more dry ranch.  Combine your chicken in and mix all together, once cheese is melted into a nice sauce, lower heat.  Enjoy!  Serve with some carrot or celery sticks, or throw a steamer bag of veggies in your microwave for a nice, balanced meal!

Of course, if you like onion and celery you could also sauté them with the chicken then throw them into the mac & cheese, or get fancy and top it off with some bleu cheese crumbles.

Follow me on Pinterest if you want more of my recipes and some great ones that I've tried from others!

Plates of Penrose: Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

This was a quick and easy 20 minute weeknight dinner!  We are big buffalo chicken fans so I'm always trying to think of different ways to prepare it.  Tonight, we went with:

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:
--Chicken (I used tenderloins but you could also use breasts)
--Hot sauce
--Dry Ranch seasoning
--Chili Powder
--Onion Powder
--Macaroni noodles
--Velveeta Cheese package

Directions:
*If you are able, marinate your chicken in some chili powder & dry ranch seasoning overnight. No worries if you don't have time for that though!

On your stovetop, put cut-up chicken in a pan and season with chili powder, onion powder, and dry ranch seasoning.  A light dusting of all three is enough, just to cover the tops :)  Mix together with some hot sauce and continue cooking.  Boil your water in a separate pan and then add in macaroni noodles.  Once macaroni is cooked, drain water then put back on the stovetop over medium heat with half of a Velveeta cheese package, some more hot sauce (to taste) and a little bit more dry ranch.  Combine your chicken in and mix all together, once cheese is melted into a nice sauce, lower heat.  Enjoy!  Serve with some carrot or celery sticks, or throw a steamer bag of veggies in your microwave for a nice, balanced meal!

Of course, if you like onion and celery you could also sauté them with the chicken then throw them into the mac & cheese, or get fancy and top it off with some bleu cheese crumbles.