Monday Night Improv

Recipes? They're great. It's so fun pulling your smart phone out of slumber every two minutes while you juggle raw chicken, a slippery knife handle, and a pepper grinder. Or the $80 grocery store bill to "save money" on food. Or thinking you have everything on the list at home to realize you finished the thyme last week.

Tonight, I'm going to win at this game. I have to. I'm leaving the country in two days and I have a fridge full of perfectly-planned perishables that will certainly be wrinkled and obsolete by the time I get back. So tonight, it's no-recipe kitchen sink chili night.

Of course the recipes I've conquered in the past will contribute to the success of this dish. Cooking the onions to golden brown before everything else goes in. Maybe pre-roasting roasting some of the veggies to bring out a little more flavor. Picking the perfect blend of spices. But I'm winging this one tonight. I think this might actually turn out alright. I'll have a serving tonight and freeze the rest in small quantities to be consumed on the post-Europe cold nights ahead.

Giving thanks

Whenever I visit my aunt and uncle in the 'burbs of Chicago for Thanksgiving, I'm guaranteed one thing, a full, bursting, lay-down-on-the-floor-during-the-Cowboys-game stomach. Well, that and a cousin dead set on nailing the best Black Friday deals around town. I'm sure these facts are ubiquitous throughout the United States, but among the different sets of Thanksgiving gatherings that I belong to, the Chicago relatives stick out as kings of the culinary hill.I'm getting full just thinking about it.

The recipe below is a staple at my aunt’s pre-thanksgiving dinner cocktail hour along with croissant-wrapped cocktail wieners, loaded nachos, and other extremely healthy bar snacks. Why we find it necessary to fill up on calorie-filled extras like this before even touching the turkey with the carving knife is beyond my comprehension, but not beyond my appreciation. This recipe is my attempt to copy my aunt’s.

JR's Buffalo Chicken Dip

Small whole chicken (about 3 lbs) (or for less work, about 2 lbs boneless chicken pieces ,or for true slackers, 2 10-oz cans chopped chicken, and you can ignore the spice rub, or throw it in to the crock pot for a little kick. I have no idea what that would taste like. You're on your own there.)
3 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp thyme
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs pepper
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese
1 C bleu cheese dressing
~1 C Hot sauce (I used Franks)
1 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
7 oz bleu cheese crumbles

• Turn oven to 400
• Combine garlic, thyme, sugar and pepper in a bowl and mix up so sugar and spices are evenly distributed
• Cut chicken roughly into evenly sized pieces to cook evenly
• Coat chicken with spice rub (pulling back skin and rubbing underneath if you have skin)
• Place chicken in a glass baking dish, cover with tin foil
• Bake chicken until a meat thermometer reads safe temp (160-170)
• Shred chicken using two forks to pull pieces apart
• Dump chicken in a crock pot on low, add softened cream cheese, add dressing, hot sauce.
• Allow to heat and stir when cheeses start to melt.
• Cover top with bleu cheese crumbles, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly.
• Serve with celery sticks, crackers, tortilla chips, toasted baguette slices, or any other carb on earth.
• Rest up for Thanksgiving dinner.*

*This holds true for any time of year. This stuff fills you up.