Kisha's Masala

Keesh's Creations: Tipsy Tiramisu

2011-05-15T00:09:00.000-04:00

Ingredients
   8      oz            mascarpone cheese
   1 1/2 cup           confectioners sugar
   3      cup           whipping cream
   2 1/2 cup           espresso coffee, hot
   4      Tbs           Kahlua liqueur
     1/4 cup           cocoa powder
   4      Tbs           Tres Leche liqueur
   1      pkg           ladyfinger cookies

1. Prepare the espresso, place in a long shallow dish good for dipping.

2. Mix the mascarpone cheese, 1 1/2 cup whipping cream, confectioners sugar
and Kahlua

3. In a separate bowl, whip up 1 1/2 whipping cream until peaks form, fold
this into the cheese mixture.

4. Pour the espresso into dipping dish, add Tres Leche. Dip ladyfinger into
the espresso for about 1 second on each side. Line in order in rectangular
dish.

5. Layer ladyfingers, cheese mixture and dust with cocoa powder using a
sifter to keep the dust in a fine layer. Repeat.

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 357
Calories From Fat: 331
Total Fat: 37.4g
Cholesterol: 129mg
Sodium: 57.1mg
Potassium: 216.7mg
Carbohydrates: 4.5g
Fiber: <1g
Sugar: <1g
Protein: 3.2g

Cooking Tip: Garnish with shaved chocolate ribbons.

Cooking Tip: Use vanilla rum instead of Tres Leche liqueur.

Cooking Tip: Be mindful of your guests sensitive to liquor as you prepare
this dish.

Recipe Author: Rakisha Scott

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Keesh's Creations: Zesty Garlic Rosemary Sausage Sauce

2011-05-12T15:55:00.000-04:00

My girls make the funky face when I tell them that we're having spaghetti for dinner. I guess I can understand...what's so exciting about noodles covered with sauce? Jarred sauces are good for those super busy days when I just need to make sure the kids have something to stuff in their bellies and I can check 'cook dinner' off of my to do list, but tonight I had a few extra minutes so decided to put a little pizazz in the spaghetti.

Zesty Garlic Rosemary Sausage Sauce

Ingredients

1 16 oz package Garlic and Rosemary sausage
1 large sweet onion

                        3-4 Tbs minced garlic
                        6-8 Campari tomatoes
                        1 8 oz jar roasted red peppers
                        3 Tbs Italian seasoning
                        bunch fresh parsley, chopped
                        1 can Campbells Zesty Tomato bisque
                        Spaghetti or other long pasta shape
                        Olive oil-flavored nonstick cooking spray, as needed

1. Cook sausage on both sides, browning well to produce some caramelization.
Then remove from pan.

2. Slice onions and roasted red peppers into strips and chop tomatoes. Add
to pan and cook in sausage juices, add garlic. Simmer and brown.

3. Add tomato soup and Italian seasoning. Simmer for 15 minutes then top off
with fresh parsley.

4. Serve over spaghetti.

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Keesh's Creations: Italian Pork Chops with Lemon Basil

2011-05-12T07:17:00.000-04:00

The inspiration for this recipe came from the fresh lemon basil I discovered at my local supermarket. I already had the pork chops and roasted red peppers and figured the basil would fit right in...and I was right. Lemon basil, unlike the regular basil has a wonderful hint of citrus that reminds me a little of how lemongrass enhances Thai dishes. Baking the chops with the lemon basil layered above and below truly infuses the chops, which have already been marinated, with an awesome flavor boost. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Italian Pork Chops with Lemon Basil

Prep time: 8.5 hours

Cook time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

4 boneless pork chops (cut slightly thick)
1 1/2 cup Italian dressing (preferably Robusto)
1 12 oz jar roasted red peppers
1/2 sweet onion,sliced thinly
16 lemon basil leaves
2 Tbs corn starch
2 Tbs water
1 Tbs garlic powder
1/2 Tbs Italian seasoning
freshly ground salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Marinade the pork chops in the Italian dressing for at least 8 hours. Reserve the marinade.
Slice the roasted red peppers into 1/2 inch strips to line the bottom of baking dish, creating a bed for the pork chops.
Place leaves of lemon basil on top of the roasted red pepper strips.
Remove the pork chops from the marinade and season with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and freshly ground salt and pepper.
Place pork chops in the baking dish on top of the roasted red peppers and lemon basil.
Top with sweet onions, remaining roasted red pepper strips and lemon basil leaves.
Bake for 30 minutes or until done, pork chops should be tender.
As the pork chops are cooking, place the remaining marinade into a saucepan.
Mix corn starch and water and add to the marinade, bring to a boil. After about 7 minutes the sauce will begin to thicken.
Remove the pork chops from the baking dish when done using a spatula to get the red pepper and basil from underneath and plated. Top the pork chops with thickened marinade

K.I.S.S.: Keep It Simple & Sexy

2011-05-12T07:07:00.000-04:00

Nothing too fancy...sit back, relax and enjoy!

Whip Up Something New: Banana Bread with Candied Pecans

2011-05-11T16:39:00.000-04:00

I wanted to find something to do with a bunch of extra bananas that were lying around beginning to over-ripen. After scouring my favorite foodie sites for ideas and those recipes which incorporated ingredients I had on hand I settled on a banana bread creation. I say creation because I put my own spin on a very basic recipe that I found. Castries Peanut Rum provided the additional moisture since I did not have the listed amount of mashed banana, for a touch of additional sweetness I added candied pecans. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Banana Bread with Candied Pecans

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1⅓ cups mashed overripe bananas
½ cup Castries Peanut Rum
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup candied pecans (chopped coarsely into small pieces)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl, cream together butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar.
Stir in eggs, vanilla, rum, pecans and mashed bananas until well blended.
Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Sprinkle remaining brown sugar (and additional pecans if preferred) on top of mixture.
Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

2011 Cookbook Challenge: Citrus

2011-02-09T21:28:00.001-05:00

2011 Cook Challenge: Rice/Noodles

2011-02-09T20:19:00.004-05:00

Week 3's Theme for the Cookbook Challenge is Rice/Noodles. Since I've had Daisy Martinez's book Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night borrowed (and overdue) from the library I figured I at least needed to make a recipe from the book to compensate for the two buck fine I'm facing. Actually, I made 3 recipes from this book and would have made 4 but the fresh pineapple I bought went spoiled from sitting in the fridge for so long. Another hint at how long I've had this book checked out. Normally, I'm very diligent about getting books back on time but I've been feeling kind of blah since my mom is about to move out much sooner than I anticipated...but, so goes life.

Anyway!

Check out the awesome Mayan Omelet I made...trust me, that was as delicious as it looks. This penne dish was pretty good too and it wasn't too difficult to make. I mistakenly put some of the arugula in the cheese sauce instead of in the pot with the noodles, but I pulled out what I could and popped what I could salvage in the correct pot. As I look at the recipe photo in the cookbook, I see why the arugula is cooked this way, to preserve that bright green color that would end up camouflaged in the sauce. This was my first time cooking with dried mushrooms and I really like how it intensified the woodsy flavor in the sauce. I did, however, have to tell a little fib to get my 7 and 9 year olds to eat this for dinner. This dish became noodles with chicken and spinach. Yup, they fell for it and told me how deeelicious the sauce was...it's funny how if I told the truth about the mushrooms they all would have been scraped to the side of the plate. So, without further ado, here is the recipe for Penne a la Sirop. Oh, and the other recipe I made from this book is the Shrimp Ceviche "Xni Pec"...I'll tell you how that came out here.

Penne a la Sirop (adapted from Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night)
1 cup dried porcini or other dried mushrooms
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 anchovy fillets
2 TBS flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
1 lb penne
8oz mini wheel of Brie, rind removed
5oz arugula
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup of dried cherry flavor raisins
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Place the mushrooms in a small heat proof dish. Pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water over the mushrooms and let them soak until soft for about 30 minutes.
Once your mushrooms are softened, put on a large pot of salted water for the penne. Cook until mostly done, but about one minute before the penne is done, add the arugula. (In the meantime...prepare the cheese sauce)
Remove the mushrooms from the water, strain the remaining liquid through a coffee filter and set aside 1/4 cup of liquid to start. Save the rest to use to adjust the texture of your sauce.
Cut the mushrooms into very thin strips and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. Add the garlic and anchovies, cook until the anchovies fall apart and the garlic is browned. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking until the mixture is smooth and bubbly. Add the mushroom liquid to the milk and cream in a separate cup, then add to the skillet, continuing to whisk until sauce is smooth.
Add the brie in medium size chunks at a time, continuing to whisk, make sure the sauce stays smooth. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes.
By now, your pasta should be done and you should have added the arugula to the pot during the last minute. Drain the pasta and arugula. Transfer the past and arugula to a large serving bowl.
Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle the cherry raisins over the pasta, season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with Parmesan cheese (optional, but suggested!)

Enjoy!!!

Whip Up Something New: Mayan Omelet with Chorizo Sausage

2011-02-06T15:31:00.003-05:00

Today could be a stressful day. After all, my kitchen is about to get torn apart and I've got 3 little rugrats running around the house doing what rugrats do. So before Mr. Fix-It came I ran to my girlfriend's house and picked up two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies (should help me achieve a woo-sah moment when I peak at the destruction before the beauty is restored) and then came back to whip up something new before closing down the kitchen. My recipe was taken from the cookbook Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night by Food Network's Daisy Martinez my favorite Latin cuisine queen. Here's a little snippet from the jacket cover:

Growing up in her mother's and grandmother's kitchens, Daisy became an expert in traditional Latin-American cuisine. Here she "Daisifies" those classics and includes a hearty sampling of dishes from her travels across Spain, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Argentina. To Daisy, food is about bringing family together, and so she peppers her collection with anecdotes and family vacation photos. Each recipe is as much about the memory the flavors recall as the love that goes into preparing the dish...

Mayan Omelet with Chorizo, Granny Smith apples and a plump buttermilk biscuit

Quick and easy to make, the Mayan Omelet recipe is definitely a keeper. I'd heard of omelets with spinach and onions, but not made with arugula. Surprisingly, the greens complimented the buttery eggs perfectly. Since only my oldest daughter and I like mushrooms, I scaled down the recipe. Since I do not eat eggs without cheese, I also added a shredded cheddar to the filling.

Mayan Omelet (adapted from Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night by Daisy Martinez)
1/4 cup baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup baby arugula leaves
3Tbs unsalted butter
1/4 cup sliced cremini mushrooms
2 extra large eggs
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/8 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Beat the eggs in a bowl than set aside.
Heat 2Tbs of butter in a skillet over medium high heat until foaming. Add the mushrooms and cook until they begin to brown. Add the spinach and arugula and cook just until the leaves wilt. (Add the remaining butter here if needed).
Add the beaten eggs to the pan, tilt the pan so that the entire bottom is covered with egg. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the egg. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Cook over medium heat until the egg sets. Use the edge of a spatula to lift the edges of the omelet from the pan to ensure the egg is not sticking, then tilt the pan and flip half of the egg onto the other half.
Slide the omelet out of the pan and onto your plate.

If you enjoy trying out new recipes or, like me, have made a commitment to actually begin using some of the tons of recipes you have stored everywhere why don't you join me in the Whip Up Something New challenge? Learn more here.

As soon as I can get into the kitchen I will be making two more recipes from this awesome treasure of culinary delights...Shrimp Ceviche "Xni Pec" and Penne a la Sirop.

2011 Cookbook Challenge: Stonefruit

2011-01-09T23:54:00.005-05:00

This weeks Cookbook Challenge theme is Stonefruits--mangoes, cherries, apricots, almonds, peaches, pears, etc. All of the choices sounded like excellent candidates for an enjoyable meal, but I had a few cans of apricots sitting in my cabinet that I have been meaning to pay attention to for quite some time. Unfortunately, many of the recipes I found called for dried apricots which I did not have on hand AND no matter how I searched, it was nearly impossible to find a recipe that called for canned apricots.

I decided on the Braised Pork Chops with Apricots for the main dish since I already had most of the ingredients but as soon as I can get my hands on Urfa and Maras pepper, I'm making my second choice, Lamb Stew with Turkish Flavors. At the last minute I realized I didn't have any cumin and almost completed the recipe without it, however upon tasting, you could tell something was missing. My mom ran to the store and picked up the cumin, as soon as it was added to the dish all was right. It provided that hint of savory to balance out the sweetness of the apricot. To compliment that sweet / savory of the pork chops, I made Curried Rice, Bacon and Cabbage Pilaf on the side. I'm not the greatest rice maker, but this one actually came out pretty good and not crunchy! Yayy!

For dessert, I had a hard time deciding whether to do the Apricot Upside Down cake or the California Apricot Coffee Cake. As you can see, the Coffee Cake won and it was a big hit. So many times I've baked a full size cake to have at least a quarter of it go to waste...there were no leftovers from this cake and the girls are already asking me to make it again. This is despite me reading the recipe wrong and using a 1/2 cup of brown sugar instead of 1 1/4 regular sugar. I think the almond extract saved me...the taste was very pronounced.

Technically, I didn't use my own cookbooks to find these recipes, they are from my online recipe box at Epicurious.com and ApricotProducers.com. Hopefully I will be able to find suitable recipes in my own cookbooks for some of the upcoming themes. I would definitely make the coffee cake and rice dish again...the pork chops, only for a special occasion, they required too many steps for a typical night's dinner.

Braised Pork Chops with Apricots and Curried Rice, Bacon Pilaf

California Apricot Coffee Cake

Added the apricots before the crumb topping

Fresh from the oven...smells fantastic!

2011 Cookbook Challenge

2011-01-09T22:38:00.022-05:00

I've got stacks of recipes, too many cookbooks to count and belong to several major online foodie sites...so I have a list a mile long of recipes I want to try. In fact, I made a commitment to cook at least 3-4 recipes a month from the cookbooks I already own because I keep buying more and more, but not actually using them.
Imagine my delight when I discovered this challenge hosted by April over at My Food Trail.

There are 26 themes over 26 fortnights. The challenge is to interpret the given theme whatever way you wish and cook a dish (or dishes) from one of your cookbooks (or magazine) related to the theme. Cooking your dish for each week starts from the date listed and you should post the results of your dish on your blog by the following Saturday before the next fortnight begins if you can.

Here are the 26 THEMES:
Week 1 Saturday 1/01/2011 Stonefruit
Week 2 Saturday 15/01/2011 Citrus
Week 3 Saturday 29/01/2011 Rice/noodles
Week 4 Saturday 12/02/2011 Love
Week 5 Saturday 26/02/2011 Outdoors
Week 6 Saturday 12/03/2011 American
Week 7 Saturday 26/03/2011 Celebration
Week 8 Saturday 9/04/2011 Eggs
Week 9 Saturday 23/04/2011 Crunchy
Week 10 Saturday 7/05/2011 Blue
Week 11 Saturday 21/05/2011 Cup
Week 12 Saturday 4/06/2011 Spice
Week 13 Saturday 18/06/2011 Dessert
Week 14 Saturday 2/07/2011 Hearty
Week 15 Saturday 16/07/2011 European
Week 16 Saturday 30/07/2011 Soups
Week 17 Saturday 13/08/2011 Baked
Week 18 Saturday 27/08/2011 Roast
Week 19 Saturday 10/09/2011 Green
Week 20 Saturday 24/09/2011 Asian
Week 21 Saturday 8/10/2011 Childhood
Week 22 Saturday 22/10/2011 Breakfast
Week 23 Saturday 5/11/2011 Red
Week 24 Saturday 19/11/2011 Seafood
Week 25 Saturday 3/12/2011 Cool
Week 26 Saturday 17/12/2011 Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-23T22:57:00.002-05:00

Keesh's Creations: Savory Chunk Chicken Salad

2010-09-15T23:17:00.000-04:00

Several cans of chunk chicken have been sitting in my pantry for months. The girls barely eat tuna fish, so I can imagine them turning up their noses if I didn't make something extra flavorful and not too mushy. I served the chicken salad on honey wheat bread...adding a slice of Lorraine Swiss cheese on the girls sandwiches only.

SAVORY CHUNK CHICKEN SALAD

1 can 12.5oz can of chunk chicken (96% fat free)

reserved liquid from canned chicken

1/2 cup of light mayonnaise

4 long sprigs of fresh curly parsley, chopped

1/2 stalk of celery diced

1/4 of a small onion diced

1 heaping Tbs of whole grain mustard

1 Tbs curry powder

1/4 tsp coarse black pepper

1/2 Tbs Badia Complete seasoning

1. Drain chunk chicken and place in medium bowl, reserve any leftover juice.

2. Add celery, onions, parsley and Badia seasoning to chicken and mix

3. In a separate bowl, mix mayonnaise, curry powder, pepper and mustard. Add reserved liquid one spoonful at a time until mixture is creamy, but not watery.

4. Add mayo/mustard mixture to chicken and mix.

5. Serve on a sandwich or on top of a bed of lettuce.

Makes 6 2oz servings.

Sunday Salon~I'm Back times 2! 1/17/10

2010-01-17T13:23:00.002-05:00

Happy Sunday! It feels good to be back after all of these months. I fell off a bit with blogging last year because I was on an intense home search and eventually found and moved into a wonderful new home. You know everything else that comes along with that--changing schools for the kids, helping the kids adjust, housewarming, and days upon days of unpacking (which is still incomplete). In addition to that, I also earned a promotion to a position that is even more demanding than my previous job.

Things are falling into a nice rhythm now, and I'm finally able to devote more time to my reading. Oh, and how could I forget to mention the best part of moving into my new home....floor to ceiling, entire wall length, built in book shelves!! Before I get into what I've been reading this week, let me tell you how I finally decided on buying this particular house. I'd been looking for houses since November of 2008 and most were nice, but there would always be something that did not fit my criteria. People kept telling me 'when you find your home, you will know it'. What the heck does that mean? 'You will just...know'. Well, I know I needed a home that had enough space for all of my books, an in-law suite (not really in-law because it was for my own mommy), and an extra bedroom...wooden floors, a fireplace and a pool would be nice perks. Perfect would be a house with a weeping willow tree in the yard.

I kept seeing this one house online but would pass it over thinking it was more than I was willing to pay, but I decided to do a drive by and check it out. The first thing I saw in the yard was my tree!! Hmm, I'm feeling something here. My realtor and I make an appointment to see the home and what do I see in the family room, the book case and my wooden floors in the formal living room and dining room. My house hunting was finally done and we moved in about 45 days later. Needless to say, the shelves are just about full because I've gone a little overboard now that I have the additional book space.

The past 2 weeks I've made a few purchases. I started off at the local library sale and picked up:

From my favorite independent bookstore, Classics in Trenton, NJ I picked up:

and from Borders online:

Currently Reading:

The Conjure Woman by Charles W. Chestnutt. This is the first of several books I will be reading as I explore classic writings by writers of African descent. The dialect is a little difficult to get used to, but I am enjoying these supernatural folk tales of goophering and haunting.

I just started Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and can already see that the book is going to be much better than the movie..and this was an EXCELLENT movie. I am able to see more of what is going in Oskar's mind, how tortured and bullied this poor little boy is by his classmates. Nothing like your typical vampire story, but just as chilling!

Last, but not least, I've started a new blog strictly dedicated to my reading challenges, it's called CutestLilBookworm's Biblio Journeys...come by and visit!

Under Construction

2010-01-15T10:06:00.003-05:00

I've decided to create a separate blog for my reading adventures and leave this one for all of my other musings. Now that I am settling into my new home I hope to be able to focus more on my blog. So, bear with me as I get set up and reorganized.

Let me Upgrade U

2009-03-02T19:41:00.009-05:00

Out with the Old and In with the New

I use my little Centro for just about everything...to surf the net, take pics and videos, email, listen to music, read eBooks, budget and track spending, sync to Outlook, obtain directions, and to text, talk and Twitter. It's quite banged up right now from constant use and dropping but I'm holding out on my upgrade until the Pre is available.

When it comes to phones, the gadgetier the better. I want a phone that does it all and the Palm Pre sounds like it will come close. It's being compared to the iPhone BUT it has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and a 3.2 MP flash camera. I need a phone with the keypad, ALL touch is too much for me, plus some keypads (like on the iPhone) won't detect your fingers if your nails are too long--it can't sense your heat (?) I was told). In addition to the innovativeness in integration of web apps and the message center the charger to this phone is one of a kind...check out this clip:

How many of you love the go go gadget phones? Is anyone else out there waiting impatiently for the Pre or any other smartphone soon to hit the market? Or, do you just use your phone for the basics...talking and texting?

Congratulations President Obama!

2009-01-20T21:34:00.019-05:00

As I woke my daughters up today, I excitedly reminded them, today is the day! We are going to have a new president. Before they left out the door, I pinned their Obama buttons to their jackets and they excitedly left out the door. All of my daughters, even the 5 and 8 year old, have been following along with the political current events and I've been explaining to them who's who, what's going on next, as well as informing them of the historical significance. My 16 year old actually braved the icy rain to attend an Obama rally in Chester, PA with my uncle and I. Despite suffering in that painful cold for five hours, she understood the importance of our attendance at the rally and has continued to show interest in the political process even to this day. That made me very proud of her; she's on the road to being a productive and involved member of society.

But what a dilemma. I couldn't take off work today because of a major assignment due on Thursday, but I was tempted. How could I have forgotten to put in for a vacation day? The first thing I did when I arrived at my desk was to check out all of the websites showing live stream of the inauguration. Site after site, a big orange BLOCKED screen shows up informing me that the site I was trying to view is NOT work related. Nooooo, not today. Can I take an early lunch and make it home in time to see the inauguration? No way am I missing out on watching this historic event as it happens.

Luckily, my supervisor came up with an idea and found a location very close to my worksite to watch the inauguration and enjoy our lunch. My cheeks are still hurting from the constant grin from ear to ear displayed on my face, even while tears were sliding from my eyes. In fact, all of us were moved to tears for different reasons. A few poignantly remember living through the hate filled time when Jim Crow laws were legal and never thought this day would come in their lifetime. Others, like me, are hopeful about what this means for our children and moved because of a significance much too difficult to put into words. People fought and gave their lives in order for this day to happen. Thinking of the sacrifices of those before us, it just made my heart swell with emotion.

Congratulations President Obama!!

Obama delivers his Inaugural speech

I don't recall ever seeing a President and First Lady who look as in love with each other as Barack and Michelle Obama.

Barack refers to Michelle as his rock because she keeps him grounded.

While the next four years undoubtedly hold many challenges, I am confident that we have elected a president who will provide great leadership and make strides towards strengthening our country again.

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T23:37:00.010-05:00

So the first day of 2009 is coming to a close and although I have completely recovered from a throbbing headache, I still have no voice. My family and I enjoyed a fantastic spread which included hot wings, dungeness crab legs, my mom's mean greens, shrimp ceviche with mango, quesadillas, meatballs, and deviled eggs accompanied by prosciutto wrapped asparagus. I knew one of my resolutions would include a promise to excercise more and all that blah blah blah, so I indulged myself more than a little bit. We really didn't try any new wines but for the official toast we popped a bottle of Segura Viudus Brut Reserva champagne.

I'd really love to share an appetizer recipe to start off the new year, but guess what? I didn't cook a thing. What I did do was create a hot wing sauce to go with the wings my mom cooked. If you enjoy spicy like I do, try this one when you get the chance and let me know what you think:

Kisha's Triple Pepper Wing Sauce
one bottle of Red Hot hot sauce
1/8 cup of Italian salad dressing
2 Tbs of butter
1 tsp crushed red peppers
1 tsp crushed or minced garlic
3/4 tsp West African Hot Pepper
1/4 tsp Melinda's ground Habanero peppers
1/8 tsp ground ginger

Warm all of the ingredients just until the butter melts, stirring frequently. You can either pour this directly over your wings or use as a dipping sauce.

Enjoy!