Devils On Horseback

Whoa, wait. It's almost OCTOBER?! How did this happen? But hey, I'll take it. The weather is beautiful, football is in full swing, and those damn mosquitos are about to kick the bucket for another season ;)

Speaking of October, I have big plans for Halloween this year. Okay that might be a lie, but I have some fun treats I am dying to make for coworkers. Stay tuned for those! In the meantime, these oh-so-good bites are appropriately named for Halloween... DEVILS ON HORSEBACK!

Ask me why they're named that. Do it. And I'll show you the best shoulder shrug I've got! Regardless, these little bites are great for a rich and delicious appetizer.

Ingredients:

• 24 prunes (don't knock 'em! They're delicious dried plums!)



• 12 strips of bacon. This is a pack of bacon, folks.



• Bleu cheese crumbles. I don't know how much to tell you to use, just eyeball it to your tastes.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees and soak 24 toothpicks in water. Just throw 'em in a cup and let them chill out while you prepare the rest.



• Slice the prunes down the middle but not all the way through.



• Cut your bacon strips in half.



• Now stuff some bleu cheese in the 'pocket' you made within the prune. Wrap one of those half strips of bacon around the stuffed prune. Repeat for all your little devils.



• Place on a baking sheet and cook until the bacon is crispy (20-25 minutes-ish).
  


• Remove toothpicks before serving.

I don't want to hype these up to much because they are SO, so simple... but oh my goodness! Divinity in one sweet and smokey bite!

Source: A spin on Martha

Ham and Egg Cups (low carb!)

Last week I talked about my Breakfast Cupcakes(basically just an egg fritata all piled into a muffin tin). While those were delicious, I do get bored easily. I can't eat the same thing every single day or I'd go crazy! So I wanted to mix it up when it comes to easy to prepare, easy to eat, and easy to freeze breakfast options. I've seen a few versions of bacon and egg cups floating around the internet (example here) but I for one do not need those extra carbs in the morning.


So why not replace the bread 'cup' portion with ham? Yum, yes please. Easy and low-carb... now that's my kind of breakfast!

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs


• 8 slices of Hillshire Farms Ultra Thin Smoked Ham (any ham would be fine, but this is what I had on hand)


• Cheese, to your liking


• Salt & Pepper


• Any veggies you want to include (I just threw in a little chopped onion)

Directions:

• Spray your muffin pan with Pam or another nonstick spray and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.


• Place one slice of ham in a muffin cup. Press down so it creates a 'cup'. Now place a second piece of ham in the same cup, but going the opposite direction. You're basically criss-crossing your slices so that the egg can't escape :)


• Crack an egg into your ham cup. I like my scrambled, so I did that step first in a separate bowl. You could definitely keep the yolk intact if that is more your style!


• Add in veggies and top with cheese.


• Bake for 15 minutes and enjoy!

I've mentioned it before in my posts about Breakfast Cupcakes but I love Tabasco on my eggs. So that is exactly what I added to the Ham and Egg Cups to make a tasty breakfast. Remember, this recipe was only for four servings, but you can make as many as you want! These would freeze great and be good for any busy morning. Just take out of the freezer and cook in the microwave for approximately 1 minute.

Whiskey and Beer BBQ Chicken Sliders

We recently hosted our annual summer party and had fantastic time (as usual). The problem is, we had a TON of leftover beer. Now wait, before you say "I see no problem with this" just know that I would normally agree with you. But it's Budweiser. And although Bud is a great beer, it's not something we normally drink. Since I hate wasting any precious adult beverages, I've decided to keep making stuff with it until it's gone :)

You might remember from last week when I made Super Easy Beer Bread with it. Well now we're on to the next installment of beer cooking! And I don't know about you, but how could Whiskey and Beer BBQ Chicken NOT be good?! Plus it's from the crockpot (double bonus!). It starts basically like my BBQ Pulled Chicken, but taken to the Nth degree!

Ingredients:

• Sauce ingredients:



• 1 cup prepared bbq sauce



• 1 can (12 oz) beer



• 2 TBSP whiskey



• 1 tsp seasoning salt (I use Lawry's)



• 1 tsp pressed/minced garlic



• 1 tsp ground mustard (I used a garlic kind from my local market, but anything will work)



• 1 tsp buffalo wing or other hot sauce



• Other stuff:



• 2 chicken breasts



• Chicken broth



• Bread of choice (slider buns or hoagies cut into thirds)



• Pickles and olive for garnish

Directions:

• Place chicken breasts and some chicken broth into your crockpot. Heat on low for 7-8 hours depending on how fast your crockpot cooks. You can also knock this out in 4 hours on high!



• After fully cooked, take out chicken breasts and place on a plate for shredding.



• Gently shred the chicken breasts. The easiest way to do this is with two forks - put one fork in the chicken breast to hold it steady and use the other to pull chicken apart.



• In a saucepan, heat sauce ingredients to boiling over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.










• Remove half of the sauce to 2-cup liquid measuring cup; set aside. Stir shredded chicken into remaining sauce in saucepan until evenly coated. Heat over medium-low heat until hot.



• Place about 1/3 cup chicken mixture on bottom of each slider bun; top with bun top. Garnish each sandwich with three pickle chips and two green olives. Serve with remaining sauce.

Tangy, spicy, delicious! This would be great for football season. Just mix the chicken and sauce together then return to the crockpot on low. You can also just put your garnish on toothpicks ahead of time. Your guests can help themselves to a delicious chicken slider whenever they want! Now that I think about it... this Whiskey and Beer BBQ Chicken would be awesome for BBQ chicken pizza! Or BBQ chicken nachos! Oh wow, the possibilities are adding up quickly...

Source: Betty Crocker