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So, on Monday, it was a holiday and a snow day.  After the girls had worn themselves out from frolicking in the snow for a full 45 minutes, we were left with the rest of the day stretched out ahead of us.

Our pantry has been looking like it belong to Ol’ Mother Hubbard as of late, but in my infinite wisdom, I managed to keep a few odds and ends on hand in the event of a dessert emergency.  Yes, they really do exist.  However, given the need to be inside for a good chunk of the day, this was more of a rainy-day/snowy-day/housebound activity emergency.  Enter Cake Batter Cookies.

These yummy treats are pretty simple and kid friendly, too.  While Mo was busy scrapbooking their snowy adventures at the kitchen table, Co decided she would be my sous chef.  I had pre-measured all of the ingredients, which enabled her to just dump things into a bowl and start mixing.  Even with the step stool, the top of her puff barely cleared the rim of the bowl. She had the electric mixer in one hand, her other hand grabbing at the counter for purchase, while her eyes were closed in either excitement or slight panic.  Our electric mixer is on the older side (I’m hoping for a Kitchen-Aid standing mixer one day), and I don’t think Co has ever held any sort of power tools in her hand.  Eventually, the batter came together, each of the girls got one of the beaters to lick and I got to use my cookie baller to get consistently sized cookies on the parchment paper.

One the cookie balls were down, I let Co give them a little squish with the flat of her hand and then adorn them with some pastel sprinkles.  As the cookies baked, we added a few drops of blue food coloring to the cream cheese frosting I had in the panty (I was really about to break my arm patting myself on the back for having had all the stuff on hand to do this).  By that point, Co’s attention span was all but maxed out, so I finished up the bakery business and promised the girls each their own cookie “sammich” once they were cooled.

Nothing like a little bit of sugar on a snowy day.  Happy Friday, ya’ll!

Cake Batter Cookies
www.parents.com/cookie-jar

Ingredients
1 box (18.25oz) yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c buttermilk*
Colored Sprinkles
1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting
Yellow, red, blue, food coloring

* I don’t keep buttermilk on hand, but quick tip to make your own.  Add one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk and stir.  Voila! Buttermilk substitute
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
2. Combine the cake mix, egg, il and buttermilk in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Shaped 2-inch mounds of batter into balls and flatten slightly. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Top with sprinkles.
3. Bake until cookies are golden and firm, 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
4. Divide the frosting among three bowls. Use a few drops of food coloring to tint the frosting the desired shades of pink, blue, and yellow. Sandwich the cookies together with frosting. Makes 30

Uh, more like, makes 18 — my cookies were on the large side.

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Yum, yum, yum.  I am so in love with sriracha right now, I should be exhaling smoke and farting fire.

Too much?

Anyway, when I find myself in the kitchen, it’s usually way past time to defrost something and everyone wants to be tucking into something other than what I’m about to lay on the skillet, including me.  I came across this wing recipe a few weeks ago and actually planned (shocker!) to make it for me and the hubs one night.  The girls simply don’t have the intestinal fortitude to handle this level of heat, so I gave them some Shake-and-Bake filled plastic baggies and let them have at it.

I had my wings defrosting in the morning and after lunch, I decided to tackle the marinade.  The ingredient list was pretty straightforward; I usually keep everything on hand except the orange marmalade.  The sriracha I had was from a jar that I had purchased to make Asian Turkey meatballs ages ago.  Evidently, sriracha requires no refridgeration, so this jar traveled with us from Norfolk to RIC and has been residing in the pantry ever since.  Aside from the occasional teaspoon or two needed for the meatballs, I haven’t really used it.  When it comes to adding heat to my food, I’m more of a Tabasco or Texas Pete kind of girl. I have dallied with some scotch bonnet sauce, courtesy of my in-laws and their delicious Jamaican cuisine, but only in moderation.  I like having taste-buds.

I grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, my measuring cups and spoons and got to work.  I was like a chemist up in the kitchen, what with all my scooping and pouring, scraping and whisking.  The bowl I had chosen seemed more than adequate to hold all the stuff, but halfway through the receipe, I realized the bowl was about 3/4 full.  By the time I added the last 1/4 cup of rice vinegar, the bowl was threatening to overflow.  I reached for my ziploc bag where the wings were resting and with the moves like Jagger, I dumped the marinade over the chicken.  Then, I turned to put the bowl in the sink and I hear. . .

tick. . .tick. . .tick. . .ticka. . .ticka.. . ticka. . .

I turn back around and my ziploc bag has slumped over, leaking marinade all over the counter, which in turn is doing a Jackson Pollock impression on the floor.  Thankfully, I grabbed it before the whole thing escaped from the bag, but let me tell you, cleaning up the floor was a beast.

Sriracha, honey, soy sauce and everything else in a nice constellation spattered over linoleum, up the baseboards and cabinets? Not fun.  Mr. Clean just shook his head at me when I reached for the Magic Eraser.

Anyway, I marinated the wings for the rest of the day and come dinner time, they were nice and juicy for the oven.  I was concerned that they weren’t browning up enough when I peeked in on them at the half-way point, but after I flipped them and let them swim in their own juices for another 35 to 40 minutes, it was perfection.

I will admit, I did chicken out a bit when it came time to go all in with the sriracha. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup.  Uh. . .that’s a lot and like I said before, I like my taste buds. I’d rather add more sauce than lose the top layer of skin on the inside of my mouth, so I opted to use only 1/4 cup and believe me, that was plenty hot.  The chicken skin was sweet, spicy, and crispy.  The meat was tender and juicy, falling right off the bone.  I stir fried some broccoli, snow peas, and carrots in a little Trader Joe’s syoza sauce and presto! Dinner was served.

Sweet and Spicy Sriracha Hot Wings 

Ingredients

• 4 pounds Chicken Wing Drummettes
• 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
• 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
• ½ cups Sriracha Thai Hot Sauce

• ¼ cups Ketchup
• ½ cups Soy Sauce
• ¼ cups Honey
• 1 cup Sweet Orange Marmalade (I Used Smucker’s)
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger, Minced
• ½ cups Fresh Cilantro, Chopped
• 2  Limes, Zested And Juiced
• ¼ cups Rice Wine Vinegar

Preparation Instructions

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I think I used up all my good ju-ju making those Valentine Cards the other day.  I was deep in the throes of the calm before the storm.  I’d beaten back the cold just enough that I was starting to feel better, but I shoulda known, that old nastiness was going to rally one more time. I got too ambitious and now, I’m back to my mouth breathing, chapped nose, dry coughing self.  I shoulda known better, but really, I have never been one to take a break even when it’s been foisted upon me.

Craig and the kids still managed to reap the benefits of the break in my sick day.  Dinner was homemade crab cakes (a.k.a crabby patties).  Too bad my taste-buds have mutinied.  They looked really good and I doubt the leftovers will make it much past this afternoon.  I’m pretty sure I saw Craig heating up a few to have at breakfast!

This is a goof-proof recipe that I filched off of the container of crab meat.  Four simple steps and you are on your way to a meal that puts warm summer breezes, sun-kissed sand dunes and the melodic lowing of a ship’s horn all within reach.

Epicure Crab Cakes

Ingredients
1 lb. Epicure crabmeat
1/2 cup crushed saltines (which I didn’t have so I used bread crumbs instead)
SN: I prefer my crabcakes with just crabmeat and seasonsing, but I’m not skilled enough in the ways of the kitchen to come up with some other kind of binding agent to hold the whole thing together. I tried to use a little bit of the bread crumbs at a time to see if less could do just as well as the whole amount. In the end, I used the entire recommended amount.  
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. seafood seasoning (hello, Old Bay!)
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. lemon juice

Directions
1. Remove all shells from crabmeat
2. Mix ingredients in bowl
3. Mix in crabmeat 
SN: So in my haste to get dinner on the table, I just read the first and second steps.  After I had picked through the crabmeat, I added the other ingredients right on top of it, instead of mixing it separately and then adding the meat to the mix.  I don’t think that really affects the quality of the cake, but for you purists out there, note to self: read the directions in their entirety before beginning. That’s Cooking 101.
4. Shape into cakes and fry or broil

I ended up with eight nicely sized crab-cakes, which I put on a foil lined pan. Then, for added flair, I dusted them with parsley flakes and some paprika for color.  They were under the broiler for about seven minutes.  I didn’t flip them simply because I was afraid they’d fall apart during the flip, but they were cooked through all the same.

Dinner was mighty quiet last night, save for my coughing, since everyone was grubbing down on the crabby patties.  These cakes are good enough to stand alone, but there are those of us who enjoy a good dipping sauce to go with.  You can’t go wrong with a basic cocktail sauce or a lemon and garlic aioli, both of which are easily found courtesy of Google.

And you know what else is nice? With Valentines’ Day right around the corner, you can easily whip these up for your special someone, garnish them with chives or microgreens and serve them with a chilled white for a lovely dinner.

Happy Friday, y’all!