This post is sponsored by National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association.

Do you love buffalo chicken as much as me? I am thoroughly obsessed because we make these boneless buffalo wings. All the time. First off, I'm excited to work with NFRA this year! I'm excited to share recipes sponsored by this great organization with you!

These buffalo chicken bites with some blue cheese are soooo easy to put together! You have to make them! Make them for your friends at your next get together or just as a snack. And I know you won't be able to eat just one!

What I love about recipes like this is I can use and repurpose what I already have in the fridge and freezer.

Have you started your spring cleaning yet? It's time to use what you have and restock on those items you always want on hand. I need to go into my fridge and go through our condiments and make sure I have plenty of butter. I also take the time to check out and take stock on what frozen foods I have and see what I can use up and what I need to get more of. We love to keep frozen vegetables on hand for easy weeknight meals!

My main ingredients for this quick appetizer are Athens mini fillo shells and Land O Lakes butter! You can't go wrong! (Another great recipe to try are these Spanakopita Bites with Goat Cheese and Artichokes!)

First, bake the two chicken tenderloins in the oven. It cooks so fast and it's minimal prep!

Slice across the grain and then dice the chicken.

All ready to go!

Make the buffalo sauce. I melt the Land O Lakes butter in a sauce pan.

Add the spices.

And the hot sauce.

Pour it over the chicken.

Ready the Athens mini fillo shells on a baking sheet.

Add the chicken and bake!

And then you have these little wonderfuls!

Add blue cheese or ranch dressing on the top and you're sure to please your friends and family with this recipe! I love how convenient this recipe is. It's so easy to make and you can totally put your own spin on it by adding blue cheese crumbles or cheddar cheese.

The Athens mini fillo cups are so easy to work with, the sky's the limit! And with the Land O Lakes butter, it just MAKES the buffalo sauce. I can't make buffalo sauce without butter!

Be sure to follow the NFRA on EasyHomeMeals.com, facebook and instagram for easy meal ideas that you can make for your family!

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Buffalo Chicken Bites

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 15 bites

Ingredients

• 2 chicken tenderloins
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Land O Lakes Unsalted Butter
• pinch of celery salt
• pinch of salt
• pinch of ground cayenne pepper
• pinch of chili powder
• 2 to 3 ounces hot sauce I used Frank’s RedHot
• Athens Foods mini fillo shells
• blue cheese or ranch dressing

Instructions

• Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Add chicken tenderloins to a bake sheet. Drizzle olive oil on both sides of the chicken tenders. Season with salt and pepper. Bake chicken for 5 minutes on each side or until no longer pink on the outside. Allow the chicken to rest. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F.
• Make the buffalo sauce while the chicken is in the oven:  melt 2 tablespoons Land O Lakes butter in a sauce pan on medium. Add celery salt, salt, cayenne pepper and chili powder and stir. Add hot sauce and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• After the chicken has cooled, slice the chicken against the grain and then dice into pieces. Put chicken into a bowl and pour the buffalo sauce into the bowl and mix until chicken is coated in buffalo sauce.
• Make sure oven is set to 350 degrees F. Arrange the Athens Foods mini fillo shells on a baking sheet. Add buffalo chicken to fillo shells evenly. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes.
• Remove from oven and drizzle blue cheese or ranch dressing on top and serve immediately. (Optionally:  serve with celery sticks.)

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association. I always share with you my own opinions and I only work with brands that I love.

The post Buffalo Chicken Bites appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I'm full on party mode, you guys! These appetizers are so fun. I have to make a confession, this is only the second time I worked with phyllo dough and I'm totally addicted! I only recently started eating pork again last month and this is my first recipe with Bacon in it! It's so good! But for vegetarians, this recipe is super good without the bacon, so you can leave them out too.

Do you like stuffed mushrooms? These are a different spin on those stuffed mushroom appetizers because they are stuffed and then stuffed inside phyllo dough. Let me take you through the steps.

Always, gather your ingredients.

Using an electric hand mixer, mix the cream cheese and mayo. You need a hand mixer for this, trust me.

Mix all of the ingredients together.

Then, stuff the mushrooms. If you have any large ones, you want to halve or quarter them. You want these appetizers to go in one or two bites and some of the mushrooms were way too big.

Next open your phyllo dough. You either want to thaw it on the counter for two hours or overnight in the fridge. Open the package and put the other package back into the fridge. Phyllo dough dries out fast so cover it was plastic wrap and a damp paper towel.

On a clean surface (like a cutting board), lay the first sheet down. Spray non-stick cooking spray lightly. Do this for five sheets total.

Then, put your stuffed mushrooms on top. I did 12 per 5 layer sheet set. Cut your pieces with a sharp knife.

Fold up nice and pretty. Start with opposite corners and then do the other corners.

Bake them for about 20 minutes.

And you're golden! These take a little bit of prep but they are so worth it. Even better, you can put these together the day before. Put them in a container or on a plate lined with paper towels, wrap them up tight and refrigerate them overnight…so when guests come over, all you have to do is bake them!

They are super easy to make even if it takes a little bit of time to do. I know you and your guests will love these cheesy, lovely mushroom appetizers!

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Cheddar, Blue Cheese and Bacon Stuffed Phyllo Mushroom Appetizers

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 48 appetizers

Ingredients

Cheese & Bacon Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
• 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 Tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
• 2 to 3 ounces blue cheese room temperature
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 pound bacon about 5 slices, cooked and crumbled or chopped
• salt & pepper
• non-stick cooking spray
• 1/2 package of Athens Foods Phyllo Dough thawed
• 1 pound white button mushrooms cleaned and stems removed
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons butter melted

Instructions

• Heat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with foil.
• Mix cream cheese and mayonnaise in a medium-sized bowl with an electric hand mixer for about 30 to 60 seconds. Add parsley and breadcrumbs and mix thoroughly with a rubber spatula. Add blue cheese and mix. Add cheddar cheese and mix. Add bacon and combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Fill each mushroom cap with the filling and set aside. Large mushrooms should be quartered or halved.
• On a clean and dry cutting board or surface, lay out one sheet of phyllo dough. Be sure to cover the remaining phyllo dough with plastic wrap and a damp paper towel or they will dry out. Lightly sheet with non-stick cooking spray and lay the next sheet on top. Stack 5 sheets this way and spray the top sheet. Place twelve stuffed mushrooms evenly spaced out on the phyllo sheets. Cut even squares. Grab two opposite corners of one square and pull up, pushing up against the top of the mushroom. Grab the other two corners and tuck in to wrap up the mushroom. Brush each stuffed mushroom wrapped in phyllo with melted butter.
• Bake for 18 to 20 minutes on 375 degrees. Remove using tongs or a spatula, place appetizers on a paper-towel lined plate. Allow to cool for at least 5 to 6 minutes before serving.

You can also get the recipe on Phyllo.com!

Disclosure: I partnered with Athens Foods for this post. I love working with them and always share with you only my personal opinions.

The post Cheddar, Blue Cheese and Bacon Stuffed Phyllo Mushroom Appetizers appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I had Gorgonzola Fries at Henry's Tavern in Portland, Oregon and these are my version of those fries and recently talked about them in my five things post about Portland eats. And someone asked for the recipe so I thought I would try my hand at it. I wasn't trying to make Henry's fries exactly but I think I came pretty close.

And you know about my obsession with brown butter…right? So let's go there.

It only takes a few minutes to get the brown butter gorgonzola sauce done…first brown the butter. Basically, melt it and allow it to brown just a little bit. You'll smell the nutty flavor but be careful not to burn it!

I used heavy cream and 2% milk so that the sauce wouldn't separate. With the gorgonzola and the addition of ground sage and cayenne, it's the perfect blend. You'll love these fries!

I'm excited to announce that I'm working with McCormick once again this season to share with you the Seasonal Seven Flavors, cinnamon, nutmeg, poultry seasoning, ginger, sage, vanilla, and peppermint, and most specifically I will be sharing recipes with sage in them.

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Brown Butter Gorgonzola Fries Recipe

I had Gorgonzola Fries at Henry's Tavern in Portland, Oregon and these are my version. The sauce is easy to make and once you have the fries baked or fried up, sit back and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 pound frozen fries or homemade prepared according to directions
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup 2% milk
• salt & pepper
• 1.5-2 ounces gorgonzola cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon ground sage
• pinch cayenne pepper

Instructions

how to brown butter

• Add butter to a saucepan and heat at medium. Don't let it burn. Continually stir with a wooden spoon and remove from heat when butter particles start to brown, about 5-8 minutes.
• Add heavy cream and continually stir, it may bubble a little. Allow to reduce for about 2-3 minutes. Add milk and also stir continuously. Add salt and pepper and cook for about 1-3 minutes. Add cheese and stir. Allow cheese to melt. Then, add sage and cayenne. Mix thoroughly, add salt and pepper if necessary.
• Pour over fries and serve immediately.
• Note: I like to bake my fries for this recipe. I put a little bit of vegetable oil on the foil before adding the fries and make sure to start the fries before starting the brown butter gorgonzola cream sauce.

Do you have a favorite recipe that includes sage? I would love to hear about it! If you have a linke, please share it!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by McCormick. I love working with them and as always opinions are my own!

The post Brown Butter Gorgonzola Fries appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

To say that we love buffalo chicken is an understatement. In fact, we had it earlier this week again for my husband's birthday dinner. When I was asked to develop a recipe with celery, I immediately thought of my boneless buffalo chicken recipe. I always serve it with celery.

The folks at Duda Farm Fresh Foods have just been so awesome. Their products are sold under the brand Dandy Fresh and I just love that a lot of the celery I buy is grown right here in Florida. Before I even worked with Duda Farm Fresh Foods, their celery has always gone into my shopping cart just about every week. We are always cooking with celery and I can pretty much guarantee you that there's always a bag of Dandy Fresh celery in my crisper. We have it with cream cheese and paprika for an appetizer and whenever I'm putting a chicken or a roast in the slow cooker, celery goes in there as well.

This recipe is very simple to make and you can even simplify it even more by using store bought boneless fried chicken and/or store bought buffalo wing sauce.

I always chop all of my vegetables before cutting up raw meats. So the first thing I do is cut up the celery and start the buffalo sauce. The buffalo sauce is really quick and easy to make as it utilizes store bought hot sauce (I prefer Frank's hot sauce).

Before cutting up the chicken into strips, I slice and then crumble the blue cheese so that's all ready. Put this back in the refrigerator before you go onto the next step.

After frying the chicken, I chop it up on a completely different cutting board (a clean one). Place chopped up chicken into a large bowl and mix in the buffalo sauce. Now you're ready to arrange your lettuce wraps.

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Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Celery and Blue Cheese

Ingredients

Sauce Recipe

• 1 stick of margarine
• 1/4 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 tsp red pepper seasoning
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 11.5 oz hot sauce or more to taste (I prefer Frank's red hot sauce which ends up being 1/2 a bottle)

Chicken

• 2 cups flour all-purpose, unbleached
• 1/2 - 1 tsp cayenne red pepper
• 1 tsp each salt and pepper
• 2 - 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 pound chicken breasts cut into cutlets and then into fingers, whatever sizes you prefer
• vegetable oil for frying

Lettuce Wraps

• 3 celery stalks chopped
• 2-3 oz. blue cheese sliced and then crumbled
• 12 Boston or bibb lettuce leafs separated, washed and dried with a paper towel

Instructions

Sauce

• Melt margarine in sauce pan with all seasonings, then add hot sauce.
• Leave covered on warm heat setting while preparing chicken.

Chicken

• In frying pan or skillet, add enough 1 1/2 to 2 inch layer of vegetable oil and heat on low.
• Prepare plastic zip bag with all dry ingredients. Close bag and blend together ingredients with your hands.
• Place eggs into a shallow dish and beat them. Add 1-2 tsp of beaten egg to plastic bag, close and blend together with your hands.
• As you're cutting up the chicken, add to dish with eggs. When finished, add to plastic zip bag and close. Blend chicken with flour mixture with your hands making sure each piece of chicken is evenly coated.
• Adjust heat of pan up to medium or medium-high. Brown chicken pieces for 4-6 minutes on each side. Cook in batches if needed.
• Drain on plate with paper towels. Allow to drain for a couple of minutes before cutting cooked chicken on a clean cutting board into bite-sized pieces.

Lettuce Wraps

• In batches, put some pieces of chicken into a glass mixing bowl and add 1/4-1/2 cup of the sauce mixture. Toss gently with tongs.
• Make lettuce wraps by adding chicken, celery and blue cheese. Serve on a platter or place ingredients on platters to allow everyone to make their own.

Notes

Notes: You can use butter as I have before but I prefer margarine for this recipe.

Recipe for buffalo sauce came from a friend.

Do you have a favorite dish or appetizer that you make with celery? I want to hear about it. If you have a link to your blog or your favorite recipe, please share!

PS You should head on over to their facebook page, they are giving away Vidalia onion prize packs. They are awesome, I just received one in the mail this week. Can't wait to share with you what I'm making with them.

Disclosure: Duda Farm Fresh Foods is a sponsor of mine. Opinions are always my own and I only share with you my favorite products and brands.

The post Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Celery and Blue Cheese appeared first on The Little Kitchen.