Buffalo Celery Sticks

Cool and crisp, these blue cheese-filled celery sticks are a great snack.   The crushed corn chips on top offer a bit of contrasting spice, too, with Cajun flavoring.  These are not necessarily photogenic, but they're fabulous nonetheless!

The notion for this recipe came to me in a flash as I perused all the lovely goodies at the new Michigan General Store in Ypsilanti.  Oh, it's so much fun to shop there!  My favorite treats so far are the Great Lakes kettle cooked potato chips, made with potatoes grown in the state, and buttery, creamy tart cherry-flavored caramels ... sigh.  Garlicky pickles, hot sauces, beers, shortbread cookies, candies, smoked fish dips - there are so many amazing products, all proudly made right here in Michigan.  And the wines you can buy there are lovely served in beautiful glasses etched with the famous mitten shape of our state, which you'll also find just waiting for you at the shop.

As I admired the bounty, I saw Cajun tortilla chips made right in Ypsilanti ... I heard them calling to me.  With a clear vision, I thought of combining these treats into an homage to all the flavors of a traditional plate of Buffalo wings - cooling sticks of celery, blue cheese dip, spicy sauce - but without the chicken part of the equation.

Whether serving these while watching a sporting event or a movie, or serving them at a party, they're an easy and fun food to offer.  Buy dairy products and celery from Michigan to go with the tortilla chips when making this recipe, and your entire feast can celebrate the Great Lakes State!


Buffalo Celery Sticks

1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
several splashes cayenne pepper sauce
2/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
pinches of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large stalk celery, cut into 5" ribs
1 cup Cajun-flavored corn chips (see note below)

Combine sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, blue cheese, salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl; cover and let rest overnight.

Spread the blue cheese dip down the center of the celery ribs. Crush the corn chips and press the celery ribs upside-down into the crumbs to coat the dip with them. Place onto a serving dish.

Makes 12 or more Buffalo Celery Sticks.

Note: If you don't have access to Cajun-flavored chips, you can use either corn or potato chips and sprinkle them with Cajun seasoning.

Michigan General Store
44 E. Cross Street
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
734-961-8039




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A New Award and a Newfangled Chicken Salad

I was so thrilled recently to receive an award from Mrs. B. of Go Ahead ... Take a Bite!, one of my favorite places to check in each day. Mrs. B. is as verbose as I am, which I love! I get to know her, share her passion for cooking, and feel as though we're chitchatting about recipes over either a hot cup of coffee or a cold iced tea (depending upon the time of day). THANK YOU so, so much! I'm so flattered ... :)

Now, here are the rules:

1) Name the Blogger who gave you the award.

Done, and happily so.

2) Link to their blog.

Done, and happily so ... :)

3) Pay it forward to 5 Bloggers.

Oy, the hard part! Decisions have never been my strongsuit, and I'm sufficiently frazzled at the moment (the telenovela that is my life!) that things have only gotten worse. So I'm going to pay it forward en masse -- I'm going to pass it on to anyone who wants to let their blog wear this award proudly! It's not a cop-out, it's generosity ... :)

So, on to the recipe du jour ....


I thought one day that I should try making up a new recipe by deconstructing something and rearranging it ... but I wasn't feeling as creative as I was hoping to be, and couldn't think of anything in particular to take apart and rebuild in a new and novel fashion.

And then the idea struck me to somehow re-work the Buffalo wings that everyone loves -- those spicy little tidbits that get dipped in blue cheese dressing, and are served with celery sticks to counter some of the heat. I didn't come up with anything as wildly inventive as, say, Buffalo wing whoopie pies! (Bleah!!!)

But I did put the critical ingredients -- chicken cooked in a cayenne pepper sauce, blue cheese and celery -- into a bit of a different format: a salad.

Simply chop the chicken and the celery, and place them decoratively on a plate. The blue cheese -- both crumbled and the dressing -- gets drizzled over everything.

Not particularly innovative, but delicious nonetheless ... :)

Buffalo Chicken Salad

1 tablespoon oil
salt, pepper
2 chicken thighs
3 tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
blue cheese dressing

Heat the oil over medium heat in a small skillet. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper to taste, then cook for 10 minutes skin-side down. Turn the chicken over and cook 10 more minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the cayenne pepper sauce to the skillet and cook the chicken 3 minutes per side. Chop the chicken, then stir the remaining 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper sauce into it.

Arrange the celery in a circle around a serving plate; arrange the chicken in the center of the celery. Sprinkle the blue cheese over the top, then drizzle with the dressing.

Serves 1, but easily doubled.