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.