Domesticate This Diva: Skinny Siracha Wing Night!

I haven't done one of these in a while...mainly because I haven't cooked in a while! Low and behold, yours truly MADE a dinner and (kinda of) remembered to photograph it. When you suck at cooking, it's hard enough to make sure you are making things right, let alone taking pictures. One day, I will get the hang of it (maybe).....until then, here is another story of my imperfect evening in the kitchen.

Anyways, last week I decided to make some wings and sweet potato fries so indulge in while watching my Hokies play some Thursday Night College Football. I worked from home on Thursday, and for some reason when I work from home, I want to cook. I think it's because I can actually plan and go to the store when I would usually be commuting....I don't face the prospects of getting home at 6 pm, working out and THEN making dinner--who wants to eat dinner at 8:30?

Anyways, I found recipes for Baked Brown Sugar Wings with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Parmesan and Cilantro and was immediately sold, even though trying to make sweet potato fries at home has a success rate of about .001%. (My personal success rate in the kitchen is averages about 40%...so these were doomed from the very start......) The good thing about these recipes? They were pretty simple and I had most of the ingredients (sans 30 chicken wings for 3 people....) so it was a very low cost dish. 

The wings were super easy to prepare--I doubled the recipe, smothered the chicken in the rub and put in the oven for 30 minutes....and OH my GAWD were they delicious. When I first made the rub, I was convinced it was nowhere near enough..but a little went a VERY LONG way. I will def. be making these again, but mostly likely with drumsticks or a piece of meat that isn't so fatty. We had a couple leftover as well, and they were just as good re-heated as leftovers.

As for the red pepper sauce, it was super easy to make--just throw all the ingredients in the food processor. (Yes, you read that right...I used a food processor....for the first time ever). It was also very delicious, BUT a) very heavy and b) not necessary for the wings. We ended up not really dipping the wings in the red pepper sauce--they were so yummy on it's own! We ended up using the Skinny Siracha sauce for the fries (below). I will probably not take the time to make this sauce next time, since it didnt' really go.

 ...all the goods before going into the oven. (Thank you so my Sous-Chef Roomie E for the AMAZING sweet potato fry-slicing.....our mandolin didn't have a Fry slicer....)

The fries weren't as simple or as good.  

(This is not a blog where I pretend I am the next coming of Martha Stewart, make a perfect dinner and serve it with a themed tablescape....I hate cooking because I am not good at it, and success is measured as coming out edible and remembering all the ingredients. If I remember to take a picture, then things are REALLY looking up......)

After baking the fries for well over the recommended time, they were will soggy, mushy and basically pathetic. I don't know why I always insist on trying to bake fries in the oven (I just want healthy fries!) because it NEVER works.

We scrapped them and watched a quarter of football. 

Then we decided we really wanted them, and Roomie E had her first frying experience (let's be honest....if we are attempting to salvage food, you bring in the right people....I am not the right person)

There was just one slight issue: we never fried anything before and didn't decide to consult Paula Deen before doing this. (Rookie Mistake)

 A couple of fries that literally charred on impact with our heated oil (who knew it was supposed to be a certain temperature and not boiling?!?) and then individually dipping them in the oil for 7-second intervals....about 30 mins later we had a nice heaping of fries. Topped off with about 3X the parmesan called for (who DOESN'T like cheese?) and some cilantro....and they were pretty damn good for mushy-almost-ruined fries.

The real discovery from this who cooking adventure (enough to wear me out for at least a week...) was the discovery of SKINNY SIRACHA sauce! It was the recommended fry sauce for this recipe, and a staple in my fridge moving forward. It's also my kind of recipe. 

Ingredients:

1 8 oz. jar of low-fat sour cream

Siracha sauce

Directions:

Add siracha to sour cream. Mix and taste and add until you like the way it tastes. Enjoy.

It has just enough kick without being too spicy to go with so many things--we ended up dipping the wings in it also. It would be great with veggies, nachos/chips, and anything else that you want to add some sour cream with some ZING! 

I am exhausted and stressed just re-living that experience....but at least I know I can make the wing rub and skinny siracha....def. adding this to my recipe repository (that doesn't really exist but everyone has to start somewhere....)

Hope everyone is having a great week!