Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese "Muffins"

These “muffins” are a perfect mash-up of two of my all-time favorite comfort foods. I’ve actually had Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese on my to-do list for a really long time, but there are a lot of recipes out there for it and I wanted to put an Emily Bites spin on it. I used my own recipe and decided that since my first attempt at Mac & Cheese Muffins were such a success, breaking out my muffin tins for these was a perfect solution. The result was a tray full of cheesy, portion-controlled macaroni muffins that I couldn’t wait to share with you all. I considered using pure blue cheese in the recipe, but since that can be a pretty intense for some people I decided to go with my absolute favorite brand of light blue cheese dressing, Marie’s. It gives the muffins a hint of creamy blue cheese flavor without being overpowering. The 3-4 tablespoons of wing sauce I listed give it a nice Buffalo flavor without being over the top spicy. If you like more heat, taste the sauce and add a little more before you add the eggs.

I love making main course “muffins/cupcakes” because they allow me to enjoy all the sinful, gooey, cheesy flavors of my favorite comfort foods in perfectly portion controlled servings so that I don’t go overboard. I like to eat two of these along with a side of fruit or a salad for a filling and complete meal.

If you don’t have muffins tins, are out of eggs, or you just feel like serving this in a baking dish, you can absolutely do that instead. Just omit the eggs and egg white (since they are only there as a binding agent to hold the muffins together) and transfer the pasta/cheese mixture into a baking dish instead of muffin tins to bake. In this instance it will make 6 servings and you can just double the Points+ and nutrition information for each muffin for a serving.

Chocolate Fruit Dip

Fruit and chocolate are one of those magical combinations where both components are delicious on their own, but together they form one tempting, sweet, craveable mash-up of flavors. Almost any fruit tastes great with chocolate: tart berries, sweet bananas, cool melon, take your pick! This dip is thick, fluffy, chocolatey and just the right amount of sweet to complement the natural sweetness of the fruits without overwhelming them. This is super quick to whip up and easy to bring to a potluck, serve to guests or just make as a snack! However you serve it, it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser.

I slightly modified this recipe (I used light ingredients) from the Taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook. Taste of Home sent me a free copy and asked me to make one of the recipes for my blog. I don’t accept offers like that unless I’m sure I’m going to love the cookbook or product, but I am a huge Taste of Home fan, so I knew this book was sure to be filled with hits. The only problem was deciding what to make first. I especially liked this book because in addition to yummy recipes they included really useful cooking tips and advice on everything from taking proper measurements to grilling tips to how to devein shrimp to how to purchase the best meats at the grocery store. Many of the recipes have specific tips alongside them and if you’ve ever read a recipe that told you to make a yeast dough, stuff a chicken or caramelize onions and you thought “huh?” this book breaks down the steps with photos. It also teaches you how to make condiments like herb butter, Chili Mayo or Curry Ketchup and they have a fun chapter on DIY cocktails. If you love cookbooks I totally recommend it!

Hawaiian BBQ "Cupcakes"

They’re bAAAaaaaack! This is the first wonton cupcake recipe I’ve made since the French Dip “Cupcakes” in January. Can you believe I let that much time go by? Silly me. I’ve wanted to make a barbecue chicken “cupcake” for a while now, and when I sat down to plan it out I couldn’t stop thinking about contrasting sweet and spicy flavors. I really recommend choosing a barbecue sauce with a hot & spicy kick to it. Trust me, the juicy bites of warm, sweet pineapple smothered in a spicy, smoky barbecue sauce is a combination perfectly engineered to excite your taste buds and make you swoon. Summer is the season for barbecue and if you don’t feel like firing up the grill, these are a great way to get your BBQ fix!

*For more information or to convert this recipe to mini-muffin sized appetizers, visit the Wonton "Cupcakes" section of my FAQs page!* 

CONTEST CLOSED: Taco "Cupcakes" on Anderson Cooper and a Wholly Guacamole Giveaway!

A couple weeks ago I got a call from my friends at Wholly Guacamole with exciting news. They were rolling out a whole new line of gourmet salsas and were about to embark on a media tour to promote the new products. One of their stops was going to be on Anderson Cooper's daytime talk show, Anderson. The plan was to share some yummy recipes using Wholly Salsa on the show and one of the recipes they wanted to share was my very own Taco "Cupcakes"!

Needless to say, my Taco "Cupcakes" were very excited for their big TV debut and particularly enthralled to be tasted by Anderson Cooper. Double yum. The segment aired on Anderson on Friday, but if you missed it, you can catch it below:

Exciting, right?? Anderson Cooper is a pretty picky eater and he loved them!* 

*disclaimer: eating Taco "Cupcakes" is not guaranteed to make you as suave as Anderson. Sorry.

Now it can be your turn to make Taco "Cupcakes" and experiment with all the fun new flavors of Wholly Salsa, including Red Pepper Mango, Roasted Tomato, Pineapple, Avocado Verde, and Guacamole & Spicy Pico! The Roasted Tomato and Avocado Verde flavors are my personal favorites.

Ten, yes, TEN lucky readers will each win a cooler of guacamole and salsas from Wholly Guacamole to make Taco "Cupcakes" at home and experiment with your own recipes! Here's how to enter:

Entry: Leave a comment below letting me know which of Wholly Guacamole's five new salsa flavors you are most excited to try: Red Pepper Mango, Roasted Tomato, Pineapple, Avocado Verde, or Guacamole & Spicy Pico

Bonus Entry: Become a fan of Emily Bites on Facebook and leave a second comment below (here, not on Facebook) letting me know you did. If you are already a fan, you can say that instead!
Extra Bonus Entry: Follow @emilybitesblog on Twitter and leave a third comment below letting me know you did.

Double Extra Bonus Entry: Follow emilybitesblog on Pinterest to have access to my top picks of the web and leave a post below letting me know you did.

Triple Extra Bonus Entry: “Like” the Wholly Guacamole Facebook Page and leave a comment there telling them you’re entering the Wholly giveaway on emilybites.com (feel free to tag my Facebook page in the post). Then post a comment below (on this post) to let me know you did.

Final Extra Bonus Entry: Follow @eatwholly on Twitter and leave a comment below letting me know you did.

Note: Please make sure you enter your name and email address when commenting so I will have a way to contact you if you win! Also, be sure to leave a separate comment below for each entry to maximize your chances of winning!

That’s six potential chances for each of you to win! Winners will be selected by random.org on Monday, June 11th at 5:00 PM EST. Enter below and it could be you – good luck!

Wow, what a great response...the winners have been chosen! Congratulations to our 10 winners: Matt from Mastering Matt, Amber Birlew, Becky Brewer, The Reluctant Domestic, Kelly from Hello Miss Kelly, Nancy from Great Bricks, Tara Milligan, Bri (bnrobins89), Amanda Schaub, and Sherri (sherri_mc). Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who entered!

Southwestern Egg Rolls

I’m back! Pardon my absence, but I am all moved into my new apartment (as long as having an obstacle course of unpacked boxes and bins scattered throughout the whole place still counts as being moved in)! Naturally, the only room that has been completely unpacked so far is the kitchen. I missed cooking and sharing with you!

I’ve wanted to make a Southwestern egg roll recipe for quite a while now, and it seemed like a great inaugural dish to break in my new kitchen. Whenever I’m scouring the web for recipe inspiration, I usually end up bookmarking like crazy, so I have a system of bookmark folders by category to try to stay somewhat organized. I knew I had several Southwestern egg roll recipes bookmarked, and when I went to check them out I realized that they were all basically the exact same recipe! That happens a lot in food blogging. Recipes get popular and catch fire (hopefully not literally). The funny part is that each of the recipes I had marked on different blogs were from different years (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012), so I guess it was a pretty slowly building fire.

After making these I can totally see why so many other bloggers have jumped on board. These could definitely rival a similar appetizer at any major restaurant chain, and since they are baked, not fried, they’re actually healthy! The blend of flavors and textures is delicious. Hearty spinach and black beans, sweet, juicy corn, gooey cheese, green chiles for a little heat, and a tasty blend of spices for a pop of Southwestern flavor, all wrapped up in a crispy on the outside, soft on the inside egg roll wrapper. Yum. I highly recommend serving these with a zippy salsa for dipping. If you wanted to add some meat to these you could certainly add the chopped, cooked chicken to the mix and I’m sure it would be delicious. These egg rolls are perfect for an appetizer, snack, or meatless main course. I listed the points and nutrition information per egg roll so that you can choose your own serving size, depending on how hungry you are!