SRC Reveal Day: Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Cookie Dough Brownies

The Secret Recipe Club has been such a fun group to be a part of each month. I joined this club in October of 2011. WOW! Has it really been almost 5 years. Through that time I've found so many wonderful new blogs and tried so many recipes I may have otherwise overlooked. It truly has been fun, challenging and rewarding. Being assigned a blog, browsing through hundreds of recipes, making them and highlighting your assignment once a month is really fun. 

This month my assigned blog was The Avid Appetite. Rachel and her family (hubby and daughter) live in New Jersey...I may have to hit her up for great places to go, eat and stay since my youngest wants to take a trip in 2017 to New York and New Jersey (she's a Carlos Bakery fan). She started her blog as a way to document her adventures in cooking...and it grew from there...she loves pop culture, her little family and everything in between. Go check out her yummy recipes.

I pinned a few to try and settled on her Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps and also ended up making her Fudgy Cookie Dough Brownies. They were both really, really good. My youngest loved the brownies and after leaving a few home I sent the rest to work with my hubby for his crew (this has become my go-to when I don't want to keep sweets in the house...lol). I think they appreciate it. My hubby and I really liked the Buffalo Chicken. My youngest thought they were too hot, she can be kind of picky...no, she's not 5, she's 16...haha.

On to the recipes and be sure to check out all the other SRC recipes below. For the lettuce wrap I reduced the Frank's red hot because I don't like super spicy, even though my hubby does. I think I used a little more than 1/4 c. It was still spicy but not overbearing.

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

3 Chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
kosher salt
black pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. Franks Red Hot
1/2 c. Crumbled Bleu Cheese
1/3 c. Bleu Cheese Dressing (I like Maries brand)
1-2 heads Boston Lettuce (I used Romaine because I forgot to go to store)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425. On a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Lay out chicken and season with salt and pepper, paprika and thyme. Cook for about 25 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and when cool enough to handle, cut into small cubes.

2. In a large bowl combine, cream cheese, bleu cheese, dressing and Franks Red Hot. Add chicken and toss to combine. Place in a baking dish and place in oven to heat through. I used my covered baker from Pampered Chef (lowered the heat to about 350). 

3. Once heated and cream cheese combines, remove from oven and serve warm on lettuce leaves. 

Note: If you plan to take this to a party, you can make it to the point of combining ingredients and reheat when you arrive at your destination.

Now for Dessert. I made homemade brownies and halved the recipe for the cookie dough so it made a 9x9 pan instead of a 13x9 one. 

Fudgy Cookie Dough Brownies

Ingredients:

1 batch of brownies prepared according to package directions
2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. butter softened
3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Prepare brownies according to package directions or make homemade. Allow to cool.

2. In a mixer combine butter and sugars and mix well. Add vanilla. Slowly add in flour until combined and then add chocolate chips. 

3. Carefully spread cookie dough over brownies. Chill in refrigerator before slicing.

Note: I think next time I might use parchment paper in brownie pan so I can life them out and put on a platter making them easier to cut and remove. You can also make less cookie dough if you don't want it quite as thick. 

You could probably also make mini brownie bites and spread batter on the individual bites

Thank you Rachel for some great new recipes! 

An InLinkz Link-up

With Joy UNquenchable,