Whew, wee! These July days aren’t messing around. It is hot, hot, hot! I could do without the humidity, for sure.
Now that I have introduced shorts into my wardrobe, I really haven’t minded it all that much. It’s an amazing feeling the difference when not wearing jeans. I didn’t know any better. I didn’t want my legs to show, so instead, I chose to roast my butt off through the summer. Hair in a bun, no makeup because it melts off your face anyway, and a cooler top. That was my way of beating the summer heat. Most hot summer days, you will find me indoors with the AC or in water if outside. That’s the only way during these brutally hot days.
Nowadays, and after my leg surgeries to fix those pesky varicose veins, I finally went shorts shopping. For the first time on a hot day, while wearing my new shorts, I heard my legs say, “Hallelujah, Jesus! Thank you!” For real, they thanked Jesus and me. They have never felt air like that before. Now, in case you didn’t know, my thighs are the best of friends. They have a pretty close relationship, always side by side. (Hahaha! See what I did there?) They tend to eat the shorts a wee bit, but that’s OK. We wear them proudly and welcome the fresh air upon the skin. Each month my legs look better and better. My thick thighs never bothered me. Honestly, I own my thick thighs. I’ll never be a size 6; I am not built that way. But to look down and see them smooth again!? Oh, my goodness, it’s a dream! It feels so good to not be one bit ashamed of how my legs look. It is such a game changer in the heat!
A few of our besties, Joe Kanger and Lindsay Mertes asked us to go to the fair. I have never been a fair person because of when it falls. One of the hottest months of the year! But this year, I have a game changer. Shorts! We agreed to go, and of course, on the day is was supposed to be 94°. Last year would have been a hard no to that invite. But, if you saw me in my shorts at the fair while munching on some cactus taters and some lavish dessert, you saw correctly. I haven’t been to the fair since I was pregnant with my son Tyler and that was in 2009.
You all know I don’t love the heat, and if you are an avid reader, you know all about my upper lip sweat and now know about my thighs being besties. But, something you don’t know is that I don’t love a lot of heat in my food either.
I am not talking about temperature heat; I am talking about spice heat. I love me some mild wings or mild buffalo chicken dip. That’s about it for spice for me. My husband loves buffalo sauce: hot wings, buffalo chicken cheesesteaks, and bottles of Franks Red Hot on everything. While surfing Pinterest, I found a recipe for buffalo chicken bombs. I thought to myself, “Chris would love these!” I enjoy buffalo chicken dip, so I thought I would surprise him some night and make these.
I baked my chicken over the weekend when I made homemade chicken salad for my son’s motocross race on Saturday. I saved two of the seasoned breasts for dinner on Tuesday evening. Our kids were out riding their dirt bikes, and my husband was in the garage working.
Ty came in first, sweaty and hungry. He closes our dining room sliding glass door, takes his shoes off, and looks over as I am cooking on the stove.
“Is that what I think it is, Mom?” he asked.
I knew he had no idea what it was. As he walked over, he looked in the skillet and was bummed that they were not my homemade sticky buns.
“Sorry, buddy,” I told him.
“It’s OK. My birthday is next week, and I know you will be making me a whole pan to myself,” he replied.
Next comes my husband through the same door. As he walked in, I saw him glancing at the table, but he didn’t say anything. At this point, I had everything on the table as my family was getting washed up for dinner. We sat down, and Ty was the first person to ask what we were having after prayer. I asked them who was going to be the first person to take a bite out of these biscuits. Chris volunteered, but Tyler beat him to it.
“Mom, it tastes like buffalo sauce!”
Chris then bit into one and thought I had just thrown some sauce in the homemade chicken salad I had made over the weekend and shoved that puppy into a biscuit. I laughed and told him I hadn’t done that. I took a recipe from Pinterest and made it my own.
Adding the bacon was brilliant to give it that crunch, and making the top a garlic sauce gave it a boom factor. I wish I could show you guys the video of me breaking one of these open. My inbox and post on Instagram exploded, and everyone wanted the recipe. (You can see it at AndreasCountryHomeCooknFitness on Instagram with the link to the recipe on my website.)
My husband’s final remark about dinner was this, “I have to say, babe, that when I walked in and saw the table, I knew that there was no way you only made a pan of biscuits, salad, and fruit. Little did I know what was inside of them, and I can’t believe you actually made something with buffalo sauce in it. I loved it. Thanks so much for doing that for me.”
I have to say I really enjoyed them. Don’t let the hot sauce fool you. It’s a perfect combo with the ranch, garlic, hot sauce, and biscuit. You won’t be sorry.
Buffalo Chicken Bacon Bombs
Ingredients:
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts
• 1 cup cooked bacon pieces
• 8 oz. Cream cheese
• 1/3 cup ranch
• 1/3 cup Buffalo sauce
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup Butter
• 1 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning
• 2 tsp. juice from fresh garlic
• Parmesan cheese
• 1 can Pillsbury Biscuits
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix shredded chicken, bacon, softened cream cheese, hot sauce, ranch and mozzarella cheese. Mix well till cream cheese mixes well into everything.
Next, grease a medium sized skillet or a pan that can be placed in the oven.
Place biscuits on a cutting board and cut each of them in half.
Take a half of biscuit and flatten it with your palm.
Put a spoonful of the chicken mixture in the middle of the flattened biscuit dough.
Fold over each edge until chicken is tucked inside and place in pan, seam side down. Finish until all the biscuits are used.
Melt butter and add garlic juice, Italian seasoning, and sprinkle in Parmesan cheese. Brush on with basting brush. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.
