Red, White and Blue: Happy 4th of July!

Here's my contribution to your 4th of July festivities. The perfect combinations of hot, cold, spicy, sweet, creamy and crunchy. All you need to add are a few friends, some ice cold beer and great picnic weather.

This tasty wing recipe of Bobby Flay's can be found on the foodnetwork.com website. They can be made in advance and reheated, or are great served at room temperature. The blue cheese celery dip is fantastic! You may want to make more to use as a veggie dip. The yogurt recipe is my own creation. I only added 1/4 cup of the sugar, I like to taste the tartness of the yogurt. The honey helps to balance out the flavors without it being to sweet.

Enjoy your weekend and have a happy and safe holiday!

Chicken Wings with Red Hot Honey Glaze and
Blue Cheese-Celery Dipping Sauce
serves 4

For the wings:

1 cup hot sauce, I use the Frank's Red Hot Chile n' Lime
1/2 cup honey
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
24 chicken wings, tips removed

For the blue cheese-celery dipping sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For the wings:

Heat grill to medium-high.

Combine the hot sauce, honey and butter in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the butter is melted and the mixture comes together, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Pour half of the sauce in a bowl and keep the remaining sauce in the pan, warm over low heat.

Season the wings on both sides with the salt and pepper. Put a bit of the sauce in a bowl and toss the wings in the sauce just coating lightly. Grill on each side for 5 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Mine took a bit longer. Remove wings from the grill and toss with the warm hot sauce. Here is where I added another step. I decided to bake them off in the oven. Place the wings in a foil lined, rimmed baking sheet or pan, then place in a 350 degree oven for another 15 minutes. I thought this step of baking the wings gave the sauce a richer taste. After removing from the oven I tossed them in a bit more sauce. You will have to bake them off in batches so as to not overcrowd the pan. This recipe makes plenty of sauce so you may want to save some extra for folks to dip into. Transfer onto a platter and serve with the blue cheese sauce on the side for dipping.

For the blue cheese-celery dipping sauce:

Whisk together all ingredients in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.


White Chocolate Honey Crunch Frozen Yogurt
8 half cup servings


1 cup nonfat plain yogurt(I used Trader Joe's European style)
2 cups lowfat vanilla yogurt(I used Trader Joe's Organic)
1/2 cup milk, whole or lowfat
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar, to taste
2 tbl. honey
2 squares of white chocolate baking squares, or 2oz, chopped
1.5 oz cashew crunch mix or any type of nutty, sweet addition of your choice

In a large 4 cup measure, or bowl, stir together the 2 yogurts and the sugar (to taste) until the sugar is well dissolved. Pour into your ice cream machine and freeze according to directions. Five minutes before the yogurt is done, add the chocolate, crunch and honey. You can serve this right away,it will be very soft, or transfer to a container and freeze at least one hour then place in the fridge about 20 minutes to soften before serving.



I used a serrated knife to scrape along the edge of the chocolate to get these nice pieces. They distribute well in the mix.




I found this at the closeout store. The price was right and with this small amount there is none leftover to snack on. It was a like cashew brittle, so you can add anything close. Just break up the pieces so they are small enough for the machine to mix