BBQ Chicken & Apple Pot Pie Recipe (& Giveaway!)

I just received my Rufus Teague Blue Ribbon Recipe Battle prize pack today! My original BBQ Chicken & Apple Pot Pie made the Top 5 recipes submitted and I want to share!

One (1) winner will receive some tasty Rufus Teague products from ME! Just what you'll need to make one of these scruptious pies all for yourself! How do you enter? Head on over to 'LIKE" my GinnyBites FaceBook page and then COMMENT on my GiveAway post! Easy peasy, right?! 

Want one (1) more BONUS entry? Head over to good ol' Instagram and follow me @GinnyBitesLife!

I will draw the winner on Wednesday, September 13th! (Continental U.S. mailing address only)

Have a great weekend and if you make my pie...ENJOY!

BBQ Chicken & Apple Pot Pie 

Created by: Virginia Louden, for the Rufus Teague 'Blue Ribbon Recipe Battle' - Summer 2017

This dish made the Top 5! 

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts

2 tablespoon Rufus Teague Meat Rub

1 medium red onion diced

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 ½ cups frozen 'riced' sweet potato & cauliflower blend

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 large Granny Smith apples (cut into 1/2” cubes, about 3 cups)

1 cup Rufus Teague Apple Mash BBQ Sauce

Crust:

3 cups flour

1 cup shortening

4 slices bacon (cooked & crumbled)

½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon Rufus Teague Meat Rub

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

10-12 tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breasts into 1/2” cubes, evenly coat with 2 tablespoons Rufus Teague Meat Rub. (Optional: cover & refrigerate for 2 hours) Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 10” cast iron skillet (or a pie tin) with vegetable oil and set aside.
3. In a large skillet cook chicken, red onion, riced sweet potatoes & cauliflower, butter, minced garlic, salt and pepper on medium heat until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender.
4. Add diced apples and Rufus Teague sauce to skillet and stir to coat. Remove from heat.
5. In a large bowl combine all crust ingredients and cut together with a pastry cutter until resembles pea sized crumbles. Add and incorporate 10-12 tablespoons of water one at a time until crust mixture is just moistened. Divide dough in half and roll out on a generously floured surface to @ 1/4” thickness.
6. Place bottom crust into prepared cast iron skillet and fill with BBQ chicken & apple mixture.
7. Roll out top crust and cut out desired shapes in center of dough for venting. Place top crust over filling. Tuck crust edges under and pinch/flute edges of crust. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until crust is golden. Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving

Saucy Mama Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Burgers

Hello #GinnyBites fans! The time has finally come. I am now able to share my original burger recipe that I created for the Saucy Mama World Food Championships 2017 qualifier! I was 1 of 25 foodies chosen to compete and create an original recipe using my choice of Saucy Mama products for either the burger or the bacon category. I chose BURGER!! Yummo!

The 6 Saucy Mama products I chose to work with. So much potential! MMM!

Saucy Mama is looking for 1 more chef to complete their 6 teams this year at the WFC in Orange Beach, Alabama this November. Will it be me? Who knows! But it is so fun to try. 

Me competing at WFC 2016 with my Cubano Cristo Sandwich
(Image from: https://www.facebook.com/WorldFoodChampionships/
photos/a.386724011360054.92900.194780627221061/1372358002796645/?type=3&theater)

As many of you already know, last year was the first time I made it into the WFC. Back in 2015 I tried for the first time to earn a Golden Ticket through this same Saucy Mama contest using my Miso Slaw Burger recipe. I did not get in that year but it was truly a delicious journey. Then, in Summer 2016 I entered the WFC Taste of America Challenge on Instagram with my Hot Ham & Wild Rice Sandwich and won the spot for my home state of Minnesota AND a free ticket into the competition. It was the most amazing experience and I am so very proud of Team #GinnyBites.  Now that I have had a taste of this whole food sport "thing"...I am totally hooked! I hope you enjoy this fun recipe AND I will have my fingers and toes all crossed, sitting on pins and needles, just waiting to hear if I am the chosen one, LOL! Wish me luck and PRETTY PLEASE SHARE! And after you check out this recipe...Don't forget to scroll down for a chance to WIN some tasty Saucy Mama products of your very own! Who doesn't love a good ol' GIVEAWAY!?

My inspiration!

The recipe in my head that I decided to run with is a buffalo chicken salad stuffed burger. It's big. It's messy. It's delicious. And just a little bit spicy. Now how fun is that?! The Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce from Saucy Mama is soooo flippin' good. Think Frank's Redhot wing sauce...only WAY better! Once I tasted it I knew this crazy idea I had could really come to life. It is a must try, truly.

Literally dripping with flavor!

Saucy Mama Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Burgers

Recipe (serves 4)

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Salad:

1 cup cooked chicken (chopped)

1 celery stalk (diced small)

1/4 cup red onion (diced small)

2 T mayo

3 T Saucy Mama Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce

3 T Saucy Mama Poblano Ranch Dressing

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

cracked black pepper

For the Burger Patties:

2 lbs ground beef

cracked black pepper (generous amount)

1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 T minced garlic

1 T Saucy Mama Creamy Horseradish

Extras:

4 Onion buns, buttered and lightly toasted/grilled

8 slices sharp cheddar 

Romaine lettuce leaves and sliced tomato for 4 burgers

extra blue cheese crumbles

Directions:

1. Combine all chicken salad ingredients in a bowl very well and set aside.

2. Combine all burger patty ingredients very well and form 8 patties about 1/2" thick.

3. Lay out 4 of the burger patties and place a heaping 1/4 cup of chicken salad in the middle of each one, leaving 1/2" of burger around the edges. Cover each with the other 4 prepared patties and pinch/seal the patty edges together to hold in the chicken salad.

4. Cook the burgers on a grill pan on medium/high heat for @ 16 minutes, flipping them every 4 minutes and rotating for nice grill marks on both sides.

5. After the last patty flip, pour 1 T of Saucy Mama Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce onto each patty and then place 2 slices of sharp cheddar on each burger. Turn off heat when done and let rest for a few minutes.

6. Butter and toast the Onion Buns and then spread Saucy Mama Creamy Horseradish on all 8 buns halves.

7. Build the 4 burgers from the bottom up: Bottom bun, lettuce, stuffed burger patty with cheddar, tomato slice(s), crumbled blue cheese, top bun.

And bring the napkins!

*** Wish me luck! And share, share, share!  ***

And now for the GIVEAWAY!!! 1 lucky winner will receive 3 Saucy Mama products of their choice! Only excludes olives and the Apricot Ginger Mustard. Winner will be chosen on June 22nd, 2017! So check back to see if YOU won...and try not to drool!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

National Coffee Ice Cream Day

Was yesterday!! But I made some and it was wonderful. I am going to have some more tonight. Yay for National Coffee Ice Cream Day!

I don't know about you guys but the long weekend, the annual back to school shenanigans and the real life stuff going on has got me spinning. Many things are changing and falling into place over here but I need to get some things organized around here if I am going to keep up! Hopefully in a week or two things will calm down and get back to a routine. I'm working on it.

I have today and tomorrow off. Next up is National Wienerschnitzel Day on Friday. Um, yes!!! I can't wait to eat some! (drool)

National Cheese Pizza Day

It's Labor Day weekend. It's a Monday. It's the last night of summer break before the kids go back to school. A busy kind of weekend. Today also happens to be National Cheese Pizza Day. Yeah, I did it. I totally ordered cheese pizzas for lunch from Pizza Hut. I am not sorry to say this either.

It's real life in here folks! Sometimes this chef orders take out. The kids were pretty happy about it, too. A fun spontaneous surprise.

It is my personal opinion that cheese pizza is very boring to eat. Pizza is supposed to be a vessel for me to get lots of cheese, veggies and meat into my gullet in a very satisfying way. Something was definitely missing today. But...in the spirit of this challenge I did it. Lol!

Side note: Pizza Hut is having a crazy good deal right now. I bought 2 medium cheese pizzas, 2 orders of boneless  wings and 4 20 oz bottles of soda for $30. Not bad. Mom for the win.

Tomorrow is National Coffee Ice Cream Day, which is pretty awesome. Maybe you'll come back and see?

National Macadamia Nut Day

Yesterday was National Macadamia Nut Day. I must say I baked the cupcakes and prepared the frosting the night before hand. I decided to wait and decorate them yesterday so I could take my pictures while they were fresh and beautiful. I threw the frosting in the fridge overnight because it contained milk. Took it out to soften around lunch time and it took many many hours for it to get back to whiping and spreading consistancy. Lesson learned, I guess. So that is why my post had been delayed. Anywho...

Yum and yay for cupcakes! I chose to bake some white chocolate chip, macadamia nut and Craisin cupcakes with a vanilla butter cream frosting. After all of the waiting to eat them they were delicious. I did send a box to the neighbor house though. Too many treats lately! Ha!

I used a basic chocolate chip cupcake recipe. Instead of 1 cup of chocolate chips I used 1 cup of an even mix of choclate chips, chopped macadamia nuts and Craisins. Easy stuff.

Thanks or reading. Next up is National Cheese Pizza Day! See you soon.

National Welsh Rarebit Day

Today was one of my favorite food holidays to prepare so far. National Welsh Rarebit Day. When I first read about this dish a couple of months ago I was thinking, oh no rabbit! Eew! It's not rabbit. (whew!) Although Welsh Rabbit is another name for this dish. Maybe it was one of those missteps in translation that just stuck. Doesn't matter to me. I didn't have to make and eat rabbit, it involves homemade cheese sauce (yum) and it gave me a great excuse to make breakfast for dinner. That's always fun. Breakfast is my favorite. For serious. I actually had a morning wedding so that we could serve brunch at the reception. I.Friggin'.Love.Breakfast.

Welsh Rarebit is a creamy cheese sauce over toasted bread. I read a few different recipes and decided I would use them all loosely and make up my own. Some recipes used beer. Some didn't. There were different types of breads used. It seemed pretty up for interpretation so I tried it out. I am very pleased with how this turned out. Welsh Rarebit is typically a side dish. One recipe I read said it is good served over toast or poached eggs. Perfect. Breakfast it is. And I get to poach some eggs! Another fun first for me.

The three recipes I narrowed it down to can be found at the following links:

Alton Brown
Pioneer Woman
Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (red & white checked one)

I chose French Brioche bread. I had never had it before but it looked and sounded perfect for toasting. The subtle hint of sweetness in the bread was pretty damned perfect smothered in a savory sauce! I lightly buttered both sides and browned them in an electric skillet.

For the cheese sauce I used half shredded cheddar and half American cheese. I used half and half creamer instead of beer. I did use the Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard and the dash of cayenne pepper. Since I decided not to use beer I added a decent sized splash of white cooking wine to give it a little nudge towards the "fancier" versions.

Bacon, poached eggs and orange slices seemed the appropriate choices to turn this side into a full on breakfast dish. I had never poached an egg before or even tasted one. This task has been on my long mental cooking to-do list so what the hay? Come to find out I can totally poach an egg and I even enjoyed eating it.

I am also pleased to report that the kids and my hubby loved this one, too. I am one happy mama tonight! Thanks for reading. Tomorrow is National Macadamia Nut Day and I have already begun preparing a tasty treat. You'll see!

National Blueberry Popsicle Day

Happy Friday! It's National Blueberry Popsicle Day! And thanks to last weeks cherry Popsicle day, I already had the Popsicle molds!

These taste pretty good. Not as sweet as I was hoping for. I was going for a cremosa beverage type thing. Next time I will choose a flavored creamer as opposed to the half and half I used this time. Maybe french vanilla or hazelnut.

I used approximately half blueberry flavored sparkling water and half creamer, leaving room to drop in six fresh blueberries in each mold. I froze them until solid and that's it. A nice cold treat for a Summer day.

Enjoy! Come back tomorrow for National Welsh Rarebit Day. It's not rabbit! Don't worry. I was. Lol!