Gutsy Cook's Club - 1st Post~Potato Skins w/Cheddar and Bacon and Baked BBQ Wings w/Blue Cheese Dip

The Gutsy Cooks Club is finally here! Monica of Sweet Bites is behind the creation of our global cooking club, cooking and baking our way through The Illustrated Kitchen Bible (1,000 family recipes from around the world). We choose dishes to create a meal and each member has the choice of doing all the dishes (up to 3) or just one per week.

Menu for the month of October was chosen by Monica and here is Menu #1:



Potato Skins with Cheddar and Bacon.


Baked potatoes are wonderful as is but when you remove the white potato and mash with ingredients like golden cooked bacon and shallots, cream, butter, Cheddar cheese, and scallions; you have a twice baked masterpiece.

Changes from my kitchen:
o~Sprayed each baking potato with olive oil and sprinkled salt over-all before baking.
o~Baked the potatoes at 350 degrees for 1 hr and 20 minutes.
o~Omitted parsley and added scallions.

Verdict:
o~ Wonderful recipe, packed with flavor and easy to assemble. We all enjoyed them and hubby ate 2.


Baked BBQ Wings with Blue Cheese Dip.

I baked this recipe twice. I just had to. These chicken wings have serious potential! We are a sports family. I was raised in a sports oriented atmosphere with my husband and I continuing in the tradition of baseball, football, UFC fights, etc.

Chicken wings are an art form.

With this said, I loved the blue cheese dip, I loved baking the wings after marinating, and I loved the ease BUT the first time I baked these, only 3 wingettes were eaten. The rest sat there until I took the meat off the bones and added them to a casserole dish.

Second time I baked the BBQ chicken wings, changes I made:

o~Started with 3 pounds of wingettes

o~ Changed to 1/4 c. olive oil

o~Changed to 3 T. tomato paste

o~Changed to 3 garlic cloves

o~Changed to 1/2 cup Franks Hot Sauce

o~Blue Cheese Dip was PERFECT!

What a fun first week! I have been looking forward to the Gutsy Cooks starting for about 1 month now and here it is. Check out the other members of our group by clicking here.