Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dressing

Here's a very easy chicken wing recipe and if you love blue cheese, you'll love the dressing.
My friend Anne brings these tasty wings to my parties so I asked her for her recipe. 

I love the blue cheese dressing!! I made a large batch for a dinner party.

For the wings:

3 T olive oil

3 cloves garlic, pressed

2 t chili powder

1 t garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

10 wings, separated into individual pieces

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

 

Combine the olive oil, garlic, chili power, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a large zip lock bag. Add the wings and toss to coat throughout.

 

Bake for 1 hour.

Blue Cheese Dressing:

1 C mayonnaise
1/2 C crumbled blue cheese (3 oz)
1/2 C half and half
2 T sour cream
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 t Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Whisk mayo, 1/4 cup blue cheese, half and half,sour cream, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and salt until smooth.  

Gently stir in remaining 1/4 cup of the blue cheese.  

Season with pepper to taste.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

Notes: 

I used a blender for the chicken marinade; marinade in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. When cooking I turned the wings half way through.

For the blue cheese dressing, I added extra crumbled blue cheese.

Bacon-wrapped dates with goat cheese

For a rotation dinner group, I hosted in December a "Heavy Hors d'oeuvres" food theme.

One of the recipes I made was an excellent dates wrapped in bacon and stuffed with goat cheese. The last time I had something similar was in Barcelona (November 2014) while on vacation. 

This is the recipe I used, in which I tripled the recipe: 
http://pinchofyum.com/bacon-wrapped-dates-with-goat-cheese

These went quickly so be sure to make a big batch!!!



8 slices bacon (I find that thin bacon works better)
16 dates
4 ounces goat cheese
toothpicks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slice the dates lengthwise on one side to create an opening. Remove the pit.

Using a spoon, stuff a small amount of goat cheese into the cavity of each date and press the sides together to close.

Cut the bacon slices in half. Wrap each date with a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Arrange evenly on a baking sheet with raised edges (otherwise grease will get everywhere) and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the dates and use the toothpick to turn each one so it's laying on its side. Bake for another 5-8 minutes, until browned to your liking, and turn the dates to the other side and repeat. 

Remove from the oven, place on a paper towel lined plate, and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

This was our spread of foods that evening:

I also made chicken wings with blue cheese dressing:   

http://monicacooks.blogspot.com/2015/12/chicken-wings-with-blue-cheese-dressing.html