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Wicktora’s recipes
GREEN CHILI CHICKEN ENCHILADAS
1 T. cumin
1 t. coriander, or ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 t. onion powder
1 t. minced garlic
1 t. seasoned salt
4 oz. can chopped green chilies
1 lime, juiced
2 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1 can green enchilada sauce
4 flour tortillas, 8-10 inches
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
In a medium saucepan, mix first 6 ingredients and lime juice. Add chicken breasts and cook over medium heat until done, about 20 minutes. Shred chicken and return to saucepan. Divide chicken between the 4 tortillas. Top with about 1/8 cup cheese. Roll tortillas and place in greased 11x7 baking dish. Pour enchilada sauce over and then top with the remaining cheese. Bade at 350° for 20-30 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.
OVEN CRISP WINGS
1/3 cup flour
1 T. paprika
2 t. garlic salt
1 t. black pepper
1/4 – 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
3 T. Butter (see note)
3 lbs. chicken wings, tips removed
• Cut wings at joints.
• Preheat oven to 425°.
• Be sure wings are thawed and dry them will with paper towels.
• Combine flour, paprika, garlic salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper in a plastic bag.
• Shake to mix ingredients and add wings.
• Line a large baking sheet with Release foil and melt butter on it.
• Add wings to pain and turn to coat.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Turn wings and bake for 15 minutes more until crispy and done.
NOTE: I use Pam instead of butter. Spray foil with Pam and then add wings and spray wings. Bake as directed.
FAIRFIELD — Transferring files from an old computer to a new computer sounds like a mundane task that everyone encounters at some point. For Fairfield resident Diane Wicktora, it was a different story.
During the transfer, she lost a lot of valuable items that had been 21 years in the making – all of her recipes.
Wicktora, who has always enjoyed cooking, now uses the Just A Pinch Recipe Club to save her recipes just in case another mishap occurs. The club, which Wicktora discovered through a Facebook advertisement, launched just over a year ago and has already grown to over 190,000 members and 36,000 recipes.
Wicktora and many others are able to use the site as a tool to share and discuss recipes as well as enter contests for prizes. So far, Wicktora has submitted four recipes – green chile chicken enchiladas, apple brownies, Italian peasant soup and oven crisp chicken wings.
“[I prefer oven wings to fried wings] because of the health implications, and frying makes such a mess. It’s easier to do them this way because you can cook two cookie sheets at a time, unless you’ve got an industrial-size fryer in your kitchen,” said Wicktora. “You just put them in the oven and forget them. They cook for 45 minutes.”
Wicktora said she finds inspiration for recipes from several places, including Pillsbury cookbooks, cooking websites, restaurant dishes and even recipe swaps with personal friends.
One of these friends, fellow “self-proclaimed foodie” Pete Grimes, can attest to Diane’s creativity with cooking from five years of cookouts with their daughters’ soccer team. During tournaments, the parents would use downtime between games to have cookouts while the girls hung out.
“It’s become an unspoken challenge that each time we get together, we try to come up with something new that no one has had before,” said Grimes. “Diane has always been one of the more creative people that extend the realm of types of items to bring. She always has something different and unusual, and the majority of the time it’s something very easy but something you might not think about putting together.”
Although their daughters no longer play for the soccer team, the families have continued to have cookouts and other gatherings to share foods. Now, Wicktora sometimes holds them in her own backyard. Aside from the recipes Wicktora posted on the Just A Pinch website, she is also known by family and friends for specific recipes.
“The one thing she always has to bring is her famous guacamole. If she doesn’t make her guacamole, several of us are grumpy,” joked Grimes. “She makes an awesome guacamole that never turns brown, and I’ve asked her several times how she keeps the avocado from turning brown because it never does.”
Wicktora’s personal favorite foods are fish and asparagus, but her husband Mike and two children, Adam and Samantha, prefer several recipes calling for chicken. Among the list of family favorites are the oven crisp chicken wings and green chile chicken enchiladas that she shared with Just A Pinch, as well as buffalo chicken enchiladas and apple sauce chicken.
“We like a lot of ethnic food. I fix a lot of Mexican, Asian – if we go out to eat and find something we like, I come home and try to duplicate it,” said Wicktora. “I just love food. There are very few foods that I don’t like.”
Wicktora prefers the Just A Pinch Recipe Club to other recipe-swapping clubs she has seen for a few reasons.
“There are recipes that people will comment on, and instead of just commenting, it’s like a two or three or four-way conversation between different people that have tried the recipe or the person that posted the recipe,” said Wicktora. “I [also] like the look of it. It’s very homey.”
Emily Acker, marketing assistant for the Just A Pinch Recipe Club, said that is exactly the way the club was meant to be.
“Just A Pinch is a community where people can come to make new friends, chat about recipes, share cooking advice and find Family Tested & Approved recipes to try in their own kitchen,” said Acker. “We truly are a club that was created for and by hometown cooks across America, which is why everyone can feel at home and find a place at Just A Pinch Recipe Club.”
Acker also attests to the positive feedback Wicktora’s recipes have received from club members.
“Sharing personal family recipes is such a wonderful thing, and it is great to see other members’ reactions to the wide range of recipes on our site,” said Acker. “It is so great that Diane has chosen to share her recipes and add her flavors into the mix!”
Wicktora plans to continue her involvement with the club and her recipe-sharing with friends in the future. Maybe as she sits down and watches Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with her husband, she will find more recipes to tweak and add into the mix.
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