No, not that kind of wing man! What I mean is, my man is a wing man. The Man loves chicken wings.  Whether it’s making them at home or ordering them from various places when we go out, I think chicken wings might actually be one of his favorite foods. I can understand this, being a habitual French Toast eater myself – just about every time we head out for breakfast or brunch, that’s what ends up on my plate. But while I enjoy the fact that ordering French Toast somewhere means I don’t have to do the cooking and cleaning, I think The Man enjoys perfecting his wings almost as much as he enjoys eating the results.

As we prepare to open our house Sunday for the last football game of the season, we started narrowing down our menu and picking and choosing the really fun, fantastic recipes that we’ll enjoy making almost as much as we’ll enjoy eating. I’ve been meaning to try a few recipes meant to serve a crowd, but Game Day also equals easy to eat finger food in my mind, so we figured we’d make up a few things intended to feed a handful of people and call it a day. A few days ago we realized that almost everyone we invited plans on showing up. I feel loved and all, but how the heck are we going to comfortably seat 12 to 20 people in our little housie? How are we going to feed them all? And, more importantly, what will we feed them?!?

Enter the chicken wing, and The Man’s tried and true methods for making them fairly healthy and abundantly tasty. It’s time consuming to prepare that many wings, which is why we plan to start as far ahead as possible. We already put in the order at our butcher to ensure we’ll get good quality wings from good quality, local chickens. We know the method by heart – clean wings, then steam to lock in moisture and reduce fat, cool and clean again if necessary, then double bread, bake, sauce, and bake.  I told you it was time consuming! Trust me when I say it’s the best way to make chicken wings, and this is coming from someone who never really liked wings before we started making them. Don’t believe me?  I’m giving you the method of preparation in detail and all the recipes we use, everything from the breadcrumbs straight on through the sauce.

I know you’re wondering, What else are they making and how on earth does any of this have to do with whole grains?  To start, we’re breaking out the slow cooker and I’m finally going to give pulled pork a try. You can’t have pulled pork without great rolls, so there is a whole grain potato roll I’m going to make – and yes, I promise I’ll share that with you later! Tasty fresh veggies will be served with a new yogurt cheese dip recipe, and if it comes out right, I’ll be sure to get it added to the recipe section of the beautiful new Oldways website. And there will be some of The Man’s famous dry-rubbed and smoked ribs.  Supposedly you can make an actual snack serving bowl out of snack mix, but I’m not sure if I can fit that in. Finally, there will be the wings, which will be double breaded in (you guessed it) whole grain breadcrumbs.

How are you planning to get your grain on while the game’s on? No matter which team you’re cheering for, we can all celebrate a little healthier come Sunday. Enjoy!  (Kara)


Baked Hot ‘n Tangy Wings

24 to 30 chicken wings and drumettes
water
¼ c. distilled white vinegar*
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
¼ c. low sodium soy sauce or tamari
¼ c. + 2 Tbsp hot sauce (we like Sriracha or Frank’s Red Hot), depending on preference
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced or pressed
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. paprika
3 c. whole wheat breadcrumbs, plain or seasoned**
3 eggs
Non-stick cooking spray

Directions for steaming wings:
*The vinegar in the water doesn’t change the flavor of the wings. It keeps the fat from clinging to the inside of your pot, making clean-up much easier!

• Place water and ¼ c. distilled white vinegar in a large pot with steamer insert.  After cleaning wings of any undesirable skin or extra fat, place in steamer basket and bring water to a boil. 
• Steam wings for 10 minutes.  Remove from steamer insert and place on cookie sheet in fridge until cool, at least 1 hour.

Directions for Hot ‘n Tangy Sauce:

• While wings are cooling, place butter, hot sauce, Worcestershire, garlic, cayenne, and paprika in a small sauce pan.  Heat over low temperature until butter is completely melted, stirring occasionally to combine ingredients thoroughly.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Directions for dredging and baking wings:
**If using plain breadcrumbs, mix 2 Tbsp any one or a mix of the following spices for added flavor: Italian seasoning blend, garlic powder, coarse ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, ginger.

• Place breadcrumbs in a bowl and set aside.  In a second bowl, beat 3 eggs together.  Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 450.
• Roll wings in beaten eggs one at a time, then place in breadcrumbs and gently shake bowl until thoroughly coated.  Place each wing on greased cookie sheet until all wings are coated once.  Gently repeat dredging process with all wings.
• Bake wings at 450 for 6 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom side.  Remove from oven, flip wings, then bake for another 6 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom side.
• Remove wings from oven.  With a basting brush, apply sauce to one side of every wing, then bake for 6 minutes.  Remove from oven, flip wings, sauce remaining side, then bake for another 6 minutes.  Serve warm.