Wild About Wings -- Thrifty Thursdays

Chicken wings are a great party food or snack for the family. You can make batches and batches in advance, then keep them warm in a chafing dish, or re-heat in the oven. They are also inexpensive (downright cheap) and versatile in that there is an endless array of marinades, sauces and dips to keep the munching interesting. You can fry chicken wings, bake them, or my favorite, charcoal grill them.

But before you can get creative with chicken wing recipes, you need to prepare the wings. If you've ever ordered Buffalo Chicken Wings at a restaurant you know you are never served a whole wing. Here's the technique for preparing wings at home.

1. Take a sharp knife or meat cleaver and cup off the wing tip.

2. Cut wing at the elbow joint.

3. Discard wing tips or save to make chicken stock. The remaining two parts are ready for your favorite Chicken Wing recipe.

Chicken Wing Recipes
Below are some some fabulous chicken wing recipes that will help you put this technique to delicious use in your kitchen.

• Classic Buffalo Chicken Wings
  
• Roasted Black Pepper Wings with Maple Bourbon Sauce (pictured above)
• Chili Lime Chicken Wings
• Crispy Italian Fliers
• Grilled Asian Style Wings
• Grilled Drunken Wings
• Hawaiian Style Wings
• Spanish Smoked Paprika Wings
• Super Smokers Sweet and Spicy Wings
• Tangy Thai Style Wings (pictured right)
• Thai Style Grilled Peanut Wings
• Ultra Hot Beer Wings
  

A Book for Wing Lovers!
Wings -- More Than 50 High-Flying Recipes for America's Favorite Snack by Debbie Moose.
It's hard to beat chicken wings when you need satisfying snacks to frugally feed a crowd, and it's hard to beat this book for coming with inspiring new ways to prepare them. You'll find 65 tempting recipes, most illustrated by gorgeous color photographs that highlight the ingredient's infinite versatility. Author Debbie Moose starts by showing how easy it is prepare perfect fried, baked, or grilled wings before delving into the recipes. You'll find classics like the legendary Buffalo Wings, but then she takes off on a world wide gustatory tour tour that includes influences from Italy to India and nearly everywhere in between. There are also plenty of recipes for sauces, dips, and salsas that can transform the humble chicken wing into extraordinary bites that will keep party guests coming back for more. Click here for more information about this book or to find out how to get a copy.

Thrifty Thursdays is a blog event created by my fried Amanda Formaro from Amanda's Cookin' blog. I've agreed to participate, so look for a frugal themed post here each Thursday. In addition to reading my posts, be sure to visit Amanda's blog for a round-up of all the thrifty home and cooking tips and recipes that came in this week from folks around the blogosphere.

Fabulous New Healthy Cooking Book and Recipes

Even though this post is a hearty recommendation for Holly Clegg's Trim and Terrific Diabetic Cooking, I purposely didn't want to put "diabetic" in the title because everyone who likes good food and wants to eat in a lighter healthier manner is likely to enjoy this book.

FabulousFoods.com readers are already familiar with Holly Clegg, through her six previous Trim and Terrific cookbooks and through her numerous feature articles at this website. Her seventh Trim and Terrific cookbook is every bit as fabulous as her previous works - with an important difference - this is Holly's first diabetic cookbook and her first book published by the American Diabetes Association.

Since a diabetic diet is healthy way to eat for most people, I maintain that this book should have a much wider appeal than just those concerned with living with or preventing diabetes.

In Holly's hands, the diabetic recipes are always tasty, not to mention quick and easy to prepare. There are over 200 recipes here that can be on your table in 30 minutes or less. In addition to recipes, Holly peppers the book with lots of tips and tidbits to make cooking even easier.

Chapters include:
Appetizers; Breads, Muffins, and Brunch; Soups, Stews, and Chilis; Salads; Vegetables; Poultry; Fish and Seafood; Beef, Pork, Lamb, and Veal; Pasta; Sweet Treats; Stock and Pantry; 7 Days of Menus; Recipe Suggestions.

Sample Recipes from Holly Clegg's Trim and Terrific Diabetic Cooking

• Chinese Chicken Salad with Asian Vinaigrette -- You can throw this salad together in 10 minutes by taking advantage of rotisserie chicken and preshredded carrots.But fresh mint and ginger are a must!
• Pasta with Shrimp and Feta -- When plump juicy tomatoes are in season, make this pasta dish for a scrumptious summer meal. Or leave out the shrimp for a great vegetarian variation. The leftovers make good pasta salad.
• Berry Tiramisu --This fabulous favorite stars berries layered with ladyfingers, raspberry preserves, and an orange cream cheese filling. Use your favorite seasonal berry combination and serve this gorgeous tiramisu in individual parfait glasses for extra pizzazz. Garnish with a curl of orange peel.

For more great Trim and Terrific recipes, and to keep up with Holly's many personal appearances as well as television and radio guests spots, be sure to visit her website at www.HollyClegg.com.