Tangy Lesson Learned Chicken

The guild and I have cleared current content and are still running the last tiers raid weekly.  Oh yeah I know your reaction and believe me I'm feeling the grind.  So is my team.  The legendary weapon/guild achievement/pet we are trying for are quickly becoming less and less magical.  The raid is turning into something we dread and coast through half asleep.  So why are we doing it?  Because we're living up to our word.  This has definitely taught me a lesson in guild leading.  NEVER again will the guild sponsor 2 legendaries being built.  It's definitely a painful lesson learned and a wakeup call on legendary building 101.  Much like the wake up call you'll need when you're mid raid for the 39th kill on the same boss.  Good thing this recipe is tangy and might keep you awake on farm nights!

This one also comes with a lesson to learn for yourself.  Currently the house is divided on is it's too tangy.  The 53 year old swears it's perfect while the 17 year old says it needs less vinegar.  So you might want to judge your fondness and try a little less the first go around. Serve this with some rice or pasta, biscuits with chive butter, butter peas, vidalia onion, ect...  you might get that 39th kill.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 6 - 8 hours
Skill Needed: Apprentice

Ingredients:

• 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
• 2/3 c Vinegar 
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 c packed Brown Sugar
• 1/4 c Lemon-Lime Soda
• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Pepper  
  

Directions:

1. Place chicken breasts in Crockpot.
2. Mix all remaining ingredients in a bowl.
3. Pour mixture over chicken.
4. Cook on low 6 - 8 hours.  In my 5 qt it took 6 and a half hours but it can vary.

Cheesy Salsa Meatloaf

Ahhh Beta...  Beta testing games is an unique experience that all gamers should try.  You get an inside look at a game before many other players and it's a chance to really do something to help shape it's future success.  You aren't just running around getting a preview, you are testing the game.  Your purpose is to be a guinea pig.  Quest, dungeon, use every spell, do anything you can to push the environment and see what happens. 

This isn't a finished game...  things WILL happen, a lot of things will.  You may run into a hunter with a Giant Pet.  You may have an application crash every time you cast a certain spell.  You may read a quest text and find errors like "excercise" or "Go kill Spites" when you're really killing scamps.  It's your job to find these bugs and report them.  You're the reason the game is polished at launch...  You have your hands full.

Good thing today's recipe is a total 1 hander!  Let me introduce you to the Mini Cheesy Salsa Meatloaf.  Meatloaf goodness in the size of a cupcake.  These are great warm, cold, fresh out of the oven or for lunch next day.  Check them out...

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Total Time: 45 Minutes
Skill Needed: Artisan

Ingredients:

• 1lb Ground Turkey 
• 1/2 tsp Cajun Seasoning 
• 1 tsp Chili Powder 
• 3/4 c Breadcrumbs 
• 1 Egg 
• 1 c Salsa, divided 
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese 
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Spray an 8 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.
3. Combine ground turkey, Cajun seasoning, chili powder, breadcrumbs, egg, and 1/4 cup salsa.
4. Divide evenly into muffin cups.
5. Bake 20 - 25 minutes.
6. Top with remaining salsa and cheese and bake 3 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Pi Week - BRB Chicken Pot Pie

 

Pi day has passed for the year but Pi Week continues for us.  Today we have something savory since I'm still sugared up from yesterdays Lemonade Pie.  This one is quick and insanely easy to make, toss in the oven, and let it bake while you're doing dailies.  Even with an hour till raid time, you can easily bake it up and eat before first pull.  I call it BRB Chicken Pot Pie...

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 40 Minutes
Skill Needed: Apprentice

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Cooked Chicken 
• 1  2/3 cups Frozen Vegetable, thawed 
• 1  can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 cup Bisquick
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 Egg 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Chop chicken into bite size pieces.
3. Mix chicken, vegetables, and cream of chicken soup and spread into bottom of a non-greased 9in round glass pie pan.
4. Mix Bisquick, milk, and Egg and pour over chicken mixture.
5. Bake 30 minutes until top is golden brown.

Pi Week - Lemonade Pie

Happy Pi Day Gamers!  As gamers we are often labeled as nerds or geeks.  For my MMO gamers out there this is especially true.  We spend hours plotting detailed strategies to kill pixilated baddies.  We do complex mathematical equations to optimize gear, spells, and xp.  There's a ton of geek in us and most of us embrace it.  Today is definitely a geek holiday & I say we enjoy it.   So my gamers, today sit back and think of all the people who see our hobbies as wasted hours in basements...  got a visual?  Good, now smile proudly because odds are they don't have a Pie to celebrate 3.14 since nongeeks usually don't even know it's Pi Day.

Now let's cook up a terrific Lemonade Pie & bask in our geekdom.  This pie is so incredibly easy and man, I could eat the whole thing.  As a matter of fact, I need to type the recipe quick before school's out & the teenager hits the fridge.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 24 hours
Skill Needed: Apprentice

Ingredients:

• 1 8oz Cool-Whip
• 1 6oz can Frozen Lemonade 
• 1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 6oz prepared Graham Cracker Crust

Directions:

1. Using a mixer, mix Cool-Whip, Lemonade and Condensed milk until Fluffy.
2. Pour into pie crust.
3. Refrigerate overnight or until Firm.
   

Pi Week - Proc'ing Orange Creamsicle Pie

3.14159265358979323846 Week continues!  Our second pie to honor Pi week is something a little sweet.  It's light, fluffy and if you're a fan of Orange Creamsicles... you're probably going to be a big fan of this one.  Be aware though, this recipe makes TWO pies!  Just buy 2 premade pie crusts and you're good to go.  Think of it as crafting something and it proc'ing & giving you 2 for you gamers out there.  Make one for raid night dessert & save the other to take to Work, School, a Family Gathering or your significant other.  Multitasking my friends...  You get a yummy pie AND you show off your mad cooking skills... Like a Boss!


Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 3 hours
Skill Needed: Artisan

Ingredients:

• 8ox Cream Cheese, softened 
• 16oz Cool-Whip, thawed
• 1c Orange Juice 
• 1 4oz box Instant Vanilla Pudding 
• 1 3oz box Orange Flavor Gelatin (Jello)
• 2 6oz prepared Graham Cracker Crusts

Directions:

1. Soften cream cheese to room temperature a few hours before you make your pies.  Don't lay it out 30 minutes & think you're good to go, you're not.  Make sure it's super soft or, you'll have lumpy pies.
2. Blend cream cheese and Cool-Whip well.
3. Add Orange Juice and beat with a mixer until very creamy.
4. Stir in pudding.
5. Stir in Gelatin and blend well.
6. Add half the mixture to each pie crust & spread gently.
7. Chill 3 hours before serving!

Pi Week - Spicy Chicken Pie

It's almost 3.14, you know what that means?  It's PI WEEK here at the Hungry Gamer!  We are celebrating by conjuring some fantastic, quick and easy Pies.  To avoid the awful sugar high I'd be on from eating 5 sweet pies, I'm throwing in some savory ones too. 

Our first pie is a Spicy Chicken Pie.  No cooking a Boomkin for the Chicken!  This is super easy to make and is great as left overs too.


Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 45min
Skill Needed: Apprentice

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Chicken, cooked
• 1/2 cup Onion, chopped
• 1 pkg Taco Seasoning
• 1 cup Bisquick
• 1 cup Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease bottom and sides of a 9 x 1 1/4 in pie pan.
2. Chop your cooked chicken.  Mix Chicken, Onions and Taco Seasoning.  Sprinkle into pie pan.
3. Stir Bisquick, Milk and Eggs until Blended.  Pour into pie pan.
4. Bake 30 - 35 minutes.  Add Cheddar Cheese  to top.  Bake another 1 to 2 minutes until cheese is melted.  Garnish with lettuce, tomatoes, or sour cream if desired.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

I am not a spaghetti fan.  At 33 I still have nightmares of big plates full from my childhood.  The spaghetti sauce getting everywhere, the fat hunks of onions & peppers lurking in this mesh of slippery noodles that would never stay on my fork, and the infamous words "Spaghetti sauce is like ketchup!  You eat ketchup right?"  My 4yr old self would've gladly ate noodles covered in ketchup but not spaghetti.  Then my Mom finally triumphed by making "white spaghetti" and, while I'm still not a fan of any type of spaghetti, I can atleast live peacefully with it now.

"That's great April but has nothing to do with gaming!"  I know but I make that point to make this one.  Sometimes you just have to try to coexist with things you aren't a fan of.  I discovered something this week that bothers be...  the Looking For Raid system in WoW.  My guild killed the end boss from Cataclysm this week, Hooray!  Everyone was happy but the whole week seem to be missing the energy and excitement of past expansions.  I fear killing Deathwing weekly in pugs has taken away from the magic.  To me it's a tragedy but I'll coexist since the system does help my lowbies gear.  I do wish they would've left last boss inaccessible until all nerfs were over.  I think it would let the end boss stay a more satisfying kill.

For now Looking For Raid and Spaghetti will remain on equal ground with me.  Looking for raid isn't my favorite addition to WoW but could definitely be worse.  Spaghetti is bad to me but can be made better for the anti-spaghetti crowd.  If you're in that crowd, this is for you!  This isn't my Mom's White Spaghetti but it's an easy Crock-pot recipe you can meet the Spaghetti lovers halfway on. 


Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Total Time: 3hrs
Skill Needed: Apprentice

Ingredients:

• 16 oz Dry Spaghetti
• 1lb Velveeta Light Cheese
• 2 c Shredded Chicken, Cooked
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 10 oz can Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 Small Onion. Diced
• 1 Medium Green Pepper, Diced
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Boil your Spaghetti Noodles as directed on package.  Drain excess water.
2. Spray Crock-Pot with non-stick spray.
3. Combine cooked Spaghetti & all other ingredients in Crock-Pot.  Stir until mixed thoroughly.
4. Cook on Low for 2-3 hours.
5. Stir before serving

DS Sausage Dip

The guild is chugging along through Dragon Soul and I gotta say, dragon slaying can make a raider hungry!  One of my guys resorted to a pickle and reese's cups this week, bleehhh.  Poor guy had no time to eat/cook before raid and a raiders gotta eat.  Definitely time for more quick, easy, and more filling than pickles recipes.

Today I give you Dragon Soul Sausage Dip.  Made with real dragon if you have it, sadly I was out and had to use Pork Sausage instead. ;)  Don't let this recipe fool you...  It is dip and fantastical with Chips but this is totally dual-spec'd!  Grab a baked potato and top it with this dip and you'll thank me later!  You can also make a batch and refrigerate it until you need it.  Microwave a little for yourself or put it in a crockpot for gatherings.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes or less
Skill Needed: Apprentice

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Pork Sausage
• 2 (8 Ounce) packages Cream Cheese Room Temperature
• 1 (10 Ounce) Can Rotel Diced Tomatoes With Green Chilies

Directions:

1. Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium heat.  Drain off excess fat.
2. In a large bowl combine Cream Cheese, Sausage and Rotel.
3. Stir until mixed thoroughly.
4. Warm slightly in the microwave or put it in a crockpot to warm up.

Makes 6 servings. 

Broreokies

It's a cookie! It's an Oreo treat! It's a brownie! We at the Hungry Gamer can't figure out which it is exactly but one things for sure.... They are awesome! Quick? Easy? Not messy at your PC? (silly keyboard turners) Yes!


Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour
Skill Needed: Apprentice

Ingredients:

• 1 package of chocolate chip cookie mix
  
• About 26 Oreo Cookies
  
• 1 box Brownie Mix

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9x13 pan with wax paper and spray with cooking oil.
2. Mix Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix according to package directions and pat evenly into bottom of pan.
3. Lay Oreo cookies side by side to create a layer on the cookie dough layer.
4. Prepare Brownie Mix as directed on package.
5. Pour Brownie batter over Oreo layer.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.