Chicken Wings

   I loooooove chicken wings!!! Ya know what I don't love though....? How much they cost at restaurants! Yikes, no thanks! 
   Now, we make them ourselves, and probably have wings every other week or so. Mmmmm mmmmm. 

   So, you need to buy some chicken wings! Chicken wings can be bought already cut up or whole wings to be cut up at home. If you don't mind the time and the cutting it is usually cheaper to buy them whole. Cutting chicken wings is easy once you get some practice at it.
   To cut up whole wings, simply cut the wings at the joints with a sharp knife, leaving the middle section and drumette for baking or grilling. 

This is my favourite: "I am Canadian". It's Franks Red Hot, Coconut Oil (you can also use butter), and a touch of maple syrup.

Customized Chicken WingsBaked or grilled, and with whatever sauce you want! 

Ingredients: 

• Chicken Wings, fresh (or thawed), cut or not, however you prefer
• Salt and pepper
• Sauce(s)

Method:

For Grilling:

* I cook my wings on the bbq on a baking sheet because as a busy Mom making dinner, I don't have the time to stand and watch/flip wings. Grilling them directly on the bbq tastes fan-tabulous, but you will need to stand by them to watch for greasy flare-ups, and flip them over more frequently). It's your call.

1. Heat BBQ to medium heat. It can be hard to gauge this sometimes, but do your best
2. Place cut-up wings onto a parchment lined baking sheet. 
3. Season with salt & pepper (salt makes the skin really crispy)
4. Place into hot bbq, and close the lid. After 15 minutes, flip the wings over.
5. While the wings are cooking, prepare your sauce(s) in a pot on the stove, or in the microwave. You want it hot for when the wings are done. Right before the wings are finished, empty the flavours into different bowls. 
6. After 25-30 minutes (15 minutes on one side, 10-15 minutes after flipping) your wings should be done, leave them on a bit longer if you prefer a really crispy skin.
7. Dump the hot wings into your flavour bowl(s), and toss to coat. 
8. Grab a wet cloth and a "bone bowl", and enjoy! 

Some sauce options we love are (p.s. some of the names aren't ours, they are ideas and names from different wing places we used to go to):

• Butter (or coconut oil) and Franks Red Hot (can be made mild, medium or hot to your taste by the amount of butter used). Generally for this flavour, you only need to warm the butter on the stove, and have the Frank's already in the bowl. Then you add the butter to the bowl of Frank's right before adding the wings.
• Butter (or coconut oil), Franks Red Hot, and maple syrup (we call this "I am Canadian")
• Butter, honey, and crushed garlic (a classic honey garlic)
• Homemade or store bought caesar, a splash of tomato sauce, and a pinch of italian seasoning (we call this "The Italian"). 
• Homemade or store bought Caesar, with an extra shake of parmesan before eating them (The "hail Caesar")
• Store bought bbq sauces. There are so many types of sauces, so think outside of the usual flavours-go for curries, or fruity flavours if you want to.

For Baking: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 Degrees F
2. Place cut-up wings onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the wings
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes, flipping half way through until the skin is crispy.
5. While wings are baking, prepare sauce(s) on the stove or in the micro-wave (see sauce ideas above). Set each flavour into separate bowls. 
6. When finished, toss wings with sauce(s), and eat nice and hot!

*The kids eat the wings tossed with some butter, and they love them just like that.

I know my wings are on tin foil, I ran out of parchment! But trust me, parchment is better because the wings don't stick.

   I hope everyone had a good weekend, and enjoys Victoria Day today!