Buffalo Chicken Cheese Balls

Recipe courtesy Aaron McCargo Jr.
Here is a very good (but naughty) appetizer~ Very important to read my "healthy" variation below LOL

Ingredients

• 1 store-bought rotisserie chicken
• 1/4 cup hot sauce (recommended: Frank's Red Hot)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 3/4 cups sharp Cheddar
• 1/4 cup freshly sliced scallions
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Blue Cheese Dip: 

• 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup packed blue cheese, broken up
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic

Directions

Have oil heated to 350 degrees F.
Pick the meat from the chicken and discard the skin. Place the chicken in a large bowl and add the hot sauce, pepper, cheese, and scallions, and toss to combine. Roll the chicken into 2-ounce balls, about the size of a golf ball.
Place the flour, eggs, and bread crumbs in 3 separate bowls. Roll each ball in the flour, then the egg and then the bread crumbs. Set aside.
When the oil is hot fry the chicken balls in batches. Cook for about 2 minutes per batch. Remove the chicken to paper towel lined plate to drain the excess oil.
To make the sauce, combine all ingredients in a large bowl and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve the chicken alongside the dipping sauce.


**My variation: Sooo instead of frying these, I bake them. The rotisserie chicken is already cooked so you just need to bake them long enough to melt the cheese. Set the oven at 350 and bake until the cheese looks gooey and the balls look golden brown. Trust me this one is a hit! Especially with kids :)

Instead of the blue cheese dip above, I used Ken's steakhouse chunky blue cheese dressing mixed with Frank's red hot buffalo sauce and it was still amazing**

Food network

Greek Roasted Tilapia

Courtesy Twinnett on bb.com


Ingredients
1 1/2 TBSP minced garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup chopped parsley
2/3 cup chopped Roma tomato
1 3/4 cup crumbled reduced fat feta cheese
1/2 lb. tilapia
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Mix the first 5 ingredients. Spray the tilapia with nonstick cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Top with tomato mixture and bake at 400 degrees for 13-17 minutes in a non-stick pan. 

** My variation: I don't change a thing! I love this recipe because it is easy and quick! Goes well with a salad or baked sweet potato or sweet potato fries.**

Guess why I'm waking up at 6am???

To volunteer at a health fair an hour away from Tallahassee! Hopefully they don't serve donuts and coca cola like the last health fair I attended LOL :D



***Edit*** Nevermind I woke up with a headache and had to cancel :(   I love volunteering so I'll be on the lookout for another event!

A little glimpse into my research projects...

 I took this pic today of something that I will be working on for the next couple months....

 It's called an olfactometer....and was recently built by a mechanical engineer at the lab. It is used to condition mice to respond to certain odors. This conditioning is then used in various experiments.

Mice that are missing the Kv1 gene are "super" smellers as opposed to mice that have the gene. Along with a heightened sense of smell, they have a ridiculously fast metabolism and don't get fat even when fed only a high fat diet.


Here is a pic of something that I've been working on since May....

Axonal projections from P2- and M72-expressing olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) to the olfactory bulb of wild-type and Kv1.3-null mice.
I have the fun job of counting those neurons :) They are easier to see in sections on the slides though...This is what it looks like before they are sectioned.

Summary: 
Scientists have pretty much located a gene that has shown a direct link to obesity and genetics. Mice were bred without the gene and these mice could be fed high fat diets and still remain thin, whereas the regular wild type mice (with the gene) become morbidly obese.
There is also evidence suggesting that the regular mice that were fed high fat diets had a decrease in the number of their neurons, whereas the Kv1 null mice have the "normal" amount.

They have located a human population that has higher than average number of people missing this gene...and in a few years, I'm sure that we will get some data showing whether this carries over to humans also.

Attn Fish Lovers!

So I made myself some yummy fish tonight and I had a slight epiphany that this is probably the 3rd or 4th time in the past week that I'm having fish! Mercury poisoning is no joke....Here is a consumer guide to mercury levels in fish.

I read  Here that vitamin E, garlic and cilantro help protect you from the toxic effects of it. There is no definite proof, but I eat those things anyway :)

"Beyond that, despite insubstantial evidence, some health practitioners who offer mercury detoxification recommend supplements such as cilantro tincture, chlorella algae powder, garlic, as well as various amino acids to rid the body of mercury. A 1999 Korean study did show that garlic juice reduced mercury toxicity in rat embryos, but I know of no evidence suggesting that it works in humans. I've seen two studies indicating that cilantro can speed excretion of mercury, but I understand that the effect here is weak. Eating foods rich in vitamin E has also been recommended. This may protect against mercury toxicity, but I know of no evidence showing that it helps the body eliminate mercury."   

Andrew Weil, M.D.


Another interesting debate is whether mercury poisoning causes autism and other diseases....Here is the link to that article. It makes sense since autism is on the rise. A good read (it gets better further down lol)!

"He suggests the toxic effects of mercury spread across a broad spectrum of diseases including autism, Alzheimer's disease, ALS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, neurodevelopmental diseases, nephrotoxicity, and cancer."

"Mercury can also affect the central nervous system by concentrating in the spinal fluid, and the kidneys by reducing concentrating capacity. And it inhibits nerve growth, and passes easily through the placental barrier. The chemical can also reduce nerve function and communication, which can lead to the development of neurofibrillary tangles -- a common feature of Alzheimer's. In fact, recent findings suggest that the gene Apo E 4 may increase the risk for Alzheimer's because it has an impaired ability to bind with mercury and transport it from the brain."

Mark Hyman, M.D.