Buffalo Chicken, Oh My!

I actually made this recipe quite a while ago and somehow the picture was lost to the sands of time. Actually, what happened is that my camera battery died, no photos were getting dates on them, and according to my computer I made these on January 1, 1980, when I'm fairly sure I was actually doing something more like watching Sesame Street and getting potty trained, rather than making buffalo chicken potato medallions for dinner with my boyfriend. As proof, I present a picture of myself on July 5, 1980. I am rocking the stylin' striped turtleneck.

But, now back to business. These things are freaking delicious. I found them over at Cara's Cravings, which is a very reliable source of deliciousness. They could easily be an appetizer, but we had them for dinner with some salad.

The first step is to make her buffalo chicken. Now, this was part of the big draw, because I'm always pumped to find some way to use my crock pot, which I still haven't really fully integrated into my cooking life (and definitely haven't fully integrated into my block, because I'm only batting about 50-50 with that thing).

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken:
4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks- mine were still partly frozen
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced, or, 3 tsp chopped garlic
1 red bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup Franks buffalo wing sauce (you can use some other sauce, but Franks is pretty classic.
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Toss it all in there, and cook on low until the chicken is cooked. Mine only took about 4 hours- although that may be a function of the size of my crockpot. Once it's done, shred the chicken with a fork. This stuff was DELICIOUS. Also, I like the fact that it has tons of flavor, but no added fat. After making the recipe I'll show you here, I also used this in a creamy buffalo chicken pasta, a buffalo chicken pizza, and the rest is in the freezer, waiting to be enjoyed once I recover from my buffalo chicken overdose.

Buffalo Sweet Potato Medallions:
1 large sweet potato
crockpot buffalo chicken
crumbled Gorgonzola
olive oil/cooking spray
salt/pepper

Now, these are super easy. Take a big sweet potato (we were having them for dinner, so I picked the fattest sweet potato I can find. the girth of the potato will directly control the portion size, so for appetizers, pick a skinnier potato). Slice it into about 1/4 inch slices. Toss them in olive oil, or coat with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast on a tinfoil covered cookie sheet at 425 for 25-30 min, until a little browned, flipping halfway through.

Top each cooked slice with buffalo chicken mixture, and then with Gorgonzola sprinkles. Put the sheet under the broiler to let the cheese melt (about 5 min, depending on your broiler).

Serve either as an appetizer or with a light salad to make it into a main meal. These taste way more decadent than they actually are, give them a try!