Cook It Up Challenge - September Edition

Today I'm linking up with Trish from Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity.  This is the 3rd month I've done this and I've really been enjoying getting some use out of my cookbooks.  I'm also linking up at Beth Fish Reads for her Weekend Cooking linkup.

This month I pulled out one of my favorite cookbooks - Cooking with Love: Comfort Food that Hugs You by Carla Hall.  I watch The Chew periodically and always think the stuff that Carla Hall makes looks pretty good so I decided to get her book from the library.  On the first flip through I wasn't particularly inspired but I decided to give her Bacon Basil Bread a try.  After one bit I immediately went and ordered the cookbook and have been loving it ever since.  I made a number of things out of this book this past month - Fresh Corn Grits Cakes (I don't like grits but these are amazing), Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits, Parker House Rolls, Cuban Pork Loin with Marinated Red Onions on Grilled Tortillas and they were all amazing.  Our favorite meal though is one we've had over and over again and I never get tired of - Buffalo Wing Burgers.

Buffalo wings aren't something that I regularly crave and J doesn't even like them at all but this is a recipe that I could eat once a week without complaint and happily eat any leftovers.

First you make the spicy mayo which you can then use on anything you can think of.  It works great on just regular cold cut sandwiches.
\
3/4 c mayo
1 T lemon juice
1 T hot sauce (preferably Frank's)
2 t honey
1/2 t cayenne pepper
Stir and refrigerate until ready to use.

Then you make the chicken burgers.  First up you make up a little spicy onion mixture to mix with the ground chicken.
1 T butter
1 t olive oil
1/3 c minced yellow onion (though I used a red onion and it was still tasty)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 t hot sauce (preferably Frank's)
1/2 t dried thyme
1/2 t crushed red chile flakes
1/2 t freshly ground pepper.

Heat the butter and oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and salt.  Cook for about 2 minutes then add the garlic.  Cook another minute or two (but don't let the garlic burn) and add the rest of the ingredients.  Remove from pan and allow to cool to room temperature.

You then add this mixture to a pound of ground chicken and form into patties (I normally get 6 fairly small patties).

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and coat with oil (I just use a little cooking spray if that).  Cook the patties until brown, about 3 minutes, then flip and repeat.

Toast the buns (Carla recommends potato buns and I whole-heartedly agree). Then top with chicken burgers, a sprinkle of blue cheese if you like and a hearty slather of the spicy mayo.

I had this last week and my mouth is watering just thinking about these.  So delicious!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do for October.  We'll be travelling some and there's soccer and Halloween so I'm kind of thinking I'll be leaning on my Pinterest boards.  Hopefully I'll have something yum to share!