While everyone is getting hyped about all things Super Bowl, I’m over here on the search for a good snack to eat while I tune in to the NHL Playoff Push. Honestly, I don’t need a reason to make a good snack, but I will use hockey as an excuse to share a few recipes with you.

I’m no chef, so it might be a while before you see some original recipes on the blog. I am an avid Pinterest peruser and have several boards filled with recipes. So I’d like to introduce you to The Kitchen of Alana, where I try really good looking recipes that I find on Pinterest and share them with you! Maybe I like them, maybe I don’t – maybe I don’t like them, but Jimmy does! Whatever the case may be, you need an honest opinion about all the recipes floating around in the world, and I’m here to give it to you.
For today’s episode of The Kitchen of Alana, I’m sharing three snacks that I would love to see at the next party I go to: wings, potato skins, and cheese sticks
Epic Dry Rubbed Baked Chicken Wings
5 fires!
The Chunky Chef
Click here for the recipe!
Y’all. I have a new favorite wing recipe. OH MY GOSH, these wings are so good! And this was the easiest recipe that only took maybe five minutes to put together, which makes it that more amazing! Since it’s dry rub, all you have to do is coat the chicken in a little bit of oil and rub all the spices on the chicken. You don’t even have to flip the chicken while it’s in the oven! Just stick it in there for 45 minutes, and then you’re ready to eat! We’ve already planned to make this for dinner another night this week, just a few days after making it for the first time.
Sauce: I’m sorry, y’all. I don’t like sauces. You will hardly ever see me use condiments or dipping sauces. That’s why I didn’t make the sauce mentioned in the recipe. But Jimmy is a sauce fan and wants to make the sauce next time, so you might see a part two of this chicken wing recipe!

Crispy Loaded Potato Skins
4 fires
A Wicked Whisk
Click here for the recipe!
I’m a very simple snacker, so potato skins are right up my alley! This recipe is quick, easy, and perfect for simple snackers! It’s also super filling. The only reason it didn’t get 5 fires is because it was a little too simple. You could definitely spice it up by adding more toppings or rubbing the outside of the potato with sea salt.
Tip from the Kitchen: Prepare extra toppings! I totally ran out of toppings and had to move toppings around. If I had been able to, I would have had extra cheese and bacon on each potato. (Because those are two of the best things in the world.)
Extra Tip from the Kitchen: If you’re using large potatoes, you could cut them into quarters. As I said earlier, the potato skins are super filling, so you want everyone to be able to have a little bit of every snack instead of getting full on one potato skin.

Gooey Cheese Sticks
2 fires
Spend with Pennies
Click here for the recipe!
This recipe was kind of a fail. I don’t know if it was me (and Jimmy) or the recipe, but making these cheese sticks was a disaster! The prep was easy, but frying them was super difficult! The recipe said to get the oil to 350 degrees. We got it to about 275 and tried frying one cheese stick. It burned within a minute, when it was supposed to be in there for two. Then we had one stick burn immediately, but was still frozen on the inside. After about four or five tries (and turning off the heat), we finally got the temperature to a happy medium where we were able to fry them okay. It was just too much of a trial and error process – and almost caused a grease fire!

Tip from the Kitchen: After looking over the recipe again, I see that the recipe creator mentions in her blog post that you could use the oven or an air fryer. If you want to try this recipe, definitely give those options a try!
For us, the hassle combined with the cheese sticks just being pretty bland, we have to give this one a thumbs down.

After writing about all three snacks, I now think I should retitle this series to be called The Basic Kitchen of Alana. But seriously y’all, all three of these snacks (besides the hiccups with the cheese sticks) were all super easy and quick to make! These would be great to whip up if you had short notice, there were going to be a lot of picky eaters at the party (most people call them “kids”), or if you need to feed a lot of people on a limited budget.
Which of these snacks sounds the most delicious to you? Have you tried one of these recipes before or are inspired to try them now? Let’s chat about it in the comments!
Happy Snacking! (And #LetsGoPens)
-Alana
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