These wings are some of the best reasons to go on the Atkins Diet. They are completely legal for all phases of the diet and absolutely delicious. The Diet Coke is a unique ingredient, but it really does the trick. I think by adding the wings to the simmering sauce, the collagen helps thicken the sauce as well.

Ingredients
3 pounds chicken wings, separated at joints, tips discarded
1 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce (Franks Hot Sauce recommended)
1 can Diet Coke with Splenda
1 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 tsp ground black pepper, or to taste
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 TBS Dried Chopped Onions

Instructions:
* Cut the wings into pieces.
* Mix other ingredients into large pot and start simmering.
* Add wings to pot to give flavor
* Heat Oil to 350-375F degrees
* Add wings to fryer and cook until done (12-14 minutes)
* Add wings back to Buffalo sauce and coat thoroughly

Families need to eat and the hungry mouths never stop asking “what’s for dinner”? We Moms know a pile of recipe cards with meals that you can throw together in minutes is a must-have. Things happen quickly in families today, and you may be called on to put a meal together in a matter of moments. Wouldn’t it be great to have a simple plan for quick meals that the whole family can help with?

Dip It: I haven’t met a kid yet that didn’t like to dunk carrots into ranch style dressing. Build on that “meal” by creating a whole arrangement of vegetables to dip. Choose some nice fresh cucumbers, celery, broccoli, carrots, red bell pepper, green bell peppers, radishes, and cauliflower, and arrange them on a plate just for your little dipper. Watch your picky eater devour their plate of vegetables before they even know what they’re eating.

Saved by a Sandwich: Start with two waffles, an English muffin, bagel, croissant, or a hotdog, hoagie or hamburger bun. Simply add jam, peanut butter, fruit slices, meat, hummus, veggies, eggs, or cheese. The possibilities are endless.

Oodles of Noodles: If you’ve got noodles, you can make a meal. Add some salad dressing and some meat, garbanzo beans and veggies and you’ve got pasta salad. Or, start with noodles and add a little butter and Parmesan cheese to make buttered noodles. And, there’s always the classic standby - add pasta sauce and a dollop of cottage cheese onto noodles and you just made lasagna.

Wrap it Up: If you’ve got tortillas and leftovers, you’ve got a wonderful meal. Warm up your leftovers and wrap them up in a tortilla with some cheese. Voila! Leftovers Burrito.

Potatoes If You Please: If you want a really nutritious quick meal, try potatoes. You can peel and boil a batch, mash, and top with a quick gravy made with leftover chicken or beef, cut up and added to some melted cheese and milk. It only takes about 5 minutes to microwave a potato, so you can quickly serve a baked potato topped with anything that happens to be in your pantry or refrigerator, like black beans, onion, and diced chicken, and top it all with cottage cheese.

Simply Soup: When you have leftovers, you can make a soup that will please everyone. Start with some broth, add some onion, garlic, and celery and bring it to a boil. Now turn it to a simmer and start adding your bounty. Leftover potatoes, rice, or noodles are a good start. If you have leftover spaghetti sauce with noodles, add those and you’ll have the start of a minestrone.

End Your Day With A Good Start: Breakfast is more fun at night! A big bowl of cereal, with fruit, English muffin, and a glass of juice will make everyone comfy cozy. Fry up a batch of bacon and eggs with pancakes and watch your family dig right in. Night time is a great time to have a hearty breakfast.

When dinnertime is rushed and your creativity goes out the window, come back to these ideas and your family will have a meal in minutes.

After several months of big meals, many folks run out of ideas for eating the many dishes of leftovers piling up in the refrigerator. I am guilty of forcing my family to eat endless repeats of the same old plates filled with the same old food. Chances are you’ll be throwing out food if you try to present that same plate a third time.

Being creative when serving leftovers is tricky. You have to think about the ingredients that went into the dish in the first place, and think about what other dishes incorporate those same food items.

1) Old Fashioned Potato Soup

When you have leftover mashed potatoes, you have the makings for a wonderfully creamy potato soup. Start with a big soup pot. Throw in 3 or 4 slices of bacon, diced, and cook until the pieces are crispy, then remove from pot. In the same pot, cook up some diced celery and carrots. Then add some diced onion and cook until soft. Then put in about 1 Tablespoon of oil, 1 Tablespoon of flour, and 1 1/2 cups of milk, and thicken. Stir in your potatoes and bacon and simmer very slowly. This is a very satisfying creamy potato soup.

2) Turkey And Gravy Sloppy Joe’s

Take white and dark turkey meat and dice into small pieces or shred up. In a big, heavy skillet, saute some bacon pieces until soft. Add chopped onion and minced garlic, simmering until just fragrant. Now put the cut up turkey in the skillet, and pour over enough leftover gravy to make the turkey a little soupy. Then just flavor the gravy with a little bit of barbeque sauce or dry grilling rub spice, using only enough to make the gravy taste tangy. Cook slowly until nice and hot and pungent. Serve on a leftover dinner roll or any bun.

3) Creamy Cauliflower Curry Soup

In your food processor, pulse leftover cooked cauliflower until nice and smooth, adding a bit of milk as you go. Add about two teaspoons of curry, more or less to taste. In a soup pot, saute some diced carrots and onion in a bit of oil. Then pour the smooth cauliflower in soup pot. Cut up leftover turkey and add to pot. Let soup simmer until nice and cooked through and hot.

4) Green Bean Tomato Cheese Soup

Green bean casserole already makes a great start to a creamy and cheesy soup. Tomatoes help brighten this cheesy soup just a touch. Begin by cooking some big pieces of celery in a soup pot, adding coarse diced onions and some minced garlic, cooking until just fragrant. Add a can of diced tomatoes, either fire roasted or regular. Add a little grill seasoning for extra flavor. Now put your leftover green bean casserole in the pot, stirring until it looks like soup. You might add a bit of turkey or chicken broth if you want the soup thinner. Cook slowly together until the soup is all hot and bubbly.

5) Breakfast Stuffing Cups

Prepare a muffin tin by spraying with non-stick spray or rubbing each muffin cup with butter or oil. Spoon stuffing into muffin cups and push up the sides to form little stuffing cups. Break one egg into each cup. Then top with shredded cheese, either cheddar or Parmesan. Cook in a 350 degree oven for around 15 to 20 minutes, just until the cheese is melted and golden brown and the egg is cooked. Be sure to let the muffin tin cool a little after you take it out of the oven before you remove the egg dish.

Using up leftovers is always a challenge. No one wants to look at the same dishes being served time and time again. If you give some thought to the ingredients that went in to creating the dish in the first place, you’ll no doubt be able to add complimentary food items to build a whole new dish out of the old one.

Christmas is a time of indulgence! Learn how to make traditional eggnog from scratch in this free how-to instructional video clip on classic Christmas cooking.

Recipes from my book “Hollywood Beauty Secrets” as demonstrated on a number of television shows.