I thought one day that I should try making up a new recipe by deconstructing something and rearranging it... but I wasn't feeling as creative as I was hoping to be, and couldn't think of anything in particular to take apart and rebuild in a new and novel fashion.

And then the idea struck me to somehow re-work the Buffalo wings that everyone loves — those spicy little tidbits that get dipped in blue cheese dressing, and are served with celery sticks to counter some of the heat.

I didn't come up with anything as wildly inventive as, say, Buffalo wing whoopie pies. (Bleah!)

But I did put the critical ingredients — chicken cooked in a cayenne pepper sauce, blue cheese and celery — into a bit of a different format: a salad.

Simply chop the chicken and the celery, and place them decoratively on a plate. The blue cheese — both crumbled and in the dressing — gets drizzled over everything.

Not particularly innovative, but delicious nonetheless.

Chicken, Celery and Blue Cheese Salad

1 tablespoon oil

Salt and pepper

2 chicken thighs

3 tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

Blue cheese dressing

Heat the oil over medium heat in a small skillet. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper to taste, then cook for 10 minutes skin-side down. Turn the chicken over and cook 10 more minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the cayenne pepper sauce to the skillet and cook the chicken 3 minutes per side. Chop the chicken, then stir the remaining 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper sauce into it.

Arrange the celery in a circle around a serving plate and add the chicken to the center of the celery. Sprinkle the blue cheese over the top, then drizzle with the dressing.

Serves 1, but recipe is easily doubled.

Mary Bilyeu has won or placed in more than 60 cooking contests and writes about her adventures in the kitchen. She was thrilled to have her post about Scottish Oatmeal Shortbread named as one of the daily "Best of the Blogs" by the prestigious Food News Journal.

Go visit Mary's blog — Food Floozie — on which she enthuses and effuses over all things food-related. Her newest feature is Frugal Floozie Friday, seeking fun and food for $5 or less ... really! Feel free to email her with questions or comments or suggestions: yentamary@gmail.com.

The phrase "You Should Only Be Happy" (written in Hebrew on the stone pictured at the top of this post) comes from Deuteronomy 16:15 and is a wish for all her readers as they cook along with her ... may you always be happy here.