Showing posts with label Bacon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bacon. Show all posts

2/10/2022

Peanut Butter and Banana Pupcakes

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Yesterday was a special day in this house.  Black Lab #4, my Ruby, turned 10! When your a dog in this house and you make it to 10 years of age, that calls for a celebration! And if you know me personally, you'll know that one of my favorite ways to celebrate a birthday is with cupcakes! So, PUPcakes it was.

These are so easy to make and you probably have all the ingredients on hand.  For the cake I used a super-ripe mashed banana and some applesauce as the base of the wet ingredients.  If you don't have one of those ingredients, pumpkin purée or smoother puréed fruit would be fine. You might even stroll down the baby food isle. (I really don't think your doggers will be too picky.)  The frosting is simple a 1:1 ration of cream cheese and peanut butter (I just used traditional peanut butter, not the natural or organic).  I don't know one dog that doesn't like peanut butter.  As for the garnish, it's just Milkbones and finely chopped bacon because I felt like getting fancy and let's face it, even in the dog world, bacon makes everything better.  

Now, I made these treats for my dogs, but really, there isn't anything in the cake that a human couldn't eat outside of any allergies.  In fact, when my husband walked in he saw them on the table and asked if he could eat one.  I said sure, but you might want to take off the Milkbone first😂.

There was a lot of smelling and drooling as I was making these, but if they could speak, I think they would say the wait was worth it!


Happy Birthday, Rubes!!

11/07/2021

Sunday Dinner

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Caramelized Onion and Bacon Puff Pastry Bites

Roast Chicken and Red Potatoes
Chopped Salad with Butternut Squash, Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts



Ok, this is the third recipe in a row that contains bacon. So, you might start wondering if I have a separate refrigerator just for bacon.  That's not a bad idea!  

I have made this appetizer in various different ways over the years, but this version is the one I always lean back on.  Bacon, onions and cheese all nestled in a bite-sized puff pastry vessel. ? Yes, please!  They are flaky from the puff pastry, creamy from the onions and a tad crunchy from the smoky bacon.  While they are still warm, I sprinkle each bite with some good Parmigianno-Reggiano cheese and some chopped fresh thyme.  Needless to say, these are blissful bites of heaven! 

This recipe is a welcome appetizer or passable hors d'oeuvre anytime of year, but I think they are perfect to put on your upcoming holiday entertaining radar! Happy Sunday!

I keep forgetting to link my Sunday dinner menus from years past. Here you go...
Sunday Dinner eight years ago

11/04/2021

Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon and Chives

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Who is ready for a SOUPER easy, nutritious and delicious recipe to statisfy the soul on a chilly day? Well, this recipe certainly hits all points. 

Sweet Potatoes are a low-glycemic carbohydrate that are high in vitamins and minerals, low in fat and rich in antioxidants.  Their sweet and savory taste are balanced in this recipe when cooked with onions, garlic and just a touch of brown sugar. And yes, there is bacon and it lends a nice smoky taste, but you can omit it if you must.  If you still want that smoky flavor without the bacon, you might want to try adding a touch of smoked paprika. That might be an excellent combo. I finish the soup with the reserved bacon and a sprinkle of fresh chopped chives.  To gild the lily a bit more, I add a dollop of crème fraïche.  And that's it. Ok, maybe a few crackers on the side.  Happy cooking! 😋🥣🍠

P.S. Don't forget to check out my RECIPE page for some more soups that are perfect for a warm bowl of goodness, like Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup and Apple Carrot Soup.

9/13/2017

Portillo's Chopped Salad

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A little over four weeks ago, I dropped off my first born child, Jack, to The University of Missouri. Man, oh man, was that ever tough.  I told my husband that it was a good thing that he was there because I would've had to stay in a hotel in Columbia for a week just to compose myself before driving home.  I think I lost 5 pounds in tears alone😭.  But on the bright side, the move-in went well, he was happy and excited, and I was going to see him in three weeks!!

So last weekend, my husband and I drove back down to Columbia to see our first SEC football game, Missouri Tigers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks.  Woohoo! Actually, it was just an excuse to hug him one more time😉.  It was so much fun!!  Friday we took him out for Shakespeare's Pizza with his roommate and a friend. Their Panda Pepper pizza is the bomb!  Saturday we saw SEC Nation show live with Tim Tebow, then my husband and I headed over to Glenn's Café for some fried oysters and bloodies that were made with Absolut Peppar vodka. Yummy!  Then we walked and walked and walked some more.  Next, we met up with Jack again and my husband's cousin who was the former SID (sports information director) for the Gamecocks and then we might have had a few beers (Jack had a coke) while we were catching up on our lives.  Later that day we walked down Stadium Blvd. and watched South Carolina beat Mizzou 31-13.  Minus the score for the Mizzou fans, it was a beautiful day!  

But before we headed back down to Columbia, I asked Jack if there was anything he would like me to bring from home.  It was also his birthday weekend, so he most certainly asked for a batch of my cupcakes, but he also requested Italian beef and gravy from that quickly expanding American restaurant chain serving up Chicago-style foods, a.k.a Portillo's. You got it, babe! Since then, I have had Portillo's on my mind, but the weather has been unusually warm for me to sink my teeth into an Italian Beef. So I pulled out an old recipe for the Portillo's Chopped Salad to satisfy my craving.

This salad is a meal!  Pasta✓ Chicken✓ Bacon✓ Veggies✓ Greens✓ Cheese✓ Seriously, what more could you want?  Well, maybe a super yummy sweet Italian vinaigrette to bring it all together 😋.  Like most salads, it is also very versatile.  In my version, I marinate the chicken breast in some of the vinaigrette, then I grill the chicken for a nice charred flavor.  However,  you can simply sauté the chicken or you can leave it out all together and serve it as a side salad for a large crowd.  I also use Radicchio instead of red cabbage because I like the bitter taste of it with the sweet dressing.  You can also add as much or as little of the tomatoes and the pungent blue cheese to your liking.  Whatever your variation turns out to be, I guarantee it will be good.  This salad also keeps pretty well.  It was easy to pack for school/work lunches and it was very nice to come home to on my lunch break this week.


Back to the weekend...on Sunday, we took Jack out one more time for breakfast at The Broadway Diner.  I don't think it has ever taken me that long to eat breakfast.  I just didn't want the weekend to end and leave my baby.  He wanted to walk back to his dorm room, so we said good-bye in the parking lot and...yes, I cried again 😢.  But it wasn't as bad as the first time.  You see, I get to see him again in two and a half weeks!!  Doin' my happy dance! This is one of the few times I am more than happy to travel more than 8 hours for soccer games in Kansas City because we will drive right through Columbia and have dinner with our boy!

4/02/2017

Sunday Dinner

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Habanero-Honey Glazed Chickens
Pimento Cheese Potato Gratin
Southern Style Green Beans

Goo Goo Cupcakes
Vanilla Ice Cream



Oh, how my stomach is loving this menu tonight!  Long time followers might recall that my roots run deep below the Mason-Dixon Line.  So, after a road trip to Nashville this past week and a few introductions to some new Southern culinary treats, this menu was born.  What is not new to many of my Southern Sunday dinner menus are green beans, a.k.a snap beans or pole beans.  I still love sitting in the back yard (or the kitchen counter when it's freezing outside) snapping beans with my children just like I did countless times as a child on my grandparent's back patio. There's just something therapeutic about it.

Southern style green beans accompany everything from fried chicken, roast pork, smothered pork chops, baked ham to Thanksgiving turkey and many more.  I've been known to have just a plate of beans with a side of buttered cornbread for dinner--guilty pleasure.  Heck, I even eat them cold for breakfast--weird, I know.  They are slowly simmered in a bath of chicken broth, that is infused with bacon (cuz bacon makes everything better) and onion, until they have reached their desired tenderness.  And by tender, I mean blah-green tender.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good green bean sauté or salad that is crisp and bright green.  But when it comes to Southern style beans, low and slow is the way to go.

This recipe is very, and I mean very, flexible.  In my younger years, I watched my Mom-mom and my mother prepare them and it was a little different each time.  Don't have bacon?  You can use salt pork or fat back or just omit it.  Don't have an onion? You can use a shallot or leave that out too.  Sometimes I simply simmer the beans in chicken broth and season to taste. Vegetarian?  Use vegetable broth (but I can't promise it'll taste the same).  I haven't said this in a while, but "make it for you, make it your own." As far as what to do with the bacon and onion when ready to serve the beans...sometimes I chop up the onion and mix it in with the beans and the bacon...well, there is always a two or four legged warm body around to snack on the bacon.

4/25/2014

Hawaiian Pizza

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Ok pizza purists, stay with me here... Most of you know that I am a big fan of sweet and savory combos, but I have been unable to grasp the idea of putting pineapple on a pizza, not to mention calling it Hawaiian.  Trust me, I lived on Oahu many moons ago and I don't recall this kind of pizza.  It just seemed odd and against the "rules".  But let's face it--when it comes to pizza, there are no rules.  Well, that is unless you are talking about the true Neapolitan-style and you have to have a certain type of flour and such.  I get that.  But when you are slinging pies at home, anything is fair game in my book.

This week I had leftover ham from Easter and a fresh pineapple on the counter.  And since pizza is usually on my brain for dinner, all I could do was think about Hawaiian pizza.  Somebody PLEASE tell me why it is called Hawaiian and why it is the most popular pizza in...wait for it... Australia?!? Scratching my head.  Anyway, these were my thoughts--pineapple likes ham, ham likes cheese, and cheese likes sauce, and everything loves bacon, right?  Throw in a little green onion and serrano or jalapeño for some zing and...ok this might have to happen.  

One thing that I was concerned about was the amount of moisture in the pineapple.  I didn't want that to soggy-up (that's not a word, but I use it) my crust.  So, I caramelized the slices of pineapple in a dry non-stick skillet.  This helped reduce the amount of moisture and intensify the pineapple flavor.  Another thing that I was concerned about was the sauce and cheese ratio to the other ingredients.  I knew this wasn't going to be a traditional pizza parlor flavor, so I used slightly less sauce and cheese than I normally would.  I wanted there to be a good balance of all the flavors going on so that one wouldn't overpower the others. Speaking of the cheese, I used two--mozzarella mostly and a bit of provolone.  I thought the sharpness of the provolone would pair nicely with the sweetness of the pineapple.  Also, when cooking pizzas like this at home, I shape the pizza dough, sauce it, then slide it on the stone for a few minutes.  This gets the crust going and it absorbs some of the sauce without over-burning the cheese.  Then I take it out, throw on the cheese and toppings, and put it back on the stone. I like my cheese just melted with a good brick oven crust.  Unconventional? Yes, but it works.


I have never been so scared, yet so pumped to eat a pizza.  Seriously, before I even assembled the pizza, I had all the ingredients out on the counter in bowls.  I stood there leaning over the counter sniffing from bowl to bowl.  I got the sweet, the savory, and the essence of the heat. Would this be just ok and weird?  Would it be a winner? Or would it be an epic fail?  Time for a taste test. Oh yeah people...we have a winner!  

4/11/2014

Tossed Greens with Strawberries, Avocado, Bacon, and Soft-Boiled Eggs

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Guess what?  The snow and ice have completely melted. Spring is FINALLY here!  Woohoo--doing a happy dance...doing a happy dance!  Two of the first things I have to get my hands on are fresh chives from my garden (can you believe that they made it through that blasted winter?) and sweet spring strawberries at the market.  They both come into play in this deeply flavored, sweet and savory salad.

It is perfect for a spring luncheon with friends or as a light Friday night dinner like my husband and I enjoyed it.  The greens are dressed with a delightful maple-balsamic dressing.  Just please use the good stuff and not the flavored high fructose corn syrup kind.  I'm talking about 100% pure maple syrup (I use Grade B from Trader Joe's). The salad is then topped with strawberries and avocado.  The original didn't call for bacon, but hello, there are eggs and maple syrup in there, so you just gotta have some bacon too☺.  Now about those eggs.  I like mine on the "soft centered-just barely set-little bit of runny" side. That creamy, golden center mixed in with the sweet dressing--yumm.  You could also poach them.  But if that is not your thing, you can certainly hard-boil them and slice them for the salad.  Remember--"make it for you, make it your own". 

10/13/2013

Sunday Dinner

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Caramelized Onion and Apple Tassies

Cassoulet with Toulouse Sausage, Lamb Stew, and Duck Confit

Chocolate Tart


It's that time of year when I get to choose the Sunday Dinner menu. Actually, I choose most of the Sunday menus, but this Sunday happens to precede my birthday (always nice to turn 21 again).  You'll note that not much has change over the past three years when my birthday rolls around.  In fact, the only thing that really changes on the menu is the appetizer and dessert.  I promise that one of these years I will get to the Cassoulet.  But it is very involved (I even make my own sausage) and I spend days prepping.  So for now, I will keep it simple and share the appetizer.  

We enjoyed these little bite-sized cups a few weeks ago.  They were so delicious that I wanted to make them again while the apples are at their peak.  I changed up the original recipe a bit to suit my own tastes.  The original recipe called for Asiago cheese in the dough and filling, but I chose to use a good aged White Cheddar, but just in the filling.  I completely omitted the cheese from the dough.  I also used apple cider vinegar in lieu of balsamic since there are apples in the recipe.  I added some crème fraîche for richness and an egg as a binder.  These adaptations made for a two bite cup of Fall goodness.  Oh and I almost forgot... there's bacon in there too!

9/19/2013

Chopped Salad with Turkey, Bacon, and Apples

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Here I go again talking about the weather, but for me it really plays a role in what I will serve for our meals.  We had a tease of cool temperatures over the weekend, but that was short lived and it's warm again.  With the cusp of Fall around the corner, I wanted to enjoy the flavors that the season has to offer in a refreshing meal that won't heat up my kitchen. 

Smoked turkey, crisp apples, bacon, and a simple blue cheese vinaigrette come together to satisfy my seasonal taste buds.  I take it a few ingredients further by adding shallots, which help balance all the sweet and savory flavors.  I also enjoy the addition of dried cranberries and toasted pecans (more seasonal flavors) to round out the salad, but you can certainly omit them or do as I do and serve them in bowls and allow your family and/or guests to serve themselves.


Serve it for lunch or as light dinner with a basket of hot buttered biscuits, or a batch of sweet cornbread.  I can hear the leaves rustling now....

7/14/2013

Sunday Dinner

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Smothered Lettuce
Corn on the Cob
Sliced Tomatoes with Chives
Potato Bread




Road trip here, road trip there, and another one coming up leaves little room for a proper Sunday dinner, hence the absence of my menu posts.  Fortunately, we are home this Sunday to enjoy a meal full of glorious summer flavors.  

This meal is all about the beef, so I like to keep the sides nice and light-ish (not to mention easy with the labor of tending the smoker demanding attention).  Smothered or "wilted" lettuce is a perfect accompaniment to the main dish.  It is crisp, light, and refreshing with a pleasant sweet and sour vinaigrette made from bacon drippings. (Let's face it, everything is better with bacon.)  A hot mid-July Sunday filled with hickory smoke and the best of Summer's bounty--that's a special slice of heaven in my world.

Sunday Dinner one year ago
Sunday Dinner two years ago

4/26/2013

Spring Garden Strawberry Salad

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Spring... Garden... Strawberry... Salad... I only wish my garden was bursting with this bounty right now.  Fortunately, the markets I visit have all the ingredients on hand.  And who can say no to a little bacon and blue cheese??  

Like many salad recipes, this one is a guide.  Feel free to adjust/add/take-out according to your own taste.  With the vinaigrette however, leave as is.  It is seasonally sweet and spoonful worthy.  The salad is delightful on its own for a nice lunch or light dinner or as a delicious accompaniment to some leftover cold fried chicken☺.

11/15/2012

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Herbs

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Brussels sprouts.  Ok, if you're still reading, you are probably not one who reflexively cringes at the thought of this polarizing vegetable.  I get it---they are not for everybody.  But if you or someone you like to cook for does enjoy partaking of the tender splendor that makes up the essence of the Brussels sprout, this recipe can become a go-to when a savory side dish is called for----Hmmm.  Oh yeah, Thanksgiving.....   


Unlike the more standard roasting or steaming of brussels sprouts, this recipe utilizes the braising technique.  They are browned in a little butter and oil and then slowly simmered with some good chicken stock (or turkey stock if it's on hand this time of year).  Combined with some bacon (always a good friend of a green vegetable☺), some shallots, and a few herbs, these edible buds are fork tender and quite possibly capable of winning over a few of those curled up noses at the table.

Other side dishes that might like to serve for your Thanksgiving spread...






8/30/2012

Bacon and Tomato Dip with Black Pepper Potato Chips

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Whether you are going to be hosting a backyard BBQ for Labor Day or kicking off the start to college football with a little tailgating this weekend (yeah!), I have got a recipe for you.

This dip utilizes the seemingly endless supply of late summer tomatoes while incorporating the wonder food that is bacon (sound familiar? See last post).  These two ingredients are mixed with a bevy of complimentary flavors that will have hands moving back to the bowl for more.  Sometimes the hands will even move involuntarily.  Trust me, I've seen it☺.

7/20/2012

Barbecue Chicken Kebabs with Bacon Rub

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I have never been a fan of meat and vegetable kebabs.  Not because I don't like the meat or veggies, but because the vegetables aren't cooked to my liking by the time the meat is done.  If I get just meat or just veggies on one skewer, I am all in, especially when bacon and barbecue sauce are involved ☺.  

This is a great recipe that can easily be doubled or even tripled (I did this recently for a family gathering) to feed a hungry crowd.  You can use breast meat, thigh meat or both, as I do in my house to cater to everyone's oh so delicate palette.

Normally I put the smoke flavor in my barbecue sauce, but in this recipe that great smoky flavor comes from the bacon in the rub.  How do you get the bacon in the rub, you ask?  It is pureed in the food processor until it forms a paste.  Mmm... bacon paste (said in my best Homer Simpson voice). Mix it with some sweet and smoky spices and massage it into the chicken.  It is messy and you might think that it is never going to combine, but keep at it or hand it over to the kids and let them have at it.


These make an excellent meal when paired with the zucchini slaw. Leftovers make for a yummy barbecue chicken sandwich.

7/13/2012

BLAT Pasta Panzanella Salad

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Finally is what a few of you are probably saying right now.  I talked about this pasta salad with my facebook followers weeks ago and I apologize for the delay in sharing the recipe, but I had to make it one more time (and get a better picture) just to make sure it was perfect for you.

Along with grilled foods, I think pasta salads are perfect summer time meals.  They are simple, versatile, and can feed a crowd.  This one is inspired by one of my favorite summer sandwiches when tomatoes are at their peak-- the classic BLT.  I, however, twist up the classic in this pasta salad. Of course there is bacon for the B, and tomato for the T, but I made a substitution for the L, as well as an addition of the A.  I like baby arugula for a nice peppery bite that compliments the bacon and tomato well.  The addition of avocados lends a buttery and creamy taste and texture.  What really makes this pasta salad fun and stays true to the sandwich inspiration are the crunchy, buttery homemade croutons; hence the panzanella in the name.


As far as the recipe goes, I will let you cook the bacon to your own liking.  I know some people have to have it just right (like me), and others like it burnt to a crisp.  I used plum tomatoes in the recipe because that is what I can get all my children to eat, but you can use cherry tomatoes or any other variety that you like.  Like a slathering of good mayo on a BLT, the creamy dressing brings all the ingredients together.  BLT + pasta salad = yes, please!

3/15/2012

Guinness and Cheddar Meatloaf

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Lamb, Guinness, and a good Irish Cheddar, all wrapped in bacon and glazed with more Guinness, um....yum! Could there be a more perfect meal than that for St. Patrick's Day?  Possibly, but for know, I am going with this wonderful meatloaf recipe packed full of flavor.  

The original recipe called for a mixture of ground beef and lamb, but since this has an Irish twist with the addition of a stout beer and cheddar, I figured the lamb would be a good pairing.  I omitted the celery and carrots because I do not care for a meatloaf packed with veggies.  I like to keep it simple with lots of onions and a bit of garlic in order for the flavor of the meat to shine through.  After all, this is a meatloaf, not a veggieloaf (save the vegetables for a side dish).  I also like a tightly textured meatloaf when I slice into it.  I drives me bonkers when I see a beautiful meatloaf that falls apart when cut, so I use the food processor to process the meat a bit further.  Fewer binders are needed and the end result is much more juicy and tender.  Wrapping it in bacon adds flavor to an already tasty mixture. Also, I had a half bottle of Guiness Extra Stout left over from the reduction and I knew I could put it to a good use.  Down the hatch was my first thought, but I resisted and decided to take a pointer from the Triple Chocolate Guinness Cookies and made a reduced syrup to glaze the top.  Boy, oh boy! Is this ever good.  There is sweetness from the glaze, smokiness from the bacon, and a deep, rich flavor from the meats and cheese.  My middle child doesn't particularly care for lamb.  After she asked for seconds, I let her in on the main ingredient.  She was surprised.  I believe her words were, "If all lamb tasted like this, I would eat it all the time."


I wrote the recipe for one large loaf, but I actually made two.  One for dinner and one for leftovers.  Not just warmed up leftovers, but sandwiches made with toasted white bread, a good schmear of mayonnaise, and pickled red onions.  I might make it again just for the sandwiches ☺! 

11/03/2011

Gorgonzola Truffles

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With November underway it is time to start thinking about upcoming holiday menus.  I already have my menu planned and I will be sharing it soon, but for now I want to share a tasty amuse-bouche that you might want to feature on your menu in the weeks to come. 

We enjoyed these savory truffles this past Sunday and they were well received by everyone including some who are not big fans of the pungent blue-veined cheese.  They are simply small balls of cream cheese and gorgonzola cheese that are rolled in cooked bacon-- how can that be bad?!  They are delicious just to pop in your mouth, but I like to serve them on a cutting board with pears to slice and small crackers.  Then top each cracker with a slice of pear, a truffle, and a wee drizzle of honey.  The flavors are perfect for the season.

The score factor in this appetizer is that the cheese mixture can be made up to three days in advance.  In fact, you can even take it one step further and roll the mixture into balls and place between sheets of parchment and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  That way, all you have to do before serving is to roll the balls in crumbled bacon.  Serve along side a good red wine and your guests will be coming back for more.

Other appetizers that you might enjoy for the holidays

For more appetizer ideas, click on my recipe tab at the top of the page.

10/07/2011

Oatmeal-Bacon Waffle Cookies with Espresso Glaze

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If you follow me on Facebook, then you will know that last week I was trying out a new cookie that had bacon in it.  Well, here it is in all its morning flavor glory.  Take some favorite breakfast ingredients like oatmeal, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, espresso, and yes-- bacon, and cook them in a waffle iron. Yeah, these are a breakfast lover's dream.

The bacon is diced and cooked until brown and crisp.  The drippings are poured over the oats to soak up all that good bacon essence.  It is then mixed with all the other ingredients including the cooked bacon:)  Now comes the fun part-- cook tablespoons of batter into the sections of a waffle iron until golden. 


The original recipe suggested dipping them in white or semisweet chocolate, but with all those breakfast flavors, I knew an espresso icing would take these beauties over the top-- and it does!  They are best enjoyed the day they are made, but they will keep for another day.  Zap them in the microwave for about 2 seconds to bring out the warm breakfast flavors without melting the icing and you are good to go.  In fact, these are a portable dessert breakfast on the go.  We enjoyed these ourselves and shared a few with neighbors, but I would suggest surprising brunch guests with these on the buffet or whip up a batch for a kids' slumber party.  They will surely be a hit!

9/29/2011

Corn Polenta with Bacon and Fontina

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Comfort food.  What could possibly make it any better?  Versatility, that's what. We'll get to that after I sketch the outline. The original recipe called for only 1/4 cup of onion-- what?!  We like onion so I throw in a whole medium yellow onion.  I use a touch more garlic and reserve the bacon as a garnish for texture-- creamy polenta and crunchy bacon means yum! Some crushed red pepper flakes never hurts either.

Back to that beautiful "V" word, I serve it as a side to roast meats, meatballs, and roasted vegetables.  I send it for lunches packed in thermoses and we even enjoy it all by itself. However, there is another way, and it is my favorite way. First, crack open the windows to let the cool Fall air stream in.  Then, put on your favorite bulky sweater (hoodie- optional).  Ladle a good scoop of the creamy, cheesy polenta into a shallow bowl.  Fry up an an egg, gently place it on top, and garnish with the salty, smoky bacon bits and fresh parsley.  Set your hard working body down into your favorite comfy chair and dig in-- mmm!  Now the only thing keeping you from getting out of that chair (and right back in) is dessert.

8/07/2011

Sunday Dinner

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Hickory-Bacon and Roasted-Corn Gougères

French Potato Salad
Mixed Greens and Vinaigrette



Here is a delicious summer spin on the classic French amuse-bouche.  These are gougères or cheese puffs.  Gougères are a savory cheese version of pâté à choux.  Here they are further enhanced with smoky bacon, sweet summer corn, and garden fresh chives.  Use a good quality extra-sharp Cheddar for the cheese and a nice pinch of cayenne pepper for a pleasing kick.  Baked until golden and crisp on the outside, but still tender and moist in the inside, these certainly are a "mouth amuser".  Big flavors in a small bite indeed.

We enjoyed these so much a few Sundays ago that I wanted take advantage of all the wonderful sweet corn in the markets right now and make them again.