Caramelized Onions and Grilled Cheese

Is there a food you go to when your sick? Comfort food as they call it. For some, it's mac 'n cheese others mom's homemade chicken noodle soup. For me, it's mom's grilled cheese sandwiches.

While we are in the middle of the holidays I have found myself down & out which calls for comfort food. So I went straight for the ooey gooey goodness of grilled cheese, but instead of a simple American cheese, bread & butter sandwich like I was used to growing up I opted to "adultized" this sandwich.

I caramelized some onions and threw it in the middle of two different cheeses for this amazingly delicious sandwich. 

Recipe

Pre-time: 15 minutes

Servings: 1

Ingredients

2 slices of Swiss cheese

1 slice of Provolone cheese

2 slices of bread

1/4 cups of chopped sweet onions

1/4 cups of red onions

2 Tbsp of butter

Instructions

Chop your onions and throw them into the skillet on Medium-High with 1 Tbsp of butter. Let them cook until slightly brown. Remove from skillet and set to the side.

Butter bread and place in skillet on medium heat. Place one slice of Swiss cheese on both ends of bread. Add the Provolone cheese to one side and the caramelized onions on the other. When cheese starts to melt combine both sides of the sandwich together and continue to cook on both sides until cheese is fully melted and bread is to desired tenderness. 

Remove from heat, let cool slightly and enjoy!

Do you have a favorite way of making a grilled cheese sandwich? Leave it in the comments below!

Apple Pie

Apples are a staple in my family. Mostly my dad loves them, but I'm finding if cooked right my taste for them is changing.

So over the Thanksgiving holiday I knew that I needed to please the masses with dessert options. Yes, there was the traditional pumpkin pie, but I decided to go for an apple pie as well. I had hopes that this would be as good as a dutch apple pie you can find at any local store, but it was found to be even better.

I'm not sure if the main reason is because it was made with all natural ingredients or from hard work, but none the less everyone loved it over the pumpkin pie which in my house has never happened.

You can find the recipe for the dog biscuits also shown Here!

Recipe

Pre-time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients for Crust

You can either buy the pre-made crust of follow the instructions for homemade crust here!

Ingredients For Filling

3-4 medium Granny Smith apples peeled, cored & sliced
3/4 cups of sugar
2 TBSP of flour
3/4 Tsp of cinnamon
1/4 Tsp of ground nutmeg
1/4 Tsp of salt
1 TBSP of lemon juice

Instructions

Pre- heat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and lemon just in a large bowl assuring that the apples are covered well.

Place crust in pie pan, add apple mixture and begin adding a top layer of dough however you would like. I chose to make a basket weave. 

Place in oven for 40-45 minutes. I added a butter wash to the top 10 minutes before removing from the oven. 

Let cool and enjoy!

Homemade Pie Crust

This is a simple pie crust that I found very easy to make & brought back many memories as a kid baking with my mom.

You can reference this anytime you want to make some kind of pie that requires a dough crust just as I do!

Ingredients

2 sticks of cold butter (some may use shortening, but I prefer butter)
3 cups of flour
1 TBSP of salt
1 TBSP of sugar
1/2 cup of water

Instructions

Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. 

Cut up butter and add it to the flour mixture. You can mix this in a food processor or kitchen aid mixer, however I don't have the luxury of either so I went old school by using my hands to mix. Slowly add the water until you get a ball of dough.

Cut dough in half, place one-half on floured surface and begin to roll out with rolling pin. Remember to add flour to your rolling pin as well.

Take the first rolled out piece of dough and place it in your pie pan, there should be extra overlaying the edges to assure that you are able to cover the whole bottom of the pan. You can cut the extra off and add it to your second ball of dough.

Take the second ball of dough and roll it out just as you did the first. This will become your top layer of crust for pies such as apple or cherry. Once rolled out you can cut into strips to make a basket weave top layer or you can cut a hole in the center depending on your preference. 

For apple pie I added 1 TBSP of Cinnamon as well. 

Crab Mac N' Cheese

Lobster Mac N' Cheese is a big thing in New England. When I visited Maine last year, I figured it was a must try, since we don't really have them here in the Philadelphia area.

Honestly I don't love lobster, I'm a crab kind of girl. So when I bought a container of pre-shelled crab I couldn't decide what to make until someone asked for Mac N' Cheese.

This isn't anything like what you will find in New England and was probably one of the hardest and easiest experiments so far. My biggest task was learning how to make the cheese sauce, the worst part was not have many different cheese's within the house to really go all out on this. But in the end it worked out & my family loved it!

Recipe

Pre-time: 30 mins

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

1/2 container of crab meat (about 4oz)
Box of pasta
2 - 3 cups of cheese (I used cheeder, swiss, mozzarella and feta)
4 tsp of flour
1 cup milk

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Bring noodles to a boil, drain and add butter or olive oil to prevent sticking. 

Add 1/2 a cup of milk to a sauce pan, add flour and stir in rest of milk on medium heat. Once milk is boiling add cheeses and continue to stir.Add crab meat to cheese sauce once cheese is melted.

Pour cheese over noodles and place into a casserole dish, add a layer of cheese on top and place in oven for 20 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy!

Let me know how this turned out for you in the comments below!

Stuffed Peppers

Some of you are wondering why is she still writing about cooking for a single gal when I'm in a relationship. Well here it is, we don't live together and honestly I'm still trying to learn his favorite foods.

This one was a complete surprise to me since my amazing boy friend is Russian.

I was looking for something quick one day on a shopping trip to satisfy the growling stomach. Somehow I threw in ready to cook stuffed peppers, but not the ones you microwave.

I found myself falling in love with the savory taste that these provided and was determined to make them myself. I know plenty of people out there have posted recipes for stuffed peppers, but this was my first attempt and despite the angle of cutting the pepper, the BF & family devoured these suckers!

 Recipe

Pre-time: 30 mins

Servings: 3-6

Ingredients

2 lbs of ground beef

2 cups of brown rice

1/4 green pepper, chopped

1/4 white onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of pepper

16 oz of original tomato sauce

1/2 of cheese (I choose mozzarella)

3 large peppers (Orange, Red and Yellow are the best)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Cook rice until done. Core out peppers (removing all the seeds) and cut in half (or keep whole). 

Place in simmering water for 2 minutes, flipping once until pepper is slightly soft. Move peppers aside into a baking tray.

Brown the ground beef in skillet, add chopped green pepper, onion and garlic to skillet. Let onion and pepper soften. Add rice and tomato sauce and let simmer until liquid is almost gone.

Scoop beef and rice mixture into peppers and top with a sprinkle of cheese.

Place in oven for 20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

I didn't serve this with anything, it was a dish in itself, but you can serve it with mashed potatoes or even a helping of extra rice. 

Let me know how this turned out for you in the comments below!

P&P Dog Biscuits (Wheat Free)

This inspiration came from the left over pumpkin I had when making pumpkin bread. My fur baby is highly allergic to wheat or anything containing wheat so I'm always on the hunt for something to satisfy those big brown eyes with a delightful wheat free treat.

I was sent this recipe by a co-worker and now one of my step-doggy's mom (Hi Cody I miss you)!

These treats are very simple and easy to make with any left over pumpkin you may have from your fall festive baking. 

Charlie's first taste!

Recipe

Pre-time: 15 mins

Servings: depends on your fur baby

Ingredients

2 TBSP Peanut Butter ( I choose Skippy)

1 Eggs

2 Cups Canned Pumpkin

3 Cups Oats

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix ingredients together in a mixing bowl. I find getting my hands in the mixture really helps to mix it all well.

Once you have a gooey dough, take out spoon fulls and roll into 1/2 inch balls, placing them onto a cookie sheet evenly spaced apart and flatten. I have also smoothed out the whole dough and use cookie cutters for this as well. 

Place in oven for 15 mins (making sure to turn once), let cool and Fido, Spot or Charlie (my baby) will enjoy!

To keep these fresh place in the fridge, they will last three times longer.

Pumpkin Bread

Fall has arrived, winter is vastly approaching and I'm bundling up in numerous layers ready to snuggle next to a fire place. The only problem, I don't have a fire place! So I bake a lot throughout the fall and winter months. It give a great heat source to the house and yummy treats to share!

One of the big hits in my house is Pumpkin Bread. Now I have to give credit where it is due, this is not my recipe. When I lived in Florida for my internship after college the family I stayed with, someone who I saw as a second mother growing up, shared this amazing recipe with me.

We both have our ways of making it, replacing this and that for our reasons, but in the end the bread is amazing and truly I swear some days its just as good as a cake.

Recipe

Pre-time: 60 mins
Servings: 8-16

Ingredients

 2 Cups Sugar

3 Eggs

1 Cup Cooking Oil

2 Cups Canned Pumpkin

3 Cups Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Cloves

1 cup Raisins (Optional)

1 cup Chopped Walnuts (Optional)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour pans, this makes approximately 2 loafs.

Place dry ingredients in bowl, mix in eggs, oil and pumpkin on a low speed.

Pour into pans, place in over for approximately 45-50 minutes. 

Simple, easy to make Pumpkin bread that will have everyone going nuts.

Enjoy!!!

Back in the Kitchen with Chicken Taco Wontons

It's been a while. I've done some cooking, just haven't really felt the need to put it up here because box cooking isn't something you need to read about. Just read the instructions and you have exactly what I made.

But, I'm back with a great new recipe and a vow to add one new recipe a week.

This week I made Chicken Taco Wontons. I know you're probably thinking "Applebee's already did this." But, mine aren't like Applebee's. Heck I didn't even get the idea from them.

I have been looking for wonton wrappers for a while now, with no idea what I was going to do with them. As they sat in my fridge for a week, I debated about doing Asian food. However, I'm drawn to cooking Asian food naturally for some reason and I wanted to jump outside my box a little.

So I took some chicken, boiled it with taco seasoning and waited for more inspiration. As the chicken boiled in the seasoning I grabbed two peppers and an onion from my garden stash (I spent the summer growing veggies!!!).

Once the chicken was cooked and the sauce was pretty much gone I felt as though something was missing. So I took some BBQ sauce and threw it in for experimentation.

Turns out after 25 mins of wrestling with the wonton wrappers that I made a pretty good appetizer type of meal. After all who doesn't love a finger food?

Recipe

Prep-time: 45 mins

Servings: 4-8  

Ingredients

4 boneless Chicken Thighs
4 Tbs of Taco seasoning
1-2 Cups of water
2 Tbs Hickory BBQ sauce
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
Small green pepper
Small red pepper
1/4 of onion
1 package of Wonton wrappers
1 cup of Chedder Cheese

Instructions


Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. 

Place thawed out chicken thighs into sauce pan along with water and taco seasoning. Let chicken cook until ready to shred. 

Chop peppers and onion while chicken is cooking.

Once chicken is cooked, remove from sauce pan and begin to shred. Let the leftover water and seasoning simmer. Once the all chicken is shredded toss back into pan along with chopped peppers and onion. Let simmer for a few minutes until the veggies become tender. Add in BBQ sauce, salt and pepper, mixing well. 

Lay out wonton wrappers on a cookie sheet. Place a small amount of chicken in the center of the wonton, top with cheddar cheese. Follow instructions on how to close the wontons with water.

Once all wontons are closed spray with butter and pop into the oven for 5 minutes. Turn over spray with butter again and pop back into over for another 5 minutes.

Serve with sour cream and salsa (I didn't have any) to enjoy!

Smile Me Pot Pie

I have yet to meet someone who hasn't at least tried a Marie Calendars pot pie. In my family growing up, these where one of the staples for on the go quick meals. However, as I'm trying to stick to home cooking vs. home microwaving I figured I would give this challenge a whirl.

This can be done with either chicken or steak, I just happened to have a steak sitting in the fridge that was already cooked. This is what happens when plans change and you had already cooked the steak, but suddenly have no time to actually eat it!

The end result was a burnt arm (sometimes we have to take our battle wounds) and a delicious dinner that everyone wanted seconds and thirds on. My guinea pigs have been asking for me to make them a second round of this dish for the past few weeks that's how much it was enjoyed!

Recipe

Prep-time:30

Servings: 4  

Ingredients

1 16oz cubed steak
1 cup chopped carrots
1/4 chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 baked potatos
1 bag of frozen corn
1 bag of frozen peas
2 cups of beef broth
1 clove garlic
4 tbs select seasons
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1/3 cup flour
1 box of pre made pie crust (comes with two crust)

(I prepared the steak and potatoes the day before.)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook steak to desired tenderness. Prepare baked potatoes.
Let both cool, cube the steak and potatoes (leaving skin on if desired, I decided to remove the skins).

In a large skillet add onions, carrots, celery, corn, peas and garlic. Cook until onions start to sizzle then add the cubed steak, beef broth, and seasonings (salt and pepper included), mix well. 

Slowly start stirring in the flour until the broth thickens. Let sit on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Grease pan and place first crust on bottom of dish, making sure not to leave any air pockets. Add contents from skillet into pan and top with second crust. Pinch close the crust, cut a few holes for ventilation and place in the oven for 35 minutes. 

Let cool and enjoy! This dish can be interchanged with chicken as well.

Pesto Chicken Pasta

Pesto Chicken Pasta

One of my favorite sandwiches during summer is a Capri sandwich. The combination of fresh Mozzarella and pesto on ciabatta bread... oh my yearning for summer makes my mouth water.

So I decided since Mother Nature has been testing all our nerves that I would take the idea of a fresh Capri sandwich and turn it into a hot pasta dish. The end result was something that may become a simple quick fix on the dietary train.

Any type of pasta would work (I'm thinking next time I'll try spaghetti) but for this dish I grabbed whole grain penne. Now you can make your own pesto's, but since I am lacking some serious kitchen credits (equipment) I'm sticking with the pre-made. To round out the food pyramid I used chicken thighs to provide the missing protein aspect.

Recipe

Prep-time:20 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs
1/2 box of pasta

4 table spoons of basil pesto

4 table spoons of tomato pesto

10 cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

1 table spoon of olive oil

2 cloves of diced garlic 
 

Start your water for the pasta. When water is boiling add pasta and let cook.

Place chicken in a skillet with garlic, salt and pepper and let cook in own juices. When at desired firmness set stove on warm and add tomato pesto covering the chicken all over.

Once the pasta is cooked and water is drained add olive oil to prevent sticking along with basil pesto and Parmesan cheese. Mix well. 

Place pasta on dish, add cherry tomatoes (do not cook they will become mushy, the heat of the pasta and chicken will bring to desired firmness) and chicken. Note: I cute my chicken into small chunks for easier storage of left overs.

Serve and enjoy!

Note: This actually made great leftovers, simple and quick reheat in the microwave for lunch!

Mein Asian

One of my best friends is Asian so this may not end well, but a girls got to try. Because of him I love Asian food, he's peeked my interest in different adventures, not just from your average Chinese takeout. 

Just as many people say, just because you can cook it doesn't mean its exactly how it's suppose to taste. Very true! I can't cook amazing Asian food like I can cook Italian food, but I like trying new things. So as I'm picturing this master piece's final product I figured one thing was for sure, I'm never going to let him try it.

But it turned out pretty well, simple and easy for a non Asian, white chic.

Recipe

Prep-time:20 mins

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

Steak strips

1 package of Lo Mein noodles

1 cup chopped Veggies (I used cabbage, onion and carrots)

3 tbsp. Soy Sauce

1/2 tbsp. chopped Ginger

1/2 tbsp. Garlic

1/2 tbsp. Vegetable Oil 

Follow the directions on cooking the Lo Mein noodles.

Place steak strips Wok with Vegetable Oil, garlic, ginger and onions. Let cook until desired tenderness.

Once the noodles are cooked add to the Wok with the soy sauce and rest of your desired veggies. Mix well and serve hot.



Simply Sweet

Tomorrow is Valentines day. As a single gal this day can either be depressing or just like every other day. I opt for every other day. However, that doesn't mean you can't indulge a little. Something that is very cliché for Valentines day is chocolate cover strawberries. It's simple and sweet with a healthy benefit.

Recipe

Prep-time:10mins

Servings: as many as you would like

Ingredients

Strawberries

Melting chocolate

I used Milk Chocolate and just followed the directions on the package.

Wash and dry the strawberries before dipping in melted chocolate. Dip into chocolate and place on parchment paper to cool.

Let cool for five minutes and enjoy!

With left over place in container in the fridge and enjoy for a few days!

Some'mores memories

Growing up it was tradition in our family to go camping. Most of these outing where usually circulated around Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts or church events that either me or my brother where involved with. Camping was also a cheaper vacation for my parents, who wanted to provide the luxury of adventure for us growing up, but lived on a tight budget.

When one thinks of camping there are many things that come to mind; bugs, stars, hot dogs on a stick and camp fires, for example. But for me the best memory was that of burning marshmallows and the delicious treat of s'mores afterwards. Honestly watching those little white balls of fluff go up in flames was exciting and I would usually go through two or three marshmallows before actually making a s'more because of the thrill of watching it burn.

Here's a little secret, I used to pretend I didn't know how to cook them just to watch it burn. I think my parents caught on to that by the time I was in my teens though, cause it resulted in many "STOP IT" comments coming my way.

With the snow falling and the wind hallowing I wanted to bring myself into a happy warm place, one where I could at least mentally be comfortable. However, I didn't have a camp fire to bring these memories back to life. So I devised a recipe (thanks to some Pinterest searching and recipe modification) that came close enough.

S'mores Pie, full of marshmallow gooiness and chocolaty deliciousness. The whole thing was more of an experiment, hoping it would turn into something somewhat edible, but was prepared for more of a laugh. In the end I got a flaming review of excellence and yet another dessert recipe for the books.

Recipe

Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

 

Crust:

1 package of plain graham crackers (there are usually two in a box) crumbled

1 stick of softened butter

1 tps of Vanilla extract

3/4 Tbsp of baking soda

1/2 cup of all purpose flour

1 egg

Filling:

1/2 package of large marshmallows

1 bag of chocolate (I used the melting candy found at a local craft store)

 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

Greece pie pan (I used a cake pan).

 

Take the graham crackers and crush them into crumbs. Mix in the flour, baking soda, and vanilla . Once the dry ingredients is mixed well add the softened butter and egg. The mixture will become pasty and thick.

 

Spoon out into bottom of the pan, using a fork to spread evenly, leaving enough mixture to dab on top of pie.

 

Once you have the crust in the pan, lay out the chocolate wafers in any pattern you would like. I didn't have marshmallow fluff available so I melted marshmallows in the microwave and spread on top of the first layer of chocolate.

 

(To melt marshmallows, place in microwave safe bowl for 15 seconds or until they start to expand.)

 

Once you have the marshmallow down add another layer of chocolate wafers and then take whatever is left of you crust mixture and dab on top.

 

Place in oven for 20 minutes until golden.

 

Let cool and enjoy!

Fettuccin' me

Fettuccin' Me

There are a few things a girl needs as staples in her life. An amazing best friend, a little black dress, a comfortable pair of heels, her favorite lip stick (gloss or balm will do), a good book or movie and a stack of recipes sitting around for those spontaneous moments where you want to show that special someone you can cook.
They always say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. You can ask any and all of my ex's how well I cook, as for most of them this is how they landed in my lap. From desserts to main dishes, learning their favorites was always a fun pass time. For instance, I have an ex who's favorite is good old southern cooking or another who is utterly in love with cheese cake. Learning those little things not only expanded my cooking, but landed me with a second or third date. Not all of which where bad, horrible or down right what the heck was I thinking.

As a matter of fact, there are a few in there that land on my "smile every time I make their dish" list. I don't name the dishes after my past, I name them after the experiences and stories that come into my head when cooking.

I call this dish Fettuccin' me, because after all that's what the whole dating world is about. Fetching ourselves someone who can put up with every quirky habit, know our past horrors and still at the end of the day want to come over "just because."

This is a simple dish, one that you can modify to whatever you have in your fridge or cabinets at the time. I just so happen to have tomato's, broccoli and left over chicken sitting in the fridge, but you can use whatever you have if you don't have the above. (A good alternative to the chicken would be shrimp.)

Here's a little spin on Fettuccine Alfredo.

Recipe

Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: 3-6

Ingredients:

 

1 box of pasta

1 jar of Alfredo sauce

1 cut roman tomato

1 head of broccoli

Pinch of black pepper

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

2 chicken breast (or thighs)

 

 

If your chicken is not cooked, cook to desired tenderness.

 

Add water to a pot and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling add noodles and let simmer.

 

Chop the tomato and broccoli into desired size, I choose quarters for the tomato.

 

In a separate skillet add together the Alfredo sauce, tomato, broccoli and cooked chicken. Stir at intervals. Once the sauce starts to boil add a pinch of black pepper and the Parmesan cheese and let sit until pasta is done.

 

Once the pasta is to desired tenderness drain, here is where you can decide to either add the pasta directly to the sauce mixture or let your guinea pigs opt for their desired amount of sauce.

 

I choose to let the guinea pigs decide.

 



Blonde Sided

Sifting your way through the dating world isn't always fun and games. Not so long ago the plan was to meet at a local book store coffee shop. We had a lot of things in common, he was nice and endearing, but I was still standing in lukewarm water on where I stood with my feelings. As I stood in the middle of the coffee shop it became clear this wasn't going to go well. There were no tables available, despite many tables only holding laptops, books and jackets with no owner. With food and drink in hand we made our way to an empty aisle in the back of the store as not to disturb anyone, the self help aisle at that.

I had my guard up, arms crossed, body positioned three feet away from him and yet he thought it would be fun to caress my arm and when my hand was free hold onto it. I felt awkward and embarrassed, I'm not a girl for PDA and this was pushing it for me.

I tried my darndest to avoid the idea of PDA, but just as I let me guard down and I reached to take a bite of my snack I found myself being pulled into his arms his lips hitting me smack where the sweet blondie, I had been enjoying, was suppose to be.

I thought to myself how in the world did this just happen? I went for the blondie and wound up with a smooch. As I let reality set in I stood there with his lips on mine scanning the titles of the self help books no less then a foot away. I found no help in the titles on my escape plan, but I found out I really liked blondies (Starbucks for the win!). So the whole date wasn't a loss.

In the end the relationship didn't work and I'm not disappointed about it at all. I was blind sided by his moves and taken a back into boiling water on the relationship front when his lips hit mine.


Tonight I decided to re-visit the memory of the date and celebrate my single hood with making blondies. My guinea pigs sat in wait, begging before they even hit the oven to know when they where done. What they didn't know was that they too where going to be blind sided by the blondie experience, just in a more pleasant way. I opted to split the required M&M's and add Peanut butter M&M's (my favorite) with original. The end result is a second batch laying in wait for tomorrows round two of guinea pig opinions.

Recipe

Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: more than 1

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vanilla or white chips
1-3/4 cups plain M&M’s, (I used half original and half peanut butter)


Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix softened butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla to the sugar mixture. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt together and gradually add to the sugar mixture. Stir in the chips and desired M&M's, leaving some M&M's to top the dish.

Spoon evenly into a greased pan.

Place in oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool and enjoy!

Mac n' bacon chick

Mac n' bacon chick

Sometimes you sit there wondering what the heck are you going to eat. Take out again? Hamburger helper? Peanut butter and jelly? Everything seems so blah when you grow up on the quick and easy. Don't get me wrong I love me some hamburger helper every now & then!


As I was going through the list of items within the freezer all I knew was I wanted pasta with  Bertolli's four cheese Rosa sauce. (This is truly my favorite sauce & I have been known to clear the shelves when I find it) But I didn't want just noodles, I wanted something flavorful and exciting, oh and I really wanted bacon.

So I pulled out the bacon threw it in the pan and as I scrolled through my rolodex of recipes in my head I remembered a recipe of bacon wrapped chicken I saw via Pinterest.  I thought I could do this and tossed some frozen chicken into the microwave to defrost.

As the microwave beeped and the bacon finished cooking I found myself becoming, well lazy. So I tossed the chicken into the pan of bacon grease and let it sizzle. Turned on the water for the pasta and let everything do it's job.

Once the chicken and pasta where ready, I mixed the noodles with butter and sauce (using half of a jar). I then tossed half the noodle mixture into a greased casserole dish and mixed in half a bag of Italian Mixed cheeses. Next came a layer of chicken, which I sliced halfway through cooking, and a layer of cheese followed by the rest of the noodle mixture. I topped the dish off with the rest of the cheese and covered it with bits of chopped bacon before throwing it into the oven for 20 minutes.

The mixture of smells was mouth watering, as my "guinea pigs" sat waiting patiently for the experiment to be done. As I pulled the dish out of the oven it ran through my head, so many taste and textures this sure isn't going to taste well together.

With first bite everyone was begging for more. They loved the mixture of the chicken with the crunch of the bacon and the ooey gooey cheese. The taste of the sauce combined it all together, making for a delicious new dish I know I'm bound to make for many years to come.

Recipe

Prep time: 1hr (if meat isn't already cooked)
Cook time: 20 minutes
Serves 4-6 people (depending on how much pasta you use)

Ingredients:

1/2 package of bacon (I used low sodium)
2 chicken breast
1 box of pasta (any type)
1 jar of Bertolli Four cheese Rosa sauce
1/4 stick of butter
1 package of desired cheese

Pre heat the oven at 400 degrees.

Cook the bacon until desired tenderness. Once the bacon is cooked place the chicken into the grease & let cook. (I cut the chicken halfway through the cooking process to speed up time). Chop up the bacon, once cooled.

Boil water for the noodles and follow the directions on the box. Drain the noodles, add 1/4 stick of butter and 1/2 of the jar of sauce to the noodles.

Once the bacon, chicken and noodles are prepared take a greased casserole dish and start layering the noodles (mixing with cheese) and chicken. I will leave the desired cheese context up to the chef as I love cheese and used the whole package which was 2 cups.

When you reach the top layer of noodles add a layer of cheese to brown in the oven and seal in
moisture, then sprinkle the bacon bits you chopped up earlier.

Place into the oven for 20 minutes.

Let cool for 2 minutes and serve.