Cooking: Creamy Ranch Chicken

Creamy Ranch Chicken by Better Homes & Gardens

Delicious!  Everyone will love this dish, I promise.

Ingredients

6 slices bacon
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons ranch dry salad dressing mix
1 1/4 cups whole milk
3 cups dried medium noodles
1 tablespoon finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cut bacon into narrow strips. In a large skillet cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels; discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings.

2. In the same skillet cook chicken in reserved drippings until tender and no longer pink, turning to brown evenly. Sprinkle flour and salad dressing mix over the chicken in the skillet; stir well. Stir in milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Stir in bacon. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Serve chicken mixture with noodles; sprinkle with Parmesan. Makes: 4 servings

 

Baking: Potato, Ham & Spinach Frittata

Potato, Ham & Spinach Frittata from February 2012 Real Simple magazine

I took the opportunity to use all the leftover ham and bacon I still had in the fridge.  This recipe has a ton of spinach but it was flavorful enough that we didn’t even need to dump salsa on it.

 

Cooking: Caramelized Green Beans

Caramelized Green Beans by Our Best Bites

Recipe:

1 lb. (actually, just a little bit more…maybe 1 1/8 lb.) fresh green beans
1/2 lb. bacon
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
olive oil
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
Lots of freshly-ground pepper

Begin frying the bacon in a large skillet.  Start boiling a large pot of water.  Place beans in a colander and rinse them well. Then snap the ends off and snap them in half.  Prepare the sauce by mixing sugar, soy sauce, and salt in a small bowl.

Make sure your onions are sliced, garlic is pressed, and everything is ready to go.

Remove bacon from pan and drain on a paper towel.  If you feel like it, you can crumble it now or wait until it’s cooled off a little.  Pour bacon drippings out of pan (I keep an empty tin can around for this very purpose).   If you want, return a couple tablespoons of bacon drippings to the pan.  Otherwise, just use some olive oil and heat pan to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot…

–Add onions and garlic. Give them a quick stir and then…

–Add beans to boiling water.  Place colander in a clean sink.  Boil for one minute; you’re not cooking them until they’re done, just blanching them to take the edge off. Meanwhile, stir the onions and garlic so they don’t scorch.  After one minute, drain beans in the colander in the sink.

–Once beans have been drained, add them to the onions and garlic. Stir fry 2-3 more minutes.

–Give your sauce a quick stir and then pour on top of the beans.  Keep stir-frying until the beans get kind of glazy.  Do this for another 2 minutes.

–Add crumbled bacon and lots of freshly-ground pepper to the beans.  Keep stir frying until the sauce sticks to the beans and the bacon.  Transfer to a serving dish and allow to stand a few minutes so the beans cool down a bit and the glaze thickens up a little.

I think I would call these Baconized Green Beans.  I cook up the whole pound of back because I know I’ll snack on it before it gets itself into the dish.  Super delish!  Not a recipe you can multi-task on, make sure you are focused and don’t have other things going on, but it doesn’t take too long and is totally worth it!

 

Cooking: Bacon-Alfredo Casserole

Bacon-Alfredo Casserole by Pillsbury

INGREDIENTS

1 box (1 lb) spaghetti

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 quart half-and-half

8 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled

1 bag (12 oz) Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ frozen sweet peas, thawed

1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

1.  Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  In 5-quart Dutch oven, cook and drain spaghetti as directed on package; set aside.  In same Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat.  Stir in flour, salt and pepper.  Cook and stir over medium heat until smooth and bubbly.  Gradually stir in half-and-half. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; boil 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

3.  Add cooked spaghetti, bacon, peas and 1 cup of the cheese; toss to coat spaghetti.  Stir in egg.  Spoon into baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

4.  Bake uncovered 20 minutes or until set and edges are bubbly.  Sprinkle with parsley.  Cut into squares to serve.  Vary this recipe by using your favorite frozen veggie or combination of veggies in place of the peas.  To quickly thaw peas, place in colander or strainer; rinse with warm water until thawed.  Drain well.

It has bacon, cream and a load of cheese.  Of course it was good!  I actually made only half of the recipe.  Can you imagine a huge pan of this with a pound of spaghetti?  We’ll eat leftovers, but not all week.  Yummy!

 

Cooking: Summer Squash and Corn Chowder

Summer Squash and Corn Chowder by Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 2 slices applewood-smoked bacon
• 3/4 cup sliced green onions, divided
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1 pound yellow summer squash, chopped
• 1 pound frozen white and yellow baby corn kernels, thawed and divided
• 2 1/4 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese

Preparation

1.  Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp.  Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan.  Crumble bacon, and set aside.  Add 1/2 cup onions, celery, and squash to drippings in pan; sauté 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
2.  Reserve 1 cup corn; set aside.  Place the remaining corn and 1 cup milk in a blender; process until smooth.  Add remaining 1 1/4 cups milk, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to blender; process just until combined.  Add pureed mixture and reserved 1 cup corn to pan.  Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly.  Stir in 1/8 teaspoon salt.  Ladle about 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 4 bowls; top each serving with about 1 tablespoon bacon, 1 tablespoon remaining onions, and 1 tablespoon cheese.

We enjoyed it.  Once.  We all agreed it won’t make the cut to our saved recipes but it was lovely, this one time.  Not sure why though I felt the need to make a summer squash dish on the edge of winter…

 

When Life Gives You Lemons…

 

Cooking: Green Bean Spaghetti Carbonara

Green Bean Spaghetti Carbonara by Rachael Ray

Oh my.  This was sooooooooo good.  This is a five out of five star recipe.  A pasta dish that tastes like bacon?  Yes please.

 

Cooking: Angel-Hair Pasta with Bacon & Peas

Angel-Hair Pasta with Bacon & Peas from Martha Stewart Everyday Food

Well, I didn’t go all out and use fresh pasta (like Martha would) but it was still a great, simple recipe.  We ate it up and then ate up the leftovers. 

Find the recipe at Martha Stewart Everyday Food.

 

Want: Keep Calm and Eat Some Bacon Magnet

I love my Keep Calm posters (I have one at work and one in my kitchen) and I love bacon, ergo I love this magnet.

You can find it in DesignDude’s shop on Etsy.

Interesting:  Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 during the beginning of World War II, but never used.

 

Want: Bakon Vodka

I love when I get emails that start with…”I saw this and I instantly thought of you.”

While I’m not a Bloody Mary fan, I might try this one…

Bakon Vodka.  Thanks to Melissa for the link!  I love it!