Broccoli Pasta Salad

Broccoli salad is one of my favorite side dishes.  I have a fantastic recipe for another type of Broccoli Salad, but when I saw this one from Damn Delicious, I had to give it a try!  

And it looks pretty, too!  Would be a great dish to take to a potluck or picnic.  I guarantee everyone will be clamoring for this recipe.  Everything just pairs so well together.  Broccoli, sweet grapes, crisp bacon, pecans and pasta all tossed together in an amazing tangy dressing.  

The dressing is light but so flavorful.  The combination of Greek yogurt, mayo and red wine vinegar give it that tanginess that I just love.  It just works so well with the broccoli and rest of the ingredients.  Can't forget to mention that it's overall a pretty healthy side dish! 

If not serving the entire recipe immediately, I recommend saving some of the dressing to toss in again after it's been sitting in the fridge.  I actually only made 1/2 of the recipe the way it's written because I knew I would be the only one eating it, and had plenty of dressing left over (even after halving that too).  The dressing dried out a bit after sitting in the fridge.  Still good!  Still ate it for 3 days at lunch!  But save some if you can.  

Serves 6

Broccoli Pasta Salad

8 oz farfalle pasta 

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets and chopped

6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

2 cups red grapes, halved

1/4 cup red onion, finely diced

1/4 cup chopped pecans

For the dressing

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Make dressing by combining all of the ingredients and whisking.  Set aside. 

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain well.  In a large bowl, combine pasta, broccoli, bacon, grapes, red onion and pecans.  Add about 1/2 of the dressing and stir to coat well.  Add more as desired.  Serve immediately and store leftovers in the fridge.  Save extra dressing for tossing into the leftovers out of the fridge.    

(Source:  Adapted from Damn Delicious)

Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup

If you love loaded baked potatoes, then this is a must try.  It's rich and creamy and reheats really well for the next day's lunch.  I used red potatoes (no peeling!) and diced frozen onion (a huge time saver for meals like this), but you can use large baking potatoes and peel them if you like (you'll only need about 6).  Depending on the size of your red potatoes, you'll need about 8-10.  I think I used 9 because in my bag, some were much larger than others.    

Start cooking your bacon just before your soup is done.  We love this soup topped with bacon, more cheese and sour cream.  Green onions or chives would be great, too! 

Serves 6-8

Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup

8 -10 red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup frozen diced onion
4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter, cut into cubes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup half & half
1 cup cheddar cheese, plus more for topping
8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
sour cream, optional

 Combine the potatoes through the pepper in the Crock Pot and cook on high for 4 hours (or low for 7).  Potatoes should be tender.  Using a potato masher or fork, mash the potatoes until they are coarsely chopped and the soup has thickened.  Stir in half & half and cheese.

Serve topped with crumbled bacon, more cheese and sour cream.

(Source:  Adapted from Food.com)

 

Ina Garten's Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I've become a big fan of Brussel sprouts lately.  And let's face it, always a big fan of Ina!  My husband took one look at them and said "they look so good!".  As incredibly surprised as I was at that reaction, when we started eating, he blew me away, exclaiming "these taste like candy!".   But, the fact is, he sure was right.  This recipe for Brussel sprouts is incredible. 

I adapted it to feed just the two of us and used bacon instead of pancetta.  Although I'm certain that if I had made the entire pound of Brussel sprouts, we would have eaten them.  They are that good!

 Serves 2

Ina Garten's Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

1/2 pound Brussel sprouts, trimmed and cut through the core

2 strips of bacon, 1/4 inch diced

2 tablespoons olive oil 

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon syrupy balsamic vinegar 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place the cut Brussel sprouts on a sheet pan, including the loose leaves which get crispy when they are roasted.  Add the bacon, olive oil, about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, toss with your hands and spread out in a single layer.  Roast for about 20 minutes, until they are tender and the bacon is crisp.  Toss once during cooking.  Remove from oven and immediately toss with balsamic, serve hot.  

(Source:  Adapted from Ina Garten) 

Bacon and Tomato Quiche

This quiche would be an amazing brunch dish (breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner - really any time of day!).   I chose to make it for our dinner a couple of nights ago - I had an extra pie shell and thought why not do something savory?  

I love the brown crispy edges.  This baked up so perfectly!  The tomatoes were a great addition and went really well with the swiss cheese - you can also add peppers, mushrooms, etc. and really make this how you like it.  

This was polished off in no time!  My husband had seconds and even pulled this out for breakfast the next morning!  I was shocked!  He's not a huge leftover person so I took that as a good sign that this quiche was a winner.

Serves 8

Bacon and Tomato Quiche

1 9-inch frozen pie shell

2 cups swiss cheese

2 tablespoons flour

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups half & half

1 Roma tomato, seeded and chopped

8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place frozen pie shell on 9 x 13-inch baking sheet.  In a small bowl, combine cheese and flour and mix well; set aside.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs slightly, then add the half & half, tomato, bacon, salt and pepper and mix well.  Pour mixture into pie shell and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

(Source:  Adapted from For the Love of Food) 

Potato and Bacon Frittata

I have been dreaming of a combination of potatoes, eggs, peppers, onions and cheese lately.  I had a bag of Ore Ida's Potatoes O'Brien in the freezer - peppers and onion already combined with the diced potatoes - perfect and easy!!  You'll need an oven safe pan because after cooking the bacon and potatoes on the stove top, the eggs get added and it goes straight in the oven. 

Start by cooking the bacon slightly (for a minute or two), then adding the frozen potatoes.  By the time the potatoes are browned, the bacon will be nice and crisp, so make sure you don't over cook it to begin with.    

Combine the eggs, milk and cheese and pour right over the bacon/potato mixture.  Into the oven it goes at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the eggs are set.  

Such an amazing combination of so many great flavors!  And super simple too with the already diced frozen potato shortcut.  By the way, also fantastic heated up the next day for breakfast (or lunch or dinner again!).

Serves 8

Potato and Bacon Frittata

10 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (or your preference)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
8 bacon strips, diced
1/2 of a (28 oz) bag of Ore Ida's Potatoes O'Brien

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, cheese, salt and pepper and set aside.  In a 10" oven safe skillet, cook bacon over medium heat for just 1-2 minutes.  Add the frozen potatoes and continue cooking until bacon and potatoes are crispy, about 15 minutes.

Pour egg mixture over the bacon/potato mixture and bake for 20-25 minutes or until eggs are set.  Let stand for 10 minutes and cut into wedges.

(Source:  Adapted from Taste at Home)

Chicken Caesar Club Sandwich

One of my favorite things is rifling through my cookbooks and seeing pages crumbled or stains from various spills.  Silly, but seeing the years of use and wear makes me happy.  One of my absolute favorite cookbooks is Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home, and surprisingly, it still has the dust jacket on it.  But it's pretty crumbled, from years and years of love and use.  I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to try to cook my way through Ina's cookbooks and this is another one of those tries.  I substituted some things and omitted others, but this is my version of her sandwich and I must say it turned out excellent!

My absolute favorite way to cook chicken is to roast it (thanks to Ina!)...it is moist and flavorful and perfect for a sandwich like this or it makes a fantastic chicken salad.  If you have not tried it this way, you must!  Hope you all enjoy this sandwich as much as my family did! 

My rumpled cookbook...and a few of my other favorites! 

Chicken Caesar Club Sandwich

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

1/2 pound of bacon

Caesar dressing 

3 ciabatta rolls

A few Romaine leaves

2-3 ounces of Parmesan cheese, shaved

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan, rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 30-35 minutes until cooked through.  Cool slightly and slice meat thickly.  Set aside.  

Meanwhile, place the bacon in skillet and cook until crisp.  Set aside to drain on paper towels.  

Slice the ciabatta rolls in half horizontally and separate the top from the bottom.  Toast the bread in the oven, cut side up for 5-7 minutes; cool slightly.  Spread the cut sides of each piece with the Caesar dressing.  Place a Romaine leaf on the bottom piece of bread, then layer in order:  bacon, shaved Parmesan, sliced chicken.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and finish with another Romaine leaf.  Repeat with the other 2 rolls.  Serve at room temperature.  

(Source:  Adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home)

Broccoli Salad

I have always loved broccoli salad, but never had a good recipe for it...until now.  This comes from my husband's cousin (thanks Shelly!) and it just has so many levels of flavor it in.  From the crisp broccoli and bacon to the chewy raisins and the tangy dressing - it is so good.  

I love that the mayonnaise-based dressing is not too heavy.  Makes a great side dish while you're grilling this summer.  So easy and so delicious, just my style.  And to make it even easier, I've also used the fresh, already chopped and washed broccoli that you can find in the produce section.  Talk about a time saver!

Serves 6-8

Broccoli Salad

1 large head of broccoli

1/2 pack of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons milk

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Chop broccoli off of the stems into bite size pieces.  Toss the broccoli with the bacon, cheese and raisins in a medium bowl.  Whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, milk and soy sauce in separate bowl and pour sauce over broccoli mixture.  Refrigerate before serving.
  

Carbonara with Fresh Fettuccine

I am incredibly addicted to my KitchenAid mixer...I feel like I use it practically everyday.  There are a ton of attachments that you can purchase for it and the one that I have been wanting for YEARS is the one that makes fresh pasta.  I asked for it from my dad for Christmas and had not had a chance to use it yet (mainly because I just didn't have the time or the energy) but finally decided this past weekend it was about time!  It was SO much fun!!!  I was practically giddy.  It brought back so many memories of my Italian grandma...her kitchen just littered with racks of drying pasta.  We used to sneak pieces of it to munch on, what a great memory.  She was my Nona (although I know that the correct way to spell it is Nonna) and now my dad is Nonno to my babies!  

Anyway, Nonno was visiting and we thought what better way to break in my pasta maker.  And, this is what we made!  So creamy, so decadent and just delicious.  Certainly not good for you, but a little indulgence is good for ya every once in awhile!  :)  The recipe for the dough said it made 1 1/4 pounds of pasta.  I just tried to judge and use about a pound of it for us, so if you're using dried pasta, use a pound also.

6 servings

1/2 pound bacon

5 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cream or milk

1 1/4 cups of Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 pound of fettuccine (fresh or dried)

Cook bacon until crisp and can be crumbled.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, cream, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.  Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Add the pasta and cook according to directions (fresh pasta takes 2-5 minutes).

Drain pasta, but do not rinse.  While the pasta is still hot, return to the pot and quickly toss with the bacon and egg mixture.  It's important to work quickly so the heat from the pasta will cook the egg mixture but not curdle.  Toss with remaining Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.   

Double Decker BLTs

So, don't laugh that I'm posting this as a recipe, it's just that this sandwich is...awesome!!  So great for a quick weeknight dinner, which is exactly what I ended up making it for.  I just recently started eating bacon (again, don't laugh, but I never was a big fan) and I love BLTs now.  And double decker??  Yum!!  The bacon has to be super duper crispy, I guess almost burnt for me to enjoy it and luckily my husband doesn't seem to mind too much.  :)

There's another reason I'm posting this...did you ever just draw a complete blank about what to make for dinner or are just so sick of your dinner rotations?  I feel like sometimes, even the simplest recipes can give you new ideas for dinner.  It's a "why didn't I think of that" moment...but now you did!  Enjoy! 

Makes 2 sandwiches

6 pieces of white or wheat bread, toasted

2 ripe tomatoes

About 1/2 pack bacon

Romaine lettuce

Mayonnaise 

Place your bacon strips in a cold skillet on medium-high.  Cook until done to your taste.  Meanwhile, toast all 6 pieces of bread and slather each piece with mayonnaise.  Slice the tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick and tear off a couple of good pieces of Romaine lettuce.  

Lay out 2 slices of your bread and place 2 slices of tomatoes on each, followed by 2 slices of bacon broken in half so you have 4 strips going across.  Top with Romaine.  Place another slice of bread on each and repeat!  Top with remaining slice of bread and cut in half.