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cooking

Food, Savory

Bacon Wrapped Cheddar Jalapeños

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The way to a man’s heart, is through bacon. That, I am sure of. Particularly bacon wrapped cheddar jalapeños. Nothing more attractive than that, right?

Bacon Wrapped Cheddar Jalapeños

Gather:
1 8 oz container of low fat cream cheese
1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper

6 jalapenos, cut in half and deseeded
6 pieces of bacon

Set oven to low broil. Cook back strips for five to seven minutes, until bacon is heated and has lost some fat. Cut bacon strips in half and set aside.

In a bowl mix cream cheese, cheddar, and spices. Spoon mixture into the halved jalapenos. Wrap each jalapeno with a strip of bacon. Spear with a toothpick so that the bacon stays on. Place on a cookie sheet and bake on the lowest rack for 20 minutes or until bacon is crispy and jalapenos have been roasted.

Let cool and enjoy.

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Food, Savory

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

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Our oven doesn’t work and I want to eat some baked sweet potato fries.

Yes, you read that correctly. Our oven doesn’t work. Every time we preheat it, the temperature drops 200 degrees the moment you open the oven and then can’t climb back to the optimum temperature for another 30 minutes (if we’re lucky). It’s been driving me crazy. I can’t bake any cookies or cakes.

So when I decided to follow the sweet potato trend, I pulled a Tim Gunn and made it work.

Luckily our broiler works. So I put the broiler on low and let that warm up. I peeled the sweet potatoes and the cut them into half inch pieces. Tossed them in a dash of olive oil, black pepper, sea salt, and garlic powder. I baked them for 12 minute, turned them over, and then baked another 12 minutes until they got a light char on them.

They actually came out crispy, and I’m so glad I made them!

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Food, Savory

Avocado Steak Lettuce Tacos

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Kick the carbs to the curb.

Even though it’s been cold out, I’ve been thinking of summer. Yes, I totally rock my knit pom-pom hat like a champ, and scarves are my best friend, but I miss laying out on the beach in my bikini. So instead of making a heavy, coma-inducing meal for myself, I opted for what I’d enjoy on a hot summer day.

I started by sauteing a quarter cup of fresh salsa (diced Roma tomatoes, sweet onions, and green peppers) in olive oil. Add a teaspoon each of cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and black pepper. When the vegetables are cooked down (the tomato will start to fall apart and make a sauce), add a quarter cup of diced steak. Cook the meat through.

I plated this on cleaned Romaine lettuce and topped it with a slice of avocado. Delicious!

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Food, Savory

From One to Horse – Bacon Ham Egg Scramble

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We went a little overboard with the breakfast scramble.

“How hungry are you, from one to horse?”

Yup, that’s how we were determining how much breakfast to make. If you’re wondering, I responded with “cat.” It seemed logical at the time, but we still ended up with too much food. I’m wondering what we would have made if I had said “horse.” I’m thinking we would have needed more than a quarter pound of bacon.

I also learned this morning about Epic Meal Time – an absurdly high-caloric online show. I’m not going to lie, I was half between disgusted and half wanted to eat the huge mounds of food they were making. It’s slightly ridiculous… okay, it’s absolutely ridiculous. I heard there may be an epic meal night in the future, and I’ll tell you, I’m terrified.

On that note, we made a less than heart-attack-inducing breakfast. Started by prepping the veggies -diced one whole red pepper and a small sweet onion.

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Rule one, find a sous chef to prepare all the vegetables.

I also may have gone a little off my regular meal plan when we opted to cook the veggies in bacon grease, but seriously, who is going to say no to bacon? It’s bacon! First cooked up a quarter pound of bacon and drained most of the grease from the pan, but left enough to saute the onions and red pepper. I also added about a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Probably could have added more.

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Cook up bacon, because it’s good.

Cooked down the veggies, trying to carmelize them. That took about 8 minutes. Then we added some diced up ham, I think it was three thin slices. Gave that a bit of a a cook through and added back the bacon into the pan. Then came the eggs. Tried to be healthy with only putting egg whites in for half the eggs and keeping the rest whole. Topped it with a handful of shredded “fancy” cheese and we had ourselves a mini epic meal.

Ended up with a handful of pictures from the morning chaos:

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Chopped up way too much onion for the scramble.

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Oh hey, just ignore the unwashed hair and ridiculous grin. I was having too much fun.

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So much goodness in one pan.

 

Gather
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 small sweet onion, diced
1/4 pound bacon
3 slices of ham, diced
3 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1/4 cup shredded cheese (we used “fancy” cheddar mix, because, well… we’re fancy)
ground pepper to taste

Cook bacon until crispy. Remove from pan and drain almost all of the bacon fat, leaving enough to saute vegetables. Cook onions and red peppers down until carmelized. Add ham until heated through. Add back in bacon, as well as all the eggs. Add pepper to taste and cook scramble. At the end, fold in cheese. Serve.

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