The Husband was trying to be a good man and cook me dinner one night. Dinner was bacon sandwiches. His version of a BLT is just bacon, bread and mayo. I appreciated it, gave him a hug and told him never to do that again.

I can’t eat that much bacon. I need balance. I need veggies!

So I’ve found a great way to store bacon when I know we won’t get to that much bacon in one sitting.

Well… Ok we COULD get through that much bacon in one night but we really don’t need to be doing that to our poor arteries.

I saw this method somewhere, I don’t remember and its been a while, but I LOVE it. The idea of individually frozen pieces of bacon just make my life better. And easier!

Take some parchment paper, and place a piece of bacon down. Fold over. Place another piece on top. Fold over. Place, fold, repeat, then freeze! Forgive the lack of picture, lighting has been weird lately with the weather/time changes.

This way you can pull out as many pieces as you need. Only have to unroll and stick them in the oven or pan. You don’t really need to defrost bacon, it just goes with the flow. Just store it in a freezer safe zip-top bag and squeeze out as you can. It’ll stay good for probably a few months, but then again I wouldn’t know since it doesn’t last that long in my house!

It’s an addictive substance that I am so glad is socially acceptable.

The one thing I really hate about cooking bacon is the splattering, popping and eventual burning flesh and running away from the angry grease. So I’ve been looking for a way to make bacon without the fear I have of the burny fleshyness.

And the time. It takes too long for the bacon to cook in my opinion.

So after watching so many foodie shows on TV I’ve decided to start baking my bacon. Awesomeness. I don’t have to worry about splattering grease on myself and it’ll have it all be cooked and done at the same time!

Mmmmm… Bacon…

I bought this nice and wonderful contraption at Kohl’s before Christmas, an oven safe cooling/baking rack, and it has truly been my favorite thing ever to lower the fat in cooking. It can handle up to 475F I believe, but you don’t really have to use this, you can just lay the bacon on the tray and it’ll work great also.

Always line your baking sheet with a large piece of heavy duty foil, this way you don’t have to do much clean up at all and you wont mess up your pans with all that bacon grease. To bake your bacon, always start with a cold oven. That’s my opinion at least. It seems to cut down on the splattering and grease craziness in the oven. It also helps your meat strips to lay flat.

Lay as much as you can in your pan without overlapping the bacon, the more bacon the better my life.

Cook the bacon at 375F for about 15-20 minutes or until the crispness that you want. Thin bacon cooks MUCH faster than thicker cut, so you really have to watch your bacon the first few times until you get the hang of it. It also seems to take a little longer to cook on the rack, probably because its not cooking in the grease.

There is a definite texture difference if you cook it on the rack rather than just on the pan, it still tastes great but it does feel different in your mouth. Cooking it without the rack will produce bacon very similar to cooking on the stove. Either way its great. I think I just like the fact that the grease is draining off as it goes. It probably doesn’t make much of a difference calorie wise but it makes me feel better.

There is only one main dish I’ve ever had made with balsamic in the actual main dish and as a main flavor. It was someone in college who decided to make us all dinner, and it was awesome. I’ve been trying to figure out how he made it so tasty but I didn’t know how to cook then.

So now I’ve made my own version of it and its pretty darn good. Simple but very tasty.

I also love cooking this in my glass pan. Sometimes I just want to do something different and cook in glass. It wont sear very well but that’s not too much of a problem when I make this dish since I’m just trying to infuse the chicken with the balsamic flavor.

I tend to use a lot of balsamic, mostly because of how I cook this in the pan it gets slightly watered down from the chicken and steam. My house has been really steamy the last few times I’ve cooked, I guess its just been cold in here?

Cooking the chicken slowly also helps the acidic vinegar to really infuse into the chicken and keep it tender. I mostly serve this over pasta, but it would also be good over mashed potatoes. I’m one of those weird ones that likes balsamic drizzled on real mashed potatoes.

I add tomatoes near the end, so that they don’t break down horribly and keep their texture. This time I didn’t cook them at all since they were going in the microwave later and will end up cooking extra there.

I reserve the sauce and juices from the chicken to reduce into a nice and thicker sauce. The balsamic reduces really nicely and I like to add another big splash of vinegar as its reducing to give it an even stronger flavor.

I don’t think there is anything much better than reduced balsamic on tomatoes, it really is the best thing ever.

Top with mozzarella cheese and everything will be right in the world. Mushrooms added with the chicken also makes a great addition and gives it a little more “meat” to it.

Balsamic Chicken and Tomato Pasta
Serves 4

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, divided
• Salt and pepper
• 4 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• Fresh cooked pasta

1. In a large pan, cook the onion in the oil until soft and translucent.
2. Add the garlic, chicken and half the balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove the chicken and onions from the pan, leaving the liquid in the pan.
4. Add the remaining balsamic vinegar to the pan and reduce to a little more than half.
5. Top the fresh pasta with chicken and tomatoes, drizzle the balsamic sauce over the tomatoes and top with mozzarella cheese.

Its one of those dishes that is very comforting and can be as spicy as you want it to be depending on how much hot stuff you put in it.

One thing I do like about it is the slight bit of a broth it has, its a rich broth but still like a broth. It makes it perfect to dip your rolls in to soak up all that goodness.

I normally like to make this a spicy meal, with a good dose of chili flakes and maybe a little cayenne pepper to bring some heat.

Well… Ok maybe a lot of heat. I tend to get a little heavy handed with the spices, but it can easily be toned down by adding some sour cream which will not only soften the heat but make it slightly creamy and a little thicker. Divine.

This is also the area where you can really control the heat. I tend to just use petite diced tomatoes where you could actually use the tomatoes with chilies or anything else that they add to it.

You can also add different types of beans, I tend to either put all black beans or a mix of black beans and kidney beans. I notice the kidney beans give it a little more of a sweetness to it. I like the sweet and the spicy, which is why there is also corn in there too.

Sweet and spicy, salty and spicy, I think I just like to confuse my taste buds.

The amount of soupy-brothyness can be controlled by how much water you add near the end. The water is added to dissolve the corn starch for thickness, its not required but you can also use a broth for added flavor.

Spicy Beef Stew
Serves 6-7

• 1 pound extra lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can kidney beans
• 2 cans petite diced tomatoes
• 1 cup cold water
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 7 tablespoons sour cream (optional)
• 2 stalks green onions , diced (optional)

1. In a large pot, brown the ground beef until almost completely cooked. Drain off any excess fat.
2. Add the chili powder, paprika, garlic, pepper, and worcestershire to the meat. Stir to combine.
3. To the mixture, add the corn, beans, and tomatoes. In a small bowl, dissolve the corn starch in the cold water. Add the mixture to the pot.
4. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the beans are soft, the broth has thickened and everything is incorporated.
5. Serve with a tablespoon of sour cream and diced green onions sprinkled on top.

There seems to be such a difference in people’s gardening styles. The first tomatoes I got from my friend were soft, fully ripened and ready to eat. This second batch I got from another coworker is more on the unripened side, a little more orange inside and not quite there yet. But I can understand the reasoning for them to ripen on the counter and last a little longer.

Since they were a little on the unripened side I decided I needed to get the best possible flavor out of these guys. I remember seeing a Barefoot Contessa recipe in which she made a roasted tomato Caprese salad and I was enchanted. But I also wanted soup. So I used her method to roast the tomatoes and get the best flavor I could out of them.

If you’ve never had a roasted tomato then you are truly missing out. Its similar in flavor to a sun dried but not quite as intense and not quite as oily since I only drizzled them in olive oil and didn’t make them swim in it. I had to restrain myself from just picking them up from the pan and eating them.

I also loved how the soup came together in the food processor, very smooth but had a lot of body to it which I really think came from the roasted tomatoes. I think next time I’ll end up roasting the garlic and onions as well. Now I just need more tomatoes.

I also used a LOT of fresh black pepper. The pepper mill has become my absolute favorite thing in the kitchen. After the soup simmered with the pepper it had this wonderful deep roasted flavor but with this bite of heat near the end. Not really spicy but you could really taste the black pepper.

Good gods you have to make this soup.

Roasted Tomato Soup
Serves 6-8

• 12-15 Roma or Plum tomatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 (6oz) can tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf

1. Preheat the oven to 275F.
2. Quarter and seed all of the tomatoes and arrange on a foil lined baking sheet.
3. Drizzle with half of the olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper and roast slowly in the oven for 2 hours. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
4. While the tomatoes cool, cook the onions and garlic in a pan over medium heat until the onions are translucent and the garlic is fragrant.
5. In a food processor add the tomatoes, garlic and onions and puree until very smooth. If using a blender add a small amount of broth to help blend.
6. Add the tomato mixture to a large pot and and the remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
7. Serve soup hot with grilled cheese or garlic toasts.

Tomato season now makes me so excited, ever since my coworker brought me home grown tomatoes for the first time.

Last year I decided I was going to make something I had never actually tried, let alone try to make. Tomato soup. That’s right I had never eaten tomato soup and grilled cheese as a kid. Not sure why, I had a weird culinary upbringing.

I love her. And her tomato growing dad.

So when she brought me my first round of yummy, lovely tomatoes I proceeded to give myself heartburn before I had to stop eating the cherry tomatoes and I knew I just HAD to make more tomato soup this year.

The soup I made last year and instantly made a place in my cook book was tomato basil. Basil is my favorite flavor, besides garlic. The fact that tomato, basil and garlic go so well together makes my life very happy.

The sad part is I was so excited to make the soup is that I forgot to take pictures! Sometimes that happens. The excitement overrides my common blogger sense and I just go for it. But I assure you it was damn tasty!

Tomato Basil Soup
Serves 4-6

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup diced fresh tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 teaspoon corn starch

1. In a large pot over medium heat, cook garlic and onion in oil until onion is soft and translucent.
2. Stir in tomato paste and cook until the color is rusty and paste has softened. Add the tomatoes and warm through.
3. Let soup cool slightly and add ingredients to a blender or food processor. Add 1/2 cup of the chicken broth and process until smooth. Return to pot.
4. Pour in remaining chicken broth, and stir in basil, oregano, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes stirring frequently.
5. In a small bowl add the half and half and corn starch, whisk until the corn starch has dissolved. Add mixture to the soup and let simmer five more minutes for the soup to thicken.
6. Serve hot with grilled cheese or garlic toast

I like trying to make something that I have never ever tried. Most of the time I try to make something because its something my DH loves, but then its sometimes where I think “Mmmmm… this could be good…” and do it anyways.

A little bit of soul cooking, a little bit of curiosity, and a whole lot of making a mess. Examples of this include Mac and Cheese, Banana Pancakes, and Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas. Most of the time there isn’t much of a recipe, just going for it. Mac and Cheese had one mostly because I had never made a white sauce before. It was only loosely followed…

So I decided to do something strange, and stuff my french toast. I never had it before, but I was craving it.

I’m not normally the biggest fan of breakfast. I tend to like savory mornings where most of the morning foods I see seem to be sweet based. Normally I can’t handle that much sugar in the morning, so this was a strange craving to have.

The weather finally cooled down enough over the weekend that I was able to finally bake some more of my favorite bread. I’ve missed using my oven. It was like a part of me was missing.

That made me feel just a bit pathetic.

I used my handy dandy bread slicer to cut double thick slices. I figured that you can use two regular slices of bread to do the same function as one of the large ones. I just couldn’t get my mind around doing that and calling it “stuffed”. I needed a pocket to fill with cream cheese to make it feel… “authentic”.

It was a little difficult to make sure that I put the pocket in correctly, since my hands tend to be crooked when I slice, but you could see the knife going through the bread and feel it with your hands, so it wasn’t too hard.

Now there’s a pocket, what to do with it? Fill it with cream cheese! I decided to go the route of a sweetened cream cheese. I whipped up some room temperature cream cheese, vanilla and just a little sugar in my mixer and filled a pastry bag with it.

Do you need a pastry bag and fun shaped tip? Not really, a knife would have worked just as well, but I also just wanted to play with my pastry bags.

Make sure the cream cheese is room temperature, it makes it much easier to fill the bread.

Make sure to keep it as even as possible when putting it in. There were a few that had a whole bunch in the middle and it made it a little goopy when trying to eat it. Tasty but goopy.

I thought that we would each like to have two pieces for breakfast. I mean, we would have a platter of french toast at a resturant and it would have 2 big pieces on the plate which would disappear quickly. I didn’t take into account how filling these would be.

Now just cook as you would normally to make french toast. I cooked them a little longer on a little lower heat (just barley over medium) to make sure that all the egg that soaked into these huge pieces got cooked.

Good lord that’s a whole lot of food.

We then topped them with a little powdered sugar and fresh berries. I thought it needed something else and whipped up some fresh whipped cream to top it with, which was great! Next time I would make a berry sauce to go on top instead of just fresh berries. It needed a little sauce of some sort. Something slightly tart to go with the sweet cream cheese.

We each could only handle eating one of these, it was just too much food. One slice each should be sufficient.

Stuffed French Toast
Serves 4

• 4 thick bread slices or 8 regular bread slices
• 1/3 cup cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Beat to combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until light in color and fluffy.
2. If using thick slices of bread, slice a pocket in the side of the bread, going almost but not all the way through the other side of the bread.
3. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly through the bread pockets. If using regular bread slices, spread the mixture evenly over half of the bread slices and top with the plain pieces.
4. In a wide dish, mix together the eggs, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat until all the mixture is incorporated and smooth.
5. Dip each serving of bread into the egg mixture on both sides quickly, then cook in a pan that is preheated to a little more than medium heat.
6. When the bottoms are golden brown, flip and continue cooking the other side.
7. Serve warm, topped with your favorite topping.

Technically I can eat it, I do have teeth and all, but I can’t eat it because of the sugar content. I don’t have any medical reason for being sensitive to sugar (I just have a physical to make sure) but the only thing we can think of is because I gave up drinking soda over a year ago my taste buds and body are now used to having less sweetness and when I do have sweet its real sugar.

If you cut out as much fake sugar you can, your body will much love it. Plus you then can actually realize what your body is going through when you eat real sugar, and you tend to eat less of it also.

So of course in my neurotic foodie tendencies I decided to make my own.

Not only is making my own cereal/granola much easier than I thought, I’m also excited that I’m making it exactly how I need it to be. Less sugar, lots of cinnamon, and no nuts! Most granola’s or healthy cereals out there include nuts. I get it, nuts are healthy, but not healthy to those who can’t eat them.

Its really quite simple. You have the water to soak into the oats to make them soft and able to absorb any flavorings you add, melted and cooled butter to help brown it, honey for some sweetness, and then the flavorings. I like to use a lot of cinnamon, a little nutmeg and a bit of vanilla.

I like to add all my wet ingredients together first so that its easier to get everything evenly distributed later. Normally I add my water and vanilla later after I mix in the butter and honey, but I’m lazy and I really haven’t seen too much of a difference in how it turned out.

Add all the wet ingredients to your dry, old fashioned oats, and mix well.

Mix really well. And quickly. If you let your oats just sit with all the stuff you just poured on them it’ll just turn into a big pile of mush. Then you get clumpies when you bake it, you don’t want clumpies!

Keep in mind you’ll need a big pan to do this in. It does take 5 cups of oats, and that’s a LOT of oats. Make sure to spread them nice and even. You want them to cook as evenly as possible.

Now comes the fun part. Cook it for over an hour. But every 10 minutes you need to take it out and stir it around to make sure it gets evenly cooked everywhere. And to make sure to get all the clumpies out.

That is a clumpie. Even if you mix the oats really fast in the beginning, you probably will get some clumpies. In the first few rounds of baking make sure to try and find all the clumpies and get rid of them.

Kill them. Kill them dead. Just take your heat resistant spatula or wooden spoon and gently bonk them around until they un-clump. Just mix it back up and stick it back in the oven.

The last time I think I’m going to stick it back in the oven for another round of baking, I tend to drizzle another 1-2 tablespoons of honey over the top of it, give it a little shine and a little extra sweetness.

You can tell when the granola is done when it is hot but still crispy in your fingers, I tend to test for done-ness by dropping a few pieces onto a plate. If you hear it hit the plate with a little “ding” then its done. You’ll know. It just sounds crisp.

When its done baking, turn off the oven and stick the granola back in the oven and just let it hang out. This will help ensure that the oats are completely dried out. Plus its a place to stick the granola while it’s still cooling. Just remember that its in there in a few hours and put it in an air tight container.

I do have to warn you. This stuff is crunchy. Not like normal run of the mill granola crunchy where there are nuts and other fun things in it. By itself it is darn crunchy and filling. I generally only have 1/4 cup at a time because while it tastes good, it can really make your jaw tired. Really tired.

Because its a very mild cereal, I love to add dried cranberries and tart apple chips. Just a little. what can beat the taste of a cinnamon, cranberry apple cereal? Not any of those over sugared store bought ones.

Cinnamon Granola
Makes 5 cups

• 5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup margarine or butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 tablespoons honey (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the rolled oats.
3. Combine honey, butter, nutmeg, vanilla, and cinnamon and mix well. Add the cold water and vanilla.
4. Add wet ingredients to oats, stirring gently but quickly until well mixed.
5. Pour mixture into a 15”x8” baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cook the granola until it turns crispy. Granola should be a definite golden brown and crisp.
6. During the baking process drizzle the remaining honey lightly over the top of the granola in a few doses.
7. Turn oven off, leave the oven door ajar, and allow the granola to cool in the oven. When it is room temperature, transfer it to a covered container.

I’m afraid of the grill.

I think it stems from my parents gas BBQ. It had a lever to push and light it, but it was so loud that I was convinced that it would cause it to explode. I only had lit it a few times and each time I would shut my eyes and try to get as far away as I could from the grill and still push the lever. I always was afraid to blow myself up. It was pretty darn strange.

Now I leave the grilling up to the Husband and I stick with creating new marinades and different things for the grill. He can deal with the heat and exploding grill, I’ll hide in the house. (No it never has blown up, but that doesn’t stop me from being afraid still.)

This marinade has to be my favorite one for beef so far. I love limes and I love chili powder, so I decided to just make it up one day and see what would happen.

Delicious.

There is only one bad thing about making this. Each time we make it I always get too excited about eating it to take pictures of the final product.

My favorite way to eat this meat is in tacos. With a nice amount of shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream all wrapped up on a corn tortilla.

The sour cream and the cold cheese are a great pairing with the tangy and spicy flavor of the marinade. Best ever.

Chili Lime Marinade
Marinates 1-2 lbs of meat

• 1-2 limes, juiced and zested
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup diced red onion

1. Whisk together all ingredients and pour over meat to marinade for 6-8 hours. Cook as desired, discarding extra marinade.

But now on to the pasta.

This was actually the inspiration for making the pasta. I bought this a few years ago with a friend when we were going to thrift stores. The thing I really love about it is the recipe and instructions that line the outside of the bowl.

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The recipe is ok, its not perfect and I could never get it to come out right. But then comes along Pastor Ryan and his trip to The Pioneer Woman’s place and made his own fresh pasta. This time I used that recipe and method of making the pasta. There aren’t any pictures of the process since I was home alone and my hands completely covered in sticky pasta dough.

Its a little hard to be a camera wielding maniac when you’re afraid of mucking up your camera. I’m such a weenie sometimes.

I made a double batch of pasta, a total of 8 eggs I think. Either way it was a LOT of dough. I really should just make things in smaller batches. I guess that’s just one of my charms though.

After I left it to rest for a minute (and cleaned up my mess) I put one bundle in the fridge to use later as ravioli (more on that later) and started working on one bundle to use as dinner of fresh pasta and leftovers.

My roller attachments made it so much easier to roll out the pasta. I only had it on speed 2 and it just went beautifully. I was in heaven. But then usually I do something stupid.

Like this. Really? You shouldn’t do that. All my dough did was stick together and force me to re-roll a good portion of it.

This would have been much smarter to do at first. Then they won’t stick nearly as bad to the counter as they wait their turn to be cut into lovely ribbons of deliciousness.

I’m really good at not thinking things through. Such as when I decide to roll out a ton of pasta and want to dry it but really don’t have anywhere to dry it. So the pasta ended up sitting on top of my mixer with a wooden spoon while I looked for some way to dry it. I had never dried pasta before so I really didn’t know what I was doing.

Sometimes I feel like the village is missing their idiot and some day I’m going to be dragged back kicking and screaming.

Don’t mock me. This is the only solution I could come up with. Its my clothes drying rack that I cleaned off and floured. It was my best solution at the time, but really there is a better solution.

Only make enough for what your actually going to eat! There was a LOT of pasta, especially since I just rolled everything out after I tried to make ravioli. Notice I said “tried”. It was a disaster so I ended up with just a whole lot of pasta. I ended giving a good portion to a friend so she could make dinner for her husband.

The pasta itself tasted great, and it cooks crazy fast which is nice for dinner. Next time I won’t be rolling them quite as thin, probably a little on the thick side for more texture.