Tag Archives: bacon

Breakfast Quesadillas

bq 10What can I say about these breakfast quesadillas? My kids like them! My husband likes them! I like them! Therefore, I hope you like them too! These for me are definitely a weekend breakfast, but if you’re an early riser and a go getter, have at ’em on a weekday morning. I love that these quesadillas have the traditional breakfast flavors but with that little Mexican spin. Ole!

Breakfast Quesadillas (makes 2 large quesadillas)

  • 1/2 tbsp. butter
  • 4 eggs plus 1 tbsp. milk, beaten together in a bowl
  • Pinch of salt & pepper
  • 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 6 strips bacon, cooked
  • 4 flour tortillas

In a skillet (preferably non stick) over medium heat, add butter. Let melt and swirl to coat the pan. Add the beaten egg mixture and a pinch of salt & pepper and let cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until the eggs set and are just no longer runny. Turn off heat and set to the side.

On a large skillet, add two tortillas. Spread 1/4 c. of cheese on each tortilla, then dividing the eggs evenly, spread across the cheese. Next top each quesadilla with 3 bacon strips and then add the remaining cheese to the top. Cover each with an additional tortilla. Turn heat on medium and let cook for about 4 minutes, or until the underside is browned and crisp. Carefully flip over and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and place on a cutting board, cutting the quesadillas into half, and then in half again. Serve with your favorite salsa.

bqbq 2bq 3bq 4bq 5bq 6bq 7bq 8bq 9*If you like things spicy, you can add pickled jalapeno slices like I did on one of my quesadillas. Other great additions would be cilantro, green onions, even sautéed mushrooms. Quesadilla possibilities seem endless!

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Red Potato Salad w/ Bacon

red potato salad 3

Potato salad isn’t my best photography subject

Independence Day is tomorrow! And if you’re looking to try a new potato salad recipe for the holiday, well then…. You’re welcome! 🙂

As I told you all before, we took a road trip to Texas over Spring break. Along the way, we stopped at a German deli in Yuma, Arizona. Yes, it sounds off the beaten path but I was letting Yelp guide our culinary adventure across the states. I mean, we had to eat somewhere, and instead of eating at all the usual chain restaurants, I wanted my family to have something unique!

Thus, the German deli. This place had excellent reviews and after eating there, I know why. The portions were HUGE. And the food was very good. One item in particular? Their potato salad. Hands down, best potato salad I’ve ever eaten. Anywhere. Unfortunately, I cannot eat this potato salad anytime I want since Yuma is nowhere close to me. But, it did inspire me to try and re-create it at home. Is my potato salad re-creation as good as the delectable German deli? No. But like I said, it was the BEST potato salad I’d ever eaten. That’s a high honor in my opinion. However, I did really like my potato salad and it’s definitely worth making again.

Red Potato Salad w/ Bacon

  • 3 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small chunks
  • 10 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • 4 green onions, sliced
  • 3/4 c. mayo
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 1/2 tsp. dried dill
  • 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
  • Salt & pepper

Add potatoes to a pot and bring to a boil. Let cook for 15-20 minutes until tender. Drain and let cool. In a bowl, mix together the mayo, sour cream and seasonings. Add the salt and pepper to taste. (I’m always generous with the pepper). When potatoes have cooled, add the bacon, green onions and “dressing”. Mix together until combined and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Okay, so you may be thinking 10 strips of bacon is overload. But I initially made this potato salad with just 5 strips, and I really feel it could’ve used double. But totally up to you.

red potato salad 2red potato saladThis potato salad almost reminds me of a baked potato. But not. If that makes sense? Either way, this is a nice change from the traditional potato salad you’re used to eating. So next time you’re on a road trip, check out Yelp. Go out on a limb and you’ll probably discover some really great food!

Fake-on (aka Perfect, Fake Looking, BACON)

baconI’m a creature of habit. If you know me, then this is no surprise. So if I’m on schedule, I clean my house on Friday. That means that my stove should be sparkly clean come Saturday morning. My problem? I always make bacon on Saturday mornings. And every time, I ask my husband why I cleaned the stove the day before just to cook bacon and spatter grease EVERYWHERE. So I decided to not make the same mistake once again, and I popped that bacon in the oven. End result? Perfect, fake looking bacon. Fake-on. And a clean stovetop.

bacon 3So here’s how it goes. I used a jelly roll pan and took a long sheet of foil and slightly crumpled it. This is to get ridges so when you lay the bacon on the foil, it doesn’t just sit in a pool of fat. With the ridges, the fat sits in that and the bacon slightly sits on top. Lay your bacon on the foil, making sure the strips are not on top of each other. Place your bacon into a cold oven. Then turn the heat onto 400 degrees and bake away. I used thick cut bacon so mine took about 30 minutes. If you use regular sliced bacon, 15-20 minutes will probably do. When it’s all done, set bacon aside on some paper towels to absorb the grease.

bacon 2

A couple things I liked about cooking my bacon in the oven? Obviously, no grease spatters on the stovetop. If the oven had any, I didn’t notice and the inside of my oven isn’t my biggest concern. Second, by putting it in a cold oven, the strips didn’t curl up! Third, I was able to pick up that foil and pour my precious bacon drippings into a jar I keep in the fridge. AND it was a pretty clean process.

That’s it! Now you’ve got some oven cooked, perfect looking fake-on strips. Time to PIG out 🙂

It’s the Best Soup Ever!!!

corn chowder 3So if you replace the word “soup” with “day” in the title of this post, do you know which kids’ show that’s from? If not, it’s from SpongeBob! And I am as happy as SpongeBob is when he sings “It’s the best day ever….” when I think about this soup. By far, this is MY favorite when it comes to soup. And I have Pioneer Woman to thank for that. So thank you PW!

Corn & cheese chowder. She had me at chowder. It’s comforting, creamy, filling and delicious. Great served with a French baguette. Just typing this makes me crave this soup. And it comes together so fast, but has so much flavor, you’d never know how quick it was to make. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m passionate about this soup!!!

I have adjusted this recipe slightly to cut down on calories and to work with what I usually have on hand. However, if you want full fat and to see how PW does it, check out the original recipe. Of course, she has amazing step by step pictures.

Corn & Cheese Chowder (original recipe at Pioneer Woman)corn chowder 4

  • 3 15.25 ounce cans of corn, drained
  • 1/2 stick of butter (4 tbsp.)
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 3 slices bacon, chopped into pieces
  • 1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, finely diced or a small jar of pimientos, drained
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups milk (I use 1%)
  • 1/2 c. flour
  • 1 c. Monterey jack cheese, shredded
  • 1 c. pepper jack cheese, shredded
  • 3 green onions, sliced
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Dash of cayenne pepper

In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook onions for a couple of minutes. Add bacon and cook until almost crisp.Then add diced bell peppers or pimientos and cook for a couple of minutes. Finally, add corn.

Sprinkle flour evenly over the top and stir to combine. Pour in broth and stir well. Allow this to thicken for 3 or 4 minutes, then reduce heat to low. Stir in milk and allow to simmer/thicken for 15 minutes or so.

Stir in cheeses and green onions. When cheese is melted, add salt and pepper to taste, with a dash of cayenne. It’s now ready to eat!

corn chowder 2And you should seriously make this. TONIGHT!!!!!!

Spicy Tuscan Soup

I love a good bowl of soup for dinner. It’s just so comforting and filling. I typically make the same soups over and over because they’re just so good, but I wanted to try something different and came across this recipe. It has kale in it, which I’m a big fan of. It’s a super food! It’s so good for you, and it tastes really good in this soup. Enjoy!!!kale

Spicy Tuscan Soup (original recipe at Tasty Kitchen)

• 1 pound pork sausage (I used Jimmy Dean)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 slices bacon, diced (I used turkey bacon)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 bunch of kale, roughly chopped
• ½ cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper, to taste

Crumble sausage into a Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat until cooked through. Drain off the grease and set the sausage aside.

Add onions and bacon into the Dutch oven. Reduce heat to medium and cook until onions are clear and the bacon has crisped up. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and cut into smaller chunks. Add chicken broth and potatoes to the Dutch oven and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are almost done.

Add remaining ingredients, as well as the sausage and simmer for 5 more minutes. Then it’s time to eat up!

spicy tuscan soup*The original recipe calls for spicy breakfast sausage. However, to satisfy my kids’ needs, I used regular pork sausage and added red chili pepper flakes so I could control the spice level. If spice is not an issue, use the spicy breakfast sausage instead.

Bacon Brussel Sprouts

brussel sproutsBrussel sprouts are little gems of deliciousness. They have quickly become one of my family’s favorite veggies. So I was really excited when I saw my brother-in-law making them as a side for Christmas dinner. And they were really tasty. I’ve always baked them in the oven and although very yummy, that recipe takes 45 minutes and requires me to shake the pan every 5-7 minutes. This recipe is so much quicker and so very good that it’s a must try.

Bacon Brussel Sprouts

  • 1 lb. brussel sprouts, rinsed, trimmed, halved & dried as much as possible
  • 4 bacon slices, cut into pieces
  • 1/2 c. chicken broth
  • 2 tbsp. brown sugar
  • Ground pepper, to taste

Heat a sauté pan on medium. When heated, add bacon pieces and cook until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon to a paper towel to drain. Very important, LEAVE all that wonderful bacon grease in the pan. Add the brussel sprouts and sauté for a few minutes, until they are browned. Pour in the chicken broth and reduce heat to medium low. Put a lid on, leaving it a little to the side for steam to escape. Let cook for 5-7 minutes. Remove lid and sprinkle with brown sugar and pepper. Add the bacon back in. Stir to melt the sugar and eat!

bacon brussel sproutsI’m pretty sure you will inhale these scrumptious brussel sprouts!!