Bacon Burger?

sort of...

mashed sweet potatos, burger, guac and bacon,

the whole thing surrounded by mushrooms

and some veggies on the side

carrots and pole beans

Salmon and Veggies

Salmon

glazed with a mix of alfredo sauce, pesto, and sundried tomato pesto

baked at 375 for 20 minutes

Cous Cous

boil 1/2 c water, a little bit of butter, and a little bit of salt

add 1/2 c cous cous and a squirt of mustard, and 1/2 spoonful of sundried tomato pesto

remove from heat, stir well, cover, let sit for 5 minutes

Green Beans

snap off ends, rinse

put in a microwave safe dish with a little bit of water (not enough to cover them)

place lid on top, but not tightly

cook in microwave for 2 minutes, stir, cook 2 more minutes

drain

add squirt of mustard and a little bit of sundried tomato pesto, mix well

Baby Broccoli

cut off the ends of the stalks and remove leaves

rinse broccoli

steam with a little bit of butter and 1/2 c water until water has evaporated

add chopped sundried tomatos and a little bit of mustard, mix well to coat

Bacon Grease

every kitchen needs one of these:

a bacon grease jar!

don't forget to save the grease every time you cook bacon:

it has so many uses...and makes everything taste better

Mac N Cheese Supreme

I'm getting the impression that my love of kitchen-experimentation is getting in the way of my healthy eating obsession...

Came home from work late today, and totally exhausted.  The last thing I wanted to do was cook.  But...a girl's gotta eat.  And after some time relaxing in the sunshine with the pony, I worked up enough energy to cook.  And this is the result. 

cook 1 lb ground beef in sauce

cook 1 lb pasta

cheese sauce : milk, heavy cream, flour, ranch, shredded cheese

 cook 4 slices of bacon

 layer #1

layer #2

layer #3

layer #4

bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

dinner is served

oh, and since I didn't start cooking until late...here's the salad I ate to tide me over

Chicken & Spinach, Mashed Sweet Potatos, Green Bean-Carrot Casserole, OH MY!

Chicken
Cut into chunks, cook in a skillet with a little bit of heavy cream, mustard powder, and dry basil.  Add fresh basil when almost cooked through (remove when chicken is done).  Then, add 2 large handfuls of fresh spinach, cook til wilted. 

(pre-spinach)



Sweet Potatos
Peel and cut into chunks, boil on stovetop.  Mash with butter, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, and oregano. 

Green Bean-Carrot Casserole
Peel and chop 2 carrots, snap/clean fresh green beans.  Boil on stovetop til carrots are soft.  In a skillet, saute chopped onions and mushrooms in bacon grease, add garlic when almost done.  Remove from skillet, then heat sour cream w/chives and heavy cream in the skillet, with a squirt of mustard.  Combine beans/carrots, onions/mushrooms, and cream mixture in a casserole dish.  Sprinkle breadcrumbs and pine nuts on top.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top, bake for another 10 minutes. 

Dinner

Green Bean Casserole

snap ends off and clean about 2 cups of fresh green beans
put them in a glass bowl with a some water, put lid on, microwave for 2 minutes at a time until cooked

saute approx. 1/4 cup diced onion in bacon grease, when the onions start to turn brown add 1/4 cup diced portabello mushrooms.  When the mushrooms are cooked, add a big spoonful of sour cream w/chives, and a big spoonful of alfredo sauce.  Mix well.  Pour mixture into a oven-safe casserole dish.  Add green beans and a small spoonful of minced garlic.  Mix it up.  Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle cheese on top, bake for another 10 minutes. 

(pre-bake)

Butterscotch-Oatmeal Cookies

School potluck tonight...each class is assigned a type of dish to bring, teachers are told to bring whatever they want.  Despite the fact that my fridge is overflowing, there was nothing in there that I could make to bring.  So I decided to make some cookies. 

I was going to use my chocolate-chip cookie recipe, and add quick oats.  I ended up modifying my oatmeal-raisin recipe instead...and adding butterscotch chips instead of raisins. 


Here's what they looked like before they went in the oven:

Here's what they looked like when they came out of the oven:

And here's what they looked like after I tried to remove them from the pan:

tastes fine, looks disastrous

Talk about culinary disaster...I was tempted to give up...but I couldn't go to a potluck empty-handed.  So I made batch #2.  With about twice as much flour.  Instead of 1 cup, I put in 1 3/4 or 2.  

I took the cookie pieces from batch #1 and pressed them into a brownie pan...then cut them into bars. 

I put the bars in the bottom of a tin and stacked all the cookies on top.  The tin was overflowing when I brought it to school (couldn't fit the lid on).

When I brought the tin back home it looked like this: just a few cookies left, and even some of the bars got eaten.  Hooray.  I also got some compliments on how amazingly delicious they were.  So I guess my culinary disaster turned out alright after all...

Recipe

1 stick butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
splash of apple cider
splash of milk
dash of cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
dash of cinnamon
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1-2 c flour
3/4 c quick oats
3/4 c butterscotch chips

bake at 350 for 10 minutes


and this is how I decided to enjoy the cookies after I got home:

on top of some bread pudding w/whiskey sauce

Dinner 10/12

Hmmmmm I feel like I'm not posting enough.  This is a result of either a) I don't have time to cook or b) when I do have time to cook, I'm too busy devouring it to take pictures and post a blog entry.  Life is a little bit crazy.  Every year at school I think that the following year can't possibly be any busier...and then the next year is twice as busy as the previous year.  This past weekend was officially my last Saturday working at the Pub.  I will continue to make their Potato-Leek Soup on an as-needed basis...but I need my weekends.  I have under-rated free time for awhile now...(over a year)...it's time for me to get some "me time."

Here's a picture of tonight's dinner.  Not a gourmet feast...but it did involve a little bit of cooking...and it was delicious.

Chicken/Cheese Quesadilla (covered in honey mustard), fresh green beans/leeks/portabello mushrooms steamed/sauteed with mustard & sundried tomato pesto

Tomato Soup

Here I give you step-by-step instructions, with pictures.  This is exactly how I made the soup.  There are definitely things I will change next time I do it, to make the whole process more efficient...but I'll let you figure that part out yourself.

Step by Step

1) peel, clean, and thinly slice 2 carrots

2) put a small sliver of butter in a large non-stick pot

3) add the sliced carrots to the pot, sprinkle some salt on top, put lid on pot, turn burner on medium heat

4) KEEP AN EYE ON THE CARROTS!  They might burn...if the butter disappears, add more or add some vegetable stock

5) chop about 1/2 of a yellow onion

*if your knife is sharp and the onion is cold, this should be accomplishable w/o tears

6) remove the carrots from the pot and put the onions in the pot with more butter or vegetable stock, and steam them

7) finely chop the carrots (or put them in a blender and puree them), and add them back to the put once the onions are soft

8) add one spoonful of minced garlic, a sprinkle each of garlic powder, onion powder, and dried basil flakes, some more vegetable stock, and some water.  stir, then add some heavy cream.

9) clean 3-4 tomatos

*they should be ripe, but firm--you do not want squishy tomatos!

10) peel the tomatos

*the colder and firmer they are, the easier they will be to peel

11) dice the tomatos

12) add the tomatos to the pot

13) add more heavy cream and water

14) cook for awhile

15) chop some fresh basil, add it to the pot, cook some more

16) throw it all in a blender, blend it up, put it back in the pot, bring to a boil

17) add 2 tbsp Quinoa flour to thicken

18) simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally

*make sure to break up all flour lumps