Day 74: Bacon and Pancetta Potatoes

Original Source: Food Network

Potatoes? Bacon? Pancetta? Who WOULDN'T try this recipe? Especially when Your Guy (or gal) is preparing it for you???

So on a night when I didn't want to cook but still wanted to try something new, I passed a few recipes to My Guy and he willingly took them on. Two of them, Creamy Avocado Dressing and Brazilian Skirt Steak with Golden Garlic Butter, we'd eaten and loved before. But we needed one more thing to go with them. Enter, potatoes.

Some people like cookies and ice cream. I like potatoes!

These were amazing. Sadly, the potatoes didn't pick up much of the bacon goodness, but the bits of bacon and pancetta mixed in made up for that and the potatoes were just fine on their own. Cooked to perfection with a crispy exterior coating a warm, soft middle. What's not to love????? This is staying in Paprika for me!!! I'm thinking I might even include it in my Thanksgiving menu this year.

Get recipe HERE

Day 56: Bacon and Egg Grilled Cheese

Original Source: Simply Cooking

If you look at the picture above and you AREN'T instantly hungry, I don't want to know you. Fried egg??? Bacon??? Cheese???? Gimmmmmeeeee now!

So, we ate this this weekend and the verdict? Keeper. It tasted very much like one of my favorites, Egg in a Basket with bacon. However, ours were pathetically slim compared to the picture so I cant help but wonder if something in that sandwich is double stacked. Regardless, try it. It's easy and the whole family loved it. (Both teens, however, requested theirs without cheese.)

Get the recipe HERE

Day 18: Bacon Egg Cups

Original Source: Fat Girl in a Skinny Body

Find the recipe HERE

As I said before, My Guy takes care of weekend breakfasts around here, and this is no exception.

Each cup is about 100 calories so I'm taking it upon myself to categorize it as healthy too! (Only because of the high protein, low cal!)




The verdict:
On the website, the author posted that readers had commented about partially cooking the bacon in advance. I'd recommend that. The only real downside to this recipe was that the bacon was a little chewy and "clear" in parts. A crunchier bite might make this one a total winner. For 100 calories a pop, I'm totally willing to try it again! Especially if he's the one cooking it!

TA DA!

Day 11 : Cheesy Chicken Tater Tot Casserole

Original Source: The Country Cook

FIND RECIPE HERE

Let me say, this was a pain in my $##. Not the recipe itself, but because of the number of days I tried to make it and kept forgetting to start the crock pot! 2 or 3:00 would roll around and I'd remember and.. yeah, new plans for dinner. I'm not used to using a crockpot outside of weekends, unless it's for beans.

Ok, onward and upward!

My thoughts:
Tasty. My guy agreed, as did my Teen Boy. Teen Daugher (As usual) wasn't around.

However, we all agreed that this dish would be far better served as a breakfast dish. Take out the chicken, use sausage instead, and this would get 4 stars instead of the 3 we gave it. Also, I don't use fake bacon for anything. So I used real bacon, slightly cooked, and cut into pieces. Next time, I'll cook the bacon more, because it never developed a nice, crunchy texture.

1 problem with the recipe. Granted, I could be blind and I'm known for not being able to see what's right in front of me, but the recipe layers everything out yet forgets the first layer of cheese. By the time you get to the second layer, it's tell you it's the third. Not so. So my bottom layer had no cheese :( It wasn't missed, however, so carry on.  The tater tots throughout take on a rice-y texture and is quite lovely, while the top layer keeps its tater tot shape. Seriously, as a breakfast, this would be far better. The chicken was an unneeded distraction that I ended up pushing aside.

Day 5: Double Dose for Dinner

Who doesn't like a 2-for-1 deal?
Good. Because last night I actually did two new recipes for dinner, and since they were both on the same plate, they're both on the same post.
Enjoy!

#1 CHICKEN STUFFED PEPPERS

From: The Little Giggler

What it was meant to look like:

FOR RECIPE, GO HERE.

AND... what mine looked like.

They actually came out rather pretty. Those aren't bugs on the middle ones! I marked those two peppers with olives so we knew they were for the teenage boy. He doesn't like cheese and so I left it off those two for him.

This was a really easy recipe to follow. Just slice, mix and stuff. My family isn't really a fan of yellow and orange bell peppers however, so the consensus was to use only red and green next time. Will do!

And #2 BACON WRAPPED CARAMELIZED ASPARAGUS

Get the recipe HERE

How they're meant to look:

First let me admit, I don't like asparagus. My husband can tolerate it, but it's pretty much a chore to get it down no matter what. Second, the real title of this dish is Bacon Wrapped Caramelized SESAME Asparagus. But I had no sesame oil or sesame seeds on hand and didn't want to make a second trip to the store to pick any up. So we get the non-sesame version here.

Done

Ready to cook!

Would sesame have made a difference? Maybe but I doubt it. I didn't gag getting it down and everything's better with bacon. But asparagus is still asparagus. Will you like it if you like asparagus. Probably. The sugar and bacon combo really do give the green stalks a candy texture, and since I refuse to give up on a vegetable, if I have to eat asparagus again, I'll likely go with this recipe.

Peppers and Asparagus together in a really silly face!

Day 3 - Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit Bowls

Source: Cooking Creation

Cheating a little on this one. No pictures of our attempt because my guy is the breakfast man and, well, he didn't take any. But let me assure you, they were great! His looked a little more "bowly" than the picture above though, which to me looks more like a plate. Whatever. Didn't even need a fork. This one is a keeper! Next time, I'd like to try it with a fried egg instead of scrambled and maybe lose the cheese, just to try it.

Find the recipe HERE.