Bacon Ice Cream

If you are thinking bacon ice cream is crazy just stop right there! I have to admit, for a split second, and I'm not proud of this, I doubted that it would be good. Then I realized my name isn't Jane Austen and I am a man, a man who loves bacon. With that momentary lapse in judgment out of the way I got to work! See look at how beautiful it looks!

Please note this ice cream isn't straight up bacon flavored. Something that delicious would kill any one who eats it. Except for this man:

Big Fat Bacon Sliders

Are you ready for summer? I have been looking forward to it since the first snowflake hit the ground last winter. Memorial Day is a much anticipated because it marks the beginning of summer. I am having to get used to not having a BBQ around. So sad, but I am making due with the oven. When Holli showed me a Pioneer Woman recipe for a burger wrapped in bacon that you cook in the oven, I knew I had to make it for Memorial Day!

Picture by Holli Coats (She's good!)

Pasta Carbonara

Pasta Carbonara got second place in our vote and I have been very excited to make it ever since. I know I'm not supposed to tell, but this is what I voted for. As you all know by now I'm obsessed with eggs...and bacon...and butter...and this pasta has it all. 

Source

Leek-tastrophy

While at Wal-Mart last week I saw some leeks and thought to myself, “those sound really good.” So I decided to go crazy with the leeks and thought about a few recipes to use them in. I got really excited because my mom made this really good Potato Leek soup from a William Sonoma cookbook a while back. So I knew I wanted to make that and there was also a risotto I wanted to try (now that I’m done being afraid of making risotto).

What is a leek you ask? They are a part of the onion family. They kind of look like green onions, but have more leafs and are larger (See picture below). They also have a milder flavor then an onion. I knew what they were, but I have never cooked with them. So I felt up to the challenge and thought I would give it a whirl!

I started to make the soup and read that you need to clean the leeks really well because they can have dirt in the crevices. So I washed them and cut them up and followed the recipe to the T! One thing the cook book failed to point out was that you use the white part and not the green part. If I wasn’t so excited I would have looked at the picture and used my own past experiences to know the soup was white and not green. However, in my over excitement for this soup I used the green parts on top. It took me up until the point where I started to blend it up to notice this was not how the soup was supposed to turn out. It looked like baby poop. So I got super bummed out and pouted and flailed my arms about like a child. It kind of felt like when you were young and really wanted to go on the rollercoaster and found out you were too short by a couple of inches! So Holli had cereal and I had left over Papa John’s pizza she had brought home from work. Oh well, you can’t win them all!

I promised myself I wouldn’t screw up the risotto and the recipe even said to only use the white part. I also bought some good wine at Kroger so we could stop sinning by using nasty cooking wine. I thought it made a difference. The woman at Kroger was so nice helping this Mormon find a good wine. So with the Leeks I’m one for two this week. Please enjoy this risotto recipe. Since I only post what I make I didn’t feel right about posting the soup recipe like I had planned. So I will try to make it again soon and post it!

On an unrelated, but still a food note, I ate a McRib today and it was gross.

Leek, Bacon, and Pea Risotto

Ingredients

2 leeks, white and light-green parts only

12 cups (96 ounces) low-sodium chicken broth

4 slices bacon, cut crosswise into strips

2 1/2 cups Arborio rice

1 cup dry white wine

3/4 cup frozen peas (optional)

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

1. Halve leeks lengthwise; rinse thoroughly. Pat dry; thinly slice. In a saucepan, bring broth to a simmer over medium. Meanwhile, in a large, straight-sided skillet or Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium, stirring, until lightly browned but not crisp, 5 minutes. Add leeks; cook, stirring, until softened, 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Add rice and cook, stirring, until translucent around edges, 1 minute.

2. Add wine and stir until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup broth. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, until broth is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Repeat process, gradually adding broth, until rice is al dente and risotto is creamy (you may not need all the broth), about 35 minutes. Stir in peas (if using) after the final addition of broth.

3. Remove skillet from heat and stir in Parmesan. Cover and let stand 2 minutes. Season risotto with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

It is starting to get cold in Buena Vista and that can only mean one thing, casseroles! So let’s start out with the grand daddy of all casseroles...Mac and Cheese! I love the freshness of summer recipes. You have so many options as far as produce, but I love winter food. It is so rich and hearty and it just warms up your soul. This is a solid Mac and Cheese recipe and you will not be sorry when you make it. It is also very kid friendly. If you are crazy and do not like bacon, you can take it out and substitute it with an extra tablespoon of butter when making your rue. Once you make this you will be making it all winter and wishing you could make it all summer.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 2 to 3 slices of Bacon
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of bacon grease and melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Slowly Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf. Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Chop bacon into small pieces and add to pot. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Summer Squash and Corn Chowder

We made this last week and couldn't get enough of it. By now you should know I love to make soups and with winter coming up I'm sure I will post more soup recipes. This one was really easy to make and took only 40 minutes. If you don't have apple wood bacon that's ok, but look into getting some soon because it's so good! I really like Oscar Meyer's Super Thick Cut Apple Wood Bacon. This soup is creamy, but has the crunch of the bacon and corn that hit this one out of the park. Now that things are getting cooler it’s a good time to try this because you can still find some summer vegetables at the store. Also soup is really good to make extra of and freeze. Then when you don't have a lot of time to make dinner you just thaw and enjoy. That is exactly what we are doing today with this recipe!

Summer Squash and Corn Chowder

Ingredients
2 slices apple wood-smoked bacon
3/4 cup sliced green onions, divided
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 pound yellow summer squash, chopped
1 pound frozen white and yellow baby corn kernels, thawed and divided
2 1/4 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese

Preparation
1. Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan. Crumble bacon, and set aside. Add 1/2 cup onions, celery, and squash to drippings in pan; sauté 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

2. Reserve 1 cup corn; set aside. Place the remaining corn and 1 cup milk in a blender; process until smooth. Add remaining 1 1/4 cups milk, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to blender; process just until combined. Add pureed mixture and reserved 1 cup corn to pan. Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly. Stir in 1/8 teaspoon salt. Ladle about 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 4 bowls; top each serving with about 1 tablespoon bacon, 1 tablespoon remaining onions, and 1 tablespoon cheese.

Grits so good it will melt your face off!

Trust me when you eat these grits it will be like that Nazi who looked in the Ark in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Last Ark! If you do not get that reference you should take some time out of your day to watch that movie. Since coming to Virginia about 5 years ago, I have heard southerners rave about the southern staple known as grits. I decided to give them a go several years back and almost gagged. Over and over again I was duped by some smooth talking southerner to try them again. Every time I naively gave them another try I was left with the same result, Barf! I admit I didn’t have too high of hopes for grits in places like waffle house or even quick grits from Wal-Mart, but I was confused with the wonderful flavors of southern food and the bland and tasteless flavor of their ever so popular grits. They would tell me to load it up with cheese and butter and bacon, but even with the celestial meat known as bacon I could not choke grits down.

Then I ate at a little restaurant in Lexington known as the Red Hen. (www.redhenlex.com/) One of the main courses included grits and rabbit bacon. I was so excited about the rabbit bacon I completely ignored the grits altogether. When the food arrived I looked at my plate and saw the grits. My heart sank! “Why did I order this?” I thought! Then I decided to just suck it up and give them one last try. This was in fact a high class restaurant. The first bite with the grits and rabbit bacon was like biting into heaven itself! The grits were almost as good as the rabbit bacon, which is on a very short list of the best things I ever ate! From that moment I became a true convert! I knew that not all grits were created equal. So I asked the waitress what kind of grits they used and she said they used stone ground white grits from Wades Mill here in Rockbridge County.

It’s been over a year since I had them and I am not sure why I didn’t make this trip sooner. This Saturday we made a trip to Wades Mill. It was so cool! They use local ingredients from the Rockbridge County Farmers Co-op and stone grind everything from grits, flour, polenta, to barley. They have pancake mixes, bread mixes, and beer bread mixes. I got a small bag of yellow and white grits. Then this morning made creamy stone-ground grits with bacon and cheddar and threw on a fried egg to top it off. It was awesome! Not quite Red Hen quality, but close. If you do not live close to Rockbridge County here is wades mills web site (www.wadesmill.com). Now all my friends out west can order grits if they want to. This recipe is worth your time!

Creamy Stone Ground Grits

Ingredients
4 cups water
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup coarse stone-ground white grits
1 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preperation
Bring water, salt, and 1 tablespoon butter to a boil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, then add grits gradually, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Reduce heat and cook at a bare simmer, covered, stirring frequently, until water is absorbed and grits are thickened, about 15 minutes.
Stir in 1/2 cup milk and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally to keep grits from sticking to bottom of pan, 10 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until liquid is absorbed and grits are thick and tender, about 35 minutes more. (Grits will have a soft, mashed-potato-like consistency.)
Stir in pepper and remaining tablespoon butter.

Bacon, egg, and Toast Cups

Saw this in Martha Stewart Everyday Food (Don’t judge me). It was super easy to make and had normal breakfast ingredients that we already had. It made for a nice Sunday breakfast! It was a fancy spin on a normal everyday breakfast or brunch. I may try to make a hollandaise sauce to drizzle over next time and Holli wants to try it with sausage. You can even do different variations in the same muffin tin. There are so many things you can do with this! Try getting this at a Waffle House!

Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups

Total Cook Time: about 35 minutes

3 Tablespoons Unsalted butter, melted

8 Slices of White or Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread

6 Slices of Bacon

6 Large Eggs

Corse salt and Ground Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly butter six standard muffin cups. With a rolling pin, flatten bread slightly and, with a 4 ¼ - inch cookie cutter, cut into 8 rounds. Cut each round in half, then press 2 halves into each muffin cup, overlapping slightly making sure that bread comes up to the edge of the cup. Use extra bread to patch any gaps. Brush bread with remaining butter.

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium, until almost crisp, 4 min, flipping once. (It will continue to cook in the oven.) Lay 1 slice of bacon in each bread cup and crack an egg over each. Season with salt and pepper. Bake until egg whites are just set, 20-25 minutes. Run a small knife around cups to loosen toast. Serve immediately.

Try cook crumbled sausage in place of bacon or make a vegetarian dish with sautéed spinach.

Lost

Well Lost is over, but we took it out with a bang! For the past few months we have been having Lost dinner nights with our friends Stephanie and Michael. We would switch off making a fancy dinner or a fancy desert. This week we combined forces and made a five course dinner. We started off with a salad with bacon vinaigrette and a poached egg next was carrot apple bisque, then a balsamic cherry tomato bruchetta. The main course was homemade cheese ravioli with a roasted garlic and tomato cream sauce. Desert was the crème brulee recipe that I posted last week. Let's just say it was delicious and I shed a tear for every course. I was even more satisfied after watching the LOST series finale. Ok here are a couple of recipes.

Frisée Salad with Bacon-Shallot Vinaigrette

Ingredients

3 slice(s) bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

12 ounce(s) (2 to 3 heads) frisée or 2 bags (5 to 6 oz. each) mixed baby salad greens

1 medium shallot, minced

2 tablespoon(s) white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon(s) Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon(s) salt

1/4 teaspoon(s) pepper

2 tablespoon(s) olive oil

6 large eggs

Directions

In 2-quart saucepan, cook bacon on medium 5 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in 12-inch skillet, heat 1 inch water to boiling on high to poach eggs in later. Trim and discard stem ends from frisée; cut leaves into bite-size pieces. Place greens in large bowl.

Remove saucepan from heat. With slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain; discard all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat.

Into bacon fat remaining in skillet, whisk shallot, vinegar, Dijon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper. In slow, steady stream, whisk in oil until combined. Add warm vinaigrette to bowl with frisée and toss until evenly coated.

Reduce skillet heat to medium to maintain water at gentle simmer. Break eggs, one at a time, into cup. Holding cup close to surface of water, slip in each egg. Cook eggs 3 to 5 minutes or until whites are set and yolks begin to thicken. With slotted spoon, lift out each egg and quickly drain, still in spoon, on paper towels.

To serve, divide frisée among 6 salad plates; top with bacon and egg. Sprinkle egg with coarsely ground black pepper if you like.

Carrot Apple Bisque

4 Carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 Tbsp. butter

4-8 C. chicken broth

1 large apple, chopped, or 1 C. apple sauce

1/2 C. heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/3 C. green onion or chives, minced

In a sauce pan, combine carrots with butter and 1 C. of the chicken broth. Cook, covered, until carrots are very tender, about 15 minutes. Add apple and cook 5 more minutes. Remove pan from heat, take off lid and allow cooling for about 10 minutes. Whirl carrot mixture into a blender until smooth or force mixture through a strainer. You may need to add more chicken broth to blend. Return to saucepan. Stir in the cream and nutmeg. Stir in remaining chicken broth until the soup reaches the desired texture. I like mine a little more liquidy. Serve hot or cold. Top with chopped chives or green onions.