August Secret Recipe Club: Bacon Chicken Alfredo Pasta

Bacon, cheese, tomatoes, pasta, and chicken. Did I mention the cheese sauce?

Hello August. Or should I say goodbye? You've come and go so quickly. Is it really the fourth Monday? It's a good thing I remember it was time to make my Secret Recipe Club pick last night!

I was tickled when I got my assignment this month! I was assigned Fantastical Sharing ofRecipes and she had me last month! Too fun! I perused her sight and was immediately drawn to her Bacon Chicken Alfredo Pasta. It doesn't hurt that I always put bacon in my alfredo! I did enjoy that she had a different take and make it into a cheddar and parmesan sauce instead of just a parmesan sauce! I added a twist and replaced the parmesan with asiago. Feel free to use your favorite tomato as well. My cherry tomato plant is between batches at the moment, and yesterday morning I found this guy. Grr. It's going to be a bit longer before I have new tomatoes.

This recipe looks complicated from its long ingredient list, but don't be discouraged. It's easy to make and delicious!

Bacon Chicken Alfredo Pasta

adapted from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes, originally from Get Off Your Butt and Bake!

Ingredients:

2 chicken bone-in chicken breasts, baked at 400ºF for 45 minutes or until done (or leftover rotisserie chicken)

1 cup diced ham

1 tablespoon brown sugar

4 slices of your favorite bacon

1 tomato of your choice

1 crown of broccoli

8 ounces pasta of your choosing (elbow macaroni works well)

Shaved or grated parmesan cheese, for passing

Sauce:

1 cup milk

1 cup chicken broth (I make mine with water and chicken bouillon)

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese

1 cup grated asiago cheese

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon cracked black pepper

½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

From a cold skillet over medium heat, fry bacon until crispy (or your desired done-ness), place on paper towels to drain and set aside. Remove all but one teaspoon of bacon grease from the skillet and add diced ham. Sprinkle a tablespoon of brown sugar on top of the ham, and toss until the ham is golden and the brown sugar has caramelized. Remove ham from skillet and set aside. Add broccoli and saute quickly until brown on the edges. Chop or shred the chicken and chop the tomato. Set aside.

Over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add 2 tablespoons flour, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder and whisk together with the butter until bubbly. Continue whisking, and slowly add the milk, cream, and the chicken broth. Whisk constantly to prevent lumps. Continue whisking until the sauce has thickened. Turn heat to low, and add the grated cheddar and Parmesan cheese, one handful at a time, stirring constantly. Make sure the cheese is melted before your next addition. Once melted and mixed thorougly, turn your heat to the lowest temperature and cover. Prepare your pasta until al dente. Drain well.

Plate the pasta, and serve the sauce over the top. Crumble your bacon on top of the sauce, and also top with ham, broccoli, tomatoes and grated parmesan cheese.

You can choose to serve it all in one dish or as a pasta with customizable toppings. 

THOUGHTS:

My word I have a lot of dirty dishes! Next time I'll combine it all into one dish (minus the tomatoes) and serve it all mixed up to prevent the use of so many bowls! In the meantime, it was easy and delicious! The sugared ham was a nice foil to the broccoli and cheese. The tomatoes brightened things up and kept the dish from being too heavy. Overall, it was great!

I have a lot of leftovers, and I'm still debating what to do with them. I've combined everything into one dish (except the tomatoes of course) and am contemplating eating them cold for lunch tomorrow (yes, I like mac and cheese cold). OR I could put it in a baking dish, crumble more bacon on top with a bit more cheese and bake it for forty-five minutes at 350. One pot mac and cheese! Many thanks to Fantastical Sharing of Recipes for sharing this outstanding dish!

VERDICT:

Not-bad-and-very-filling: 1 vote*

Hey-that's-pretty-good: 1 vote

*Bender's vote changed the next day. Now it's more along the lines of Man-this-is-awesome-it's terrific-you-should-always-serve-it-all-mixed-up-after-the-sauce-has-thickened!

Yummy cheesy goodness!

July Secret Recipe Club: Baked Caprese Salad

Baked Caprese Salad

You'd think I wouldn't be surprised when the fourth Monday of the month rolls around these days. I should be accustomed to how fast months go by. But I'm not. And I got caught off guard. Again. But never fear! This delightful Baked Caprese Salad came together in no time flat and totally hit the spot!

Ain't nothin' better than a juicy tomato. 

This month's Secret Recipe Club assignment the fun blog The Adventures of an Epic Baker. She's got tons of great recipes and I found myself drawn to all of her cheesy, tomatoey dishes: Asparagus, Cherry Tomatoes in a White Wine Goat Cheese Sauce; Mozzarella, Tomato, and Basil Couscous; Caprese-Esque Pasta. I had a four hour drive home from a wedding shower today (totally worth it to see so much of my family!) and wanted a fast and easy dinner. I really wanted the pasta, but alas, no wine can be purchased on Sunday, and I didn't think in advance.


So I perused The Adventures of an Epic Baker one last time and picked out the Baked Caprese Salad. I make something similar that I fondly call Cheesy Bread. But this recipe elevates Cheesy Bread to the next level. Yum. Of note, the grocery store was out of basil. And well, I haven't started my herb garden yet. Oops. I picked up parsley instead and loved the grassy, fresh taste. Would basil have been better? Of course!


After reading the author's comments, I made several small tweaks. Enjoy!

Tomatoes on toast? Yes, please!

Baked Caprese Salad
lightly adapted from The Adventures of an Epic Baker


Ingredients:
6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
5 thick slices Italian bread
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Brush olive oil on bread on one side in an even layer. Bake for 5 minutes or until lightly toasted. 
3. Remove from oven and turn the oven to broil. 
4. Layer lightly salted chopped tomatoes and torn mozzarella pieces on the bread pieces, piling your ingredients to the height of your liking. Lightly salt and pepper the cheese.
5. Return to the oven until the cheese is melted (your oven is on broil, start checking after one minute!). If you prefer your cheese bubbly and brown, go for it! Sprinkle liberally with herb of your choice and serve. 

THOUGHTS:
There is something about tomatoes and mozzarella that just makes my belly happy.


VERDICT:
It's-delicious-but-I-should-have-added-garlic: 1 vote!

Cheesy, tomatoey goodness!

Double Take: Crock Pot Saag Paneer

Saag Paneer

Welcome to the fourth week of the month! (-ish. I know, I'm late with my post again. Oh wait, I'm an entire month late! Erm, so yeah, welcome to the fourth week of the month!) That's Crock Pot week in Double Take world! This week we bring you one of my favorite Indian dishes: Palak Paneer (spinach with cheese). One of my coworkers in Germany was from the Kashmir region of India, and she filled me in on the difference between saag paneer and palak paneer. In Kashmir, saag refers to the greens of kohlrabi whereas palak refers to spinach. That really surprised me. I'd always thought they were both spinach. You learn something new every day!

This particular version of palak paneer taught me that I definitely have a favorite style of palak paneer. Some palak paneer dishes are creamy whereas others are all spinach. Guess which one I like. Of course, the creamy one. So. I won't be making this recipe again, but I'm really glad I tried it. I also took the opportunity to teach you how to make paneer. Yum. It's always better than buying it from the store! At least the stores I've shopped at. Have you purchased awesome premade paneer before? If so, let me know where to find it!

I used a Crock Pot liner to help reduce the mess.
Don't use the liner if you plan to use an immersion blender. 

Saag Paneer: Curried Spinach with Fresh Cheese
adapted from The Indian Slow Cooker by Anupy Singla

Ingredients:

Homemade Cheese!

2 pounds fresh spinach, washed well (avoid using baby spinach)
2 large yellow or red onions, roughly chopped
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (if no sugar added tomatoes, add 1 tablespoon sugar)
1 (4-inch) piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
20 cloves (one whole head) garlic, peeled
3-4 serrano peppers, ribs and seeds removed
4 tablespoons ground cumin
1 heaping tablespoon red chili powder
1 heaping tablespoon garam masala (an Indian spice blend available at most grocery stores, or any speciality market)
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
Pan-fried cubed paneer from ½ gallon of milk, recipe to follow
2 heaping tablespoons fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
Salt to taste, up to 1 tablespoon

Directions:

1. Place 1/2 the washed spinach into the bowl of a 5 quart slow-cooker. You don't need to dry the spinach, or even remove the stems. They get blended in the end. Top with the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT FOR SALT: onions, tomatoes, ginger, peeled garlic, chilies, and spices. Put the rest of the spinach on top. The bowl will be brimming with spinach. Squish it down and put the cover on. It will cook down quickly.
2. Cook on high for 3 hours (or low for 4-5). Stir once or twice if you're around to get any spinach sticking on the sides from drying out too badly.
3. Blend until smooth with an immersion blender, or transfer to a blender and puree. Make sure the curry is smooth and well blended. Return the puree to the slow-cooker.
4. Taste the curry and add salt to taste if needed. Continue to cook on low for another 2 hours. The dish might look done, but the extra cooking allows the flavors to fully develop.
5. After cooking, add about 12 ounces of cubed fresh or fried paneer to the curry. Add the fenugreek leaves. Turn the slow cooker off, then replace the lid and let sit for about 10 minutes to gently heat the cheese.
6. Serve with rice, roti, or naan. (Preferably naan, if you're me)
7. The recipe yields about 10 cups so you will have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Your Crock Pot will be very very full.

THOUGHTS:
Not my favorite way to make saag paneer. I have a recipe (unfortunately I haven't shared it with you yet) that uses one pan and frozen spinach. It takes 30 minutes. I'll be keeping that one on hand and might possibly lose this one. Without a stick blender, this recipes makes a complete mess out of your kitchen. No fun.

However, if you eat the leftovers for breakfast with a glass of V8, you've already had 4 servings of veggies in one meal! Power breakfast!

Oh, I did find garam masala at my local grocery store, but you can find it cheaper at World Market :)

VERDICT:
I'll-stick-with-my-other-recipe: 1 vote!

Cheese and spinach with basmati rice.

November Secret Recipe Club: Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

It's Secret Recipe Club time reveal day again! I have no idea how it crept up on me so quickly. I'm quite embarrassed that I have not posted a single thing since the last Secret Recipe Club reveal! Oops. Things are moving along quite quickly here. Bender and I only have one more month in Winston-Salem and have been taking advantage of what little time we have left to spend with our friends. Alas, that means things like the my Fabulously Fun Food blog have gotten the cold shoulder. Perhaps when we are in Nashville I will have a bit more time to dedicate to this blog. After all, it has provided me with the support and outlet I needed when I was living in Germany. So, stay tuned after the new year for more frequent updates.

Double Take: Pecan and Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken

Tabitha and I have had great fun cooking together again. Occasionally Bender will join us to enjoy the meal, but mostly we enjoy cooking things he doesn’t find interesting. In an effort to include him in some of our fun, every once in a while I’ll pick something I’m certain he’ll like, and we’ll make it at our place. That’s exactly how this dish ended up on our menu!

Double Take: Chorizo, Beef, and Poblano Tacos with Pepper Jack Cheese Sauce

Chorizo, Beef, and Poblano Tacos wtih Pepper Jack Cheese Sauce

You know my aversion to bell peppers? For some reason I can replace them with poblano peppers with no problems. It's great. So I was quite disappointed when I could not find a poblano pepper in Germany. So I went for two years trying to avoid using peppers (sometimes failing miserably, see Chicken Cacciatore). Now I am back in the land of poblano peppers and am thrilled. So to celebrate Mexican Independence Day (September 16), Tabitha and I made these tasty little tacos. Things happened, like they do, and unfortunately we did not get these posted by Mexican Independence Day, but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy them!

Daring Cooks April Challenge: Edible Containers

Cheddar cup filled with refried beans, cilantro, and onion.

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

Whoa. Edible Containers. At first it seemed quite daunting, but after much brainstorming (with the help of tons of suggestions from other Daring Cooks... and Tabitha), I settled on feeding the cravings I’ve been having lately: Mexican food. I don’t know what it is, but I always want Mexican food. I was also hosting a dinner party and serving carnitas, so I figured throwing a few edible containers in there wouldn’t hurt, right?

Double Take: Food o' del Mundo's Perfect Pizza Crust

Homemade pizza fresh from the oven. Does it get any better than this?

Welcome to Week 3 of the New Double Take Series! This week we feature something that should be a staple in every house: pizza crust! As you’ve seen before, I’m prone to buying the premade pizza crust because, well, I’m just a bit afraid of working with yeast. I’m fascinated by it, but I don’t have that much experience and haven’t gotten a ton of positive feedback on what I have attempted. So I haven’t been practicing. Somewhere, out of the blue a couple months ago, I got a tiny bit of confidence and decided to go for it. My first attempt was a bit, well, horrid. The dough tasted okay, but seemed to have the wrong texture. For some reason I had it in my head that I needed to knead the dough after it rose and before I put rolled it out. And of course, I didn't figure out that was what I had done wrong until Tabitha convinced me to try making pizza dough again.

Double Take: Krista's Kitchen's Baked Chimichangas

Messy, delicious, naked enchiladas! 

Welcome to the new and improved Double Take challenges! For the foreseeable future, we'll be picking recipes from some of our favorite blogs to make and review for you! I'm also willing to take requests, so if there is a recipe that you'd like to see reviewed, please send me an email at fabfunfood AT gmail DOT com. 

For eating out, Mexican food is my ultimate comfort food. My parents and their friends meet at this one Mexican place every week, so whenever I go visit, I’m sure to join them. They’ve been going there for so long that I don’t feel like I’ve gone to visit my parents unless I go there, too. Which has made Mexican food comfort food. It’s homey, it’s delicious, and when I’m with my parents, it’s free to me! Yes, it’s true, I’m not yet old enough for me not to enjoy getting a free meal. Particularly when it comes with free margaritas!

Double Take: Baked Potato Soup

Potatoes in milk. Blah.

This week we bid farewell to the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. Tabitha and I have both been having trouble finding tasters. Some of Tabitha’s tasters have flat-out said no more SLC. So, we have decided that it is time to shake things up a bit. It is quite possible that we will pull out this, er, not-so-trusty
book every once and a while, but for now we are going to move onto other sources for our recipes. The majority will come from the blogs we love, but we will also turn to cookbooks and TV shows for inspiration. If you have a recipe you’d love to see us feature, please let us know!

Double Take: Pork Scaloppine

We’ve been a bit sporadic lately, but I’m sure you understand. The Christmas season was busy and I was out of the kitchen for almost two whole weeks. I actually have had a hard time readjusting to cooking every day. Go figure. Maybe it’s the short days? Maybe December’s weather just really got me down? (Seriously folks,
we went ~30 days with temperatures never reaching freezing.) Maybe it was coming back to cold Germany after 10 days in warm, sunny Italy? (Okay, so Venice was more like Germany is currently: cold and rainy, but the weather in Rome was spectacular.)

Double Take: Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas (sort of)

Whilst everyone is gathered around the Thanksgiving table in the US today, I’m stuck at work. I’ve been reading facebook status updates all week: 3 days til vacation, 2 days, Today will feel like Monday and Thursday at the same time!, etc. Well, not me. I really can’t complain though, I had a wonderful week of vacation at the beginning of November, am taking a weekend trip to London soon, and will be spending Christmas with most of my immediate family (yay!). But on Thanksgiving Day, I went to work. And ya know what that means? It means I am incredibly lucky to have picked the field of environmental science when I got my bachelor’s degree. And even luckier that I decided I wasn’t ready for the real world so I went to graduate school for a master’s in biology. All of that led me to a point where, when Bender announced he got a job offer in Germany, I was able to get a job there too. I am thankful for the ability to work in a foreign country. This time last year, I knew I had a job lined up for me, but did not yet know when I would start. Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of when I started my job. Today is a day of giving thanks, and I am thankful to be at this point in my life and to be able to call it good. And incredibly thankful that you are reading my blog so I’m not talking to myself over here!

Double Take: Smothered Enchiladas

I love fake enchiladas. And when I say fake, I mean I use flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas. I don’t know what it is, but I just don’t like corn tortillas. I’ve even had homemade tortillas made by someone who learned how to make them by watching his mother in Mexico. But I just don’t like them. So I always cheat and use flour tortillas. I assumed I’d have to do that with these enchiladas as well, but for some reason the recipe writers at Southern Living agree with me and both of their enchilada recipes call for flour tortillas. Yay!

Enchilada deliciousness! 

Double Take: Golden Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is a staple in our house (er, tiny apartment). I’ve tried over a dozen recipes and generally come back to two: my grandmother’s recipe and a cheese sauce based recipe. The recipe for Golden Macaroni and Cheese from the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook looked most similar to my grandmother’s as it does not require a roux. But like my grandmother’s, it looked unassuming and boring. But I was also interested in finding a non-roux recipe that did not call for eggs (I made the mistake of serving that recipe to someone who was allergic to eggs once… eek!), so I thought we should give this one a day.

The original recipe made 8 servings, so I decided to halve the recipe since it was just the two of us. At the last minute I discovered that I did not have quite enough Cheddar, so I supplemented with Parmesan rather than going to the store. The second time I made this recipe, I forgot to use Parmesan and discovered the Parmesan gives it that lift that brings this recipe over the top to fabulous. The recipe listed here is what I used the first time I made it.

Double Take: Herbed Tomato Tart

I knew this recipe would be a winner the moment I looked at it. I liked all the ingredients, woot! I begged Tabitha to let me make, despite her dislike of puff pastry. She agreed and we set a date. Originally, I had this one listed for making in November, but I realized how incredibly stupid that was. Tomatoes are already out of season here and it’s the beginning of October, so I knew I would only be able to find mealy, yucky tomatoes in November, so I moved this one towards the top of the list.

Then I had to find the perfect time to make it. It’s not exactly main-meal material, or at least I was nervous enough about whether or not Hubby would like it that I didn’t want to serve it as the entrée. Luckily, the perfect opportunity presented itself last weekend. We went hiking with some friends, and Hubby decided to reward us all afterwards with his famous lasagna. Well, we didn’t get back from hiking until 6:30 and lasagna takes 3 hours to make, so I decided to make the Herbed Tomato Tart (p. 475) as an appetizer for us. I knew one of our guests isn’t a fan of tomatoes, so I just left them off his part of the tart.

I made a couple substitutions/changes, but not many. Instead of using preshredded mozzarella, I used two balls of fresh mozzarella, sliced about ¼ inch thick. For my herb mix, I used fresh basil, chives, and parsley. Instead of wasting a second puff pastry sheet, I simply cut the edges from the sheet I was already using (I also didn’t bother to roll out the dough).

Double Take: Loaded Garlic Smashed Potatoes

This recipe has been on the back burner for quite some time. Tabitha wanted to make it back in the day, but that was before red potatoes were in season and I was unwilling to make changes to the recipe. Well, I’ve loosened up a bit and red potatoes came into season, and we decided it was time to make this recipe. And boy, am I glad I did.

I have always been a huge mashed potato fan. I can now make them in a way that hubby will eat them, but he never goes back for seconds. Me on the other hand, I generally go back for thirds, which probably isn’t the healthiest thing in the world for me. I even tried preparing Momma’s Holiday Mashed Potato Casserole for Hubby, but he still didn’t go back for seconds. I didn’t see how this recipe would be any different, but decided to make it anyway since we both love garlic and bacon. I failed to mention to Hubby that this recipe contained sour cream, and just served it up as potatoes. He went back for seconds. Twice.

Double Take: Ham-and-Cheese Omelets

I picked out this recipe for one simple reason: I wanted something other than bacon and eggs for breakfast on Saturday mornings. Apparently, I was more than willing to replace bacon and eggs with ham and eggs.

I went to gather the ingredients. After looking through the list, I knew locating havarti cheese might be problematic. That is one is difficult to find around here, and I’ve never seen it in block form. However, we do have butter cheese here and the cookbook described havarti as buttery, so I decided that would be a simple sub. But when I got to the store, I actually found havarti. I was so excited to find it that I didn’t look at the package closely or check the expiration date. Oops.

I set out my ingredients the next morning. Our plans for canoeing that day had been cancelled because the river was so high, so we opted to go visit the castles we would have looked at from the river instead. It was raining when we got moving that morning, so it looked like we wouldn’t even get to go hiking either. I gathered my ingredients that morning and decided first things first: grate the cheese. The swiss grated, I turned to the havarti. I opened the package and was hit with a foul smell. I closely inspected the cheese: it was slimy. Into the trash went the havarti. Swiss only it was.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I promised you Chicken Cordon Bleu, and I can't let you down. So while this weekend has been a bit crazy, I'm happy to take the time to blog (thank goodness I'd already moved the pictures to the computer!)

I used to have a lot of trouble figuring out what Jason would eat, and my choices were generally hit or miss. But Chicken Cordon Bleu, oh my, that was a grand slam! I found this recipe wandering through the chicken section on foodnetwork.com, and made the sauce that accompanied it based on recommendations from other reviewers. But I only made the sauce the first time... it's completely unnecessary and I'm a sauce lover. This Chicken Cordon Bleu is awesome on it's own!

MacCain and Cheese

I don't have a recipe for you today, but I do have a picture! I'm making mac and cheese for dinner tonight and had to go to my original post for it to get the recipe. While there, I remembered that I never posted the delightful picture of my Red, White, and Blue Mac and Cheese that I not-very-cleverly dubbed MacCain and Cheese for the 2008 election night. Well my folks, Meghna was kind enough to send me the picture, so you get to see it. Despite it's gross appearance, it was actually quite tasty!

Check back on Wednesday for this month's Daring Cooks Challenge and Thursday for the next edition of Double Take! 

Snacky Dinner Evolution

We have a particular meal that has had a major overhaul since we moved to Germany. We call it Snacky Dinner because it's basically a meal of small snacks. It has always been one of Jason's favorites, but I never particularly warmed to it because it's not a warm meal. I know, I know, I'm picky, but I just don't like cold meals... breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I want something hot (or at least warm). It can be 95 degrees outside and I'd rather have something hot than cold. It's why I'd rather have grits than cereal, or when I'm forced to eat a sandwich, I'm much more likely to be happy about it if it's grilled or baked.