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!

Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal: June Secret Recipe Club

Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal in an all edges brownie pan

It's time for Group D's Secret Recipe Club June reveal! I have to admit I was quite intimidated this month! I was assigned the woman who just became SRC's head honcho! Yikes. But it's all good. I love April's style of cooking: “While you wont find any gourmet recipes here, you WILL find yummy, down-home cooking, that is easy to prepare and taste great.” Now that's a cooking philosophy I can get behind.

I scoured the Recipe page of Angel's Homestead looking for something I could make from pantry ingredients. It was so hot today that I couldn't bare the thought of getting out of the house and driving to the grocery store for extra ingredients. I'm also on a quest to find more breakfast stuff that I might actually be willing to eat. I kind of abhor cereal. My friends think I'm a freak, but I just can't stand soggy cereal. I can definitely go for a crunchy granola with Greek yogurt and blueberries, but a girl can only eat that so many mornings. And the option at work is an egg and cheese biscuit. I admit, I go for that way too many days out of the work week. So, I decided to try out one of April's baked oatmeals.

I had to make a few changes because I only had steel cut oats in the house. My changes were made purely to accommodate the extra liquid and extra cooking time required for the steel cut oats.

The all edge pan was not a brilliant stroke of genius, but I've had
it for six months and decided it was high time to use it!

Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal
adapted from Angel's Homestead, originally from Tidy Mom

Ingredients:

¾ cup steel cut oats

¼ cup brown sugar (can use more if you like it sweeter)

2 ½ cups milk (pick your favorite)
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
½ cup peanut butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and stir well. Pour into pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until set.

THOUGHTS:

I actually used 3 cups of milk instead of 2 ½, but found the liquid to be a bit too much. I hadn't thought about accounting for the liquid of the egg when I decided how much milk to use. Tastewise though, I thought the oatmeal was spot on. I enjoyed the texture of the oats (I'm a steel-cut-newbie). As long as I thought of the oatmeal as oatmeal instead of a cookie, I found that I quite enjoyed it. Bender was expecting dessert when he tried it, so he thought it was a fail. But I disagree!

VERDICT:

A-great-alternative-to-instant-oatmeal: 1 vote!

Eww: 1 vote

Breakfast is served!

Secret Recipe Club May 2012: Fanned Potatoes

Fanned Potatoes with Sirloin Roast and Brussels Sprouts

Hello last Monday of the month! It's a holiday, I'm on vacation, and I'm enjoying my time away. But don't worry, before I left for vacation I whipped up my recipe for Secret Recipe Club!

I drooled over my assigned blog this month, Lynsey Lou's. She's got a great selection of sides, pastas, and desserts. Frankly, I could keep going about the deliciousness, but I want to introduce you to these fabulous fanned potatoes I chose.

Be very careful slicing those potatoes, most likely you'll go completely through
the  potato a few times. Don't sweat the small stuff. 

Fanned Potatoes

adapted from Lynsey Lou

1 russet potato
1 onion, thinly sliced

butter

salt

pepper

garlic (if fresh, minced, otherwise powder)

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
2. Thinly slice the potato, not quite all the way through so that the potato is able to fan out.
3. Cover the potato with pats of butter (1-2 tablespoons), and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste. Drape over onions if desired.
4. Roast the potato until cooked through, about 1 hour.
5. Enjoy!

THOUGHTS:

I love potatoes, and these didn't disappoint. These potatoes are easy, inexpensive, and have a lovely mouthfeel. They are crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. The only thing that would make these better would be more fat, preferably in the forms of bacon and cheese. But if you are going for a low fat healthy version, feel free to just use butter.

VERDICT:

Not-too-bad: 1 vote!

The-possibility-for-stuffing-these-potatoes-are-endless: 1 vote!

I'm all over the one skillet cooking.

Secret Recipe Club: Goat Cheese Marinara

Goat Cheese with Roasted Tomatoes

Can you believe another month has come and gone? I can't. A lot has changed in the last month. I now have a full time job and am headed towards a permanent position. And we are looking for a house. We've been going to open houses every weekend since we moved to Nashville and now have an agent. So yes, things are moving along.

In the chaos, my cooking has fallen by the wayside. The first week out with agent, I cooked twice. While that is not a small amount for some people, I normally cook 7-9 times per week. So twice was just nuts to me. In the meantime, we've been exploring the restaurants in the area where we are house hunting. Because of course we aren't house hunting where we live currently. That would make WAY too much sense. What can I say, we crave a bit more urban of a lifestyle than where we are now.

Oh, but this all leads us back to Secret Recipe Club! Woot! I love participating in this club every month. And I adore that I was able to pick a recipe that fits with my current out-of-the-kitchen lifestyle. So Tasty, So Yummy has so many choices that I didn't know where to start. So I looked at it when I got my assignment and then didn't look at it again until the Saturday morning before our post date. I didn't have to scroll very far into her new stuff before I started drooling. You see, she posted a dish that I've had on my list to make for TWO YEARS! Two years, I tell you! And I came thisclose to making it. Alas, my weekend plans changed and Anthony Bourdain's Roti de Porc au Lait has yet to happen.

But don't fret, I still adored what I made! As I thumbed through her labels, I found one that sang to me: goat cheese! You see, I had already planned to make my Risotto Primavera. I never use the full 4 ounce log of goat cheese in my risotto and was looking for a way to use the leftovers. I had every intention of serving this Goat Cheese Marinara with toast, but the more I looked at it, the more it looked like the perfect risotto topping. And thus, that's how it was served. Oh, and the reason I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned as recommended by So Tasty, So Yummy? I knew I'd be the only one eating it and wanted to scale down without wasting the rest of a can. I'll be using the can when I make this for a crowd. Do check out the original recipe!

Fresh tomatoes with salt, pepper, and sugar

Goat Cheese Marinara

adapted from So Tasty,So Yummy

serves 2

Ingredients:

1 tomato, diced

¼ tsp sugar

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 ½ ounces goat cheese

Directions:

Preheat toaster oven to 400ºF. Toss diced tomato with sugar and spices. Place in small ramekin and bake 15 minutes or until tomatoes are juicy and soft. Add goat cheese to top of the tomato mixture and return dish to toaster oven. Bake another 15 minutes or until goat cheese is browned on top.

Serve with toasted slices of French bread or as a topper to your favorite Risotto Primavera.

THOUGHTS:

Oh so easy to make and oh so delicious. The acidity of the tomatoes played off the goat cheese beautifully. And added to the risotto? Magnifico!

VERDICT:

Yummy-as-a-dip-or-a-risotto-topping: 1 vote!

I-don't-feel-like-trying-something-new-tonight: 1 vote

Goat cheese marinara turned risotto topping