Salted Caramel Cookies with Bacon Bites

I know I am slow on getting back to a regular schedule...but what is regular, right? Right now K-man is installing my back splash in the kitchen and I am so excited because it looks so nice! Don't worry pictures will come.

I am on class number 8 for grad school...pretty excited about that. The last two classes get done simultaneously.  I don't know how that will pan out but thank god it's over the summer! I should be done in September!

We had a little scare with our fur baby Bikini- one night we noticed she was slobbering like a Saint Bernard and knew that wasn't normal. K-man thought the worst because he had a kitty from his past that was slobbering and found mouth cancer was the issue.  However, we took her into the vet and she looked all over her mouth that she could see (looking into a wriggling cats mouth is no easy chore) and found no, sores, redness, oozing....anything.  She had not been outside for supervised play lately nor had any new plants been added in the house.  We could only speculate that perhaps her bug hunting got the best of her somehow and she was on 24 hour watch. Before any other invasive methods were going to be used next. Luckily it dissipated that night and she was back to normal by the next night. Phew! So now, she is all updated, weighing in at 13.8 lbs and on a "less treats" plan.  LOL. Yeah, me too. Next week Scooter's turn for his yearly visit....K-man and I have wagers on HIS weight...I say under 10, Kirk disagrees.

Onto my product review.  You may remember in my last post when I blogged about Primal Bake shop and their products? Today, I am trying out the Salted Caramel and adding bacon. I am going to use two types of bacon and test which tastes best.  I have noticed that when cooked bacon get added to something baked it loses it crispiness and/or bacon flavor disappears.  I noticed this phenomena when I made a frittata.  So I am adding to half of my cookies, chopped Paleo bacon and the other half with Epic Bites Bacon (both are uncured with no nitrites).

1.  First, this cookie rocks! For me being a chocolate lover. I am really surprised when I like a cookie better than a chocolate one.  

2. The salt on top REALLY makes a difference. Do NOT leave it off.

3.  The real Paleo chopped bacon tasted better and remained crispy. You can also see it.  The Epic Bites didn't add any smoky goodness as the paleo bacon did.  I did a taste test with K-man and gave him half a cookie of each and asked him if he tasted any difference. He tasted the Paleo bacon difference.

4. I did not conduct myself in a true scientist way and leave some cookies without bacon but oh well, I will have to order more to try them again!

5. The batch made roughly 18 cookies all that is needed to make the cookies is one stick of butter and 1 egg. You need to brown the butter first and you can make it with ghee but I will try the next batch with ghee. Although ghee doesn't really brown, it's the milk solids that brown and ghee has all milk solids removed. Then, I haven't tried to brown ghee, perhaps that is my next assignment?

6. You do have to chill the dough before you bake it and the 350 degrees for 9 minutes didn't seem long enough.  I don't know if my dough was too cold but I had to cook them more than 9 minutes because they didn't seem cooked enough. These were slightly crispy edges and VERY chewy.  Loved them. Although, they were "harder" the next day yet still chewy, let me explain why I LIKED this....Paleo cookies made with almond flour are very difficult to get that crispy chewy affect to last. After 24 hours all almond cookies tend to be soft, losing their crispy edges. I enjoy how these are staying firm.



7. Would I make these again and suggest you buy them too? Heck yes and yes.  These mixes are great to have on hand in the cabinet for when you want a quick treat and don't want the hassle of dragging tons of ingredients out. Especially when you find out that you thought you had tapioca flour and it was coconut....grrrrrr.

8. The ingredient list on this cookie bag was pretty simple: almond flour, tapioca starch, coconut nectar sugar, baking soda and Himalayan pink salt.  I would love to make more types of cookies with simple list of ingredients like this! Simple is better.

9. Be glad this mix only makes 18 cookies. More would be bad.  I ate 3 on the first night.

10. Here is the video of the Civilized Caveman-George making these cookies. Hence, who introduced primal bake shop to me. Thanks George!

#hugsandbacon
#primalbakeshop


You want a cookie?

Whole30- The Tiger Blood Days 18 and 19

Here you go, wait for it....my tiger blood video!

Hahahahahha! Thought you'd enjoy that....that was many hours of retakes and editing I hope you know! (jk)

Some of you have asked me some questions about this and that....and I am so excited that my silly little food pictures and commentary is of some value to some of you.  Whether entertainment, nosiness or because you are doing whole30 as well....I am glad to know that my work here is not floating in hyperspace on some alien's Facebook page title "what stupid earth people do...."

First: Here is the almond butter I use:

Got it on one of my first whole30 grocery trips. I got the crunchy.  The crunchy bits are cashews! Remember: cashews, macadamia nuts and hazelnuts are the preferred nuts.  Almonds are suggested not as often. Raw is better because the lack of roasting keeps more of the nutrients in the nuts.  So next time I refill my nuts from TJ, I am getting the raw.  Being a rookie who not fully read the books yet,  I got unsalted, roasted, not raw.  But I use this maybe once, twice a week.  Needs to be refrigerated.

Next- Do not walk, RUN and go buy this....from the gods....Raw Cashew Butter....omfg....

 

So, my friend Jessica went to My Organic Market (MOM's -my new home) one day and found some sampler butters to try. She ripped it open and tried it with me,  her eyes rolled into her head and said it tasted like white chocolate. Now, I had to try.  White chocolate isn't my first thought but is it soooo dreamily smooth unlike the coarseness of the other butters.  Because it is raw, it has such a natural sweetness that you keep looking at the ingredients on the jar, swearing it has some kind of sugar in it. I am afraid during a moment of stress I could sit on the kitchen floor with a spoon and do some serious damage here.  Lovely.  MOM's ....it's not located in the thick of the other butters...it's off up a few shelves and to the left....I don't know why ....but it certainly deserves to not be below with those other peon butters HA!  And it doesn't have to be refrigerated!!! I like this because my sensitive teeth doesn't like cold foods anyway and room temperature foods have better flavor I think.

Next: Sugar-free bacon is hard to find!

 

I think I should keep buying these in groups of FIVE, that perhaps if they think it's super popular they will buy more and always have tons of it.  The bad news...there are only 8 slices per package, maybe nine if you won the lottery this week. But the price is $5.49 but if you are the only one doing Whole30, you will become a miserly witch over each 68 cent slice and give the rest of your family the organic uncured, nitrite-free, OTHER bacons WITH sugar and SAVE this stuff for YOU! Strips of gold.  Okaaaayyyyy, if your whole family is doing Whole30 you better buy five packages at once too! I get out my griddle and do two packages at once, put in a ziploc....good for two weeks. Two package for one family for one meal, easy. Personally, I have no desire to being making bacon every day.  But batch frying makes my soul happy to have days off from greasy messes. I should go buy stock in this company....

Last product review for today: GHEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Hello, lovahhhhh. (I visualize Sarah Jessica Parker saying this while she's oogling designer shoes)

GIANT JAR.  At Mom's the largest jar they have is Organic Valley Ghee, 13 oz. jar is $12.99.  At Amazon.com this baby comes 32 fl. oz ...TWO for 35.00 (free shipping if you have PRIME, like me) for a price of 17.00 buck. *take calculator out* ...Unit price of Organic valley- 99 cents per ounce.  Ancient Organics- 53 cents.  No refrigeration unless been open for over 2 months.  Beautifully packaged, all paper, boxes can be repurposed for holiday time. Can be used as lotion but I am afraid that I'd start licking myself like the cats or they'd start on me....

Day 18:

Breakfast: Nuts and Berries, felt like a light day watching the SNOW fall for 1/2 hour on April 9!!! WTH!
Lunch: Leftover sausage, onions & peppers and fried eggs! Few berries...Love!

Dinner: Chicken Nuggets (organic chicken coated in coconut flour, egg wash , coated with seasoned unsweetened coconut and ground almonds), sauteed Kale and roasted carrots in ghee, raspberries and homemade mayo and Tessemae's ketchup to dip. (note: going to try another time with only coconut, by the end of dinner, the coating falls too easily off the nugget).

Day 19:

Breakfast: Cashew butter on bananas with raspberries & lil bit of cinnamon sprinkle. Coconut cream in my coffee.

Lunch: Spinach, bacon and tomato frittata (with enough leftover for next week's breakfasts!)

Dinner: Ribeye steaks, grilled asparagus with ghee, balsamic beets and strawberries (picture to come)

Additional notings: Some of you have asked me "Is K-man doing Whole30 too?" The answer is yes and no.  Kinda, is not a proper answer.  Yes, with me. No, away from home. At dinner he eats whole30 with me and expresses no whining about not having bread/rolls as we used to. During the day away at work, K-man eats what he's craving.  While he is still working his last days before retirement of 35 years from his devoted service to our city, he will enjoy eating what he does with his coworkers at his favorite haunts until the end of this month. 

K-man is a man-boy who likes his peanut butter, sandwiches, oatmeal and ice cream (cakes and cookies too). I'd like him to experience Whole30 to see first hand (not from ME telling him) how food choices (diet) can really have a positive effect and NOT make you pine and crave for crap. (Two hours after dinner he's searching around for treats and snacks- he has a HUGE Sugar Dragon in him and doesn't think it's a problem. 2 hours after dinner I am content and ready for bed. This is still very scary for him because he can't disassociate 30 days of discipline from a lifetime of denial. I try to explain that under Whole30, you go through an amazing change of not CRAVING empty calories foods. But when I start to get on my soap box, he reverts backs to the rebel teen who doesn't want to be told what to do and I begin to feel like that dog owner who is pulling their dog into the bathtub who hates getting wet.

The man who is controlled by his wife either doesn't know it or is okay with it.  The man who free to do whatever he wants, can eat what he wants and has no children to take care of anymore, the moment something new is suggested by their wife they think their freedoms are threatened and they begin to buck. I am willing to admit that I did not help myself at all by having/making tempting things around the house and buying those favorites of my husbands to contribute to his sugar delinquency. I am "fixing me" and when K-man wants to do Whole30 correctly and not partly, I will be here. So all I can do now is keep on truckin'....and me do me!


*clawing gesture* Rawr!

Whole30- Day 4 & 5

Day 4- Feeling lucky.  As I read the book for the transition into day 4 and 5, I feel grateful-  It's titled "kill all the things" Yikes! I am glad I don't feel that way today especially on K-man's birthday!  Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Speaking of birthdays I have a pretty significant one arriving on the 31st of this month, the big 5-0! Kinda sad that I won't be have a big blow out like I did for my 40th but....things happen for a reason and this opportunity to start Whole30 when I did was a jump start I needed. You feel awful, hate your body, can't look in a mirror, look forlornly at the clothes in your closet you can't wear...all the while you know what you need to do but the fight is the same....what diet plan am I going to do this time? when should I start...blah, blah, blah....
When my friend at work talked about doing Whole30 (and I'd had never heard of it) and it made such sense and I was on board.  I didn't even think about my b-day coming up and start the plan after and when I had committed by buying the book and all the food...that is when I decided:

NO! Time to stop dillydallying about this.  I have so many aches and pains that I can't even exercise to lose weight.  Anyone with a brain knows that pains that appear out of nowhere in your back, knees and ankles/heels are their way of saying "YO! Weight overload. Back the EFF off" I know the pain isn't going to go 'BOOP'....and disappear like a switch was flipped. Patience is of the essence here.
Impatient people do not fair well on organized plans sometimes....perhaps someone needs to do a study on sugar intake and it's effects on gratification and patience?

Day 4 Menu: Sorry no pix, they were either a repeat of what I had snapped before or eaten too quickly....

Breakfast: Last Egg Muffin, (shared the last one with K-man) a fruit salad of strawberries, banana & cantaloupe and  drinking black coffee.

Lunch: Leftover carnitas, cauli-rice and sliced avocado.

Dinner: Grilled ribeye steak (omg, that steak marinated in Tessemae's southwestern ranch was awesome) and a Sweet Potato

Day 5: Happy Easter! Still feeling good...no killing vibes.  Two things noted thus far....

1. I was having swelling of the ankles for the past months (I am not a huge salt eater) but since I've started Whole30 my ankles have returned to normal and not taking OTC water pills. YAY!

2. Joint pain when walking...it's starting to diminish!  Getting up in the middle of the night or morning is not as slow or as painful for me to walk down the hallway to the bathroom. This morning I noticed that I walked down the steps normally one step, one foot, not one step, two feet, one step, two feet. This is promising!

Easter Brunch: Fried eggs, sugar free bacon I got at MOM's (My Organic Market), strawberries and black coffee.

Snack: Cantaloupe and a closed handful of CAM's
Dinner: Ground turkey and chicken sausage tomato sauce over roasted spaghetti squash (had Jessica over for dinner and got distracted by her visit and said "OH SNAP! I forgot to get a picture! She told me to snap a pic of what I had.  LOL). Mixed greens with Tessemae's Cracked Pepper dressing. 👍🏼👍🏼

My resolve will be tested next week once I get back to the grind of work and be exposed to more non-compliant foods. Bah, I have done Paleo at school, nutri-system....this shouldn't be any different.

INTERESTING NOTE! So I am preparing my 'sunday sauce' (as I call it because it goes into the crock pot to cook all day) and go to season it up with Italian seasoning, etc. I go to use some garlic salt and read the label...SUGAR? REALLY? You can't just put salt and garlic powder, you have to add freakin' sugar? No wonder we have such issues giving up foods to eat....the sugar just hooks us and reels us in to buy more.  This issue is covered in the documentary movie Fed Up.  The added sugar to all our foods.  I need to watch it again.

Spring Break is over😭wahhhhhhh

French Toast Casserole

My present to you is something simple to pop in the oven on Christmas Morning.  This casserole is soft, buttery and so yummy. Oh did I mention it's easy to make?

French Toast Casserole
from JennyMac Lipsmack

1 loaf french bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (10 cups)
8 eggs
3 cups half and half (or cream if you want it silky rich)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 strips of bacon, cooked and broken into pieces. 
Topping:
2 tablespoons butter, cubed
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
maple syrup

Using a serrated knife cube your french bread into one inch pieces.  
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla and salt.  Add bread and mix with egg mixture to coat.  Add bacon pieces and mix again.

Grease a 13X9 baking dish (those non stick glass ones are awesome).  Pour all your eggy bready bacony mixture into the baking dish.  Cover and place in fridge overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Uncover and give the bread another stir.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar all over the bread cubes and dot with butter.  Cover with non stick foil and bake for 45-50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Serve with maple syrup.
So rich and creamy, I love the smokey bacon with the sweet maple and the not really sweet eggy bread. 

Cooks Notes:

1.  Do not cut off that fabulous crust.  This recipe is awesome even with a day old loaf.  I bought my bread on Tuesday and prepped this Friday afternoon.  Yes, it was 'sketchy' to cut however my fingers all remained intact.
2. If you have homemade vanilla sugar hanging around like I FORGOT to use, this would be the ideal time to use it.
3.  I am going to try this again with some toasted pecans on top....YUM!!!!




Post Script.....
I hope you all are healthy and WARM this holiday season!  We've had a tough few weeks with no heat.  Our house was built in 1959.  We bought it 5 years ago knowing that the 3 Horsemen of the Homeowner's Apocalypse (the furnace, A/C and hot water heater) were OLD.  We feel we were truly blessed from this whole ordeal.   The Carbon Monoxide detector has been going off since last year and we were being stubborn and complacent.  We thought the detector was probably old...took it down, replaced it.  It didn't go off again....few months later it went off...."oh the batteries probably need to be replaced" (um, there is a signal for THAT by the way on the detector).  All the while the detector was going off during the middle of the night waking us up @ 3 in the morning.  The one night K-man was working through the night on a water main break and I was home alone the detector went off one hour after I turned on the heat when I came home from work.  This was odd.  I called K-man....what do I do?  (WHAT, WHERE was my brain?- mmmm, fuzzy from fumes perhaps?)
I called the Fire Dept and waited with my neighbor outside for them to arrive.  I let them in the front door and watched them come in with their CO monitor in hand.  As soon as he stepped in it beeped and he said It's 148!  Pointed to me.  "YOU- Get out."  What you may or may not know, BELOW 35 ppm (parts per million) is okay but anything above that is considered toxic and potentially lethal.  I was sitting in a house where the million of the oxygen molecules were tainted with 148 carbon monoxide ones!....I had no headache, no nausea, no vomiting, wasn't sleepy....however my common sense and get up and go safety know-how was stagnant.  I remember just standing there with K-man on the phone, listening to him tell me what to do and thinking/pouting...."why can't he be here and do this?"  I NEVER THINK like THAT....Add the symptom of DELERIUM to list from CO exposure.  Alas, a cracked heater exchange on a circa 1988 furnace was the cause.
Anyway.....since major appliances like the furnace, A/C and hot water heater a big to-do, located near one another and connected (via gas) and were ALL old.  Bundle the price, work....replace them all at once.  Holy crap.  1988= furnace and HWH but the A/C was the original install!  None of the houses in our development had A/C originally and the original owner of our house finally broke down in the 60's to put it in.  The estimator said it was a miracle we've been having any A/C in the past summers because this model belonged in a museum.  LOL.  So there you have it....an $11,000 to our wallet during the holidays. LOVELY.  Bottom Line....YOU ALL NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A CO DETECTOR IN YOUR HOUSE AND CALL 911 IF IT GOES OFF....we are so lucky to be alive.

Enjoying our warmth and feeling blessed, we wish the very same to you as 2011 comes to a close....

POST POST SCRIPT....thanks Anonymous commenter for your tip on correcting my error on the difference between carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2).  Clearly my brain was still not functioning right in writing this post since I DO know my chemical elements and their abbreviations usually.  But thanks for your CONCERN.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos
adapted from My Wooden Spoon

15 jalapenos (when cut in half, makes 30)
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 pkg. of bacon each slice cut in half
toothpicks

Cut jalapenos in half and clean out. If you want more heat leave in the veins and seeds. Put as much cream cheese as you can on that half and wrap with a half slice of bacon. Try to cover the open end and the top really good there is less cream cheese leakage;) Stick a toothpick in from the top to bottom to hold bacon in place and prevent rolling up for falling off.

Cook in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about an hour or desired crispiness. THUD! These are freakin' awesome! Thanks Lori!

Enjoy!

Yukon Gold Breakfast Hash

Perfect for a lazy Sunday morning, great for early Saturday that is hearty enough to carry you through a busy Saturday of errands or even ideal for one of those 'breakfast dinners' during the week.

I like using Yukon Gold potatoes for they are not as starchy as the russet variety and are quite 'velvety' when cooked.

Yukon Gold Breakfast Hash

6-8 small Yukon Gold Potatoes (or 3-4 medium)
6-8 slices of thick bacon, cooked and crumbled
half an onion, chopped
1/4 cup pepper, chopped (I used jalapenos from the garden)
salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs
1 cup colby jack cheese, shredded
minced chives for garnish

Wash potatoes and microwave for 6-10 minutes until soft (time depends on size and amount)
In large ovenproof skilled, cook bacon and drain on paper towels. Keep bacon fat in skillet and add chopped pepper and saute onions until soft/clear. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or later cook on stove top, your preference). Coarsely chop potatoes with skins and put in skillet. Keep breaking up potatoes until resembling hash and mixing the bacon fat around them. Salt and pepper to taste.
Press potatoes into pan and use spoon to make four 'divots' or dents in potato hash where eggs will go. Crack eggs into custard cup and gently put into each 'designated divot/dent'. Place in hot oven and cook until eggs are starting to set up. Sprinkle on crumbled bacon and top with cheese. Place back into oven until cheese is melted.

Cut the circle of hash into 4. Making sure there is one egg in each quarter. Garnish with chives and serve with fruit! Oh the smell!

Crispy bottom, velvety creamy potatoes, crunchy smoky bacon, runny egg, gooey cheese. THUD! All the senses are being hit. AWESOME way to start a day! Loved it!

Enjoy!

5 minute Sticky buns and my first GIVEAWAY!

Well, kinda...

I am having my first giveaway....but the sticky buns aren't EXACTLY made in 5 minutes...

I used my Artisan Bread in 5 minutes dough to make them. As you know, cinnamon rolls, sticky buns -whatever are a bit laborious BUT these are totally worth it. I've made a few different recipes of sticky buns....this is my NEW - 'when you want sticky bun- make these' recipe! Get ready to bookmark this.

From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day:

Use your basic master recipe for Boule (Artisan Free Form Loaf) found on page 26 of the book. Here is the link from when I baked my first loaf.

I made the full recipe this time....I've been making only half recipe and my container was barely big enough!

Sticky Caramel Bacon Rolls
ADAPTED from page 187 of Artisan Bread in Five minutes a day

Makes 6-8 large caramel rolls

The book suggested using any of the refrigerated pre-mixed doughs: Challah (page 180), Brioche (page 189), or Boule (page 26). I used the Boule and it was perfect!

1 - 1/2 pounds of dough (use a scale rather trying to judge what canteloupe sized is)

The Caramel Topping:

6 T. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used light)
30 pecan halves (I had only chopped and I just 'eyed' the covering the sauce in the pan)

The Filling:

4 T. salted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans
pinch of black pepper
MY ADDITIONS:
1/2 cup raisins (I put this on ONE half of the dough for K-man)
1/2 cup chopped BACON (we love bacon with sweet sticky stuff)

1. On baking day, mix together the butter, salt and brown sugar. Spread evenly over the bottom of of a 9 inch cake pan (FAT DADDIO works GREAT). Scatter the pecans over the butter sugar mixture and set aside.

2. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-1/2 pound piece. Dust the piece with flour and shape into a ball. This dough will be sticky, try to not work into too much flour.

3. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. As you roll out the dough, use enough flour to prevent it from sticking to the work surface. Again careful on the amount for too much will make dough dry.

4. Melt the butter and spread with basting brush onto dough rectangle. Sprinkle mixed sugar and spices onto the melted butter. Sprinkle with nuts, raisins, and/or bacon. Starting with the long side, roll the dough into a log. If the dough is too soft to cut let it chill for 20 to firm up. (It was too soft yes, but I just dealt with it....an extra 20 minutes was NOT in my plan!) You may need a metal bench/counter scraper to help you roll for this dough will be sticky in places.

5. With a very sharp serrated knife, cut the log into 8 equal pieces (BAH- I used dental floss - it doesn't smoosh the dough! and I cut it into 6 pieces. No way I could see 8 pieces fitting into that pan!) and arrange over the pecans in the pan with the 'swirled' edge facing upward. Cover loosely with plastic wrap (spray it with non-stick spray) and allow it to rest and rise 1 hour.

6. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you're not using a stone in the oven, 5 minutes is adequate. Be sure to have a piece of foil, silpat or baking sheet under your 'buns'....the sugar may boil up and over (mine did)

7. Bake about 40 minutes or until golden brown and well set in center. While still hot, run a knife around the inside of the pan to release the caramel rolls (I sprayed the pan and the hot goo underneath it kept it from sticking) and invert immediately onto a serving dish. If you let them set to long they will stick to the pan and be difficult to turn out. (YES! The sugar was sticky by the time I put it on the plate and brought them to breakfast)

Freshly inverted and I can see the sugar 'stickifying'. OMG, BSOE! Best smell on earth! You can see the raisin ones for K-man and the non-raisin ones for me!

Let me tell ya. This bread was so SOFT and FLUFFY. Was not dense in the least. After eating one, you wanted another. It was worth dealing with the stickiness when rolling and cutting. The buttery goodness the sticky parts the crunchy parts. The toasted pecans with the smoky bacon! THUD....I've died and gone to heaven!
I woke up around 8:30 (fed the cat, made coffee and got a start on these) and we didn't eat them until 11. We were so starving but they were soooooooooo worth the wait!

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!!!

I made you wait long enough, didn't I? I didn't want to wait for my Blogoversary and I thought my 200th post was good enough.

Since summer is coming to a close and local fruits are starting to wane and we still don't want our kitchen to be hot for the next two months.... I want to send some lucky reader the book:

ICEBOX CAKES~
by Laura Chattman

There is a plenty in here to make with fresh fruits or canned fruits. You can bake your own cake or use premade ones like angel food or freezer pound cake. All the recipes you need for pastry creams, whipped creams, puddings etc. There is so much wiggle room for you to substitute with what works for YOU! There are also some fun cakes using twinkies and swiss rolls!

If you are interested...just leave a comment either about my sticky rolls or your interest in making some new fun ice box desserts for your family.

Sorry friends in other countries....only for US residents at this time!

I really think you'd want this book in your collection....I found it hard to give up and not keep in my own vast cookbook collection. I will have a boston cream pie post very soon and this book gave me the idea for it! Giveaway open until next weekend....my last hurrah before I go back to the classroom! - THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

Enjoy!

Who says it HAS to be a sandwich?

Who doesn't love a BLT during the summer when the tomatoes are at the height of their season? Let me show you how 'tweak' your chicken BLT style...

BLT Chicken

2-4 chicken breasts
flour for dredging
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of stewed tomatoes, warm and ready to go (or any style of tomato you are have on hand)
romaine lettuce leaf per serving
1-2 strips of bacon per serving

1. Fry your bacon until crisp, drain on paper towels and set aside. Depending on how much fat your bacon rendered, either pour off or keep the bacon fat in the pan to fry your chicken. The bacon flavor here is essential!
2. Salt and pepper your chicken and dredge in flour (ziploc bag is great). Set aside while pan heats up.
3. Place chicken in hot bacon grease and cook for about 10 minutes. Both sides should be browned and juices run clear. Let chicken rest on paper towel while you get your plate ready.
4. Place ice cold romaine leaf on your plate, slice up your chicken and nicely arrange it on the lettuce. Spoon about 1/2 cup of stewed tomatoes atop your chicken.
5. Top with bacon. Whether you keep it whole or crumble it is up to you!



Oh the tastes/textures! Tangy tomatoes with crisp smoky bacon. Juicy chicken with crunchy outside. Icy cold romaine fighting it out with the hot food on top of it.


Enjoy!

I say "Toe-Mah-toe Taht"

Seeing as how we have tomatoes (or toe-mah-toes) coming out our ying-yang over here (and I am certainly not complaining!!) It's been fun finding all sorts of different ways to cook with our homegrown beauties!


On Kraft's First Taste site and it's kinda like a Baked BLT. But they didn't call it that. Regardless, it was yummy.

Rustic Tomato Tart
from Kraft's First Taste

1 ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust (1/2 of 15-oz. pkg.)
3 plum tomatoes (1 lb.), seeded, sliced
1-1/2 cups KRAFT Shredded Cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheese
1/3 cup KRAFT Mayo with Olive Oil Reduced Fat Mayonnaise
6 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon
1 cup arugula

HEAT oven to 400ºF.

UNROLL pie crust on baking sheet. Arrange tomato slices in circular pattern on crust, overlapping slices as necessary to fit and leaving 2-inch border at edge. Mix cheese and mayo; spread over tomatoes. Fold edge of crust over tomatoes.

BAKE 20 to 24 min. or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. Meanwhile, cook bacon until crisp. (My bacon was already cooked from the day before, since it was cold I put the chopped bits on top of the tart during the last five minutes of cooking)

COOL tart 10 min. Crumble bacon. Top tart with arugula and bacon.

Have a BITE!

You should have seen K-man eat this. He ate all the lettuce off the top first, like it was some punishment to eat his salad before he was allowed to get to the bacon-y goodness. I on the other hand had a piece of lettuce with each bite of tart. Too funny he is. He certainly likes his 'good stuff' at the end!



Enjoy!

Appetizer Memories Restyled

When I was younger we went to the restaurant Bennigan's a lot. It was new to us at the time and the food was pretty decent. One of things I remember loving was their broccoli bites appetizer. It was a deep fried ball with chopped broccoli, oozy velveeta like cheese and bread crumb outside. Crunchy on the outside and gooey cheese on the inside. It was healthy cuz it had broccoli in it, right? HA! That was my rationale back then. Now I know better. I haven't had those in a long time...boy I'd kill for one now.

In reading two blogs, I kinda made this up from their influence. Eating Well...living Thin had a broccoli and cheese quiche bite recipe. Girlichef yesterday was making a recipe with broccoli and she HAD to go and say "choppin' brocco-lay" (visions of Dana Carvey singing in my head now) and today she used some phyllo (delish looking maple walnut tartlettes!) So I got to thinking....I have some broccoflower and some phyllo and cheese...hmmmmmmm.

This is what I came up with....

Broccoli and Cheese Phyllo Pie

1 head of broccoflower, cut into 'florettes'
4 eggs
8 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
3 T. flour
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp of mayo (I used this since I was using skim milk)
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
dash of cayenne
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 lb smoked cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 package of phyllo dough sheets (1 of the 2 cylinders in the box), at room temperature
6-7 Tbsp butter, melted (you may or may not be heavy handed with this)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put your broccoflower in a pot with a enough water to cover and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. In a large bowl put your chopped bacon, green onions, shredded cheese, mix well.







In a medium bowl put your eggs, salt, peppers, flour, mayo and milk beat well. I used an immersion blender for the mayo tends to 'seize in little pieces from the cold milk. The immersion blender made it all smooth.

Unroll your phyllo dough and cover with a damp paper towel. Either grease your 8 inch springform pan with cooking spray or melted butter. Uncover your dough and remove two sheets of phyllo (replacing the damp towel) and lay into your springform pan. Take your pastry brush and coat it with butter. Making sure the phyllo 'sticks' to the sides. Rotate pan a bit and repeat with two more layers and butter. Keep rotating and layering and buttering until you have quite a thick 'phyllo' nest. Roughly about 3/4 of the roll. Since there are 20 sheets to a roll and you are putting down 2 layers at a time; this will be about 14-16 sheets)

Since your broccoli is cool now, roughly chop it and mix it in with the bacon and cheese mixture. Put the broccoli/bacon/cheese mix into your phyllo nest and gently pat down. Remix your egg mixture (pepper and flour may settle a bit) and pour over your broccoli mixture.






Take your remaining phyllo sheets and put on top 2 layers at a time coating with butter in between. Roll your over hanging edges with the phyllo sides to create a 'crust edge'. Brush top with butter.













Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. You may need to cover the phyllo after an hour to keep it from overbrowning. Let sit 15 minutes before cutting (you don't want everything to ooze out on you).


Be careful cutting very gently so you don't MASSACRE your phyllo dough. Use a serrated knife and gently saw. When you get to the bottom where the phyllo is more thick....you don't have to be so gentle.


I tell ya, the smokey cheese, soft yet still firm broccoli and the bits of bacon. This is ON POINT! Granted there is no bread crumb coating....but the crunchy phyllo worked.

Don't be afraid of working with phyllo. Like riding a bike...the more you work with it, the more comfortable you get. For example when I was putting the layers on the bottom....I didn't worry about any tears or total even coverage of butter. I knew once the filling was in....it was all good. This was a total risk from fusing two ideas....and man, it paid OFF!

BTW, as I was making this with eggs....thought I'd show you this...

Notice anything? Does the Sesame Street song "one of these things doesn't belong here" come to mind?

My neighbor gives me some farmer's market 'rejects' every so often. By law, the farmer can't sell 'double yolked' eggs apparently? I know I've gotten plenty of them in 'store bought' eggs before...but these eggs must be laid by ginormous chickens. I laugh when I get them for I can't put them in my egg carton with the others. Here was Big Bird's baby picture next to regular birds....LOL


Enjoy!