I Ruined the Meat Slow Cooker Chili
This fail is my fault and it could have been avoided. I cook a lot of chicken with my slow cooker and with enough trial and error I've solved the dryness problem (hint: it involves liquid, a mixture of chicken breasts and thighs, and just the right amount of cooking time on low). I rarely cook any type of beef. So, when I found what sounded like a delicious recipe for Texas Beef Chili on Once Upon a Chef, I tried to outsmart my cow and prepared the recipe as outlined except I put everything into the slow cooker. The result was excellent flavored chili with very tough and dry meat.
Read More…Short Rib Chili with Chocolate Stout
Last week, I went to the store without a plan, which is generally a bad idea. Normally, I'm not so good at shopping without something specific in mind and I end up with 11 ingredients that don't go well together and a pint of ice cream. I had it in my head that I wanted something beefy, but I wasn't sure what that might be. When I saw boneless short ribs, I remembered a really delicious short rib chili I once had, so I Googled a recipe while I was in the store, picked up all of the ingredients, and off I went to cook. Food 52's Short Rib Chile was actually third on Google's list of results, but it has recently become a favorite site of mine so it was a no brainer.
Read More…Spicy Stir Fried Bacon
In the last month, I've managed to make four recipes I found at maangchi.com. Originally, I was just trying to figure out what to do with a nearly full tub of koren hot pepper paste (gochujang) leftover from a recipe I tried months ago. I was immediately smitten by her. The recipes all looked great and she made cooking korean dishes seem easy despite all of the "exotic" ingredients. After my first success with Spicy Braised Chicken (Dak-bokkeumtang), I ventured further into the site and found several other recipes I was interested in trying, including her recipe for Spicy Stir Fried Pork (Dwaejigogi-bokkeum). Having had all of the ingredients on hand except pork belly, I substituted that with bacon and called it dinner.
Read More…Slow Cooker Chicken Chile Verde
A few weeks back I made Roasted Tomatillo Chicken Enchilada Casserole from Pinch of Yum. It taught me that roasting green chiles is flavorful and delicious. So, when I saw a recipe for Slow Cooker Chile Verde on a forum, it went on my immediate "to make" list. Read More to see the recipe.
Read More…Seared Scallops with Apple Cider Balsamic Glaze
A funny thing happened a few weeks back: I had an unexplained craving for scallops. Up until that time, I wasn't even sure that I liked scallops. In fact, I was pretty sure I didn't. Logic tells me that somewhere, deep down, that craving was calling to a primal memory of enjoying scallops that I must have had at some point in my life.
Given that the craving was unexpected, I hadn't planned a thing. Naturally, I scoured the internet and came up with this recipe from She Cooks He Cleans. All in all a success, although I found out scallops are rather pricey.
Read More…Notes on a BBQ and Beer Brats Two Ways
A party three and a half years in the making actually came to fruition yesterday. There's no reason it actually should have taken that long to happen, and there was nothing about it that would have seemed like it took that long to plan, but it did.
Read More…Rigatoni with Bacon Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese
Here's a recipe that's gone straight to my make again list. The combination of flavors packs a punch - it's creamy, salty, slightly sweet, and tart. The original recipe comes from Foodess. As far as I'm concerned, she had one fatal flaw with her recipe: she only uses 3 slices of bacon.
Read More…Ground Beef and Bacon 5050 Burger
Don't be fooled by appearances, this is no ordinary burger. This is a special burger, a burger comprised of 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon. It's pretty easy, a little bit messy, and a lot delicious. The idea came from a local restaurant that I've only had dreams of visiting, Slater's 50/50. I hope to make the trip there someday soon, but in the mean time, this is an adequate substitute.
Read More…My First Bacon Explosion
First, I must acknowledge that the pictures just don't do this justice. It literally was gone from the serving table in minutes. I should have made 2. Or 3.
Ever since Bacon Explosion blew up on the internet in 2008, it's been in my thoughts. It wasn't until this year that I finally got the opportunity to make it. This year I decided to rent a bounce house and have a fat pants birthday party. Bacon explosion was the highlight of the menu, but it also included chips and dips, meats and cheeses, grilled bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers, super cheesy crock pot mac and cheese, Unicorn Poop Cookies, an ice cream sundae bar, and Reese's Stuffed Chocolate Covered Oreos. If this weren't a bacon site, I'd have a lot to talk about. I'll address the bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers later, for now, let's talk Bacon Explosion.
Read More…BLTA Pasta Salad
I needed an easy, high yield recipe for a potluck recently, so I took to the internet and found two BLT Salad recipes, one at AllRecipes and one from Rachael Ray. I combined the two recipes into one and added avocado, mainly because I wasn't satisfied with either recipe in its entirety and also because I wanted to take advantage of things that I had on hand. The recipe at AllRecipes calls for croutons, which I did not use. I think croutons or bread crumbs are key - the salad version that I made really lacked that toasted white bread taste of a delicious BLT Sandwich.
Read More…
