Solid Gold...

I should have known Scott's three choices for dinner last night would EASILY be narrowed down after I followed up one option with "and I bought tater tots to go along with it."J

After an "oooohhhhhhhh"....I just knew it.  Grilled cheese it was! J

Which was FINE with me, since I had a great idea for fillings:

• Fontina Cheese
• Roasted Red Peppers
• Pesto
• My single favorite thing on earth at the moment: AVOCADO!

AND to REALLY make it 'special'...we used the leftovers of my homemade bread!   

 A quick dice, chop and assembly of everything...(and a THIN smear of butter on the outsides of the bread)

...and then popped on the griddle for a few minutes on each side.  Once I flipped the sandwiches, I covered them with a bowl to evenly heat the 'insides'... 

...and melt the cheese into GOOEY PERFECTION! 

And OF COURSE, those GLORIOUS tater tots on the sideJ hehehehehehe....the sandwich was soooo savory and delicious.  The only change I would make would be to the cheese.  The fontina was too mellow to all the other stronger flavors.  Next time I'm going GOOD OLE AMERICAN!J 

And as a special treat, I pulled one of THESE out of the freezer... 

LAST SUMMER Foodbuzz had sent me a coupon for a FREE box of Magnum Ice Cream Bars.  The hilarious thing was when I saw the expiration date, I was like "OH, we have PLENTY of time to get them!"  Fast forward what feels like FIVE MINUTES and I realized the expiration date of 2/29/12 was RAPIDLY approaching.  So this weekend we finally narrowed down our choice between dark, almond, double chocolate, white chocolate and classic to our final pick:  DOUBLE CARAMEL!

From GOLD coconut bars to GOLD ice cream bars...our house has been like 'Soul Train' latelyJ 

Talk about PURE DECADENCE!  Not one, but TWO thick coatings of pure, creamy milk chocolate surrounded by the smooothest and creamiest vanilla ice cream... 

And the best part??  Snuggled between those dueling layers of chocolate was a THICK layer of pure, sweet caramel.  Ooooooooooooooo.... 

Pick these up at your local grocery store if you're in the mood for an absolute decadent treat worthy of being slooowllly savoured.  They were sorta heavenlyJ

Alright, well I'm off to have myself a good ole cooking frenzy today.  My plan is to cook till I drop (which, honestly, might not take TOO long these days!) so we can have a bunch of meals at the ready for the next few weeks while we learn to balance life with a newbornJ  Not too much longer now!!

Have a good Saturday, everyone!

Dreaming of Italy in the Fall...

There's been quite a few conversations to be had about Italy around this house lately (OK, OK..more like: I talk and Scott listensJ).  So when Foodbuzz announced that Barilla pasta was having a contest to create a recipe for their tortellini, with the winning prize being a trip here... 

I WAS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!

And unlike the Bacon contest where I took a decadent ingredient and made it even MORE intense, I decided to use the opposite approach and take an often considered decadent ingredient and create a healthy sauce to serve along with it!

And since most of our daydreams about Italy revolves around my favorite season of Fall, then what better way than to combine the 2 with some of my very favorite FALL ingredientsJ

Tortellini with Roasted Butternut Squash & Pear Sauce

• 1 (12. oz) bag Barilla tortellini
• 2 pounds butternut squash, peeled & diced
• 2 slices prosciutto, thinly sliced
• 2 pears, peeled and diced
• 2 onion, diced
• 1 head of garlic
• 2 teaspoons sage, plus more for garnish
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup walnuts, optional
• Olive oil, salt & pepper

First I mixed the butternut squash with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, pepper and cinnamon.  Place squash in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally....

While the squash is baking, your house should smell blissfully like THIS:

I'm trying to embrace all of you, Seasons, but my heart still beats for FallJ  The roasting squash was such a teaseJ

I also tossed in a head of garlic to roast along with the squash.  You simply slice off the top of the garlic, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper and tightly wrap in aluminum foil.  It is the best tasting/easiest thing you'll ever make in your whole life!  That time in the oven creates MAGIC!

While the squash & garlic were roasting, I got started on the rest of the sauce.  I added a drizzle of olive oil to a pot and added 2 chopped slices of prosciutto.  Cook for a few minutes until crispy...

Next into the pot I added the pears, onions and 2 teaspoons of chopped sage and let that cook with the prosciutto for 5 minutes, or until the onions softened and the pear took on some color... 

YUM!

And then it was time to add the glorious roasted ingredients!  Once roasted, the garlic will easily peel away from the "papery" layers and the whole cloves can directly be added to the pear & onion mix, right along with the sweet roasted squash... 

  FALL PERSONIFIED!J

After combining, I used my immersion blender to puree all of the ingredients, added about 3 cups of  vegetable stock as I went, to create a sauce-like consistency....

I also added in the cinnamon, nutmeg, 1 tablespoon of butter and a little extra salt & pepper to taste.  Allow the sauce to simmer on low until heated through.

While the sauce was heating, I was cooking my tortellini in boiling water for 7 minutes (longer if needed, but my "7 minute rule" rarely fails me! J)  I also toasted up a handful of chopped walnuts until golden brown... 

(keep the heat on loooowww and turn often!  These can go from brown to black in SECONDS!  When you can smell them...They're DONE!)

After the tortellini was cooked, I stirred in a few ladles of the warm sauce to the pan...

(we loved finding the few pieces of butternut squash that my blender had missedJ Who doesn't love textures??)

And finally, I topped the tortellini with the toasted walnuts & a sprinkle of diced sage and...

WALLAH! 

If this doesn't conjure up images of Autumn leaves while lounging on Lake Cuomo, then I don't know what does!J

Each taste of the sauce gave you little different tastes between the sweet roasted squash, the roasted garlic, the sweet pears, salty prosciutto, cinnamon & nutmeg and fresh sage.  And the decadent cheese tortellini gave the perfect amount of savory to carry the luscious sauce!  LOVE!

And I absolutely loved that, short of a very small added amount, this sauce contained scant amounts of fat and nearly ALL of the flavors comes from healthy, fresh ingredients.  What better way to 'lighten up' a pasta that's normally considered a treat!  Total winner any way you look at itJ  (Even if I was left dreaming of the Colosseum & Jack-o-lanterns for the rest of the nightJ) hahahahahhaa...

Anywayyy...my Fall dreams have turned into a rainy & dreary Saturday morning.  And after pusing it a llllitttllee too much/too soon in Power yoga this morning, my desire to collapse back in bed is being thwarted by the need to decorate the house with little bunnies todayJ  hahahahahhahahah!  Hope you guys have a great Easter! 

(and if you need a quick last minute dessert recipe, this lemon ice box pie or Peep rice krispie treats are LEGIT!J)

An ode to Bacon

Morning, everyone!  Hope you're doing OK.  I am blogging from my bed this morning, since the combo of a rainy day at Yankees Stadium + Scott catching a cold = No match for me.  So since we had dueling bowls of chicken soup for dinner last night, I thought I'd show you something a little more interesting....

When I heard about Foodbuzz's contest sponsored by Denny's for their new Baconalia menu, my brain started spinning with all the fun possibilites to use everyone's favorite guilty pleasure.  I had a few ideas, but I knew one thing:  It was going to be a combo of my favorites: Sweet & salty!  And when someone (hi, JK!) mentioned PIE, it was a done deal!  Sooooooo I present to you:

Bacon Peanut Butter Pie!!!

Because if your going to use one glorious ingredient (bacon), you might as well add another (my beloved PB:)

So of course, we must start with the bacon:

I took four strips and placed them on a cooling rack over a foil lined baking sheet.  I divided 2 tablespoons of brown sugar among the four strips, and baked at 375 until they were crispy...

(yes, I'm aware there's 5 strips in the picture:)  I forgot to take a new picture and just wanted to show you the 'set up':)

While the bacon was cooking up, I got to working on the crust....and nothing sounded like a better base for a sweet & salty pie thennnn....

Pretzels!

I ground the pretzels to create enough crumbs to cover the pie plate (about 1 1/2 cups)...

Next I mixed with the pretzel crumbs:

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• The bacon drippings from the cooked brown sugar bacon, about 1 tablespoon

Pour the mixture into a pie plate and press evenly to form the pie crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown.  Let cool completely.

While the crust was cooling, I got working on the Peanut Butter Center:

Mix:

• 1 cup creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temp.
• 1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 (8 oz.) container of Cool Whip

Cream together the peanut butter & cream cheese before slowly adding in the confectioners sugar...

...Next:  Fold in the Cool Whip:

...and finally, the ingredient of honor:  1 & 1/2 strips the cooled brown sugar bacon, minced VERY fine...

Pour mixture in pie plate and refrigerate until set.

And finally, my favorite part of the recipe:  The BACON WHIPPED CREAM!!!

Combine 1 pint of heavy cream in a saucepan, along with 2 strips of the brown sugar bacon (crumbled).  Allow to come to a boil, before reducing heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and strain the cream with a fine sieve.  Place cream in fridge to chill.  Once the cream is cold, strain AGAIN to remove any fatty solids and pour strained cream into a mixing bowl.  Slowly add 1/3 cup of powdered sugar and whip on high until stiff peaks form.  Place in fridge to set.

Once everything is set, top the peanut butter layer with the bacon whipped cream and top with the remaining 1/2 sliced of bacon, chopped.

WALLAH!  Bacon Pie!:)

This pie is suuuupeeerrr rich, but really: would you expect anything else? :)  The salty crust mixed with the savory peanut butter & bacon center topped with the sweeeeeeet bacon flavored whipped cream just knocked our socks off!  It tasted even BETTER after it sat in the fridge over night:)  Win or lose, it was certainly a fun experiment!

Disclaimer:  My post was created as part of the Denny's and Foodbuzz BACONALIA challenge and is an entry for a chance to win a prize.

So, I hope everyone has a good Tuesday.  Mine shall involve not moving very far from the couch today:(  We have another soup on the menu tonight, but I think you'll like this one!  Stay tuned;)

From Simple to Fabulous:)

So last night we had 4 items in the fridge that we knew we wanted to use for our dinner:

• Pork Chops
• Fresh Rosemary
• Broccoli
• Corn

Simple enough, right???  But I decided to go scouring through a few of my cookbooks to see if I could find anything a little more intriguing.  And after stumbling on one I thought sounded so absurd, I figured I'd try it out and see what happened:)  And what happened was this:

We started with Rosemary Pork Chops in a balsamic glaze....

Scott coated the chops in rosemary, salt & pepper and pan seared them until they were cooked through and removed them from the pan.

In the same pan, I threw in a chopped onion and 3 minced cloves of garlic.  They picked up SUCH a nice color from deglazing the pan....

Next, I added in 3 tablespoons of balsamic & a cup of chicken broth and brought that to a boil, letting it simmer until there was only about a half cup of glaze left to pour over the chops...

I loved that not only were the pork chops coated in a nice glaze BUT they were also mounded with all of the onions and LOTS of garlic....YUM!!!

The broccoli was the true wild card, as the first ingredient in the list called for this:

Yes...that is indeed pan crisped salami strips! :)  hahahahahhahahaah  Weird, I know....but I figured why not give it a try! :)

After you remove the thin sliced crispy salami from the frying pan, you toss in a bunch of chopped broccoli.  Then you let it 'bronze' for a few minutes, before adding in MORE chopped onion & garlic and allowing that to cook for a few.  Finally, you add in about a half a cup of chicken broth and let it all simmer until the broccoli was done.  Once it's cooked, you plate it and top it with the crispy salami... 

I know, I know...it seems a little unnecessary to do to a vegetable BUT the broccoli WAS bursting with flavor!  And we loved the little crispy bites of tang & smoke that the salami lended.  We liked it, and I know Scott wants to have this one more often;) hahahahahhahahahhahaa....

And finally, in an attempt to perk up the late summer crop of veggies, we tried making some Brown Butter & Garlic Corn on the Cob!  In a small pan, I melted a few tablespoons of butter over medium heat and swirled it around until it took on a golden color.  And then I threw in about....hmmmm....5 cloves of crushed garlic;)  Go big or go home, right???

Finally, a little salt, pepper & some fresh chopped parsley and we were good to go;) 

We DID love the garlic butter, especially since the 'browning process' gives it a nice, warm & nutty flavor....butttttttttt it still couldn't salvage the late season corn:(  The garlic butter was the only TRUE flavor....

Oh well...we have 3 more ears and then I think it's going to be "Sayonara, corn!" for the year!!! :(  Wayyyy to short of a season this year!!

So yes, despite needing 87 pots to cook dinner:

It turned out to be intriguing, different and SUPER flavorful!!!!  A definite winner in the end:)

And in other news:  Guess what was waiting on the porch for me when I got home!!

Lovely FALL Flavored K-cups!!!!!  I had an Iced (since it's 90 here today:( Pumpkin Spice coffee this morning...and oh-my-heavens was it GOOD!!!!  I drank it in about 8.2 seconds...it was just SO GOOD and actually SPICY! :)

And just for good measure, we also got some "Midnight Magic" & "German Chocolate Cake" cups....

We're a little leery since neither of us were huge fans of the "Chocolate Glazed Donut" cups...so Scott says if the cake is bad, it spells the end for Chocolate Coffee Cups!  Fingers crossed;)

And here's our nifty little bread drawer/turned K-cup drawer that Scott devised;)  Amazing what a little cardboard can do;)

So, is this change of weather killing anyone else????  Not only am I in a TERRIBLE mood seeing as how it is THE FIRST DAY OF FALL and it is NINETY today, but I have been COMPLETELY exhausted all week:(  I haven't felt this tired in MONTHS!  Fingers crossed I'm just worn out and it's not a cold:(  We have too many fun things planned for this weekend to be taken out by a stupid cold!  Oh well....time for some Green Monsters! ;)

And today is the last day to vote for me in Round 1 of the "Project Foodbuzz!"  Just click on the little heart if you like "My Tasty Journey" :)

Have a good Thursday! :)