Family favorites
Do you ever see a recipe or watch some food TV and think I need to go to the store right now and get the ingredients to make that right now? Well that happened to me when I was watching Food Network! Giada
De Laurentiis was making this amazing dish! Jim and I both loved this! Jim went back for seconds almost immediately and dinner time was very quiet. We all know what that means! Delicious dinner!! If you can’t find pancetta you can also use bacon but the pancetta really is perfect in this dish as it adds so much flavor and crisp texture.
INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoon olive oil
4 ounces pancetta, chopped
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
4 large eggs
1 pound rigatoni
Fresh cracked black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add the pancetta and sauté until brown and crisp. About 8 minutes, remove pancetta from the pan and set aside. Add the onions to the same pan you used for the pancetta and cook until golden brown and lightly carmelized. This will take about ten minutes. Add the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, cook two more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl combine and whisk the Gruyere, whipping cream, Parmesan, lemon zest, eggs and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt and add the rigatoni and boil on high until the rigatoni is al Dente about 8-10 minutes. Drain but, RESERVE ONE CUP OF PASTA WATER. Add the pasta back into the pot along with the onions, cream mixture, 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water and the pancetta. Toss over low heat until the sauce is thick and coats the pasta. Adding pasta water as needed (I only used 1/4 cup). This only takes about two minutes. Do not boil. Season pasta with fresh cracked paper and serve warm.
Enjoy!
This recipe is so addicting! Crunchy, chocolatey, peanutty, what more can I say… so good! This will make a terrific gift around the holiday or for any occasion! You will have lots of friends with this snack, not to mention it is so much cheaper to make than to buy. If you want to get really fancy you can also drizzle white chocolate over the popcorn after the chocolate is dry and set.
INGREDIENTS
2 bags of microwave popcorn popped (I used Orville Redenbacher’s Natural Simply Salted bags, whole grain)
You want about 12 cups of popcorn
1 1/2 cups of nuts (I used peanuts but you can also use pecan or cashews)
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 12 ounce bag of chocolate Ghirardelli melting wafers
1 disposable large roasting pan
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spread popped popcorn and nuts into your large roasting pan. In a heavy saucepan combine brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes or until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to boil and stir for two minutes. Remove from heat and add the baking soda. Pour warm mixture over the popcorn and nuts and stir well coating all of the popcorn. Bake 60 minutes stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and spread nuts and popcorn over wax paper. Do not break up the popcorn. Allow to cool completely.
Once cooled, melt the chocolate according to package directions and using a fork generously drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn and let stand for 3-4 hours or until chocolate is set.
Break into pieces and serve! Store in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
I came across this recipe on Pinterest and have had it pinned for a couple weeks and finally decided to make it. I am very happy I did! These bars are super simple and can be made using any pie filling you like. I used strawberry, but Jim has already requested blueberry for the next batch. When Jim got home from work he made his way to the kitchen and ate four of them. One after the next! I was sending some to a neighbor that night and was afraid to send them over with Jim as I was not sure they would ALL arrive to her!! If you are looking for something quick and easy to make with ingredients you most likely already have, give this a try!
INGREDIENTS (Crumb Mixture)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
FILLING INGREDIENTS
1 cup pie filling (any flavor)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon flour
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray. Add flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix with a whisk until evenly combined. Add butter and combine until mixture is wet and crumbly. Reserve 3/4 of a cup of the crumb mixture and set aside for the topping. Press the remaining mixture into your sprayed pan, forming a bottom layer. Set aside while you prepare the filling.
For the filling add the sour cream, sugar, 1 tablespoon of flour, egg and vanilla extract to a large bowl and combine well. Spread the filling over the crust in your pan forming a second layer. Drop spoonfuls of your pie filling over the sour cream mixture. Gently stir pie filling through the sour cream mixture creating a swirl effect (without stirring or mixing the crumb mixture). Sprinkle your reserved crumb mixture evenly over the top. Bake in your preheated oven for 25-28 minutes or until top of the bars are lightly browned and the center of the bar is “set”. Cool completely, slice and serve. Store any leftovers in the fridge.
Enjoy!
My favorite things to make are appetizers, but I am always looking for a new way to make something we have all seen before. This recipe is one of those ideas, although this does take some time to make they were absolutely delicious. The candied bacon was the star! These can be baked as I did, but also grilled and even smoked!
INGREDIENTS
8 slices of candied bacon, chopped (see instructions below)
8 ounces of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 dozen (approximately, depending on the size) jalapeño’s
DIRECTIONS FOR CANDIED BACON
8 slices of thick cut bacon
1/4 cup brown sugar
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and spray with non stick spray. Place 8 pieces of bacon on top of the cooling rack on a single layer and sprinkle the bacon with 1/2 of the brown sugar. Bake for thirty minutes (I used thick cut bacon, if you use a thin cut, cooking times will be different). After thirty minutes turn the bacon slices over and sprinkle with the remaining sugar and bake for 15 minutes or until crispy. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
NOTE- this can be done a day ahead.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE STUFFED JALAPEÑOS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the jalapeños in half lengthwise (being careful not to touch your face or eyes while working with the jalapeño’s). Scrape the ribs and seeds out of the jalapeño and place on a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl mix together the cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, cream cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Mix until well combined. Once well combined add your candied bacon pieces and mix so the bacon pieces are throughout your mixture. In a small bowl combine the panko crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. To assemble the jalapeños start by adding the cream cheese mixture into each jalapeño half and top with a sprinkle of panko Parmesan mixture. Do this for each jalapeño and place back on your baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes watching not to burn. Remove from oven and serve warm.
Enjoy!
If you read my grilled breakfast pizza post last week you know some friends and I had a girls weekend at our friend Cathy’s lake camp in Northern NH. Well I only told you part of the story about us talking about how full we were from a big breakfast and late lunch. What I did not tell you is that we all wanted something a little sweet, so what do three girls lakeside decide to do? Skip directly past dinner and go right to dessert! Yup, that’s exactly what we did and it was damn good! These campfire cones are so simple and can be made a million different ways! We all had something a little different but we all agreed they were fantastic. These can be made over a campfire or on your grill over medium heat. I wish I had thought to take a picture of all of our candies we used but go ahead and picture all of the zillion combinations!
NOTE: Make sure you fill the cone as much as possible!!! Depending on what you are adding into the cone cooking time may vary slightly. We used mini candies that I think could have cooked a little longer or slice the candies in half before putting in the cone.
INGREDIENTS
(Any combination)
Sugar cones (this is a must)
Mini marshmallows
Mini chocolate chips
Peanut butter chips
Crushed walnuts
Maraschino cherries
Butterscotch chips
Nutella
Bananas
Crushed pineapple, Drained
Mini chocolate candies such as peanut butter cups, snickers or even peppermint patties.
Tin foil
DIRECTIONS
Take one sugar cone and fill it to the very top with your favorite combinations of candies. Wrap in tin foil and roast over medium heat on your grill or campfire for about 2 1/2 minutes per side. If you are using small candies they take just a little longer. Remove from heat, remove foil, serve warm.
Enjoy!
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