Ready for another heart-stopper?!

So, as you may or may not have realized, we like bacon around here! (Quiche, bacon-wrapped eggs, bacon pizza...)

This time, we may have gone over the top. Just keep in mind that the Bacon Explosion was somebody else's creation! :o) And don't worry... we kept it a balanced meal. Scroll down for the Strawberry & Spinach Salad.

Bacon Explosion

2 lbs bacon strips
2 lbs Italian sausage
barbecue sauce

See the Bacon Explosion website for more detailed directions.

1. Weave about half of the bacon together on a baking dish.
2. Add any spices you want to add.
3. Spread sausage over bacon mat.
4. Cook the rest of the bacon to your liking. Crumble it up and put it on top of the sausage.
5. Add barbecue sauce.
6. Roll up the sausage with the bacon pieces inside.
7. Conclude assembly by rolling up bacon weave around sausage creation.
8. Now, you can either barbecue this as suggested in their website, or you can bake it like we did. We set the oven at around 250 degrees (F) and let it cook for about 2 hours.

Please dispose of the grease safely. You will end up with... A LOT! Let it cool before you pour it into a container to throw away. Please don't pour it down your sink... this will cause problems for you!

Strawberry & Spinach Salad

1 bunch of spinach
1 pound of strawberries
about 1/2 cup walnuts
about 2-3 Tablespoons sugar
salad dressing of your choice - we used Brianna's poppyseed dressing but this would be great with a vinaigrette.

1. Rinse spinach and take stems off. Keep the leaves; dry them and place them in your salad bowl.
2. Rinse strawberries. Remove leaves and slice.
3. Chop/crush walnuts. You'll want them to be in small pieces. They garnish this salad.
4. Heat sugar in small sauce pan. Once it is liquid, QUICKLY add walnuts, stirring, and remove from heat. Now you have caramelized walnuts.
5. Add strawberry slices and caramelized walnuts to spinach. Dress with dressing of your choice. Enjoy!

We devoured our Bacon Explosion with the Strawberry & Spinach salad and some mashed potatoes to make it a balanced meal.

Our nieces, Lydia and Ruby, really loved this dinner!

 oxox

Quiche Lorraine

A slightly modified submission to the blog by Thomas' mom, this came from his dad's (her husband's) mother. A few quotes and tips that came with the submission:

• "It is the best American recipe I have ever had, and is a good as many- (better than the poor quality) french ones."
• Use a deep dish pie pan. You can use a regular pie plate, but you will have too much liquid.
• It will actually taste even better one day after. (Maybe you should double it for leftovers.)
• "Bon appetit!"

Quiche Lorraine

Pie Shell
1.5 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 C shortening
4-5 T cold water

1. Mix flour and salt.
2. Cut in shortening.
3. Mix water in slowly until all is moistened.
4. Form into a ball, and roll to about 1/8" thick.
5. Transfer the shell to a greased pie pan and crimp the edges.

Innards
1/2 lb bacon
1 onion
1/4 lb mushrooms
1 lb guyère (or 1/2 lb swiss and 1/2 lb monterey jack)
4 eggs
1 C sour cream
1 C milk
salt and pepper

(**UPDATE 3/13/2011: we used slightly less cheese and only 1/2 c milk today and our quiche was much less liquidy**)

1. Preheat the oven at 375°.
2. Fry the bacon.
3. Chop the onion and sauté it in the bacon grease.
4. Slice the mushrooms and sauté them with the onion.
5. Mix the bacon back in and sprinkle into the pie shell.
6. Add cheese over the bacon.
7. Mix the eggs, milk, and sour cream together and pour into the pie shell.
8. Add salt and pepper. The pepper dots add to the look, so put lots in.
9. Bake until it passes the toothpick test. Let sit to set 15-30 minutes.
10. Cut, serve, and eat.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

A normal title for a "normal" recipe. Actually, this comes from my (Thomas') mother's arsenal and is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe that I know of. We often would double or quadruple it, as a single batch only makes about 40 (forty). And yes, I can end a sentence in a preposition and be grammatically correct. And yes, I can start a sentence with "and"... :D

On to the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1C shortening
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1 T vanilla (liberally)
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 eggs
2 C flour (may take up to 1/4 C more)
12 oz. Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven
2. Mix all the ingredients excepting the flour
3. Add flour (more if it is extremely sticky)
4. Roll into 1.5 inch balls
5. Put into preheated oven. Bake at 375° for 4-5 minutes or until they look like slightly doughy cookies (but have flattened out into the shape of cookies)
6. Take out (and don't let the bottoms get more than light brown)
7. Let cool a bit
8. Test (i.e. taste), varying cook time accordingly

(Mmmmm...Crisco!)

(Eggs, sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla...)

(Cookie dough sans chocolat)

(After the addition of Ingredient X)

(Dough ready to be incinerated)

(Some of the final product)

And, as a bonus, Lisa has assembled ice cream sandwiches. Try them out!

Louisiana Home Cookin'

Thanks to Thomas' dad, Jeff, we got to enjoy some Cajun CJ's Jambalaya last week.

Back in March, when Jeff drove from Florida to Utah for some business, our wedding, etc., he happened upon some dry Cajun Jambalaya mixes at a gas station convenience store (I think). Trusting the good reports of the locals, he picked up a package of the Jambalaya mix and the Gumbo mix and let us choose one. I decided we'd try the Jambalaya!

It was so easy to put together. The package had two packets of ingredients and instructions that were simple to follow. I was impressed to find a sticker referencing John 14:6.

We started out sauteeing some sausage and ground beef with the packet of spices. It smelled so good!

Next, we added water and the larger packet of rice and additional spices. This simmered for a while and dinner was ready!

We enjoyed our Jambalaya with some corn on the cob. The Jambalaya was a rich blend of spices, meat, and rice. I don't really know how to describe its taste but I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested!

oxox

Chocolate Goodness in a Pan

Ok, people. We hope you're sitting down.

We are about to share with you the recipe for one of our favorite treats. It is easy, intriguing, and delicious. After reading this, you may want to make some just to know for yourself. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Chocolate Pudding Cake (serves 4)

1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup boiling water

1. Preheat the oven to 350* F. Combine the first group of ingredients (flour through vanilla) and mix well. You may want to combine the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients.
2. Spread this batter into a baking dish (ungreased). A 9*9 works pretty well; we doubled the recipe and used a 9*12. It's sticky, but try to get it to cover the bottom of your chosen dish.
3. In another bowl, combine the other ingredients (sugar through water). Pour this over the cake batter; take note that your cake batter is on the bottom, and the pudding is on the top.
4. Bake for about 30 minutes (you can use a toothpick to test for doneness). 
5. When you take it out, notice that *magically* your cake is on the TOP and your pudding is on the BOTTOM! WHAT?! Yes. It is true.
6. Let cool for a few minutes and serve. It's better with ice cream!!

 (dry cake ingredients)

(cake batter)

(dry pudding ingredients)

 (everything in the pan)

 (right out of the oven in all its glory!)

(behold the magic...)

(complete with ice cream and some dark chocolate candy pieces...)

It really is delicious - but we hope you don't take our word for it!

oxox

American Chinese Food: It's What's For Dinner

We are proud to present, after a few weeks' hiatus, a delightful meal that we highly recommend to our readers: Fried rice with homemade egg rolls. This is even good for leftovers and quite cheap, so make plenty and save money.

Homemade Egg Rolls (makes 24)

Wrapper Ingredients
2 C flour
1 egg
1t salt
1/2 C ice water

1. Pour flour into a bowl.
2. Beat egg and salt in a second bowl. Mix 1/4 C ice water into egg mixture.
3. Add egg mixture to flour along with the remainder of ice water. Mix thoroughly.
4. Knead dough for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth.
5. Cover the dough and let sit for 30 minutes (you can work on the egg roll innards while waiting).
6. Knead the dough briefly, then divide into 24 equal parts.
7. Roll each part into 3 to 4 inch squares.
8. Stack them with a thin dusting of cornstarch between to prevent them from sticking.

Egg rolls
24 egg roll wrappers
1/2 head of cabbage, in small pieces
10-15 baby carrots, grated
2 chicken breasts, diced
pepper
salt
garlic powder
ginger
soy sauce
oil

1. Fry chicken in oil along with pepper, salt, garlic powder, ginger, and soy sauce.
2. Mix the cabbage and carrots in a bowl.
3. Lay out wrapper. Fill it with about two spoons of vegetables and a few pieces of chicken, then wrap it up.
4. Fry each egg roll in oil, using tongs to turn and remove them as they begin to brown. Don't cook them beyond a golden brown.

Fried Rice
rice
2-3 eggs
peas
soy sauce

1. Cook rice as normal.
2. Begin to fry rice. Add copious amounts of soy sauce.
3. Mix in eggs and peas.
4. Let simmer for a few minutes.

There you have it: a simple yet delightful meal. Bon appetit!