Garlic Rosemary Chicken Bake

I love one dish dinners.  They look fancy, they're so easy to make, and less dishes for me to wash!

This one was a big hit with my boys.  They love anything chicken or bacon, and this has both!

The best part was that I only needed about 5 minutes of prep before I had the whole dish finished and stuck in the oven, but the boys still thought it looked fancy and impressive.  

I don't have a million photos of this like some other dishes, but I'm probably going to make it again pretty soon, and I'll add more photos then, okay?  :)

Garlic Rosemary Chicken Bake

serves 3

Ingredients:

• 3 whole chicken breasts (I used frozen ones, no thawing needed!)
• 3 russet potatoes
• 1/4 Cup garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 branches rosemary
• 3 strips bacon
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Drizzle 1 teaspoon olive oil onto the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish.  
2. Slice the potatoes into medallions and lay them flat in the dish.  Lay the chicken breasts on top of the potatoes.  Slice the bacon into 1" pieces and lay the pieces on top of the chicken and potatoes.  Sprinkle the garlic cloves over the bacon, and lay the rosemary branches down as well.  Season with the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and slide into the oven.  
3. Bake for 60 minutes, or until the bacon and chicken are fully cooked.  

nothing says Valentine's Day like bacon and chocolate!

Yeah, that's right.  A chocolate bacon bar.  What says's "I love you" like chocolate and bacon?  

If you need last minute ideas for Valentine's Day, or just really want to keep these all to yourself, this recipe is easy and yummy.  Being a vegetarian I haven't tried them myself, but Jeff ate half the batch in a day, so they must be good!

Be prepared for gratuitous chocolate photos.  They were just so pretty!  I couldn't narrow it down.  :)

 These chocolates are great.  All you really need is bacon and chocolate chips.

Start by laying 5 strips of bacon on a foil lined lipped baking sheet.  If you want to infuse some extra sweetness you can brush two teaspoons of maple syrup over the bacon.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes until cooked but not crispy.  I baked mine for 12.  Take the bacon out and let it cool for a few minutes.  Dice the bacon as small as you can and place it on clean foil on the same baking sheet.  Bake for 2-5 minutes until its a bit crispy.  Remove from the baking sheet and place on a plate lined with paper towels.

While the bacon is cooling get out a small double boiler and slowly melt 2 cups of chocolate chips until smooth and shiny.  You can use whatever shape molds you want (these are silicone cupcake sized molds).  Make sure the mold interiors are clean and completely dry.  Spread a thin layer of chocolate on the mold bottoms to insure the candy tops are flat and clean when they're finished.

Mix the bacon into the melted chocolate and evenly pour into the molds.  I filled my molds 1/3 of the way up and they were pretty thick.  I made 9 chocolates, but you could make up to 12 without them being too thin.  Firmly tap the molds on the counter a few times to get rid of any possible air bubbles and to make sure the chocolates lay flat.  Let the chocolate sit out for a few hours to harden completely.  

When the chocolate is firm gently remove them from the molds.  They could be finished at this point, or you could decorate them like I did.  I used 1/4 cup of red candy melts to decorate.  These are pretty easy to use.  Put your candy melts into an uncut piping bag, or a sandwich bag and microwave upright in a plastic cup for 30 seconds at a time until evenly melted.  Snip a small hole in the bag tip.

Lay the chocolates out on parchment paper and very quickly create a pattern on the chocolates.  Let them dry.

Once the candy melt decorations have dried pick up the chocolate and snap off any small pieces hanging off.

Enjoy! Try not to eat them all in one day.

Chocolate Bacon Bars

Ingredients:

• 5 strips of bacon
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup (optional)
• 2 Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 Cup red candy melts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay bacon out on foil lined lipped baking sheet.  Optionally brush bacon with maple syrup. Bake for 10-15 minutes until bacon is cooked but not crispy.
2. Dice bacon finely and return to oven on clean foil lined baking sheet for 2-5 minutes, until crispy but not burnt.
3. Let bacon cool on paper towel covered plate.
4. Prep a double boiler and slowly melt the chocolate chips until smooth and shiny.
5. Spread a thin layer of chocolate on the mold bottoms, then mix the bacon into the chocolate mix and evenly pour into the molds, about 1/3 of the way to the tops.
6. Tap the molds on the counter to remove possible air bubbles and flatten the chocolate.  Let dry completely. 
7. Optional decoration: lay solid chocolate on parchment paper.  Put the candy melts into an uncut piping bag or sandwich bag and microwave upright in a plastic cup for 30 second intervals until melted evenly.  Snip a small hole in the bag tip and very quickly drizzle a pattern onto the chocolates.  Let dry.  Pick off any small bits of candy hanging off the chocolate bars.  Enjoy!

tartiflette

This dish is comfort food to the max.  And by comfort food I mean completely delicious while being heart attack inducing.  This dish contains bacon, potatoes, cream, wine, and cheese.  Basically, this dish gets tons of compliments, but its a good idea to not mention the ingredients before serving.  Jeff couldn't get enough and ate two huge portions for dinner before he realized what he was eating!  I see this as a great intro to french food for people who think french food is all snooty (ridiculous).

I don't make this dish very often because I usually cook pretty healthy meals, but Jeff loves it, and it makes the whole house smell SO good!  Plus, Liam was pretty darn cute stalking me around the kitchen hinting oh so sly saying, "Mommy, I LOVE bacon!"

Start out by dicing up half a medium sized yellow onion and adding it to a hot pan with olive oil on medium heat.  Stir occasionally and let soften.

Slice up six strips of bacon and add them to the pot.

Cook the onion and bacon for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the moscato and allow it to cook down mostly, about ten minutes.  Surprised about the moscato?  It was on a lark that I used it instead of something drier, but the sweetness really works, and it smells so good!  Jeff even commented that each bite was full of flavor.  He kept waiting for the ball to drop, thinking he just got one really saturated bite, but he said every bite was just as good.

Cut up six medium yukon gold potatoes and mix them in.  Cook stirring occasionally until the potatoes have begun to soften.

Stir in half a cup of heavy cream.  At this point also add a teaspoon of thyme.

Shred the Gruyere and stir it into the pot.  I like to use my le crusuet pot so I don't have to transfer, but if you don't have a pot that can go on the stove AND in the oven, switch containers now and pot into the oven on the middle rack for 30-40 minutes, until golden, bubbly, and beautiful.  I like to bake mine for 32 minutes and then broil for 2 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit out for five minutes to set.

Just look at this.  The perfect cold night comfort food meal.

Serve with some good bread to soak everything up.  Enjoy!

 Recipe adapted from Ferdakost

Tartiflette

ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 6 thinly sliced bacon strips
• 1/2 Cup moscato
• 6 medium yukon gold potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1/2 Cup heavy cream
• 2 1/2 Cups Gruyere, shredded
• 1 tsp thyme

directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in the glazed cast iron pot on medium heat and toss in the diced onion.  Once it becomes fragrant stir in the bacon.  Stir them occasionally for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the moscato and cook until mostly evaporated.  Add the potatoes and cook for ten more minutes.  At this point preheat the oven for 350 degrees F.  Pour the cream into the mixture and stir for a minute or two.  Add in the thyme.  Fold in the shredded Gruyere evenly.  If you do not have a le crusuet style pot and have been using a regular pot, now dump the food into an oven safe dish and put into the oven for 30-40 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to set on the counter for 5 minutes before serving.  

Note: The bake time can differ depending on the size your potatoes are cut (mostly).  I like to bake my dish for about 32 minutes, then broil for 2 minutes, just to get a nice golden crispy top.

manly muffins

Yes, these are my version of a manly muffin.  Jeff thought some of my muffin ideas were super girly (like strawberry basil, or anything containing lavender).  I know so many people are afraid of muffins, "Oh no!  The evil carbs!" but they make such an easy breakfast option!  Usually breakfasts for us are very speedy, or take place while driving to work so they need to be easy to eat one handed.

I do think the name says it all though.  What's manlier than corn muffins with bacon and cheddar?



Big on the bacon and cheese

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but really, all you missed is dumping everything together in a bowl and mixing thoroughly.

print recipe

manly muffins

by Liesl July-6-2014

bacon cheddar corn muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 cup sharp cheddar, shredded
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cumin
• 5 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Add all ingredients except the cheddar and bacon into a large bowl and mix well. Fold in the cheddar and bacon. 2. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with PAM and divvy up with batter. Bake for 15 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes up clean. Cool before removing from pan.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: 12 muffins

breakfast pizza

I love making breakfast, but I can only make waffles so many times before I get really bored.  I've tried every flavor combination I can think of, but I still needed to try something new.  Breakfast pizza sounded like a good choice.  It has everything you'd want to eat for breakfast all in one item, and you can eat it easily with one hand.  Great when trying to hold a baby and feed a crazy toddler.  Don't be thrown off because this pizza doesn't have sauce, the eggs are liquidy enough when first added that you don't need sauce.

I used The Pioneer Woman's pizza dough recipe, because it's amazing, and added the cheese.

Pour the whisked eggs over the cheese , making sure the crust edge is high enough to contain it.

Spread the chopped bacon and potatoes evenly on top

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and beautifully fluffy and delicious.

As usual, I used The Pioneer Woman's pizza dough, because it is the best.  I made it the night before and stuck it in the fridge overnight in a saran wrap covered bowl.

ingredients:
2 C cheddar cheese, grated
4 eggs
4 strips of bacon
3/4 C O'Brian potatoes (I used defrosted Ore-Ida)

directions:
1.  Make the pizza dough the night before and place it in the fridge in a saran wrap covered bowl.  Follow the directions on the Pioneer Woman's site for that.  In the morning pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees F.  Take the dough out and stretch it out between two cookie sheets sprayed with PAM.  The dough is pretty elastic, so I use a rolling pin to help stretch it, then poke the dough for a fork.  Make sure you have raised edges on your crust so when you add the eggs, they won't pour out over the sides.
2.  Sprinkle the cheddar onto the dough, then whisk the eggs and pour them evenly over the cheese.  Add the bacon and potatoes evenly on top and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the crust is golden and the eggs look cooked through.
3.  Remove the pizza and let it cool on the counter for 5 minutes before you cut it.