Spaghetti Carbonara

I'm getting back to my Italian roots today with some spaghetti carbonara.  This dish is great when you have a limited pantry and you need to make a quick dinner.  I used bacon in place of pancetta in order to skip a trip to the grocery store and it turned out delicious!  

The most important step is to make sure to continuously whisk the egg mixture when adding the hot reserved pasta water or else you will end up with scrambled eggs and dry spaghetti.  

This is a dish with high cholesterol and fat levels so make sure to serve with a nice side salad!

Spaghetti Carbonara 

Spaghetti Carbonara

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

5 oz. bacon (or pancetta) cut into 1/2 inch strips

1⁄3 cup white wine

1/2 lb. dried spaghetti

1/3 cup shaved parmesan 

2 Tbsp. shredded mozzarella

1 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley

1 egg

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Remove and discard garlic. Add bacon, and cook until edges are crisp and the fat is rendered, about 8 minutes. (At this point I took out about 2 spoonfuls of bacon grease because the bacon I used was super oily, you can choose what you want to do).  Add wine, and cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook until al dente, according to box directions. Drain, reserving 1⁄4 cup pasta water. In a large bowl, whisk together parmesan, parsley, and eggs; while whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in reserved pasta water until smooth. Add spaghetti along with reserved pancetta mixture. Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper. Toss to combine, and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

BLT Flatbread Pizza

I needed a quick, yummy dinner this week because I spent longer at school helping out with the play.  This recipe fit the bill!  Using pre-made crust, naan in this case, was a great time saver, and the only prep I had to do was to cook the bacon.  It took about 20 minutes in total and we were ready to eat in no time!
We ordered wings (because who has pizza without wings!?), though if I had more time, I could have made wings.  Alas, that will be a great weekend project.

BLT Flatbread Pizza

BLT Flatbread Pizza

Ingredients:
4 pieces garlic naan
1/2 cup tomato sauce
5 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
2 Roma tomatoes, cut into ¼-inch thick circles
1/3 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup arugula
1/2 lemon
Pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 

Lay naan on a pizza stone, pizza steel, or baking sheet. (I had to use a pizza stone and a baking sheet).

Spread about 1/8 cup of tomato sauce on each piece of naan.

Divide the bacon, tomato circles, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese evenly between the naan.

Place naan in the oven.  If using two pans, switch top and bottom pans after 4 minutes.

Continue baking until the cheese is melted and the naan bread is golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.

Take pizza out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.

While the pizza is resting, place the arugula in a small bowl and toss it with the lemon juice and ground pepper.

Top each pizza with a quarter of the arugula salad.

Slice the pizzas into halves.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from The Cookin' Canuck

Bacon Cheeseburger Dip

Today I hosted a dinner party with my friend Siobhan, and because she is vegan (almost) everything we made was vegan.  This dip was the exception... being the least vegan thing known to man.  Cheese, cream cheese, bacon, and ground beef?  Oh man!  Obviously Siobhan didn't have any, but I did, and it was delicious!
This dip is super rich, so it went well with the rest of our meal being vegan, but if you aren't planning on doing that, I would suggest loading up on the veggies!

Bacon Cheeseburger Dip

Cheeseburger Dip

Bacon Cheeseburger Dip

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef
6 strips bacon
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
6 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup nonfat sour cream
1/4 cup light mayo
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp. ketchup

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350
Cook ground beef over medium heat, set aside and drain.
Cook bacon in same pan until crispy, about 6-10 minutes.  Set aside and drain all but a Tbsp. of grease.
Add onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
Crush up bacon once cool enough to handle.
Add garlic and saute about a minute
Mix all ingredeints into a baking dish
Bake in oven 20-30 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips or carrots

Recipe Adapted from Closet Cooking

Bacon and Egg Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese.  One of the first things I learned to cook by myself, and still one of the tastiest; it also wasn't supposed to be on the menu tonight.  I had planned to cook a pasta frittata, but I was home alone and didn't want to bother with something that elaborate.  Plus, when Matt isn't home, I can use as much butter as I want and not have to worry about his high cholesterol, so I seized the moment!
Now you might ask yourself where did that bacon and egg come from?  Well my friends, that is basically everything that was in my fridge... cheese, bread, bacon, and eggs.  Voila!  My (ridiculously good) breakfast grilled cheese was born!

Bacon and Egg Grilled Cheese

Okay, so the bread got a little too toasty, but it didn't taste burnt, and the runny egg and melty cheese were SO GOOD with it!

Bacon and Egg Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:
2 strips bacon
1 medium egg
2 ounces cheese (I used muenster)
2 slices bread (I used whole grain, obviously I'm very healthy)
Butter

Preparation:
Place the bacon in a pan heated over medium heat.  Once crispy, take out of pan and set aside.  Fry egg in bacon grease and cook until over medium. (So the yolk is still runny.) Set aside.  Butter one piece of bread and place that face down in pan, add 1 ounce cheese, the egg, bacon, the other ounce of cheese, and the other piece of bread (buttered face up) in that order.  Cook on one side until golden brown, flip and cook the other side until golden brown.
To serve: slice down the middle so the yolk runs out.
Enjoy!

Apple Cheddar Squash Soup

Today I really wanted to get into the fall spirit, especially because I had guests over for dinner!  I decided to make a butternut squash soup but take it to the next level with this recipe I found that also included apples, cheddar cheese, and bacon!  First, I cooked down the apples, onions, squash, and some butter.

All sorts of fall vegetables!

After I cooked them down, I added the broth, milk, and some cider.  I brought the soup to a boil and then simmered it for a while.  Then I added a brick of extra sharp cheese!

Before pureeing the soup!

I was supposed to puree the soup in a blender in batches, however, remember when I chopped up the rubber part of my blender?  Yeah, so, in following my mom's advice, I used my hand mixer and pureed it the best that I could.  It wasn't as smooth as I would have liked, but it still tasted good, so that's fine.

Post pureed soup!

After pureeing the soup, I cooked up some bacon for the garnish... aka the best garnish I have ever heard of.

Mmm, bacon!

After the bacon was finished, I cut the bacon into smaller pieces and let the guests sprinkle however much bacon they wanted to top their soup.  I also cut up some really yummy Italian bread for dipping, delicious!

Apple Cheddar Squash Soup

Apple, Cheddar, and Squash Soup

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 apples, thinly sliced
1 white potato, diced
1 1/2 cups butternut squash, chopped and peeled
Salt and Pepper
1/2 tsp. sage
2 Tbsp. flour
1/3 cup apple cider
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
6 strips bacon

Preparation:
Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in a large pot over medium-low heat.  Add onion, apples, potato, and squash.  Season with salt and pepper and cook until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes.  Stir in sage and flour.  Add cider and increase heat to high, stirring, until thickened.  Add the broth and milk, cover, and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring, until potato is soft, 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook bacon in medium skillet until crisp, draining on paper towels.
Increase heat to medium and add the cheese to the soup and stir until melted.  Puree in a blender in batches, until smooth. (Or use an immersion blender)  Garnish with bacon.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Food Network