Quesadillas

I love Mexican food... even Americanized Mexican food. And what could be more delicious than quesadillas? This is my own creation, but I used Applebee's former quesadillas as my inspiration. These are super easy to make. The hardest part is chopping everything. But the flavor is amazing! Add a little homemade salsa verde and you've got a super easy and delicious dinner.

Quesadilla cheese
tortillas
jalapeños
tomatoes
onion
bacon bits
olive oil spray

I prep the quesadillas on a plate so that they're ready to cook. Put about 1/3 cup of cheese on half of a tortilla. Sprinkle with tomatoes, jalapeños, onions, and bacon to taste. 

Heat a skillet large enough to hold the tortillas on medium-high. Spray lightly with olive oil spray. Fold tortilla in half and carefully place in skillet.

Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until slightly browned.

Keep prepping and cooking quesadillas until you have how many you want. If they start to cook too quickly then turn the heat down to medium. Cut up and enjoy!

Greek Spinach Pie

Just go ahead and add this recipe to your try list. This Greek Spinach Pie was so delicious. It is so flavorful, and a great meal for any time. I found this recipe on Pinterest at Crispy Greek-style Pie. I also included some bacon, which added so much more flavor. I paired this with a Caesar salad and finished off the meal with some baklava. You're really going to want to try this.

200 g spinach (one bag plus a handful more)
175 g sundries tomatoes in olive oil
100 g feta cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup bacon pieces
1/2 pack phyllo pastry

Put the spinach in a large pot with 2-3 Tbsps of water and cook until wilted.

Drain spinach. Allow to cool; squeeze excess water; and then  chop as desired. Add to bowl with feta, eggs, tomatoes, and bacon. Stir.

Place a piece of parchment in pie plate. Layer one piece of fillo into the pie plate. Brush with oil from tomatoes jar.

Add another piece of fillo slightly offset from the first, and then brush that layer with oil. Place one or two more layers, brushed with oil and offset until fillo completely surrounds the pie plate. Spoon filling into the pie plate.

Fold edges over (add one or two more pieces of fillo if you need to). Brush top with olive oil.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Slice and serve and enjoy!!!

Roulade

So, I've been a picky eater since I was a kid. There are a number of things I refused to eat, and some that I still do. One of those things is mustard. I'm just not a fan. Even so, I have two recipes that use mustard, and I love them both. This roulade recipe is one of those recipes; the other is ham. This roulade also has a bunch of diced onion and lightly cooked bacon... and I love it in this recipe. This roulade is a recipe that my mom made for years while I was growing up, and there is so much flavor and goodness in this recipe. I don't know where she got the recipe from, but here is how you make it.

Thinly sliced beef (the pack I get usually has 7-9 slices)
One pack of bacon (12 ounces is pretty good)
One small diced onion
Spicy brown mustard (about a 1/4 cup or so)
Season all salt
Black pepper

Lay out the beef one piece at a time. Layer 1-2 slices of bacon on it. Then slather a thin coating of spicy brown mustard.

Sprinkle with season all salt and black pepper, and then sprinkle a layer of onion.

Start at one end and carefully roll the beef up.

Secure with a toothpick. Prepare each slice of beef as above.

Heat a little olive oil in your skillet, and cook on each side.

Roll beef as necessary cooking all sides until all beef is cooked.

Pair the roulade with these delicious German Fried Potatoes for a bacon-filled meal and a side of Sautéed Spinach, and you'll have an amazing meal.

Baked Beans

I like beans... black eyed peas, pintos, limas, kidney beans, and much more. Baked beans, however, have never really been at the top of my like list. To be more accurate, I've never really cared for baked beans. I never even bothered to make them for other people because I disliked them so much. Then I saw this recipe on Pinterest for Smoky Bourbon “Baked” Beans, and it looked so good that I decided to give it a try. The first attempt was pretty much a disaster. I used dry beans, but I failed to soak them overnight. The flavor was present in the final product, but the beans were still quite tough. So I rallied and came at it a second time... Success!!! Oh my goodness, they were so tender and so flavorful. I made these again for our Holiday Party at work, and the crockpot came back to me dry as a bone. The real beauty of this recipe is how very easy it is to prepare. Whether you like baked beans or not, you should give these a try. They really are that good. I'm going to give you the ingredients that I used, but feel free to check the original recipe. 

4 cans great northern beans or navy beans
3-4 cups chicken stock
1 small onion, finely diced
2-4 cloves garlic, pressed through garlic press
Salt and black pepper to taste
¾ cup ketchup
¾ cup BBQ sauce
1 ½ Tbsps tomato paste
Pinch or two ground cumin
Pinch or two smoked paprika
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsps brown sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
Olive oil
9 oz Oscar Meyer real bacon bits
2-3 tablespoons maple syrup

Drain and rinse the beans, and place in a a large pot or a crock pot.

Next, add the diced onion; garlic; a few generous pinches of salt, cracked black pepper, cumin and paparika; ketchup, BBQ sauce, tomato paste, brown sugar, molasses and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Pour chicken stock until all the ingredients are covered.

Stir the ingredients together. Simmer on auto heat in the crockpot or bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer until the beans are tender and the sauce is thickened. In the crockpot it takes six to eight hours and on the stove it takes about four hours. Right before serving add 2-3 Tbsps of maple syrup and the bacon bits and mix well.

Enjoy the amazing flavors that these beans offer with your favorite barbecue!

German Fried Potatoes

I don't think there's a way that I don't like potatoes... mashed, baked, fried, sliced, diced, or smashed, potatoes are just amazing. This little gem of a recipe is not one I make very often because it's really not for the faint of heart or for anyone watching calories. I really only make this about once a year, but no more than twice. Butter, potatoes, bacon.. yeah, it's not a low-calorie dish. But, as a rare treat, it is sooooo very worth the calories! You can use whatever type of potato you prefer and it should work out well for you.

Potatoes (I used about 5 medium sized red potatoes)

Pack of bacon, partially thawed

Medium onion (I prefer yellow)

Butter/margarine (I used 3-6 Tbsp Country Crock)

Salt and peppercorn

Dice the onion and slice the bacon in narrow strips, about 1/2 inch. I actually take the slightly frozen whole stack of bacon and slice through it together. Put the butter, onion and bacon in the electric skillet. Turn the skillet on to 350 degrees, and begin cooking the onion and bacon.

While that is cooking, begin dicing the potatoes in similar sized cubes.

When the bacon is just beginning to brown and darken, add the potatoes, and then sprinkle with salt and fresh ground peppercorn to taste. 

Stir, and then check and stir periodically until bacon is cooked and potatoes have a nice brown crispy edge.

Spinach Pie

This is an absolutely amazing recipe. I mean really, how can it ever be wrong to combine cheese and bacon and spinach? It's reasonable if you're watching your calories (so long as you don't eat half of it in one sitting), and it reheats well for lunch leftovers. I got this recipe from my mom. It's one she's been making for more than 20 years. She clipped it out of a newspaper or magazine, and what I have it a copy of that, so unfortunately, I can't provide proper credit. I think it's probably a Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe, but I'm not sure. I tweak mine just a little from the original, so I'll give you the straight recipe and then tell you what I did different.

1 9-inch pastry pie shell

1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese, cubed

1/2 cup milk (I use 2%)

1 pkg 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained

1 cup (4 oz) shredded natural Swiss cheese 

3 eggs, beaten

6 crisply cooked bacon slices, crumbled (I used 8-9 slices)

2 tsp chopped onions (I used about a 1/4-1/3 cup)

1/4 tsp salt

dash of pepper

Prick bottom and sides of pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Combine cream cheese and milk in saucepan, and stir over low heat until smooth.

In large bowl, beat eggs. Gradually add cream cheese mixture to eggs, and mix well until blended. 

Add remaining ingredients, and mix well. 

Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until set. If your pie crust edge gets too well done too quickly, a trick you can use is to wrap the edge of the pie with aluminum foil for about 3/4 of the cook time. I left mine on for about 25-30 minutes before I removed it.

Divide the pie and enjoy!!!

The recipe calls for 8 servings, but frankly, that's just enough to tease you. I entered the recipe for the below calorie count for 6 servings.

Quiche Lorraine

I think quiche is one of the most amazing recipe ideas ever. How can you ever go wrong with a pastry pie shell, cheese, eggs, and bacon or some other type of meat. I've got another recipe for a "spinach pie," but we will save that one for another day. Today is for Quiche Lorraine. I found this recipe while searching Pinterest one night, and this was the second time I made it. Here's the link to the original blog post: Quiche Lorraine with Bacon. The first time was pretty tasty, but I decided to add onion and black pepper to it, and this time it was awesome! Next time I make it, I'm going to give myself enough time to make the pie crust from scratch. I think that will take this whole meal up another notch or two.

1/2 pound bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled (about 8 slices or so)

2 cups Swiss cheese, grated

2 Tbsp flour

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 small diced onion

dash cayenne

1 9-inch unbaked pastry shell

Toss the Swiss cheese and flour in a large bowl.

And here, I diverged from the original recipe greatly. To the Swiss cheese/flour, add the bacon, eggs, milk, salt, pepper, onion and cayenne. Mix well. Pour in pastry shell.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes, or until set. Here's a tip for you... I was having problems with the edges of my pie crusts getting too dark and overcooked before the pie is even set. If you take aluminum foil and wrap it over the edge of the crust and remove it about the 40 minute mark it will give you the nice golden color.

Black Eyed Peas

There's just something about the smell of a pot of something - soup, stew, beans - cooking on the stove. Add to that a cold, rainy day, and the smell and warmth generated by a pot of warm goodness cooking is amazing. Today I decided to fix a pot of black eyed peas. Beans are an excellent source of protein and fiber; they are inexpensive; and they are very easy to make. No matter what type of beans I'm cooking, I normally bake up some cornbread to accompany them... I am after all a good Southern girl. :-) I keep my beans simple and straightforward.

1 bag of dried black eyed peas
1 med onion, diced
1 pack of bacon, cut up into small pieces
1 Tbsp Season all salt
1 1/2 tsp white pepper

First I rinse of the beans, and then drain that water off.

Then I add the bacon, onion, season all salt and white pepper. 

Fill the pot about half full of water. 

On high, bring the water to a boil, then reduced to med-low and simmer the beans for several hours until they are the firmness and consistency that you want. You will need to add water and possibly increase or reduce the heat as necessary to keep the beans at a simmer. Stir frequently to keep beans from sticking to the pot.