Country Egg Scramble

I found this on the real mom kitchen site a while back and hadn't had a chance to try it!

This was a yummy hearty breakfast Wednesday meal for our family.  We ate this with Blueberry Muffins!  YUM!

Simple and yummy and was a hit with all!

Country Egg Scramble

(realmomkitchen)

• 6-7 medium sized red potatoes, cubed (I just used baking potatoes that I had on hand and guesstimated the size!  You can't really go wrong!)
• 8 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 4 medium green onions, sliced about 1/4 cup (left these out since I didn't have any)
• 6 slices bacon
• 1 cup cheese, whatever you have on hand should work

First off you need to cook your cubed potatoes.  So fill your pot with enough water to cover your potatoes and heat to boiling.  Then cook until your potatoes are tender, but not falling apart!

Beat your eggs, milk, salt and pepper with a fork or wire whisk.  Beat them until the egg mixture is a uniform yellow color.

In a large skillet, cook your 6 slices of bacon until crispy and then remove from heat.  When you eventually have to crumble the bacon, I like to cut the bacon before I cook it with my kitchen scissors so it is already crumbled.  Place your cooked bacon on a paper towel lined plate to help drain some grease!

Next add your potatoes to the skillet and cook them in the bacon grease left in the pan.  If you think there is too much grease, drain a little but leave enough so you can brown up your potatoes.

Cook your potatoes in the grease until browned, turning occasionally.  Stir in your green onions if you are using them and cook 1 minute longer stirring constantly.

Pour your egg mixture into the skillet with the potatoes.  As the eggs begin to set on the bottom and side of the pan, gently lift cooked portions with your spatula so that thin, uncooked portions can now flow to the bottom.  Avoid constant stirring!

Cook 3-4 minutes or until eggs are thickened throughout, but still moist.  Dice up your bacon, or put your already crumbled bacon on top and then sprinkle with cheese!

Enjoy with a nice warm muffin!

Creamy Bacon Carbonara

This was described as simple ~ it was!!

This was described as yummy ~ it definitely was!!

This was a very good meal that the entire family loved!  I did add peas to add some veggies to it!

My kids thought it was a little spicy, so I will probably use a little less red pepper flakes next time!  I 1 1/2 the sauce, she doubled the sauce.  I thought it was plenty, but next time I will 1 1/2 the sauce but not add more pepper flakes!

Definitely an add to my recipes!!

Creamy Bacon Carbonara

(www.justgetoffyourbuttand via pinterest)bake.com

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• sprinkle dried parsley flakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• (she doubled the sauce, I 1 1/2 the sauce-but wont add more red pepper flakes next time)
• 1/2 lb bacon
• 1 small onion, chopped ~ optional
• 3 mushrooms sliced ~ optional
• cooked peas ~ which I added to the recipe

Beat the eggs, cream, parmesan, parsley, salt and red pepper flakes in a bowl.  Use a whisk or fork, whatever you like!

Fry the bacon until crisp.  I like to use my kitchen scissors and cut up the bacon before it is cooked.  Once crisp, set it aside (I like to put it on a paper towel to get some of the grease out!).

While you are cooking your bacon, cook your pasta according to pkg directions.

If you are going to add onions and mushrooms, set aside about 1-2 tbsp bacon grease and saute your onions and mushrooms in it.  Cook until translucent and golden.  Also cook your peas and then set them aside.

Drain your pasta when done and while still warm, add to the onions and mushrooms.  Pour the cream mixture over the top and stir over LOW heat for 1-2 minutes.  Make sure it is on low so you don't scramble the eggs!  Add your bacon and peas and mix.

Serve with additional Parmesan cheese and some yummy french bread and salad!  Enjoy!!

Bacon Wrapped Pineapple Bites

This is an appetizer found on the tasty kitchen site.  I was looking for a simple but yet yummy appetizer that was bite size too!  This one also had only 3 ingredients and ones that I have on hand!

This one had rave reviews and one comment made was who couldn't like something wrapped in bacon or everything is better with bacon!

I guess that is somewhat true because these were very good and a nice simple appetizer that wasn't too big but gave you a good taste!  I brought it to a Christmas party and only came home with one!

Bacon Wrapper Pineapple Bites

(http://www.tastykitchen.com/)

• 1 lb bacon
• 1 can chunked pineapple~the large chunks
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan by lining it with tin foil.  Then place a cooling rack on top of it.

Cut your bacon strips in half.  Put your brown sugar in a shallow bowl.  Take a 1/2 slice of bacon and dredge it in the brown sugar.  Basically, coat your bacon with sugar.  Put a chunk of pineapple on your bacon and roll it up.  Secure it with a toothpick and place on your cooling rack.  Continue doing this until you either run out of bacon or pineapple.  The nice thing about this is that you can do as many as you want.  I had less than a pound of bacon, so I just made as many of them as I had bacon.

Bake for at least 25 minutes, or until bacon looks brown and crispy.  Your bacon bundles will drip and the foil makes sure easy clean up.  Also the drippings may smoke some, so be prepared when you open your oven.  It was recommended to turn your broiler on to crisp the bacon a little too at the end.  Just watch very carefully because the sugar will burn.

Let cool slightly and place on a serving plate and enjoy!  I let my drippings on the foil kind of solidify and then was able to just pick up the foil and throw it all away!  My pan was pretty clean underneath!

Sunchoke and Sausage Soup

My camera has been hijacked by my husband! So I don't have a picture of this soup, but I wanted to post it in case there were some of you out there that got sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) from bountiful baskets and didn't know what to do with them!

This soup had great flavor, it was easy and it used the sunchokes and spinach that I got from my basket! It was rated with 4 stars on all recipes and had great reviews! My kids looked at it and weren't exactly sure about it! Luckily I was prepared for this and wasn't in one of my "You better eat this" moods!

We liked it and would make this again, if I got sunchokes again! I may even purposefully buy some!

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Sunchoke and Sausage Soup

(www.allrecipes.com)

• 4 slices turkey bacon, diced (I used regular bacon and 5 slices! If you cut it with your kitchen scissors it makes dicing really easy!)
• 1 (16 ounce) package turkey sausage, casings discarded, coarsely chopped (I used beef sausage, since that is what I had~I cut to bite size pieces)
• 1 lb Jerusalem artichokes, peeled, halved, and cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 6 small white potatoes, peeled and halved (I cut into bite size pieces)
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1 leek, white and light green parts only, chopped (I didn't add since I didn't have any)
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 4 cloves~I like garlic!)
• 1 quart chicken stock (I used almost 2 qts, to make it more soup than stew!)
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
• (For fresh herb substitution use 1 tsp dried to every 1 tbsp fresh. I did this!)
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 pinch ground paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• I sprinkled Parmesan cheese on our soup!

Place the bacon, sausage, artichokes, potatoes, celery, onion, leek, spinach and garlic in a large saucepan. Pour in chicken stock ~ this is where I added more. The stock didn't cover the veggies and I thought it could use more liquid! Add parsley, basil, oregano, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt and pepper. Cover, and bring to a simmer over med-high heat. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer 45 minutes.

Stir the flour into the 1 cup water until no lumps remain. Stir into the simmering soup, and continue simmering, covered, 30 minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally! If you added more liquid, you may need to add more flour if you want it thick!

Quiche

This is a recipe from my mom (I don't know where it originated!) that she made when we were kids! I have always liked quiche, but have figured out that it is not always a kid favorite! I think my children dislike the swiss cheese!

I really like it and thought I would share! It is a great breakfast, dinner or even for a brunch, just maybe make sure you are feeding adults and have something else the kids may enjoy more!

Quiche

1 10" pie crust
1 cup grated swiss cheese
4 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup thinly sliced onion
6 strips bacon, cooked (or you can use ham)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups milk
optional ingredients: cooked spinach, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms etc.


1. Bake pie shell for 8 minutes at 400 degrees
2. Meanwhile, saute onions
3. Line bottom of crust with cheese, onions, and bacon or ham or whatever mix ins you want
4. Combine eggs, milk and seasonings; pour over pie crust
5. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes; after 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes more, or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Fresh Angel Hair Pasta with Peas and Bacon

I love this stuff! This recipe came from Everyday Food. It is so simple but so yum and full of flavor. One of those dishes that you'd rather not share--even the leftovers! It is also very easy to add variation to.

Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 slices bacon, sliced crosswise into ½ inch pieces
2 shallots, halved and thinly sliced (I just used onion)
10 oz. frozen peas, thawed (I used a carrot/pea mix)
1 cup half and half
18 oz. fresh angel hair pasta

Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain. Do not drain skillet. Add shallot/onion to skillet (that's right, you are actually going to cook in the bacon grease and that is the secret to the yumminess of this recipe). Season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften. Add peas and half and half, seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Simmer until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water, drain pasta, return to pot. Pour sauce over pasta, toss to combine, adding some reserved pasta water a little at a time to coat. Sprinkle with bacon, serve immediately.....and I have really no idea why this whole post is in italics...but at least you have another good recipe!!

Calico Beans

My grandmother brought this recipe home once when I was a kid! I am sure there are versions of it everywhere! By far this is a great way to eat beans! I saw on a cooking show once that everything is better with bacon! Well this has bacon and sugar and ketchup, what could be better and you are eating BEANS!!

Calico Beans

1 lb hamburger
1 medium onion
1/2 lb bacon
1/2 cup ketchup
1 can each of kidney beans, lima beans, pork and beans, garbanzo beans
(I use the cans closest to 20 oz cans)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vinegar

Brown hamburger and onions together. Cook bacon until crisp. Combine all other ingredients together, rinsing the kidney, lima, and garbanzo beans first. Add your bacon and hamburger. Bake 350 degrees for 40 minutes.