Baked Potato Casserole

This is a recipe I got from Kathryn.  It is spicy and delicious.  It also warms up well.  It also makes enough for a small army (I got 8 servings out of it) so you might want to reduce things.

Some notes on the sausage: You want about six brats worth of meat.  I have no idea how much that is, I just eyeballed it.  For the sausage, I used half kielbasa and half hardwood smoked and it was great.  I meant to do all kielbasa, but the hardwood smoked was hiding in the wrong place and I grabbed two.  Also, I used turkey sausage to make it more healthy.

Some notes on the potatoes: to get my eight servings, I actually used 5 pounds of potatoes.  The individual potatoes were really small, so I just grabbed a five pound bag and used them all.  It is a ton of potatoes.

• 6 brats or sausages
• 8 potatoes
• ⅓ cup Olive Oil
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 TBS fresh Ground Pepper
• 1 TBS Paprika
• 2 TBS Garlic Powder
• 6 TBS Hot Sauce (this is a little more than 1/3 cup, which is what I did instead of measuring it out and I used Franks) 
• 
  
• For the Topping
• 2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese (I wished that I had done more cheese) 
• 1 cup crumbled Bacon (it takes an entire package of bacon to get this)
• 1 cup diced Green Onion 

1. Preheat oven 450 degrees
2. In a large bowl mix Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Garlic Powder & Hot Sauce
3. Cube the potatoes & add to the bowl
4. Coat a 9x13 dish with cooking spray
5. Add potatoes to the bowl and toss in the sauce. Remove the potatoes from the bowl and put them in the pan. Try to leave some of the sauce because you will use it later.
6. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes, stir every 15 minutes
7. Slice the sausages into bite sized pieces and add it to the bowl that had the potatoes with the left over sauce and stir it around .
8. Mix together cheese, bacon & green onion in a small separate bowl
9. Once potatoes are done, add the uncooked sausage.
10. Cover with the cheese mixture topping.
11. Bake for 15 minutes or until the sausage is cooked.

Honey-Mustard Bacon Cheese Chicken

This recipe is a knock off of Outback's Alice Spring Chicken.  It was really good!  I made it on the same day I made the squash spaghetti.  The flavors were good together, but they were both kind of high intensity dishes, so I would suggest making this with an easy side like potatoes or something like that so  you get dinner done faster.  

I did most of the prep for this dish while it was marinading.  So I made the marinade, got it marinading and then cooked the bacon, sliced the mushrooms, grated the cheese and put it all in the fridge.  Then when I got done with work (it was a Saturday, so I was only in for a couple of hours) I assembled it.  That worked out well.  

I got this recipe from: http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/our-version-of-outbacks-alice-springs-chicken.html

Ingredients

Honey Mustard Marinade:
• 1 c. Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
• 1 c. honey
• 1/2 c. mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
Chicken:
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 c. sliced mushrooms (10?12 mushrooms)
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• salt and pepper
• paprika
• 8 slices bacon, cooked
• 1 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 tsp. finely chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

• Use an electric mixer to combine the mustard, honey, mayonnaise, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Whip the mixture for about 30 seconds. Place chicken in a Ziploc bag and pour in about 1/3 of the marinade [at least, I didn't think it needed any for dipping, so I would probably go with 1/2]. Seal the bag and press out as much air as you can and marinate in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
• Chill the remaining marinade until later. After the chicken has marinated, remove chicken from bag and discard the marinade that it has been soaking in. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and heat an ovenproof frying pan large enough to hold all four breasts and 1 Tbsp. oil over medium heat. (If you don't have an ovenproof frying pan, transfer the chicken to a baking dish) [I transferred my chicken to a foil lined baking dish, I suggest this to minimize clean up!].
• Sear the chicken in the pan for 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove pan from heat but keep chicken in the pan. As the chicken is cooking, in a small frying pan saute the mushrooms in the butter. Brush each seared chicken breast with a little of the honey mustard marinade being sure to save a little extra that you can serve on the side later with the dish.
• Season the chicken with salt, pepper and paprika ( I am usually pretty generous with the paprika, I love the flavor). Stack two pieces of cooked bacon, crosswise on each chicken breast. Spoon the sauteed mushrooms onto the bacon, being sure to coat each breast evenly. Sprinkle 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese evenly onto each breast followed by 1/4 cup of cheddar.
• Bake the pan of prepared chicken breasts for 7-10 minutes or until cheese is thoroughly melted and starting to bubble. Sprinkle each breast with 1/2 teaspoon parsley before serving. Put extra honey mustard marinade into a small bowl to serve on the side.

Breakfast Braided bread

So, this is a little bit from the Pillsbury site but I changed it quite a bit....

I took 

a package of bacon cut into pieces and a couple TB of onion and browned them. 

Then scrambled about 8 eggs. 

Opened a can of crescent rolls.  Then put the rectangles together to make one LONG rectangle.  Put the eggs/bacon mixture in, topped with cheese and braided it like stromboli. 

On my other one, I made a filling of 1/3 brick of cream cheese, 1/3 c powdered sugar, and a splash of milk and some raspberry jam.  THis one was more gooey but Hailey loved it. 

Yay, another 2 photos.  Before cooking and after...

Restaurant Style Smashed Potatoes

These were great. I think I put in a little too much sour cream though. And instead of the weird onion straw things, I added cheese. Yes I did serve these with that ranch chicken, it was a bacon heavy meal. Also make sure you cook the red potatoes all the way, I think mine were still a little undercooked so it made not quite as good as it could have been.

Super fast to make though. Once the potatoes are cooked it's a matter of smashing (not mashing) the potatoes and adding all the ingredients. And it's ready! So time it so that they are still nice and warm

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/05/restaurant-style-smashed-potatoes/

Ingredients

• 5 whole Large Red Potatoes
• 1 stick Butter, Softened And Cut Into Pieces
• 5 slices Bacon, Cooked And Crumbled
• 2 whole Green Onions, Sliced
• 3/4 cups Sour Cream
•  Salt To Taste (add Plenty!)
•  Freshly Ground Black Pepper To Taste (ditto!)
• 3/4 cups French Fried Onions, More For Topping- I didn't use these
• I did add cheddar cheese

Preparation Instructions

Nuke potatoes or bake in the oven until fork-tender. Add to a large bowl and smash with a potato masher. Immediately add softened butter, green onions, bacon, and sour cream and stir with a rubber spatula. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add french fried onions and fold in.

Serve hot, sprinkling on extra french fried onions and green onions. Yummy with grilled steak or chicken!

Ranch Style Chicken

This was a manly meal. Chicken+bacon+cheese. It was good though. Especially if you buy a thicker cut of bacon. My house smelled of bacon for like 20 hours after which was bad since the next day was fast Sunday :)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/01/ranch-style-chicken/

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 cup Honey
• 1/2 whole (juice Of) Lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
•  Crushed Red Pepper (optional To Taste)
• 6 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 pound Thick Cut Bacon
•  Bacon Grease
•  Sharp Cheddar Cheese, to taste
•  Canola Oil

Preparation Instructions

To begin, make the marinade. In a large bowl mix together ½ cup Dijon or country/grainy mustard with ½ cup honey, juice of ½ lemon, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon salt and whisk until smooth. Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like things a little spicy. Set aside.

Next, rinse the chicken breasts, place between two sheets of waxed paper and pound to around ½ to ¾ inch thick with a mallet. Next, add the chicken to the bowl with the marinade, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 hours.

While the chicken marinates, fry up some bacon. When finished cooking, reserve ¼ cup of the bacon grease and clean out the skillet.

When the chicken is done marinating, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the chicken from the fridge and pour off excess marinade. Heat half of the reserved bacon grease with an equal quantity of Canola Oil in the clean skillet over medium-high heat. When the grease is nice and hot add two or three pieces of chicken to it. Cook until brownish/blackish, about 1 to 1 ½ minutes per side. Remove chicken to a large baking sheet. If cooking many pieces of chicken, repeat skillet process and remove finished chicken to baking sheet. Place chicken in preheated oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from over.

Lay a few pieces of bacon over each chicken breast. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese over the top of the chicken as generously as you like. Return pan to oven for an additional five minutes until cheese is melted and bacon is sizzling. Serve immediately.

Bacon Roses

At the same girl's night as the sugar scrub we also made bacon roses to give to the gentlemen in my branch on Father's day.  I tried to take pictures as we went along...but I didn't really succeed.  Oh well.  This recipe taken from OurBestBites

This craft was actually not too arduous because I had several helpers

Supplies: 

• Bacon: we bought cheap store brand bacon.  That was fine.  They made little roses which was perfect for us.  
• Toothpicks: You want the ones with sharp ends, however, if you use colored ones like we did, it turns the bacon pretty colors
• Fake roses: I bought the ones on sale outside of Michaels.  I bought rose bouquets.  They had like 7-10 roses on them and they were probably about 1-2 inches tall (the rose) 
• Ribbon
• Wire cutters
• People to help you

Process:

1. Roll the bacon up.  If you use cheap-o bacon like me, I suggest folding the bacon in half long way, it makes it easier to roll
2. Stick two toothpicks through the bottom so they will stand up like you see in the picture below
3. Set on a cooking rack over foil in a cookie sheet
4. Bake 400 20-30 minutes (I can't remember how long we baked them)
5. In the meantime, take the flowers off the stems of the fake flowers. You want to leave the part the flower sits on 
6. If you are doing individual flowers (like I was) cut the stem off the bouquet and tie a ribbon along the stem (to make it fancy)
7. Once the bacon is cool enough to handle, remove the toothpicks and just stick it on the stem.  It was really easy.  The end.  That's all you have to do!