Bacon Pasta

One of my FAVORITE recipes is this recipe.  I have loved it all my life and my son has loved it as long as he has been old enough to eat whole food.  It is a great recipe for summer because you do not have to use to oven.. here it is and I hope you love it too!!

Bacon Pasta

What you will need is..

1 lb bacon
1 box of penne pasta (or pasta of choice)
1 medium white onion
3 roma tomatoes
1 can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning
2 cloves of garlic
garlic salt, Italian seasoning, basil leaves, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

What you will need to do..

In large pan bring water to boil, while the water is coming to a boil slice up bacon and in a skillet fry up bacon to crispy.  Once it bacon is nice and crispy strain on a paper towel and plate, set aside.  After the water has come to a boil add some salt and a little vegetable oil to ensure that your noodles do not stick together, then add pasta.  Set timer for about 11 minutes and cook until aldente.  Strain and set aside.  Once you've added the pasta drain 1/3 of the oil in the skillet into a bowl and dispose of.  After you've removed 1/3 of the oil dice up the whole onion and the garlic cloves and put in skillet with bacon oil.  Sautee the onion until transparent and dice up tomatoes and put in pan with the onions and sautee until soft, not too soft you still want them slightly firm.  While the onion & tomato are cooking add seasonings to taste, if you do not like spicy foods then I suggest not adding the red pepper flakes.  After adding all the seasoning the final step is to add the can of diced tomatoes and bring to a simmer and add to strained pasta.

ENJOY!!





pasta salad

It's almost summer!!  That means that we need to come up fun, easy, and delicious meals, because I don't know about you but the kitchen is the last place I want to be during the summer.

Here is a meal, or side, that I whipped up in less than 10 minutes.

Yummy bacon ranch pasta salad!

1 cup shell pasta noodles
4 slices bacon
1/4 cup cooked peas (or to your liking)
1/4 carrot grated (or to your liking)
1/2 cup ranch dressing

Put water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, put in pasta and set timer for 7 minutes.  While water and pasta are boiling, slice up bacon and fry in a separate pan.  Once bacon is nice and crispy strain on a paper towel.  After bacon is done the pasta should be done, strain the noodles and put back in pan.  Add bacon to pan and mix, add peas and grated carrots, mix well.  After all ingredients are mixed well add ranch dress and mix, if 1/2 cup doesn't seem like enough dressing add more to your liking and TADA you're all done!! Enjoy!

Twice Baked Potatoes!

Twice baked potatoes happen to be one of my favorite side dishes.
I love the creaminess of the potatoes and the crunchiness of the cheese and bacon on top.. mmm.. my stomach is growling just writing this.

This is how I made them today...



Ingredients:
7 Russet potatoes
1 8 oz sour cream
2 green onions
4 slices of bacon
1 cup milk
grated cheese (to your liking)
4 tbsp butter
dash of salt
dash of pepper

Score all 7 potatoes and put in the over at 450 degrees for 1 hour.
After potatoes are soft (can stab with fork without having to put any effort) remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Once potatoes are nice and cool cut potatoes in half and remove the filling from the skin and set skin aside on a cookie sheet.  Put the filling of the potatoe in a large bowl along with all of the sour cream, milk, butter, salt, pepper, and a little cheese.  With hand mixer, mix the potatoes until nice and creamy.

After mixing the potatoes and all of the fillings until nice and creamy use a spoon and scoop spoon fulls into the potato skins that were set aside earlier on the cookie sheets.  After the skins are all completely filled top with cheese, green onions, and bacon.  Bake again for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until cheese is completely melted and ENJOY! yummm [:



Turkey Tofu Soup

So any pregnant woman would tell you that food is #1 during pregnancy.

I dream about food, I constantly eat and never seem to get full.

So, since I really have no energy to my regular arts & crafts you will probably get a lot of posts about recipes and new food ideas I have come up with.

Since my chicken with rice & dumplings soup came out so good last night my sister-in-law special requested a turkey tofu soup.

Healthy & Delicious this will hit the spot any time of day!

7 cups chicken stock

1 rotisserie turkey

1 rib of celery

1/2 white onion

1 large carrot

1 block of tofu

1 can of cream of chicken soup

(I would prefer to add egg noodles to this recipe but my sister-in-law didn't want any type of noodles or rice in it, if you want to add egg noodles go ahead and boil the noodles when you start the broth and put them in before you add the cream of chicken soup)

Before you start the actual soup, de-bone the turkey and shred the meat and set aside.

Put all 7 cups of chicken stock in a pan and bring to a boil, lower temperature and allow to simmer.  While the stock is simmering chop up carrot, celery, and dice onion.  Put all 3 ingredients in and allow to get nice and tender.  Once vegetables are tender chop up tofu into small squares and drop into your broth.  Allow the tofu to simmer in the stock for about 5 minutes to allow it to soak up the chicken flavor.  After the five minutes add the shredded turkey.  Once the turkey is the same temperature as the rest of the soup add the cream of chicken soup 1 spoon full at a time to ensure that it gets thoroughly mixed.

Once its all mixed wait about 5 minutes and then its time to EAT! Enjoy!!

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Since I just recently found out that I am expecting baby #2 I have been trying to increase my intake of fruits and vegetables.  This morning for breakfast I prepared a fruit smoothie that counts as the 1 banana that I need to eat daily and 1/2 cup of the fresh fruits I am supposed to eat daily.  This recipe is super easy and it is delicious!!

1 Large banana (ripe, if not your smoothie will be bitter tasting)

4 fresh strawberries

7 Ice cubes

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp sugar

 

Blend all together and ENJOY!

Chicken with dumplings.

So odd enough it was almost 100 degrees yesterday and well, today, it is freezing cold and rainy.

What better to make you feel warm and cozy then chicken soup with dumplings?

I created the best recipe ever.. and here it goes.

4 14.5 oz cans of chicken broth

4 chicken bullion cubes

3 tbsp chicken with tomato bullion powder (optional)

1 cup of cooked rice

1 can cream of chicken soup

3 ribs of celery

1 small white or yellow onion

rotisserie chicken

Before getting started de-bone the rotisserie chicken and set aside.

To get started put the 4 cans of chicken broth along with 7 cups of water.  Mix in the 4 bullion cubes and the bullion powder.  While that comes to a simmer put 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water in a small pan bring to a boil, lower temperature cover and allow to cook for 20 minutes.

While the stock is cooking cut up the onion and 3 celery sticks and put into the stock, bring to a boil.  While it is boiling shred the already de-boned chicken and put in the stock.

Once that is all done your rice will more than likely be nice and fluffy, scoop the rice in to the stock.  Once you have done that add the can of cream of chicken soup 1 tbsp at a time to make sure it gets well mixed.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer for about 5 more minutes.

While that is simmering together start with the dumplings.

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup cold water

Mix the flour and salt together than add the water a little at a time.  Once it is completely mixed roll 1 inch balls and drop into the soup.  Allow the dumplings to cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until they float.

Wait about another 1 to 2 minutes to make sure everything is well tempered and voila!  Enjoy!!

ICY PINK LEMONADES!

If you live in California, you know the meaning of HOT!

What a better way to cool down than with an icy pink lemonade.

I first started off with two containers of frozen minute maid pink lemonade, a bag of frozen strawberries, a 2 liter of squirt and a lot of ICE!

I both containers of minute maid pink lemonade in the blender along with about 10 strawberries a half a cup of squirt and a LOT of ice, be careful not to fill too high because it will overflow, I filled too high and it overflowed all over the counter.

Blend it all together, pour it in a cup and enjoy!

  perfect way to cool off in this HOT weather!