Monterey Chicken (or Turkey)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday!  We had a nice quiet day just our little family of 3.  It was close to 70 degrees in Colorado, and just a beautiful day.  I of course made way too much food, but how can you not on Thanksgiving!  I did buy the smallest turkey I could found, but even that was 13 pounds.  Needless to say we will be eating turkey for awhile! 

I made this chicken dish the other night,and it was really good.  You could easily use left over turkey for this and transform it into something completely new.  It was supposed to be topped with green onions (which would have been perfect), but I didn't have any.  Next time I am going use a few slices of real bacon to crumble on top, instead of the store bought ones.  I am sure with that and the green onions it will become a family favorite.  I promise, it tastes better than it looks!  I need to get the hang of taking pictures when it is completely black out!

Monterey Chicken or (Turkey)
Adapted from All the Simple Things
Printable Recipe

4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup Barbeque Sauce
1/4 cup  real bacon bits
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 14 oz. can Rotel tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup green onions, sliced
Dash black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Pound out chicken breasts to about 1/2 in thick.  Season each side with black pepper. Cook chicken (grill, saute, bake) until no longer pink.  Put on a baking sheet covered in foil.  Top each chicken breast with about 1 Tbls barbeque sauce, 1/4 c cup cheese, 1/4 cup tomatoes, 1 Tbls green onions and 1 Tbls of bacon bits. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. 

Cheddar Bacon Ale Dip

You had to know what I was going to post about today didn’t you?  It just had to be the dip that went with the Soft Pretzel Bites!  It was a good one too.  I think the name kind of speaks for itself…Cheddar, Bacon, and Beer!    Can you really go wrong when you put those together?  Then you get to dip a warm soft pretzel in it, oh so good! 

I served this in a little crock pot, set on warm so it would be good for the whole party.  This recipe makes quite a bit of dip, but that was a good thing.  There wasn’t a whole lot left at the end of the night.  The leftovers ended up going home with someone else they liked it so much.  The recipe has you use some of the bacon fat to get the flavor in there.  But in the end, I stirred in all the crumbled bacon.  I mean really, was anyone going to complain about more bacon?! 

Warm Cheddar Bacon Ale Dip

Adapted from Cabot Cheese

Printable Recipe

6 slices bacon,  diced
3 tablespoons Flour
1 (12-ounce) bottle amber ale
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces
2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (I used Siracha)

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

In large pan over medium heat, cook bacon until browned and crispy.  Remove from pan, and place on paper towels.  Leave a couple tablespoons of bacon fat behind.  Stir in flour, and cook for about 1 minute. 

Whisk in beer.  Cook until it starts to thicken, stirring occasionally. Whisk in mustard.  Turn heat down to low. Mix in cream cheese. Add cheddar cheese a handful at a time.   Stir until cheeses are melted and dip is hot. 

Place in crock pot to keep warm for a party.  Or place in fridge and reheat at the time for serving.   

Pasta Carbonara with Corn and Chiles

This is a great use for those couple extra ears of corn you always have left.  Or maybe that is just me.  You have to buy it by the dozen, and there are 3 of us in my house.  Before it goes bad, it is hard for 3 of us to eat 12 ears of corn.  Especially when one of us has 2 very loose teeth that make biting into an ear of corn virtually impossible.  I am secretly hoping that if I keep feeding him corn, it will actually knock the teeth out.  But he is just too careful, and tries to eat it with his side teeth instead.  Darn smart kids!

This dish was a hit at our house.  I was a little nervous my husband wouldn't like it, but he did, and asked that I make it again.  My 6 year old ate a little, but it was kind of spicy for him.  Next time I will use less jalapeno (I think 1/2 would be just about right) so he can eat it too.

Pasta Carbonara with Corn and Chiles
Adapated from Everyday with Rachael Ray
Printable Recipe

1 lb Egg Noodles
1/3 lb Bacon, diced
4 ears of corn, kernels scrapped (or 2 cups frozen)
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbls fresh thyme
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

While the pasta is cooking, over Med-High heat brown the bacon.  Add the corn and lightly brown the edges.  After about 5 minutes add the jalapeno, garlic, and thyme.  Stir for 2 minutes.  Add the parsley and wine.  Simmer on low heat.

In a small bowl beat the eggs.  Slowly add in the reserved cooking liquid to temper them.  Add the pasta and egg yolks to the corn mixture and toss.  Remove from heat, add the cheese and toss vigorously to form a silky sauce, 1 to 2 minutes.

Top with extra cheese and chives if desired.

BLAT's and Award

BLAT's are one of my favorites in the summer.  It isn't traditional I know.  People think I am strange, and don't know what I am talking about.  But the A is for Avocado!  It goes perfect on a BLT.  But then it really isn't a BLT anymore is it? So I have to call it a BLAT.  Fresh garden tomatoes, buttery avocados, crispy lettuce, salty bacon all on toasted bread....delicious!  Serve with sliced cucumbers from the garden and my new favorite crackers (Cashew Nut Crisps), and you have the perfect lunch!

There isn't really a recipe here, just stack slices of everything on your favorite toasted bread.  Skip the Mayo!  First, it is gross (sorry, personal opinion).  Second, you have creamy avocado...who needs Mayo?  Third, there isn't an M in there is there?  If you want to add Mayo then it would be a BLMAT! 



Now on the Award.  Tina over at Flourtrader passed this great award to me a few weeks ago.  I have been very bad about passing it along, sorry about that.  Tina is a wonderful blogger, with all sorts of great recipes on her site.  Make sure you check her out!! 

Congrats to the following bloggers I am passing this along to!  (You can pass it along to a few of your favorites as well)

Cassie at Bake Your Day
Carloyn at All Day I Dream About Food
Wendy at The Weekend Gourmet
Sawsan at Chef in Disguise
Janet at From Cupcakes to Caviar
Dee at Deelicious Sweets
Laura at A Healthy Jalapeno
Julie at SugarFoot Eats
Erin at The Spiffy Cookie
Valarie at Simple Fare, Fairly Simple

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog!  It really means a lot, and I appreciate each and every one of you!!

Grilled Potato Packs

My husband forwarded me an email he got from Betty Crocker for some grilled potatoes.  He never searches for recipes, or pays that much attention to them.  So when he sent me this email, I took it as a hint.   I figured the next time we grilled, I would make these potatoes!  As luck would have it we had friends over for dinner just a couple days later.  They were bringing chicken to grill, so I had to come up with the side dishes and desserts.  These grilled potatoes were loved by everyone!  

This recipe would also be a great camping recipe.  You could add ground beef and green peppers, and have a complete meal.  If I camped, I would remember that for later.   But since, I don’t, I will just make them at home!  The original recipe calls for grilling them from start to finish.  I didn’t want to deal with that.  An hour on the grill when the chicken was going to take 15 minutes?  Not for me.  I par-cooked the potatoes ahead of time, so they just had to spend the last 20 minutes on the grill.  It worked great, you still got the crispy ones on the bottom where the foil was hitting the grill, but done so much quicker!   I will post the recipe the way I did it, but you can omit my step and just go straight for the grill if you prefer.

Grilled Smokey Cheddar Potato Packs

Adapted from Betty Crocker

Printable Recipe

4 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks

½ tsp salt

1 Tbls butter

1 Tbls Olive Oil

1 cup cheddar cheese

4 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

¼ cup sliced green onions

In a large microwave safe dish heat the diced potatoes for 10 minutes, stirring after 5.  Place the potatoes a large sheet of heavy duty foil.  Toss them with the olive oil.  Sprinkle over the salt and bacon.  Dot with butter.  

Wrap the foil securely around potatoes.  Place over a hot grill for about 20 minutes, flipping half way.  Open up the foil, and top with cheese and onions.  Stir around to melt the cheese.   Serve straight from the foil pack.  Enjoy!

“Get Grillin’ with Family Fresh Cooking and Cookin’ Canuck, sponsored by Ile de France Cheese, Rösle, Emile Henry, Rouxbe and ManPans.”