Seafood Pizza:
shrimp + scallops + crab + bacon + red onion + garlic + white asparagus + jalapeno hollandaise
Homemade Eggs Benedict
February 25, 2012 by
Now that my boyfriend learned how to make hollandaise sauce for Valentine’s Day, this was inevitable. Quick — word association: You hear “hollandaise,” you think _________. Yes, Eggs Benedict.
It meant a quick trip to Nature’s Bin for milk and English muffins. Only one option for each: fat-free skim milk straight from the farm, and organic whole-wheat muffins with flaxseed. A little more expensive than I like to get, but knowing I’m not polluting my body is worth the extra dollars.
Here’s the lineup, from bottom up: English muffins, organic spinach, Black Label bacon, sliced avocados, sliced roma tomatoes, all topped off with poached eggs (free range brown, of course) and drizzled with whole-wheat hollandaise. Served with bowls of mixed fruit (strawberries, blueberries and grapes) and organic green tea.
How’s that for an easy, healthy start to the day? As soon as my boyfriend posted this picture on his Facebook, a friend commented that they’d pay $12 for this at a restaurant.
So, who wants reservations at B&B Cafe?
Bacon-Wrapped Chicken
December 3, 2011 by
What’s better than a big, juicy slab of meat? Meat wrapped in more meat, that’s what.
This recipe is ridiculously simple, and it works double-time to quell a hunger twice as big as the effort it requires. So, in five easy steps:
1. Flatten a chicken breast.
2. Spread with cream cheese, top with onions. (The original recipe called for sweet onions. I had red, so that’s what I used, and topped it off with some fresh cilantro.)
3. Meanwhile, fry bacon but remove from heat before it starts to crisp.
4. Roll up chicken and wrap bacon around it, securing with toothpicks.
* Extra step: I thinly sliced a small potato, sprinkling with olive oil, salt, pepper and the remaining onions. If you slice it too thick, they won’t bake as fast as the chicken.
5. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. My oven runs hot, so for me it was more like 325 degrees for 25 minutes.
Here’s what it looks like headed into the oven — pretty fancy already:
And the finished dish, with some sour cream and fresh parsley added to the potatoes:
The BLT Gains a Few Letters
November 11, 2011 by
I could have caved for lunch today and gone with the gang to A&J’s Diner for a burger. Instead, I headed home to my own kitchen and concocted something with a few more colors and few less calories. Behold, the BLT’s dressed-up cousin, the BACTCPM:
That’s bacon, avocado, cheese, tomato, cilantro, parsley and mayo on wheat toast. And it was delicious — which just goes to show that recipes are to cooking as road signs are to driving. They’re just suggestions.
BLT — says who? First of all, you need a vowel in there for it to make any sense. That bare-boned, three-ingredient acronym is just begging for some Avocado. I kicked the L out entirely because I didn’t have any. No lettuce? No worries; find something else green and throw it on. Enter cilantro and parsley, which I keep fresh on hand to satisfy my boyfriend’s every tea-brewing need.
The next time we made these sandwiches, we swapped out the M for an H, spreading on a healthier alternative of hummus in place of mayo. That makes this sandwich a vegetarian’s dream — because, let’s face it, I know you’re not salivating over fruit; you’re dreaming about the temptations of bacon on top of your daily greens.
