B.E.A.S.T. Sandwich

The BEAST... Lee and I got creative this week when we needed a quick,simple dinner. This sandwich was so good! This post is not so much a recipe, but more of a quick meal idea. The BEAST is like a jacked up BLT... its Bacon Egg Avocado Spinach and Tomato.

Here's how you make it:

Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 ripe avocado, sliced
4 slices of bacon
a handful of spinach
2-4 tomato slices
4 slices toasted bread
Mayo (optional)

*This makes two BEAST sandwiches.

To make it, fry up your eggs and bacon. Make sure your egg yolk is cooked most of the way through, unless you don't mind a messy sandwich. Toast your bread, and spread mayo on if you like. Lee loves mayo, but I do not, so we make our sandwiches both ways. Cut your bacon slices in half, and stack your egg, bacon, tomato, spinach and avocado slices on your sandwich. Top with your second piece of bread. This sandwich could be served anytime of day! We have also made a similar sandwich before with bagels instead of toast, and it was delish. If you're like us and you enjoy quick, easy stuff like this for dinner, serve with some fruit or a side of chips and enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Linguine Alfredo

Chicken, cheese, bacon, noodles, bread.... What more could you possible ask for? 

Lee is a huge fan of pasta... I could make it 3 or 4 nights a week and I really don't think he would get tired of it. His favorite meal is lasagna, and I do love lasagna, but I like to switch things up every now and then, and replace the red sauce with Alfredo. This week I made Alfredo with linguine noodles and grilled chicken, and it was de-lish! Here's how I made it:

Ingredients

2 slices thick cut bacon

2/3 block of Asiago Cheese, shredded or grated

2 cups Italian blend cheese

1/2 cup milk

1 square of seasoned butter

1 tablespoon of flour

1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic

1/2 tablespoon of pesto

2 chicken breast

4 oz. linguine noodles

To start, decide how you want to cook your chicken. I grilled mine because I loved the flavor the grill gives the chicken, but you could bake yours or cook it in a skillet. I thawed my two chicken breast, and threw them on the grill (mine were plain, but you could season yours with garlic or Italian seasoning if you wanted). 

While my chicken was grilling, I made my sauce. To start your sauce, cook your two bacon slices in a large skillet on medium heat. Once the bacon is cooked through, remove the bacon from the pan, but leave the grease. Throw in your butter and let it melt. Then thrown in 1/2 of your Asiago cheese and mix it in with the butter and grease using a whisk. Once your cheese is melted and mixed in with the grease and butter, add 1 cup of Italian cheese and 1/4 cup of milk. Whisk it all together and then whisk in your flour.

At this point, bring a separate pan of water to a boil and throw in your noodles. I like linguine, but you could use any type of noodle you like. Cook the noodles to your preferred texture and drain the water.

While your noodles are boiling, check your chicken. About this time, mine was done and I brought it inside and just covered it in foil and set it aside. If its still cooking, finish your sauce and check it again later.

Back to your sauce:  Now add your garlic and pesto. Then add in the last of your milk (1/4 cup),  2nd half of your Asiago cheese, and your last cup of Italian cheese. The reason I don't just dump all of the cheeses and other ingredients in at once is because by putting in a little at a time, this helps me get my texture just right.Once you add your garlic and pesto, you can taste your sauce and see if you like the texture. If your sauce is too thick, add some more milk, or leave out some of the second round of cheese. If its too runny, add a little more flour and cheese.

I like my Alfredo pretty thick. This is what mine looks like when I make it. 

Once you get your sauce the texture you want, mix in your noodles. Chop up your grilled chicken and bacon into bite size pieces and stir the meat in as well. I do this all in the same skillet I made the sauce in.

Final product! 

Cook up some garlic bread, throw together a salad, and dinner is served! This recipe serves 4 adults as an entree, or 6-8 adults as a side.

*Note: By using all of the ingredients above, your sauce will be pretty thick. It will be more of a coating to your noodles rather than a runny sauce. Kind of like the Carbonara at Olive Garden... YUM! My favorite! 

Dinner is served! 

Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Peppers

Now that warm weather is here, Lee & I  have been grilling like crazy. This is one of my favorite side dishes/appetizers to make when we are grilling out. Cheese stuffed peppers wrapped in bacon...anything with bacon and cheese is going to be amazing, but add in some peppers, and you've got a prize-winning concoction. I love making these peppers because I do like some spice here and there, but they can easily be made with sweet peppers if your family doesn't do spicy. I usually do a few jalapeños and a few sweet peppers all at once. Here's how to make them:

In this picture I used a jalapeño pepper, but the recipe is also really good with mini bell peppers. The bell peppers are sweet, not spicy, unlike like the jalapeños.

Ingredients
3 jalapeños*
3 mini bell peppers (any color is fine)*
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 block)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I have used colby-jack before, but the cheddar really is better)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
about a 1/2 pound of bacon strips, uncooked**
8-12 toothpicks (optional)
Aluminum foil

*The amount of peppers you will need to use up all of the filling will vary depending on the size of your peppers, but this recipe makes about a dozen stuffed peppers.
**Use any kind of bacon you like, but I do not recommend using thick cut bacon because this will take much longer to bake.

Start by  preheating your oven to 400 degrees and lining a baking sheet with foil. This will make for easy clean up. Slice the stem off of your peppers. Next, slice them in half long ways and pull out all of the seeds.

In a small mixing bowl, combine your onion powder, garlic salt, cream cheese, and shredded cheese. I use my hands to mix these ingredients together.

Next, use your fingers and press a small amount of the cheese mixture into each pepper. Make sure the pepper is full, but not over-flowing. Once your peppers are stuffed, wrap them in bacon. You may need to cut some of the bacon slices to fit the smaller peppers. If you want, you can stab them with toothpicks to make the bacon stay in place. I have made them several times with and without toothpicks, and they have turned out fine both ways.

I like to line my cookie sheet with aluminum foil because it makes an easy way to dispose of the bacon grease afterwards. Just fold up the foil and dump it in the trash! 

Place your peppers on your baking sheet and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the bacon looks cooked through. I usually set a timer and check my peppers every 15 minutes, because depending on the size of the peppers, they may cook quicker, or could take a little longer.

MMM!