Bacon and Egg Soup

Tim was very leary about this one, but it turned out that we did like it.  I cut the recipe in half because it is not the kind of meal that you can have leftovers from. 

This is also from the Food Network Cookbook.  So, I used:
1/4 lb. bacon- cut into 1/4 inch cubes (realistically mine were more like 1/2 inch)
2 slices Italian bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper (as with most of the recipes I make, I think they wanted too much salting.  This recipe didn't need any extra salt in my opinion because the bacon was salty and so is the Parmesan Cheese.
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 1/2- 2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, plus 1 small piece rind. I didn't have any rind.
2 T torn fresh parsley
2 eggs




This is what it looked like in the cookbook.



Ingredients 

Cook the bacon in a medium pot over medium heat until crisp, about 7 minutes.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate with a slotted spoon, then discard all but 2 T drippings from the pot.  While the bacon cooks, toss the bread cubes with the olive oil on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper (I would just use pepper).  Bake until golden and crisp, about 8 minutes.

Add the garlic to the bacon drippings and cook until slightly golden, 1-2 minutes.  Add the broth, 3/4 cup water, the parmesan rind (which I didn't have) and 1 T parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.  (again I would just use pepper- it gets too salty).  Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook 10 minutes.

 

I like to fresh grate my Parmesan.  I just use a microplane grate it over a plate.  Only takes a little bit of time and is nice and fresh.

Adjust the heat so the broth is barely boiling.  One at a time, crack each egg into a small bowl and gently slip into the broth.  Poach until just set, about 2 minutes.  Transfer the eggs with a slotted spoon to individual soup bowls.  Stir 1/2 cup parmesan and the remaining 1 T parsley into the broth and season with salt and pepper.  Really?  More salt?  I don't think so. Ladle the broth into the bowls and top with the croutons, bacon and the remaining 1/8 cup parmesan. 

My own finished product- not bad if I do say so myself.

Turkey Picadillo Sandwiches



This is what the finished product is supposed to look like.




List of ingredients


 

I cut this recipe in half because it serves four and there are only two of us.  So we used olive oil, 1/2 onion, 4 garlic, I was out of bay leaves, 1/2 T cumin, 1/2 tsp. chili powder, 1/4 tsp. allspice, whatever turkey was in the package, around 3/4 to a pound, salt and pepper, around 3 oz. tomato paste, I don't like raisins so I left them out, about 1/4 cup sliced green olives with pimentos plus 1 T olive juice, 2 soft buns, and sliced avocado.





You see probably see Scooter watching me every time.  He is my biggest and possibly only fan.  Sometimes he likes to watch me do my own cooking show, although he generally looks perplexed the whole time.




Dice the onion.  Cook in a couple of T of olive oil for about 2 minutes, until slightly soft WITH the garlic listed next.





1/2 of the recipe would be four cloves of garlic but mine were pretty large so I used two.  Chop them up and add them to the onions to saute.



This is like Where's Waldo?  You should be able to find the Miller Lite with every recipe.  This is for the "Chef."

 

I used 1/2 T cumin, 1/2 tsp. chili powder, 1/4 tsp. allspice.  I was out of Bay Leaves but if you have them put one or two in.  Add this to the onions and garlic. Toast one or two minutes. It will look like the picture below.






Add the turkey, salt and pepper to taste, and cook about five minutes, breaking up the meat.



Add the tomato paste and stir until brick red, 3 to 4 minutes.  Add 1 cup water, the 1/6 cup raisins in you like them, the olives and olive juice.  Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over medium heat unti thickened, about 15 minutes.  Uncover and cook, sitring, 3 more minutes.  Season with salt and pepper  (there is too much seasoning with salt and pepper to suit me so I leave the salt out a lot of the time.



 

This is what it looked like so far.  It never got really red I don't think.  Maybe the water diluted it too much.  I think add more tomato paste or less water. 

Add caption



Drizzle the cut sides of the rolls with olive oil, place on a baking sheet and warm in the over on 350 for about five minutes. Fill the rolls with the turkey mixture, top with avocado. 



We liked it!





  

Creamy Chicken and Pasta Salad

This was really good.  If you like that cucumber-yogurt sauce that goes on Gyros, then you will like this.  We bought a rotisserie chicken for dinner one night and then took the chicken off the bone for this the next night.  Since the Food Network Cookbook is my newest cookbook, it is also from there.   Don't worry, eventually we will try other recipes.  We always do.  

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/creamy-chicken-and-pasta-salad-recipe/index.html

 The assembling. Cooked tubetti noodles, Greek Yogurt, mayo, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, fresh dill, chives, chicken, celery, Kirby cucumber, mesclun greens.

(actually we couldn't find Mesclun so we bought Butter Lettuce)  







This is the Greek Yogurt- 1 1/4 cups.  Add the vinegar, mayo, mustard, fresh chopped dill, and chives. 

We had a heck of a time figuring out what a Kirby Cucumber was.  Turned out to be a smaller pickling cucumber.  Peeled, cut, seeded.  Also cut up the celery and add both the sauce, along with the chicken and the noodles.  Salt and Pepper to taste.

Finished- quick, easy.

....and delicious!

Green Eggs and Ham

This recipe is also from the Food Network Cookbook. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/green-eggs-and-ham-recipe/index.html

It was definately unusual, but we did like it.  Basically you are frying ham that has been dipped in egg and seasoned flour and serving it with a side of.......well, it is hard to describe- green eggs!  We ended up dumping the egg mixture on top.

Here is the picture from the cookbook:

Eggs, Half Sours, Mustard, Olive Oil, Parsley, Chives, Tarragon, Satl & Pepper,

 Flour, Milk, Ham Steak and Capers





This is the Miller Lite I like to drink while making dinner.    

 

Hard boil two eggs.  Cut them in half and put the yolks in another bowl.  Chop up the whites.





Mash up the yolks.  Add 2 T warm water, 2 T pickling liquid from the Half Sours, 3 T olive oil whisked in.

Rough chop 1/2 cup parsley (this is where I screwed up and put the whole amount in the egg mixture.  Don't do that.  It only calls for 2 T in this part.  Mince fresh Tarragon.

Add salt and pepper.  Dice 1/3 cup Half-Sours.  I had a hard time finding them in the supermarket.  Turns out they are in the refrigerator section of the deli.  At least in Giant that is where they were.  

 Add the Half Sours and the Egg Whites and stir it all up.

1 1/2 cups of flour was waaay too much.  I had a LOT left over.  I would do maybe 3/4 cup.  Add the rest of the parsley and a pinch of pepper. 

1 cup milk and an egg, beaten.  I thought waaay too much milk- it got wasted.  I bet 1/2 cup would be OK. 

Ham Steak  Cut in fourths. 

Frying pan with about 1/8 inch olive oil.  Medium high.

Capers.  Throw in the frying pan for about a minute.  Yum.  

 Voila!

Turkey Reubens

This is my first ever blog.  Every time I find a new recipe to try and we actually like it, people ask for the recipe.  So, I'm trying this fun little blog complete with pictures and the link to today's dinner idea.  Turkey Reubens.  Tim gave me The Food Network Cookbook for my birthday and this is the recipe from it.  I would like to not so modestly say that we like my regular Reubens a LOT.  And Tim liked this one even better.

 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/turkey-reubens-recipe/index.html

Just to tell you ahead of time, I don't like scallions, so I didn't use them.  I think this called for a LOT of turkey so i used just a few slices on each.  It turned out just fine in the broiler, but that was weird to me, since I usually use a stovetop griddle.  I think you could probably use regular sliced Swiss and do it on the stove like a grilled cheese sandwich and it would turn out really well, too. 

The assembling of the ingredients.  Butter, apple, sauerkraut, capers, mayo, dill pickles and chili sauce.

More assembling.  Rye bread, turkey and grated Swiss.

Sauerkraut, apple and butter.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing ( pretty much). 

This is the picture in the cookbook.

And this is how mine turned out.  Hope you like it!