Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I was was in the mood to be in the kitchen.  Started with getting two roasts in the slow cooker for Tacos tomorrow (Football Sunday),  Starbucks Gingerbread Bars, Shrimp and Chicken Gumbo and the recipe I'm sharing with you today is Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup of butter (2 sticks) softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

12 oz package chocolate chips

6 slices bacon, cooked, cooled and chopped

In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt.  In a mixer beat butter until creamy add sugars and vanilla continue beating add eggs one at a time and beat until creamy.  Hand mix in chocolate chips and bacon.  Drop by teaspoon full onto baking sheet.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 9 to 11 minutes, cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan, makes approx 4 dozen cookies.

Until Next Time,

Pam

Life with Olive

Today is a lazy day we keep going from light rain to snow and back to light rain.  It's a muddy mess outside and I'm not planning leaving the house the whole weekend.

Until something more exciting happens or I bake something I thought I would share some Olive photos with you.  Life with our Bully is so entertaining.

My girls wrestling

What a face, pitiful

Can this get any more sappy?

Yes, yes it can

What an Angel.....for now

Until Next Time,

Pam

I'm Pam and I Have An Addiction - Pinterest

I have had a Pinterest account for 6 months and had no idea how it worked.  I would stare at it and close the screen out and put it off for another day.  Days turned into months, I uploaded a dozen of my own photos around Christmas and then a few nights ago I sat down and started "Pinning" in 3 days I had over 400 photos pinned.  

I love having recipes at my finger tips along with beautiful photographs.  Decorating ideas, dream kitchens, holiday ideas, clothing, shoes I could never afford and perfectly decorated fingernails (when I have fingernails I don't take care of).  Oh and then when someone pins something you love,  you feel so special and validated.  You don't feel like that kid in grade school that was always picked last.  You think to yourself "I have arrived!"

My favorite quote I have found for Pinterest "Pinterest, it's like Fantasy Football for Girls"  Feel free to follow me on Pinterest my button is off to the right. *smiling*

***

Anna and Josh bought me a cookbook at Urban Outfitters when they were in California.  

 (warning - It may offend some, but not me - my daughter knows me so well)

The recipes look great and I can't wait to try them out

Until Next Time,

Pam

I want to keep my Blog - How about you?

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

Sign and Pass the Message Along

Until Next Time,

Pam

Make Ahead Dinner - Pasta Rustica

Anna and Josh made the 7 hour drive from California to Utah today.  It is always a stressful day waiting for them to get here safely.  They text me along the way which does help ease my mind I'm always happy when they make it past Las Vegas there is always less traffic on the highway.  I try to keep myself busy cleaning and cooking.  This morning I made Pasta Rustica all I had to do was put it in the oven when they got home.

Pasta Rustica

1 box Penne Pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

2 links pre-cooked sausage (I used smoked mozzarella with artichoke and garlic chicken sausage)

1/4 sun dried tomatoes, julienned

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 cup portabello mushrooms, cut into bite sized pieces

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more of less depending on how you like heat)

1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cubes or shredded (I like to use rotisserie chicken from the market)

10oz prepared alfredo sauce like Buitoni

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

Prepare pasta according to box except boil for 8 minutes it will finish cooking in the oven, drain and put back into pan.  While pasta is boiling cut sausage into bite size pieces.  Saute in half the olive oil until sausage has a nice crust.  Add the sun dried tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes.  Place on paper towel to drain.  In the same pan add the rest of the olive oil and mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook 3 minutes, add garlic and cook an additional 3 minutes on medium low heat.   Remove mushrooms from heat and add red pepper flakes, stir. 

Put the sausage, chicken, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and half of the cheese into the pan with the pasta and mix together.  Add the alfredo sauce and stir making sure everything is coated.  Top with remaining cheese.  Bake in a pre-heated over 350 degrees for 45 minutes until hot.  Serve with a salad and garlic bread.  Serves 4 

Until Next Time,

Pam

Recipe Wednesday - Leftover Biscuits

Now that the Holidays are over it's time to start packing away the decorations and clean out the fridge.  I had some pre-cooked sausages (chicken sausages with roasted red peppers and spinach) and wondering what I could do with them.  Hmm, how about some biscuits?  I got out my trusty Bisquick Box and got to work. 

1 pre-cooked sausage or ham (use what you have on hand)

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, rough chop

2 1/4 cup Bisquick

2/3 cup of milk plus 2 tablespoons

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 teaspoon of fresh thyme, chopped

Preheat over to 450 degrees, cut sausage in half, then in thirds and cut into small pieces. Heat in fry pan just until they get some color.  Halfway through sausage add the sun dried tomatoes.  Remove from heat and add to a small bowl to cool down while you start the biscuits.

Combine Bisquick, milk, thyme and cheese lightly mix.  Add sausage and sun dried tomatoes complete mixing until incorporated.  Move dough to a floured cutting board and knead a few times.  Press out until a 1/4 inch cut with a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter (do not twist cookie cutter).  Place on a parchment paper cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Makes around 9 biscuits.

Until Next Time,

Pam

Roasted Garlic Jalapeno Cheese Grits

New Years dinner was a great success.  We had the Black-eyed Pea Salad, Pork Tamales (sadly I can not take credit for the tamales) and Guy Fieri's incredible Roasted Garlic Jalapeno Cheese Grits.  The grits are a new family favorite I never thought I could get Bill to try any other kind of grits besides his grits with butter.

Next time I'm going to try them with some shrimp gumbo poured on top of the grits.

Roasted Garlic Jalapeno Cheese Grits

Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri

Prep Time:

10 min

Inactive Prep Time:

--

Cook Time:

2 hr 20 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, unsalted, plus extra for greasing the dish
• 1 head garlic
• Olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for roasted garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, plus extra for roasted garlic
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 3/4 cup grits, not quick style
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 8 ounces sharp Cheddar, shredded
• 8 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded
• 3 tablespoons pickled, drained and minced jalapeno
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a 2-quart oven-safe dish.

Cut the top off of the garlic head to expose the garlic. Put the head on a piece of aluminum and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and close. Place the garlic into the oven and roast until soft, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and open to cool slightly before using.

Bring the chicken stock, 1 1/2 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt to a rolling boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the grits and stir well with a whisk. Cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Add the eggs while whisking quickly, and fold in 3 tablespoons of the roasted garlic, the cheeses, jalapenos, cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and white pepper. Once the grits are thoroughly combined and smooth, transfer to the prepared baking dish and cover with foil.

Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, then remove foil and cook 10 minutes longer to brown the top.

Now back to Sunday Night Football and working on tomorrows blog

Until Next Time,

Pam

Welcome 2012

Happy New Year

Recipe for a Happy New Years!

Anonymous

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time.

Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.
Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, prayer, meditation, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing—don't do it), and one well-selected resolution.
Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

***

I am looking forward to the New Year.  I'm ready for a change and the hope of a good year.  I feel the goals I have set for myself are obtainable and will serve to improve myself and help my family. I am truly blessed and thankful for my family.

Photograph by: Trey Ratcliff

Until Next Time,

Pam