recipes – Page 2 – branching out… on a limb

Oven Bacon, Fried Bacon- (I don’t care how the bacon is cooked, as long as it isn’t boiled bacon, I’m in!)

I had a couple pounds of bacon to make this morning for the extended family and thought I’d try cooking it in the oven like I’ve heard about… “Less Mess! Cooks more evenly!” the cooking sites all swear. I’m dubious.

So, here’s the set-up:

Half the bacon on the baking sheet, half in the cast iron skillet…

Here is all that bacon again, just because. Y’know. Bacon!

The Salt Ewok knows when you’ve overcooked the bacon. For shame.

About 15- 20 minutes later, and it’s looking good (as bacon always does).

All done! Looks pretty good… but when has bacon not looked good, amiright?

OK- seriously…

We did like the super ease of cooking the bacon in the oven- no turning, no hovering. But the clean up is just as bad- a messy baking pan and a rack to clean.

However (bottom line)-

It was great, either way. Because it’s BACON.

The oven baked bacon was less crisp than the pan fried. This would be great for BLT sandwiches, no?

If you prefer crispy, rendered strips, stick with the pan. Don’t have time to fuss with babysitting your fatty, smoky, favorite strips of yumminess? Use the oven.

Want the recipe? As per The All-Knowing Alton Brown, click here for his directions (start the pan in a cold oven, 400 for 15-20 minutes).

All this bacon did go into breakfast burritos… I did share it. Grudgingly.

Trader Joe’s Taste Testing- Fall Holiday Sides!

Ever walk down the aisles at the store and wonder… “Wouldn’t it be easier and taste just as good to use the pre-cooked side dishes from my favorite grocery store?”

Don’t. Make your own. Unless, you don’t mind settling for sides that are less than okay.

Case in point:

Cauliflower Au Gratin with Gruyere Sauce and Parmesan Breadcrumbs

Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries and Pecans

Trader Joe’s Ready to Use Turkey Gravy

Again, don’t. Just… no. In very little time, you to peel, cube, and roast a couple of sweet potatoes, drizzle with your own maple syrup or sprinkle on brown sugar, and this will taste WORLDS better, the texture will be FAR superior, and you will spend maybe a third of the price. As for the cauliflower– well, it didn’t taste bad (neither did it taste good), but the vegetable was buried under about three times as much crumb topping as needed. Oddly enough, both packages of sides seemed under cooked, even though I followed the directions for time and temperature.

The gravy. Ummm… what to say. Not much turkey flavor, not horrible, but I wouldn’t buy it again or use it again. Ever. This product simply does not taste good. I’d rather mix up the McCormick’s envelope from the seasoning section of the supermarket. I would drink up a pot full of gravy from a straw, and I will not touch the Trader Joe’s gravy with a ten foot pole.

I love my Trader Joe’s stores, and rarely find something I dislike, or dislike this much. I’m glad I gave these a try, it was worth the price to try something new, and gratifying to know that a simple home made recipe is so much better. Save yourself the scratch. Make simple sides from scratch.

Got a Little Time to Cook? Simple Recipe Suggestions:

AllRecipes.com Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Thyme and Maple Syrup

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower

Got a Little More Time to Cook: Still Somewhat Simple Suggestion:

Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

Easier (and lighter) Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

I love seeing the short recipe videos that friends share on Facebook and other sites. You know, the 15 second or one minute clips showing how to put together quick side dishes or appetizers?

I saw this two minute video tonight and wondered if it would be better than my simple baked sweet potato that I serve with a pat of butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar…

2676445 — Click photo to link to the original AllRecipes.com video “Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Browned Butter”

Here’s what I did:

Oven at 400… (Six o’clock already… dinner’s gonna be late tonight!

…Sweet Potatoes, cleaned and poked with knife, in for 50-60 minutes…

…2 Tbsp. Butter, pinch of salt, fresh ground pepper, 1 tsp. brown sugar…

When tender, cut potatoes in half, scoop potato from skins, mush up potato with ingredients in bowl, and put back into the potato skins. Top with small marshmallows and bake for 10 more minutes until marshmallows get toasty.

10 minutes later, Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes!

The Husband approved, The Boy is a stinker- he doesn’t like toasted marshmallows, and I thought they were too sweet. I’ll stick to a ridiculously simple baked, pat of butter, sprinkle of brown sugar version. BUT- if you like a nice, sweet, holiday-style Sweet Potato, these definitely fit the bill! Simple, quick, and quite good. If you like sweet. Is it just me? I think that sweet potatoes are rich and sweet enough, that they don’t need very much butter or sugar to make them delicious.

By the way, if you look at the recipe video that caught my attention originally, you see that it calls for cream cheese. I think that would be really nice in this dish, and will give it another try with that extra ingredient. Also- my potatoes were kind of small, which made scooping out and stuffing them a little tricky. I’d use a bigger sweet potato next time.

Found: Breakfast Dish for Holiday Visitors

I almost missed this today, pulling my usual “Guess I’ll Forget What’s on My Calendar for Today, Even Though i Checked My Calendar Yesterday AND This Morning!!” (I don’t want to admit how many of my or my kids’ appointments I have completely forgotten…)

One of my friends brought this small, single serving sized, delicious, and super-versatile breakfast dish to a meeting I nearly forgot to attend…

Click the photo or this link- Today Show Recipe- Make Ahead Egg Soufflés

This is a very forgiving recipe, my friend used her favorite cheeses and Denver Omelette style fillings for the suggested spinach and artichokes. Puff pastry + your favorite quiche or omelette fillings = fabulously easy and equally delicious breakfast or brunch!

"Make-ahead mornings: These easy baked egg soufflés freeze and reheat beautifully!" — “Make-ahead mornings: These easy baked egg soufflés freeze and reheat beautifully!”

(both photos have been lifted right off of the Today Show’s website…. gotta give credit where the credit is due, ya know!)

Saturday’s Farmers Market- Vista

Vista, north of and just outside of the city of San Diego, claims to have the oldest, longest running Farmers Market in the county.

I found it to have all of the great stalls and vendors of the Wednesday night’s Ocean Beach Farmers Market… with none of the funny cigarettes… ha.

What better way to kick off a weekend visit to outdoor markets than eating A Stuffed Hash Brown, or as I will now call it, Serious Competition For All Breakfast Burritos! My breakfast was the “Egg Head,” and I don’t know how they got that much bacon in there, but mmmmmm is all I can say. The Husband was equally pleased with his “Speedy” full of carne asada, pico de gallo, cheese and avocado. You can go to SpudzPotato.com and see where they will be next.

Other specialty vendors include The Brothery selling bone broth- very tasty I thought. Bone broth has become one of the latest health crazes, which kinds of amuses me since most of our grandmothers have been making it since time began. God have mercy on me if my father ever caught me throwing out the carcass of my Thanksgiving turkey instead of turning it into soup! If you don’t make your own broth (after you’ve carved up a baked or rotisserie chicken put the remaining skin, bones, and bits into a large pot; cover with 6-8 quarts of water; simmer for 3, 4, or more hours; strain and refrigerate the broth to use for soups or to sip when you have a sore throat or cough), The Brothery (at TheFlavorChef.com) is available in several local health foods stores and the Vista Farmers Market.

This location is large enough to support two different bands on opposite ends of the market without stomping on each other’s musical footprint or the listening crowd’s earspace.

Beautiful piles of fruits and vegetables poured out of baskets and across tables from the farmers’ stalls. My brain sluggish recall is that the prices seem on a par with most local grocery stores for organics grown locally. This leads me to believe that if Whole Foods is selling organic locally grown red seedless grapes for $3.99/lb, same as the farmers market, then the farmers are cutting out the middleman at these markets and keeping more of the profit for themselves. And as I understand it, they work on thin profit margins.

My favorite purchases today, besides those stuffed hashbrowns, are the cocoa dusted almonds and the Mexican Chocolate Almond Butter we picked up from Hopkins AG (also at the Ocean Beach Farmers Market), and a beautifully delicious baguette from my now favorite boulanger- Le Rendez-Vous. Nothing beats dusting off your French skills and purchasing a baguette en même temps. Chouette! He sells at the Welk Market on Mondays, and the tiny Carmel Valley Market on Thursdays if you want to track down Le Rendez-Vous.