2014 52 in 52 #5 - Baked Gnocci with tomato, bacon and mozzarella

Everything is better with bacon and cheese, right? 

I first found this recipe when I was looking on Pinterest for new recipes at my husband's request.  I am not normally a fan of tomatoes that are visible in food, but I figured that I would make a sacrifice this time because the rest of the dish sounded that it would be tasty. 

I had a semi-boring day at work today; not that I wasn't busy, just bored, so I figured making a longer recipe today would be better than saving this one for a different day where I was more stressed out during the day.  Plus all I needed to have unfrozen was some bacon that I bought yesterday.  It seemed like everything was lining up perfectly for today to make an awesome dinner.

Now the original recipe was written in grams instead of any sort of cups/ounces measurement, so I will spare you the conversion and write mine in ounces. 

This recipe has a few steps to it but the result is awesome.  It was flavorful and creamy and was an excellent answer to the need for comfort food.  A lot of the steps were completed simultaneously so overall this recipe takes a relatively short amount of time to cook. 

Baked Gnocci with tomato, bacon and mozzarella
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins  

Ingredients:
8 ounces bacon, chopped into small pieces
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
handful cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
2-3 tbsp. cream
small handful fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
17 oz gnocci
4 oz mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. 

In high sided skillet, fry chopped bacon until crispy.  Drain excess grease.  Add garlic and paprika and fry for 30 seconds.  Add all tomatoes, tomato paste, and sugar and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add cream, salt, pepper, and parsley. 

Boil gnocci until they float.  Remove from water with a spider strainer and add to sauce.   Incorporate sauce and gnocci and pour into oven safe baking dish.  Top with mozzarella cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving. 

Enjoy!

2014 52 in 52 #3 - Bacon Wrapped Lil' Smokies

Bacon, lil' smokies, butter and brown sugar... if you don't love that combination then you need serious mental help.  And you should definitely stop reading because you will be greatly disappointed. 

Hubby was the first one to alert me to this recipe.  I filed it away for another time when we were having a party or get together with friends.  This is definitely a 'man' recipe.  Anything covered in butter and bacon attracts men like flies. 

I am always on the look for appetizers and snacks for the kid's birthday parties.  I like to serve several different appetizers and snacks in lieu of a meal, that way people are destined to find something that they like.  I originally made this recipe for Isabella's third birthday party and it was okay.  There were several people who ranted and raved about it but I knew that it could be better.  If you make it like the recipe states it kind of swims in the syrup created by the butter and sugar and the bacon will never look or taste like it is cooked.  I definitely wanted that to be different. 

For Silas's second birthday, I made it again and this time, I think, it turned out a lot better.  I played with the ratio of brown sugar and butter and we changed the heat settings on the oven in an attempt to cook the bacon on the outside a bit more. 

Try it and let me know what you think!  Also, let me know what appetizers you like or what food you like to serve at birthday parties. 

Bacon Wrapped Lil' Smokies
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients:
2 packages of lil' smokies
1 and 1/2lb thin sliced bacon
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 and 2/3 cup brown sugar, divided

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut bacon strips into thirds.  Wrap bacon around each lil' smoky and place in ungreased 8x8 pan.  I used an 8x8 and a 9x9 this time in order to fit all of the lil' smokies in.  You can also use a 13x9 but I found that they didn't all fit without overlapping and that created soggy bacon.  Combine melted butter and 1 cup brown sugar together.  Spread evenly on top of bacon wrapped sausages.  Crumble remaining brown sugar evenly over the top.  Cook 20 minutes uncovered on 375, then raise heat to 400 and cook another 5 minutes.  We then cooked the pans carefully on broil for an extra 5 minutes in an attempt to crisp the skin a bit.  It still could be more crisp if it were up to me, but the party goers seemed to like them in the state that they were in.  Serve warm. 

Enjoy! 

Bacon wrapped jalapeno bites

I have seen these for years and always wanted to make them.  See my previous confession re: my level of cooking knowledge from prior to a few years ago as the main reason why I did not.  About a year ago my sister, Jessica, brought these to a holiday celebration at my parent's house and my desire to make them was renewed. 

I will forewarn anyone who is interested in making these: bacon wrapped jalapeno bites are labor intensive.  However, they are totally worth it and usually a hit whenever I make them. 



Tips:

1. I do this process in phases. I do all of the cutting and removing of the seeds first, then move on to the next step, instead of finishing one pepper and moving onto the next one. This stops all your tools from being potentially covered in hot jalapeno juice.   
2. WASH YOUR HANDS. I repeat WASH YOUR HANDS. Say it with me now: WASH YOUR HANDS.  Handling jalapenos and not fully washing your hands ensures that you will touch your eye balls at some point in the near future and you are guaranteed to forget that you didn't wash your hands until your eyes are burning off.
3. We use cheap bacon in this recipe and it is just as good as expensive bacon.
4. I use aluminum foil between the broiler pan and the drip pan to ensure easy clean up.  If you like spending time scrubbing greasy pans after you eat, then you can omit this step.   
5. I use a soup spoon to remove the seeds and ribs in one fail swoop instead of using my fingers.  This doesn't stop the juice from squirting in your face so beware.   
6. These are equally as good the next day - cold is ok too according to my husband. 
7. The peppers that I used in these photos were on steroids - normally 4 ozs of cream cheese will be more than enough for 8 peppers.  Adjust accordingly.   

Don't use the same spoon to fill your peppers that you used to remove the seeds and the ribs, or wash it thoroughly.  You don't want to waste all that time removing the seeds and the ribs of the pepper to put the heat back in by getting the jalapeno juice in the cheese mixture. 

Bacon wrapped jalapeno bites
Ingredients:


8 whole jalapeno peppers8 ozs cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
8 strips of bacon









Preheat over to 425 degrees F.  Prepare your pans by putting aluminum foil over your drip pan and heavily spraying your broiler pan with cooking spray. 

Cut the stems off your jalapenos, cut them in half and de-seed each half.

Mix together all cheese and use a clean spoon to fill each half with cheese mixture.

 

 

It should look like this once fully incorporated. 

 

  

And you should have something that resembles this once your peppers are finished being filled with the cheese.  Resist the urge to eat immediately.  They will get even better, because everything is better with bacon!

  

  







Cut bacon strips in half and wrap each jalapeno half with one half of a piece of bacon. 
Place on a broiler pan with a drip pan underneath. 

  

  

Bake 25-35 minutes depending upon how gooey you like your cheese and how crispy you like your bacon.  Rest assured that even if they don't turn out perfect looking that they will still taste amazing! 
 

 

 

-Sara