Chickpea and Bacon Mac and Cheese

 Ingredients: 

• 1/3 lbs noodles,
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 3 TBSP heavy cream
• 1 (15.5 oz) can chickpeas drained
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 8 stripes turkey bacon
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt.
• 3 TBSP butter, 3 TBSP flour
• 1/3 cup milk
• black pepper and salt to taste
• parsley (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Boil noodles in water according to packaging. 
3. Toss chickpeas, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and black pepper. Roast in oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
4. Fry turkey bacon in a pan over medium heat. cut bacon into small crumbles.
5. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. 
6. Mix flour into butter and cook to remove raw flour flavor (about 2 minutes) to make a Roux.
7. Stir in Milk and Sour cream until incorporated
8. Slowly stir in cheese about 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time ensuring that cheese is fully melted before adding additional cheese. 
9. mix roast chickpeas, noodles, and 1/2 of bacon together
10. pour cheese sauce over noodle mixture and mix
11. sprinkle with remaining bacon bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.
12. garnish with parsley and serve.

Smoked Almond Butter

Recently I have been putting a great deal of effort into graduate school applications and will be for about the next month and a half therefore posts that I do make will likely be focused on easier recipes that will not take a long period of time to make or blog about. After this period of time I am hoping to really focus on creating and polishing old recipes that I have made and publishing those. So this week I made Smoked Almond butter. It is a simple recipe that allows for a variation of the typical peanut butter that most Americans eat and it is very easy to make.

Smoked Almond butter

smoke 'em if you got 'em

Ingredients:
1 lb smoked almonds
2 tsp cane sugar
4 TBSP vegetable oil

Directions:
pour almonds and sugar into the bowl of a food processor
Process almonds and sugar while slowly adding the 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil into the processor bowl (my food processor has a oil drip reservoir which is perfect for this and making dressings) until creamy (I like mine chunky so I did not process it as much as some may prefer)

Suggestions:
spread on multi-grain bread and pile bacon, pears, and provolone cheese or a smoked Gouda then toast the entire sandwich. (pictured below)
serve with salmon and alfalfa sprouts on a nice roll with a tiny amount of cream cheese.

Almonds and sugar in the bowl

I like mine to look like a deli mustard

A double layer of pears

A layer of bacon on top of a layer of cheese

I call this one "Sandwich in the setting sun"

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Here is the last one for this round. This time around I made Spinach Artichoke Dip. For this recipe I used my food processor as it is faster at grating and cutting than I am. I made this for a holiday party as well and it seemed to go over decently well.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

because why not

Ingredients:
2- 10 oz bags fresh spinach
2- 8.5 oz cans artichoke hearts
2 cloves garlic
12 oz mozzarella cheese (shredded)
1 lbs shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp soy sauce


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
mince spinach in food processor and add to a large mixing bowl (you may have to do batches to get the right size pieces)
open and drain artichoke hearts and mince in food processor
mince garlic and add garlic and artichoke hearts to spinach
shred mozzarella cheese and add to the mixing bowl
add sour cream, mayonnaise, pepper, soy sauce, and parmesan cheese
mix until thoroughly combined
spread into a 9"x 13" baking dish
Bake for 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown
serve and enjoy

Suggestions:
serve with fresh baked bread, pita, or crackers
squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible and add a 1/3 cup white wine (a dry wine would be preferred)

So Much Spinach! 

Add a it of garlic and the Artichokes

Cheese Mountain!

Time to mix it up

Here it is after a flash from the camera

Lazy Chicken Chili

I came up with this recipe because I wanted to do a fast meal on the stove that would keep me warm and have enough for lunch for a few days. This is an alternative recipe that functions essentially the same as the Lazy Garden chili and allows for something different if you have been having a lot of beef. This recipe was also designed to be quick and easy as it is written with about 10 minutes of prep when you have a bad can opener and 20 minutes of cooking before it is ready.

Lazy Chicken Chili

Something with chicken

Ingredients:
2- 12.5 oz cans chicken
1 32 oz chicken broth
2-15 oz cans white beans
1-4 oz can green chilies
1-14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1-15 oz can sweet corn
1/4 red onion (chopped)
1 each red, yellow, and green bell peppers (chopped)
1/2 tsp each cumin garlic powder
1/4 tsp ginger

Directions:
Drain and rinse the beans
Open all cans and combine all canned food into a 6 quart pot
chop onion and peppers and add to the pot
add seasonings to the pot stir and bring to a boil
lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes
serve and enjoy

Suggestions:
to make the chili taste better use fresh or frozen vegetables.
If substituting fresh chicken breast cook it in the bottom of the pot in 3 TBSP olive oil with the seasonings and salt to taste.

In case you were wondering canned chicken looks gross

Beans and corn added

chilies and tomatoes

Everything is in and stirred for a bit

A nice mug of chili

Cranberry Mint Vodka

I have been quiet busy recently with attending and hosting parties and other gatherings thus I have not been doing many posts recently however today I am making up for it by posting three posts so look out.

This first one is a really basic infusion that I made for a holiday party. Again I cannot stress how easy infusions are to make and the flavors that can be created are truly remarkable in that they offer new life to a perhaps otherwise dull drink. The infusion I made this time is a Cranberry Mint Vodka. I decided on these flavors as mint is a nice crisp and refreshing flavor while cranberry is an old standby for being paired with vodka with its tart but sweet taste it is quiet good for mixing with alcohol.

Cranberry Mint Vodka

Refreshing twist on Vodka

Ingredients:
750 ml vodka
1 oz fresh mint leaves
1 cup cranberries

Directions:
Wash cranberries and mint leaves in cold water and place in an empty 750 ml bottle
pour vodka into the bottle using a funnel
store in a cool dark place
shake every day for a week
after one week discard the mint leaves and place cranberries in a container
crush cranberries with a pestle
strain cranberry pieces out and combine the two liquids
serve chilled

Suggestions:
Freeze cranberries before putting them into the bottle to allow more color and flavor to seep into the vodka
serve as a cocktail (pour 4 parts soda water, 1 part cranberry juice, and 1-2 parts infused vodka [depending on the desired strength of the drink] over a combination of crushed ice and mint leaves and garnish with additional mint leaves [or for a surprise a basil leaf].

Mint is in the bottle

Cranberries and Mint now

This is the Vodka after a week as you can see it looks kinda yellow not the desired red

Time to crush some berries

This is what it would look like with the crushed berries in the bottle
I recommend straining before making drinks as it is easier

Pomegranate Lime Gin

This week I did an infusion for a party. I decided to make this infusion because last year I had made a pomegranate gin infusion that was good, but I felt it was missing something to liven it up. I would say that most people that drink gin like it with either lemon or lime. I personally like it with lime more than I do with lemon as the lime flavor is sharper and more sour which I like as a counter balance to the pine flavor from the juniper berries.

Pomegranate Lime Gin

Ingredients:
750 ml London dry gin
1 pomegranate
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp lime zest

Directions:
seed the pomegranate
zest lime
squeeze lime juice into a empty 750 ml bottle (I used a wine bottle that was washed and dried)
add crush pomegranate seed pods in a funnel to allow for the juices to better mix with the gin and lime zest to the bottle.
add gin until full
shake every day for 1 week followed by once a week after that
after 2-4 weeks strain the pomegranate seeds and lime zest out and enjoy
store in a cool dry place
serve chilled.

Suggestions:
make a gin and tonic with this and garnish with a lime wedge.
combine with soda water and pomegranate juice and garnish with a lime wedge.

Pomegranate Gin I made last year

Everything all together

Before straining out the seeds

Strained and ready for drinking

I just stored it back in its bottle as a plastic container seemed like a bad idea

Puppy Chow Cookies

This week I made Puppy Chow Cookies because what is a better way to start in on holiday cookies than with a sugar overload. This turned out to have an intense peanut butter flavor with a lesser chocolate flavor in the the cookies. This is essentially a combination of Chex (TM) Muddy Buddies (TM) with a modified version of Hy-Vee peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to form a different type of cookie. Also at the end you will have some of the puppy chow left over.

Puppy Chow Cookies so be prepared.

Ingredients:

Puppy chow

9 cups rice chex (TM)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cookies:

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup butter (Soften)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 TBSP cocoa powder

5 cups puppy chow

Directions:

Puppy chow

Combine semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter, and 1/2 cup butter in microwave safe quart container and microwave on High for 1 minute add in 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. If not fully melted continue to microwave on high for 30 seconds and stirring the mixture until fully melted.
Pour the chocolate mixture over the Chex and stir with the powdered sugar until everything is coated.
set aside.

Cookies 

Cream the 1 cup butter, 1 cup granulated white sugar, and 3/4 cup brown sugar together.

Stir in 1/2 cup peanut butter

Add 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix

In a separate bowl combine the 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour with the 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 TBSP cocoa powder.

Slowly mix in the flour mixture into the wet mixture

Once all of the flour mixture is combined with the wet mixture fold in 5 cups of puppy chow

Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet

bake at 350 degrees F for 11-13 minutes.
remove from oven and let stand for 1-2 minutes on the baking pan before moving to a cooling rack to fully cool.

Here is some puppy chow

Folding the puppy chow into the dough

I have created a MONSTER!

Balls placed and pressed

Here are some fresh out of the oven

This is two layers of cooling racks in action

Store for later in an airtight container