Category Archives: Bacon

Is It Permissable To Marry A Panini?

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And what do I do if my husband protests the union? Can we all live in gooey panini sin together?  How do we put the sandwich on our health insurance? And would said insurance cover bite marks in the panini? Can I be hit with domestic abuse charges for the bite marks? I don’t even want to THINK about the issues surrounding procreation and paternal rights!

I like Paninis aka smooshed up crispy sandwiches. I have posted paninis before. Because I like them.

Paninis.

I like.

Them.

Or something.

Shutting up now.

I lied. No shutting up.

I, like most people who didn’t live in whatever city they originated in, hadn’t heard of paninis until fairly recently. Maybe 6, 7 years ago? When I was a kid, crispy sandwiches were old fashioned grilled cheese. Preferably served with tomato soup (though I actually had never heard of that either until I got married the first time at 20). Now though, grilled cheese has given way to paninis, which, if we are to be honest, are really grilled cheese with grill marks and fancy ingredients. Not that I mind. I tend to like fancier ingredients on sandwiches. I grew up in the era of Oscar Mayer bologna, processed cheese food (you hear that Chef Dennis? 😛 ) and because I am a product of the Chicago public school system, ham sandwiches on mushy white bread that has been spread with butter. I am shamefaced as I admit to still having a certain fondness for that last one.

But I love paninis. Mentioning that in case I didn’t make it clear earlier. I especially love them with “fancy” ingredients. The following is one I created tonight when I realized I had some Brie I needed to use (I ALWAYS forget it and find it somewhere in the back of the fridge and have to smack myself). I had also bought some white peaches today and had some thin sliced chicken breast to use. Add in some bacon and a couple of other assorted yummies and it made one hell of a sandwich. So go… make this. Eat.

Sourdough Panini With Caribbean Jerk Chicken,

Brie, Bacon & White Peaches

  • 2 slices sourdough bread (preferably the square loaf)
  • 1 tablespoon peach or apricot preserves
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 ounces thinly sliced uncooked chicken breast (I used Tysons thin cut chicken)
  • 1 tablespoon (more or less as desired) of your favorite brand Caribbean Jerk seasoning (I used McCormicks)
  • 4 to 6 slices crispy bacon (depends on how gluttonous you’re feeling & whether you’re sharing 😛 )
  • 2 ounces thinly sliced Brie, rind removed
  • 1/2 of 1 white peach, thinly sliced
  1. Preheat the panini press.Over medium high heat, heat a medium (lots of medium here) sized pan on the stove until very hot. Add your chicken slices, doing one at a time. Quickly cook on one side until golden brown then flip over. Sprinkle seasoning on chicken and cook other side until it is brown. It probably won’t be cooked all the way but that’s what you want. It will finish in the sandwich cooking process.
  2. Spread one piece of bread with the preserves. On top of that, layer the brie, chicken, peach slices and bacon.  Slap on (yes, you have to slap it on. Just cause.) the other piece of bread. You can lightly (and I do mean lightly) butter the bread on the outside to increase crispiness if you want but really in panini presses there is usually no need.
  3. Toast…grill…cook…. dry fry… call it what you want the sandwich until it is nice and toasty and golden brown. Cut in half and it will serve two people; one if they are starving to death.

I have NO idea how my camera "messed up" and focused on that bag of cheetos in the background! I plead the fifth!!

Muffin Overload Part Deux

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Like I said, funky looking. 😀

I just had to write that as part Deux instead of part two. I was typing and suddenly channeled the movie “Hot Shots- Part Deux”. Truthfully, one of the stupidest movies ever made (it DID star Charlie Sheen after all even if it was before he had tiger blood…or was it a jaguar…or maybe just a baboon). But I admit that stupid as it was, it made me laugh in a few parts. The frightened laughter of one who is quickly going insane, but laughter nonetheless.

Part Two…erhmmm, Deux is a Double Cheese/Bacon Muffin. These are lumpy and funny looking and deformed and they taste fantastic. Why do they look funny you ask? Because they are quite possibly more cheese and bacon than they are muffin batter. This isn’t a bad thing. Think about it; do you eat a muffin for that tasty batter or do you eat it for what is IN that tasty batter? Yeah; that’s what I thought. me too. So I made a muffin that was more tasty things than tasty batter. Be ready though; Like I said… these aren’t pretty. But they taste yummy enough that you won’t care. Slather them with butter… trust me on that. Butter…cheese…bacon… need I say more? 😀

Double Cheese And Bacon Muffins

 

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 12 ounces bacon, cooked crispy and crumbled
  • 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
  • 8 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
  • 5 green onions, sliced thin
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce (I use Franks Red Hot Sauce- best hot sauce ever)
  • 1 egg, beaten (bad egg, bad egg! Sorry… couldn’t resist)
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 tablespoons oil
  • 2 tablespoons bacon drippings (you heard me… use it gosh darn it 😛 )
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 12 muffin cups. Do NOT use liners; this will stick and it will be like trying to peel a piece of hot bubble gum off of paper if you do)
  2. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, green onions and cheeses. Stir well to combine.
  3. In another bowl, mix the egg, milk,  oil, hot sauce and bacon drippings. Stir well.
  4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Just barely combine them. Fold in the bacon JUST until mixed.
  5. Spoon into the greased muffin cups and bake at 350 until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
  6. Slather with a ton of butter and eat. Then eat another. Then decide, as my son in law did, that while you weren’t sure at the first bite, that these are now your favorite muffin ever.

Say Cheese!!! C’mon Say It!

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This Is Cheese

 

Ok, go listen to that video (it won’t be easy but you can do it. I have faith in you) then come back here.

Admit it, as stupid as that video was, it made you smile and maybe even laugh just because it IS so darn stupid.

Here’s another if you’re feeling masochistic

I like cheese. Did I ever tell you that? Ok, let me rephrase so that you’ll stop rolling your eyes at me…AGAIN. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that your face would freeze that way btw? It’s not very polite either so stop it right now or no cheese. Rephrasing now. No, I did NOT get distracted again. It was YOUR fault this time! Was so! I see you there shaking your head and…ewwww… stop doing that!

Assssss I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me with your eye rolling and that other thing I hope never to see you do again, I like cheese. A lot. Cheese makes me happy. Ok, so I’m also the woman made happy by Twinkies and Cheetos.  I’m easily pleased! This is a good thing. My husband doesn’t have to buy me diamonds. Just a wedge of Brie now and then or toss some sharp Cheddar my way when my mouth is open. Which isn’t as often as one would think actually. In real life, he’s lucky to get ten words a day out of me and I’m painfully shy. Stop laughing! It’s true! It’s only when writing that I’m a total idiot lunatic.

I also like bacon. Almost as much as I like cheese. On days when I’m feeling the need for salt and/or porky goodness, I may like it better. When I can find a way to mix the two, I’m in hog heaven. Or would that be cheese heaven? Oh my, now I’m confused. Ah HA! Hog heaven that is made out of cheese!! Yes, yes I am in a weird mood today. Why do you ask? I thought I was being rather mild…well for me anyway. We all know it gets worse at times.

I think it may be best for all of us if I just get to todays recipe. Whadda ya mean you agree!? I thought you came here for my fun loving ways!? Heh. That one even made ME laugh. Moving on now.

I love loaded baked potatoes, loaded mashed potatoes, loaded potato CHIPS. Fine, I love anything that is called loaded because someone thought to add cheese and bacon to it; preferably with a side of sour cream. I wanted that recently but wasn’t in a potato mood. So I played around and made loaded mac and cheese. Can we say yummy?! (admit it, you just yelled “yummy” in your head. It’s a Pavlovian sort of a reaction we humans have 😛 ) it really is good. Cheese, bacon, cheese, sour cream, bacon, cheese. Oh yeah some green onions and maybe some pasta too. Try it; you’ll like it. This makes a lot so feel free to cut it in half. But if you make it all then let it cool, you can cut it into individual servings then wrap them and freeze them. Also, this isn’t fancy. There is no making a white sauce, adding your cheese, praying that it doesn’t burn or stick. This is a basic throw together mac and cheese but very yummy and tastes good enough for company. I’ll post “fancier” more complex ones at other times. If you’re wanting fancy, go try this one; you’ll love it! French Onion Soup Mac & Cheese

Loaded Macaroni & Cheese

  • 1 lb of your favorite pasta shape (I used shells)
  • 1 lb bacon, cooked then crumbled (reserve about 1 tablespoon of drippings to add to the mac and cheese)
  • 3 large green onions, sliced
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups milk (maybe more if needed to get consistency you prefer)
  • 1/2 cup (one stick) butter
  • 1 teaspoon favorite hot sauce (optional but it adds a bit of tang)
  • 1 teaspoon mustard (again optional but it helps cut the richness)
  • 1 8 ounce container chive cream cheese
  • 1 lb sharp cheddar, shredded
  • 8 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • whatever sort of cheese you prefer to top the pan and showcase all the cheesy yumminess (I used Provolone)
  1. Butter a 13×9 pan, preferably a glass one as metal can add off tastes. If using metal, at least line it with foil. 🙂
  2. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  3. In a large pot, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well, then add back to the pot. Add in the milk, butter, hot sauce, mustard and cream cheese. Over low heat, heat until cream cheese is melted, stirring constantly to prevent sticking. Add in the rest of the cheeses and the bacon and reserved bacon drippings (honest; it adds flavor and at this point, worrying about the calories is pretty silly 😛 ) and stir constantly until cheese is melted. If too thick for you, add more milk about 1/4 cup at a time.
  4. Pour into buttered pan. Top with a few slices of cheese. Wow; more cheese. Imagine that. Even if you’re not lactose intolerant you may want to take a box or two of Lactaid before you eat this. Hehe. Bake at 350 JUST long enough to melt and maybe lightly brown the cheese on top. If you cook too long, it will dry out. It is already cooked; this is just for melting purposes.
  5. Serve. Eat. Moan. The End. 😀