BLT Crostini

Why am I always late posting my Eating the Alphabet post each month? 

 


































In all actuality, I'm late to most things in my life. Just ask my fiancee, and my family, and my friends, and my work (oops!). If me and my friends are set to meet at 1:00, you can bet your butt I'll be there at 1:15. If my mama says come to dinner at 5:30, that somehow translates to 6:00 in my brain.

 










































I'll just say "better late than never" applies here. Right? Right?

God I need to work on that. It also contributes to my road rage. Not flick you off and follow you to fight you kinda road rage. Just constantly annoyed by the slow drivers in front of me. If I'd just leave on time (or early even.... what does that even mean?!?!) then I wouldn't have to be so frustrated getting everywhere. 

Maybe one day I'll learn.

This month we had to choose a fruit, veggie, or legume starting with either I or J. I've been racking up some recipes using iceberg lettuce, so iceberg lettuce it would be.

These apps will be the talk of the party. A BLT in an appetizer form? How could this not be amazeballs?!?! Plus a little melted gooey cheese? Let's take a moment of silence for this masterpiece.

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Silence over. Now make them and shout it to the world how perfect these are!!!!

BLT Crostini
adapted from Sunset and Pillsbury

• 12 slices (1/4 inch thick) baguette French bread
• sliced pepper jack cheese cut into 12 small squares
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup shredded iceberg lettuce
• 6 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
• 5 slices bacon (you may have some leftover, it just means more for snacking)
• salt and pepper for seasoning

Cut bacon slices in half and cook until crisp. 

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Top baguette slices with cheese slices and bake for 10 minutes or until edges of bread are golden brown and cheese is melted. 

Remove baguette slices from oven. In a small bowl, add mayo, green onions, and lettuce. Spread mixture onto each baguette slice. Season tomatoes with salt and pepper. Top each baguette slice with bacon pieces and a sliced tomato. 


Printable Recipe

 































Check out all of my past Eating the Alphabet posts. There's been some good ones!


And check out what everyone else brought to the table this month in the blog hop below:  

Peace, and bacon grease!

Peanut Butter Crunch Balls

Hey friends. I've been M.I.A. in June on the blog, but this week I've done a couple posts already and I think I'm back on track. For now, anyway.



































For this month's Surprise Recipe Swap, I was assigned to Krista's blog, A Handful of Everything.  

She's got some great recipes in her archive... all kinds of breads, desserts, and main dishes! It was hard to narrow it down, what with recipes like Sweetheart Strawberries and Cream Scones, Homemade Pretzel Rolls, and Ham and Cheese Pretzel Bites. But her Peanut Butter Balls really screamed at me.


































I loved the sweetness of the peanut butter and chocolate. And the rice krispies added a nice crunch. These were delicious! 





























Peanut Butter Crunch Balls
adapted from A Handful of Everything

• 2 and 1/2 cups Rice Krispies (I used chocolate Rice Krispies)
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 12 oz bag of chocolate candy melts (I used Wilton's)

In a large bowl, combine the Rice Krispies and powdered sugar. 

In a saucepan, melt the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Remove from heat and immediately pour into the sugar/Rice Krispies mixture.  Using a large spoon mix well until an even consistency. 

Line a baking sheet with wax paper.  Form teaspoon-size balls (mine were bigger!). The mixture will be kind of crumbly so just squeeze them a few times, roll them between your palms and into a ball shape.  After you have used up all your mixture, place in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour or until firm.

Melt your chocolate in a microwavable bowl according to package directions, mixing well. Dip the chilled peanut butter balls into the chocolate.  Using a spoon, roll it around completely coating it with chocolate and then and place it back on the wax paper to set. Pop them in the freezer to help them set quicker.

Printable Recipe





































You know that little bit of goodness that stays in the pot after you've scraped out what you could? I may or may not have eaten that melted butter and peanut butter straight from the pot. What? I couldn't let that go to waste. Can you blame me?

Make these! 

Check out the full roundup here. 


Linking up here.  


Peace, and bacon grease!

Obsessions + Confessions

Ok, this is a very random post about some random things going on in my life and current things I'm obsessing over. I just may make this a regular occurrence on the blog :)

Anyone watching the new sleazy chick flick tv show Mistresses? Um, obsessed. I just love Yunjin Kim from Lost. And Alyssa Milano and Rochelle Aytes are compelling too. I usually despise all things related to cheating and mistresses, but it puts a more personal and relatable spin on such a shamed topic. This show is like my guilty pleasure. Ok, one of many guilty pleasures. 

I came across this new local cupcake business, Sweet Release Cupcakes, and am about to order so many and so often that she's gonna know me by name. French Toast Bacon, Hot Toddy, Strawberry Champagne, Butter Pecan ... can I have like 2, or 12, of each?

Sushi. My God how did I live without you? Tonight is half price sushi at Ember's. One of these days I'm going to update that review with food from more current visits. Hello california roll and kobe beef roll. Oh, and crab and shrimp stuffed avocados. They do food right.

Everyday I say I'm going to work out. Yesterday I was going to play basketball with PJ after work. We laid on the couch and slept for 4 hours instead. Fail.

What's up with these? I can't decide how I feel about them.

Cutest animal ever. I wonder if they make good pets?

Want.

Want.

And more want. 

Summer is upon us.

Potatoes can heal my tummy aches? This may be the best news of my day.

Scratch that, this is definitely the best news of my week!

I'll be here in a few weeks. It couldn't come sooner! Free hot breakfast + complimentary reception/drinks + the beach every day. Now that's my idea of a vacation.

Peace, and bacon grease!

1st Annual Food Blogger Prop Swap

Aren't I strange? Almost a month without posting and then two posts in one day. I know, I know. What can I say, I'm inconsistent. I'm trying to work on that!

But let me tell you about this fun challenge I signed up for called Food Blogger Prop Swap,  hosted by Alyssa of Everyday Maven and Faith of An Edible Mosaic, ... it's just what it sounds like. Bloggers send each other foodie props that the other may not need anymore and is willing to pass on to a better home. 

Tara from Tara's Multicultural Table was kind enough to send me some great props! I loved them all. She made me feel like the package I shipped wasn't good enough. Next year I'll have to do better, since it's an annual thing and all.


Here's what I got:

some cute napkins and napkin rings (fancy!) and a red round placemat....

some adorable leaf shaped mini bowls and two mini decorative bowls, and a Budweiser glass....


and a coffee mug, and this red square plate. I like, I like! I liked em all, really. I LOVE foodie props. My fiancee on the other hand doesn't like my growing collection. He calls me a hoarder lol. That's ok, I own it. I'm a foodie prop hoarder  :)

They're also thinking about doing a different swap as well... maybe cookies, cookbooks, spices. I'm game for any of those!


Head on over to Alyssa or Faith's blog to check out the blog hop to see what props everyone else got in the swap.


Peace, and bacon grease!

Nutella French Toast Rolls with Cinnamon Sugar

It's been way too long since I've posted a recipe on the ole blog. I've missssssssssssssed you!

Well what's the best way to get back into the blogging world? With a Secret Recipe Club post, that's what!

This month I was assigned to Louise's blog, Lick the Spoon. Louise is from Australia! So cool! Welp, I've got a new blog to follow. Love her recipes AND her photos. I had to narrow it down from 15 recipes. Yes 15. Like her Raspberry Lemonade Slice, Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Walnuts and Brown Butter Icing, and her Boston Banoffee Pie. But ultimately her Nutella French Toast Rolls won out. Cuz I love breakfast and french toast and nutella. No brainer.

Nutella French Toast Rolls with Cinnamon Sugar
from Lick That Spoon

• 10 slices of white bread (we used Private Selection Sugarhouse Maple Streusel bread - yum!)
• 10 teaspoons of nutella
• 1 large egg
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• butter, for frying

Remove the crusts from the slices of bread. Discard the crusts. Or eat them because that Maple Streusel bread is delish).

Roll each slice of bread with a rolling pin. Spread each slice of flattened bread with one teaspoon of nutella, spreading on one side of the bread to the length of the bread. Roll the bread up tightly, sealing shut with a dab of nutella.

In a bowl, whisk the egg and milk until combined. 

In a shallow dish, combine the sugar and cinnamon and mix well.

Heat some butter in a skillet. Dip each roll in the egg mixture until coated, then placing in the hot skillet. Lightly fry until golden brown all over, then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve immediately.


Printable Recipe

I loved this twist on the traditional french toast. Next time I'll try it with regular white bread because it was a bit hard to roll up the bread I used and they weren't so perfect and smooth like hers. But they were still tasty.

Plus I'll take any recipe that calls for nutella and sugar for breakfast!

Here's the other Secret Recipe Club posts I've written in the past, check em out.


Linking up here.  
 
Peace, and bacon grease!

Jerk Chicken Wings Grilled in A Foil Packet

Happy Memorial Day!

Yay to the official arrival of grilling season!

I've talked about my love of grilling season before.... I love the smell AND taste of grilled foods. It's one of the best parts of summer.

And did you know that you can pretty much grill everything in a foil packet right on your grill? 

Could grilling get anymore simpler?




































These wings had the perfect amount of spicy balanced out by the sweet from the lime juice. And though they aren't grilled directly on the grill grates, they still have that 'fresh-off-the-grill' taste that I so desire, with nice grill marks and all.

Jerk Chicken Wings Grilled in A Foil Packet
ever-so-slightly adapted from Food Network 

• 8 chicken wings, split
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons jerk seasoning
• juice from 1 lime (or half a lime)
• nonstick foil

Toss 8 split chicken wings, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, and 3 tablespoons jerk seasoning on a sheet of foil. Form a packet around the wings. Grill over high heat, turning once or twice to prevent burning, for 25 minutes. Top with cilantro and lime juice.

Printable Recipe

All photos were taken with my Samsung Galaxy SII phone because I didn't have a memory card for the dslr.

What's on your Memorial Day menu this year? Looking for more ideas? Well, here's some.

Tequila Marinated Grilled Chicken + Guacamole Tacos

Grilled Corn with Chipotle Butter and Lime Salt

Spicy Chipotle Barbecue Sausages

Grilled Filets with Bourbon Butter

Butterfinger Ice Cream Pie

Patriotic Fruit Skewers

Cilantro Jalapeno Limeade

Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad (need to get an updated picture!)

(These photos got deleted from my posts so I need to update these posts with photos, sorry! But the recipes are still da bomb!)

Cherry Limeade Slushies

Patriotic Taco Salad

4th of July Toast

Sauteed Corn, Bacon, and Green Onions

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day. I'm enjoying mine with a day off work, time with family, and some grilling fun! Maybe even some cornhole :) And of course being grateful for those who've served our country, especially those who gave their lives. Brave, brave honorable souls.

Linking up here.

Peace, and bacon grease!

Bruegger's Blogger Event!

So a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being invited to a local blogger event at Bruegger's Bagels, a local bakery and restaurant where their bagels are baked fresh all day, every day. We got to meet with Executive Chef Phillip Smith and learn all about his secrets to making the best bagels ever. He was very passionate about his bagels, the ingredients, and the bagel-making process. These bagels are the best - crisp on the outside, chewy and soft on the inside, with all kinds of different flavors.

Now for the photos from that day:

Chef showing us their special cream cheeses. They tend to be more stiff than say other brand cream cheeses because they leave the whey in. Their cream cheeses are made in Vermont with pure, fresh milk and real ingredients like veggies and walnuts kept crisp without preservatives through their direct set process. We got to sample the smoked salmon (which wasn't as fishy as I was expecting and was actually pretty good!), garden veggie, and honey walnut.

Regular ingredients vs Bruegger's Bagels ingredients:

 

Piles of bagels! I want them all! Plus the basic ingredients that are in Bruegger's Bagels: water, barley malt, salt, flour, and yeast.

We also were the first to try their new Morning Glory Bagel, which has raisins, apple butter, carrots, sunflower seeds, and cinnamon sticks all baked into this glorious bagel. It was perfection served fresh and warm with some honey walnut cream cheese on it!

After a presentation and bagel+cream cheese taste testing, we headed back to the kitchen area to get the behind the scenes scoop. It was so cool to see how it all comes together and to learn their method for top notch bagels, which is to start by kettle-boiling the bagels, and then baking them in the oven. Boiling is the key to that perfect crisp shell, they say. 

Blueberry bagels ready for boiling. The large boiling pot and stirrer. Bagels about to meet their fate.

These bagels were about to become sesame bagels.

Baking away in the oven; the baker pulling them outta the oven; and the beautiful finished product.

Only the perfect survive. Any bagels that have misshapen holes, aren't the right color, or any other flaws won't be sold. Here's Heather from The Food Hussy showing us what a sad bagel looks like, with her sad face  :(

We also got to try a strata using their day old bagels, or "Last Night's Bagels" as they call them. Day-old bagels work well in this kinda strata. This Sriracha Egg Strata was delicious as well (it may be the same as this Spicy Ham, Red Pepper & Sriracha Strata recipe on their site).

Another perk of this blogger event was meeting fellow Cincinnati bloggers!  I was already a follower of Erin's blog, A Bird and a Bean, and just didn't know she was a local blogger! So cool! And OF COURSE I've been following Heather's blog, The Food Hussy, for quite some time now. I mean come on, she's only #1 on Urbanspoon in Cincinnati. No big deal :) We've been running into each other lately at these blogger events, as I met her for the first time at the Firehouse Subs blogger event. I LOVE to meet fellow foodies. Some people just don't understand my passion for food and this blog, but these people get me :) Proof? This photo below of fellow bloggers getting shots of bagels and cream cheese and ingredients and stratas, you know, only things that bloggers do :)

Here's their bagel line-up (not all of them, I couldn't get them all in one shot). I have tried a majority of them and my faves are the Rosemary Olive Oil, Jalapeno Cheddar, Cheddar Pesto, and Asiago Parmesan (which is good topped with a sweet cream cheese like the honey walnut... love the contrast of the cheeses with the honey flavor!).

The fabulous Bruegger's Bagels team. So friendly and seems like they love their job! I mean, I would love to be surrounded by hot, fresh bagels everyday too!

Here's all of us bloggers - some foodie blogs, some mommy blogs. Left to right: Nedra of Adventure Mom Blog, Executive Chef Phillip Smith, Erin of A Bird and A Bean, Courtney of Optimistic Mommy, Kristin of It's Free At Last, me, and Heather of The Food Hussy.

They were gracious enough to let us take home a goodie bag with tons of goodies in it! We got some tubs of cream cheese (I chose bacon and scallion *MY FAVE!!*, salmon, and honey walnut). If I could put that bacon and scallion cream cheese on everything, I would. We also took home a half dozen bagels of our chose (really 7 bagels). I got a couple Rosemary Olive Oils, a Jalapeno Cheddar, a Cinnamon Sugar, a Cinnamon Raisin, an Asiago Parmesan, and an Onion bagel. Plus some coupons for future visits. Plus we got to take home their new Sriracha Egg Sandwich, freshly made. We were the first to try that as well. They are too good to us!


My goodie bag + the new Sriracha Egg Sandwich. Yes, please!

This was an amazing blogging experience and I hope to be invited back for more! I have been in love with Bruegger's Bagels for quite some time so it was an honor to be invited to this event. I even reviewed it two years ago (need to update the photos though, I lost them along with many other photos from old posts). See, even back then I was ranting and raving over their bagels and cream cheese.

This must be love.

Peace, and 'bacon scallion' grease!