Man Meal | Cheesy Bacon & Mushroom Chicken

Thank you, StumbleUpon, for once again answering the question, "what's for dinner?" for me.

Mmm... bacon, cheese, honey mustard... wow.

Much, much, much appreciated. Remember how I said bacon was the Chuck Norris of foods? Well, this is the Walker, Texas Ranger of bacon's career.

This recipe, originally found here on Everyday Home Cook, received the ultimate boyfriend seal-of-approval: a grunted "yes," followed by a sound, snoring nap.

Mushrooms and honey mustard are boyfriend staples in our house and, well, the whole bacon thing, so I wasn't surprised.

The recipe itself is pretty simple - honey mustard-marinaded chicken, seasoned with paprika, salt, and pepper, seared in the skillet, and baked in the oven topped with sauteed mushrooms, bacon, and cheese.

Simple and delicious. To make this more weeknight-friendly, I skipped the two-hour soak in honey mustard wonderfulness. I'm sure it would have only been better had I done that, but this was more of a spontaneous dinner decision. So I did make a few changes and my adapted, quick and easy version is below. Enjoy!


Cheesy Bacon & Mushroom Chicken
Yield | 3-4 servings

Prep Time | 5-10 minutes
Cook Time | 25 minutes
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Ingredients:


1-1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup honey mustard (I LOVE Emeril's, has a nice kick!)
2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 of a red onion, sliced
7-8 slices of bacon, partially cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Salt
Pepper
Cajun seasoning

Love, love, LOVE Cajun seasoning blends.

Parsley (we were out, so no pretty garnish for ours!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat EVOO in skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning. I am obsessed with trying different blends of Cajun spices so I have several different kinds around, but don't go out and buy any if you don't have some on hand - paprika or cayenne pepper would be delicious, too!

Cook chicken until browned (but not cooked through), brushing with Worchestershire sauce and honey mustard on each side. Remove chicken from skillet and set in baking pan.

Season and coat with honey mustard. Smells amazing.

Such a good combination!

I added a little more mustard to the veggies. Yum!

Drain some of the juices from the pan and add mushrooms and red onions. Saute until the mushrooms are tender and the onions are nearly translucent.

If you're using regular ol' bacon, you'll want to cook that partially though now - I used thick-cut precooked bacon, tasted great and shaved off a little more time!

Brush chicken with honey mustard once more and top with bacon, mushrooms and onions, and cheese.

Doesn't bacon look good with a side of chicken?

So mushroomy. So bacony. So good.

 Bake for 15-20 minutes, until chicken is cooked.

Oh yeah. So good. Not exactly health-conscious, but sometimes, you just have to do it anyways!

The leftovers also made excellent next-day sandwiches. A little more honey mustard, maybe some ranch, lettuce, tomato, and mayo... quite nomtastic.

Next time: Blackened Tilapia with Fettuccine and Grilled Summer Veggies... inspired by How Sweet It Is's Grilled Corn and Tomato Fettuccine... so good!

Cookie Monday | Double Chocolatey Goodness

Oh, cookies.

If there's anything I love (nearly) as much as bacon, it's cookies. I love cookies. All shapes, all sizes, they're all delicious.

In our house, surprisingly, sweets don't go that fast - with the exception of the boyfriend's favorites, like cobbers. So I send a lot of baked goods with the boyfriend for work. A garage full of men can definitely find a home for our uneaten goodies.

The first time I made these cookies, they broke the mold. Not only were they all eaten, but I made a second batch the next day, and another a week later.

And now I'm revisiting them.

Try them. They're amazing. Fantastic, even. Be warned, however: you'll never look at cookies the same way again. It's just not possible.


Double Chocolate Fudge Cookies
Yield | 12 cookies

Prep Time | 5 minutes, plus 15 minutes to chill
Bake Time | 10-12 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 box dark chocolate brownie mix (I like Duncan Hines)
1 cup flour
1 large egg
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Ignore the butter. I was thinking of frosting them, but they are so good without it!

Mix the brownie mix, flour, egg, water, and oil together. Add chocolate chips. Pour powdered sugar in a separate dish and set off to the side. Chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop out tablespoon-sized balls of dough. Roll in powdered sugar.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Ooey, gooey, and cracked is the best way! Sooo good.

I've tried these cookies so many ways and the dark chocolate mix is by far my favorite. Some of the flavored ones, like the peanut butter or mocha brownies, don't seem to have the same rich, chocolatey taste after the flour is added. Instead, I use the dark chocolate and vary my mix-ins. Dark chocolate with dark chocolate chips and coconut is fantastic!

Oh yes. They're that good.

Next time: Cheesy Bacon & Mushroom Chicken... a truly man-approved meal. Bacon, mushrooms, red onions and chicken with a tangy Cajun and honey mustard marinade.

Follow me on Pinterest! 

Easy Snack | Soy Sauce Eggs

Original photo and recipe courtesy of RasaMalaysia.
If only mine had the coloring!

While the cookies for the Monday cookie post are baking, I decided to sift through my Pinterest boards for interesting ideas, and came across a recipe for soy sauce eggs or Shoyu Tamago (thanks to RasaMalaysia for the original recipe!).

I'm very lucky. I don't have that picky, child-like eater-type boyfriend. Mine will eat anything. I've seen him drink entire cups of nacho cheese. Not kidding. Multiple cups of nacho cheese.

He makes up to it, though, by loving roasted red peppers, munching on hummus with me, and letting me use the grill. I consider that a win.

So, I'm sure you can imagine, our fridge is uhmm... well... diverse. Capers, vidalia onions, bricks of feta - all delicious and wonderful.

Then there are the boyfriend necessities: mayonnaise, corn dogs and hot pockets, Caesar dressing (or other approved substitute), sandwich meat and toppings, honey mustard, hot sauce, and eggs.

Two cartons a week in eggs, sometimes three.

Seriously simple. Seriously delicious.

I hard boil. I scramble. I devil, I fry, I poach. I make toad-in-the-holes, breakfast scrambles, egg salad, you name it. And that's in the course of one typical week. Not to mention the cupcakes, cookies, and other craziness. Needless to say, they're essential.

New egg recipes are always appreciated. And encouraged.

Shoyu Tamago is quite possibly the easiest egg recipe ever. Seriously. Two ingredients. Two steps. Hard boil eggs. Roll in hot soy sauce. The eggs are beyond tasty. Noms.


Shoyu Tamago (Soy Sauce Eggs)
Yield | 5 eggs

Time | 20 minutes
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Ingredients:


5 eggs
6 tablespoons soy sauce

Hard boil eggs. Let cool in ice water to keep yolks nice and yellow.

Heat soy sauce in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Peel eggs. Roll in hot soy sauce. I think it's worth grabbing the tamari soy sauce mentioned in the original recipe to get the wonderful deep color (plus the dark coloring makes the chunks my eggs always seem to be missing less noticeable!). I used regular ol' Kikkoman. Brown, yes, but still absolutely delicious!

Keep rotating to evenly coat. Using tamari soy sauce gives a richer purple color, vs. the brown above.

The eggs darken as they cook and roll in the soy sauce.

Not as pretty as the purple ones but worth every bite!

Did I mention they're delicious even warm? One of my eggs didn't make it to the finish line, and there is a reason for that...

SO good.

At first, the boyfriend was reluctant. I don't really blame him - I was handing him a half-eaten brown egg. A tentative nibble led to almost biting my thumb off, and the extras I hid in the fridge yesterday are, yup, not there today.

I'll take that as a sign of approval.

Gameday Grub | Bacon-Wrapped Heaven

Everything tastes better with bacon.

Everything. I'm not kidding.

You don't add bacon to recipes. You add recipes to bacon. It's the Chuck Norris of foods. So what, possibly, could be added to bacon to make bacon better?

Baked Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Jalapenos. Cheese. Deliciousness. Bacon-wrapped heaven. Thank you, Pinterest, for gracing me with this recipe (originally found here: http://blogchef.net/bacon-wrapped-jalapenos-recipe/) and the inspiration for my creation. As a note, the original recipe grills them, which, now that the weather is getting better, will be fantastic. I baked mine. They're really greasy, so be warned!


Baked Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
Yield | 12-16 poppers

Prep Time | 10 minutes
Bake Time | 10-12 minutes
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Ingredients:

6-8 whole, fresh jalapenos
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
A handful of shredded cheese, your choice (in this variety, I used cheddar)
12 slices bacon

Optional variations:

1 clove garlic, minced      |      1/4 cp pineapple, diced      |      Bleu cheese crumbles
1/3 vidalia onion, diced    |      Splash of soy sauce
1 tablespoon EVOO

For this recipe, I used the garlic and vidalia onion combination.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Halve and seed jalapenos.

Soften cream cheese as you prepare your other ingredients (if you choose any, the original recipe was simply cream cheese, bacon, and jalapenos, so it's up to you!). For mine, I sauteed up the garlic and onion with 1 tablespoon EVOO over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until the onions were translucent.

Add shredded cheese and extra ingredients (in our case, onion and garlic) to cream cheese and mix. Spread into jalapeno halves, wrap with bacon, and bake for 10-12 minutes, until bacon gets crispy and brown.

If jalapenos start to look done before the bacon, just throw them under the broiler for a minute. Serve with ranch dressing.

So good. Got the boyfriend seal-of-approval. Football season-level approval. That's a big deal.

I think next time I'm going to try them with pineapple and a light splash of soy sauce... or maybe some Cajun seasoning (my addiction). And we may just have to grill them!

Next time: Double Chocolate Cookies... so melt-in-your-mouth delicious you won't be able to stand it.

Seriously. They're like the bacon of cookies. So good.

For the Love of a Foodie

Double Chocolate Cookies - Recipes Coming Soon!

Food is my greatest weakness. I am - at my core - a devoted foodie.

Thankfully, I was blessed with a love of yoga and the metabolism of a six year old. And we can't forget my wonderful foodie parents and very understanding and hungry boyfriend - they make my full-fledged love affair with food possible.

From melt-in-your-mouth Double Chocolate Cookies to Jerk-Style Chicken Wings with Cherry Peppers, to Tuxedo Cupcakes, Mini Beer Burgers and Mini Cheesecakes: my love for food knows no end.

Shish Kabobs with Homemade Lemon Vinaigrette Marinade

Chocolate Tuxedo Cupcakes

Garlic Parmesan, Buffalo Hot, and Spicy Cajun Wings