BACON LOVERS CLICK HERE

(Pinterest Inspired) Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

 

 

 

Bacon

Hot Dogs

Your Choice of Hot Dog Toppings

 

(Featured here we have the original and the spicy bacon dog;

the original being, of course, ketchup and mustard,

and the spicy being BW3's Spicy Garlic Sauce

...just one more thing in this recipe that we think could go

on or in just about anything successfully)

 

 

 

    So the other day I was perusing Pinterest (as usual it seems lol) and came across a picture that almost made me drool on my keyboard. Bacon wrapped hot dogs. Healthy? Nah, probably not. Delicious? Umm.. does it have BACON in the title?!?! :D So tonight, with a half pound of bacon left from our chicken bacon taco goodness last night and a 10/$10 package of hot dogs from Meijer that I have been meaning to use, I decided this was the perfect time to try this scrumptious looking concoction. Now, admittedly, I never did read that pin...I just oogled the picture of tasty, greasy bacon, pinned it to my dinner ideas board and just kept right on scrolling. I didn't figure it was that hard to figure out though, so I made the choice to wing it. Here's how I did it:

 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 

2.Wrap each hot dog in one piece of bacon. One piece should be plenty to wrap from one end to the other. If not...you should re-evaluate your bacon purchasing (Go get some real bacon lol) You do not need toothpicks or anything, the bacon will adhere to itself as it cooks.

 

3. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and then take a cooling rack and place it on top of the foil. Make sure your cookie sheet has edges that are at least 1/4 inch deep, so that that grease won't drain into your oven and create a nasty, burned, stinky smell in your house or worse yet, a grease fire!

 

4. Place wrapped hot dogs on that cooling rack and place the whole thing in the oven.

 

5. Enjoy the heavenly aroma that fills your house and nose.

 

6. After the first 10-12 minutes, start and keep checking on them every five minutes. Only you know how crispy you like your bacon (that would be very crispy over in this house). You will be able to clearly see when they are done. If you are going for pretty crispy be warned, if your dogs are not completely wrapped and covered end to end they will split wide as the bacon finishes getting to the edibly-cooked stage. I took our second batch out at this point for fear they may explode completely lol.

 

7. Put on buns, top and enjoy!!!



 



Heaven-In-Your-Mouth Tacos

Chicken Bacon Ranch Tacos

(serves 4-5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

5-6 chicken breasts, boiled

packet of taco seasoning

ranch dressing

1/2 lb. bacon, diced to small pieces

small diced yellow onion

 

 

 

         In a large skillet, start frying your diced bacon. Cut your boiled chicken breast into bite sized cubes. When the bacons pieces appear to be ALMOST done, add the cubed chicken. (Be careful here...if the bacon is too underdone it will not finish cooking, if it is already too done then it will burn during the rest of the cooking process. I added my chicken when the bacon looked as though it were starting to get crispy but far from burnt.) Now you will add in your diced onion. Fry on medium, stirring often, until your onions start becoming more translucent and soft (this only took 1-2 minutes). Sprinkle in the taco seasoning but DO NOT add water as directed on the. Make sure everything in the pan is fully coated with seasoning. Turn down the heat to low and give it a couple generous squirts of ranch dressing. Mix well. Serve warm on taco shells with your favorite toppings. (Note- I substituted my usual sour cream for the bottle of ranch and only put half as much ranch than I would typically put  sour cream.)

 

 

      

 

 



Asian Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Crockpot Asian Pulled Chicken

(Serves 3-4)

 

 

4-6 thawed chicken breasts

2 tbsp. minced garlic

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/2 c. honey

1/4 c. ketchup

dash of ginger

couple drops of sesame oil (optional)

 



 

     Put chicken in crockpot and cover with all other ingredients. Turn on high for 2 hours and then switch to low for another 2-3 hours. Chicken should then shred easily with a spoon and fork. Serve on sesame rolls for delicious Asian Pulled Chicken Sandwiches.

 

YES, ITS THAT EASY!! ;)

Hot & Spicy Buffalo Cream Cheese Bites

Buffalo Cream Cheese Bites

(makes 8-10 dinner roll-sized bites)

(served 3 people with no side dishes)

(makes enough filling for a 'leftover' based meal as well!)

4 chicken breasts

1 cup + a couple shakes of hot sauce 

(we prefer Frank's Red Hot)

1/2 cup butter

1 tbs minced garlic

1 pkt ranch dressing seasoning

4 oz (1/2 pkg) of cream cheese

1 roll of ready to bake crescents

     First you will need to boil the chicken breasts until they are able to be pulled/shredded. I used my crock pot for this, which made it very easy because I just put them in (still frozen even) with a couple cups of water and a couple shakes of hot sauce and turned it to low early in the morning and they were ready to go when I was ready to make dinner. The buffalo sauce will need to be started about an hour before you are ready to cook. Put your cup of hot sauce, the butter, and the garlic in a small saucepan (or if you have one, I used my Little Dipper sauce crock pot). Cook over medium heat (or just plug in Little Dipper...there is only one setting...ON, lol), stirring occasionally. After 30 minutes, cut the cream cheese into pieces (easier to melt) and add to the mix. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes, still stirring occasionally. 

    When all of the above steps are complete, shred your chicken and put it in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add to it the packet of ranch seasoning and all of the buffalo sauce you made and mix until all the chicken is thoroughly coated. Your mixture should be pretty thick at this point; if it is not, drain some of the sauce out of your bowl. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Begin to roll your crescents, putting a spoonful of your chicken mix inside each and doing your best to close them up at the top however you see fit. (Some of them I rolled like stuffed crescents, others I pulled the edges in and around like a bowl that is pinched together on top. It doesn't really matter how you close them, as long as the chicken mix can be considered 'inside'.) Place your stuffed goodies evenly spaced on the baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes and they are ready to pop in your now watering mouth. ;) We didn't even need hot sauce or ranch to dip, and that is saying something from our house!!

   After stuffing your crescents you will have about one small to medium sized bowl of chicken mix left. I plan on using mine for some of my household-famous Buffalo Pasta (which should be on here tomorrow lmao, Ryan loves anything buffalo flavored lol), which cut down the cost of grocery bill this week as we are now getting 2 meals from one main product/prep time!

Hope you love 'em! They were super easy and DELICIOUS! :D

Smells Like a Warm and Cozy Fall ...

BAKED APPLE CHIPS

(serves 4)

3 large apples

2 tbs cinnamon

2 shakes of allspice

2 cups sugar

      Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. Slice your apples into very thin rings and be sure all the seeds are thrown away. (I just cut little holes in the middles of our rings to ensure the whole core was out of the way.) In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Dip each side of each apple ring into the mixture and place side by side on baking sheet lined with PARCHMENT PAPER. (Do not use aluminum foil because then, like me, you will have to spend a great deal of time trying to pry it off your baking sheet after the cinnamon sugar mix melts and gets under it.) Bake for an hour and a half before turning the heat up to 250 degrees F for the last fifteen minutes. Upon taking out of the oven, let cool on baking sheet for maximum of a minute before using a spatula to switch all the chips to a plate. (If you leave them on there they too will stick like crazy, except worse because they harden to the pan!) Serve warm or let cool and store in an air tight container or ziploc bag.

Sweet 'Marbled' Poke Cake

Pudding Poke Cake

(8x13 cake pan)

(cake part)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

4 tsp vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups flour

1-3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

(pudding part)

1 pkg chocolate pudding mix

1 cup powdered sugar

4 cups milk

*Also will need whipped cream!*

      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium bowl, cream together the sugar and the butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Mix together your baking powder and flour, then add to your mixture and mix well. Now add in the milk slowly, beating until creamy and smooth. Pour into greased 13x9 cake pan and bake 30-40 minutes or until cake springs back upon touching.

     Let sit for about three minutes before taking the back end of a wooden spoon and plunging it into the cake over and over, spacing the holes an inch apart (should be nice neat rows in the end). Mix the pudding mix and powdered sugar together and then stir in the milk. Pour about 1/2 of this mixture over your cake, making sure to pour it evenly over all the holes. Place both the cake and the remainder of the pudding mix in the refrigerator and wait about 30 minutes. 

 

   After 30 minutes the remainder of your pudding mixture should have thickened some. Use this like an icing and frost the top of the cake with it. You may have a little left over to lick clean from the bowl, and since there are no raw eggs this is the perfect job for a little helper! ;) Place the cake back in the refrigerator for 30 more minutes. Top with whipped cream (I did fun designs on each bowl) before serving. 

*Only add the whipped cream to each serving as you serve them as it will not hold up in the fridge well.

Asian Inspired Food Night

FRIED RICE NOODLES

(serves 6-7)

1 pkg rice noodles/rice sticks

1/2 bunch of scallions, chopped

2 eggs

1 tbs vegetable oil

soy sauce to taste
pinch of ground coriander 

    

     Follow the instructions for softening on the package of rice noodles. (Add them to hot water and let soak 10 minutes or until soft.) Drain and set aside. Heat vegetable oil over high heat in wok or frying pan and then quickly add both eggs. Scramble for about thirty seconds, then add to noodles and mix to coat (there will be pieces of egg, you want to mix and disperse these the best you can throughout). Add chopped scallions and mix well. Sprinkle with ground coriander and add soy sauce to taste and this is ready to enjoy!

OVEN TOASTED BROCCOLI

(serves 3)

1 crown of fresh broccoli

olive oil

salt/ pepper

garlic powder

ground ginger

    

    Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut broccoli into medium to large pieces. Lay out on foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over each piece, then dust each of the remaining ingredients over all of them. Bake for 15-2 minutes or until the bottoms of the pieces turn brown and caramelized (Just carefully lift one up, you will easily be able to tell!) Turn off the oven when the are just about complete and you can leave them in there while you finish preparing the rest of this meal. This helps the crisp factor and also, obviously, with keeping them warm. Otherwise, be warned: they will get cold fast!

SPICY BBQ ASIAN BEEF

(serves 3)

1 lb of sirloin tip steak, cut into short thin strips

6-7 tbs soy sauce

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

4 tbs sweet and spicy bbq sauce

(We got ours locally at a festival...Support Your Community, Shop Local Small Businesses!)

6 tsp minced garlic

pepper
5-6 shakes of ground ginger

handful of fresh snow peas, ends cut off

1 fresh jalapeno, sliced then cut the slices in half

2 tbs vegetable oil

     Marinate your steak strips in a large freezer bag for 30 minutes in your refrigerator prior to frying. 

Marinade: 5 tbs of your soy sauce, the Worcestershire, the bbq sauce, 4 tsp of the garlic, a few shakes of pepper, and 3-4 shakes of ground ginger

     Heat the vegetable oil over high heat in your wok or frying pan. Add the marinated meat. Stir and allow to cook until meat turns brown in color. Add the last of your soy sauce, minced garlic, and ginger, plus a couple more shakes of pepper. Throw in the snow peas and jalapenos. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Plate it all as shown above and dig in!