Bacon Beer Carbonara

A few years ago, a friend of mine made me carbonara for dinner, and I was shocked at how much flavor and texture it had. When I saw this recipe online, I knew I had to make it! It turned out to be just as flavorful and the onions gave it a very sweet taste. I'd highly recommend giving it a try!

Bacon Beer Carbonara-adapted from The Family Kitchen
Total Time: 20 Minutes
Serves 4

• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 8 ounces bacon, chopped
• 3 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup dark beer
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 pound spaghetti
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 green onion, chopped

Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat about 10 minutes. Add onions and continue cooking until bacon is crispy, and onions are tender.

While bacon is cooking, cook spaghetti according to package directions. Once bacon has finished cooking, add beer. Bring to a boil and then let simmer.

Add eggs to a bowl and whisk. Temper the eggs by adding a little bit of the hot beer mixture at a time, continually whisking until all the beer and bacon mixture has been added. Combine with the pasta, green onion and parmesan and toss to coat.

Panko Fish with Dipping Sauce

This is a really simple recipe that isn't too extravagent. It tastes good, and hits the spot when you just want some fish! And the upside-you'll usually have most of these ingredients in your pantry!

Panko Fish and Sauce-Adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 15 Minutes
Serves 4

Sauce

•  1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon pickled relish
• Salt and pepper to taste

Fish

• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 12 ounces tilapia, cut into 4 or 8 pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce. Refrigerate until fish is done cooking.

Ready three shallow bowls. In one, place the panko breadcrumbs. In another, combine the flour, salt and pepper. Pour the egg into a third shallow bowl. Coat each piece of tilapia in the flour mixture, dip in the egg, and then coat in breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere. Repeat with remaining pieces of fish, and place on baking sheet. Bake fish until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve with sauce.

Sausage Pizza

Making homemade pizza is much more fun than ordering out! And you can make it exactly how you like it-lots of cheese, little sauce for myself! I haven't yet ventured to making my own pizza dough, but the refrigerated stuff still comes out pretty good!

Italian sausage has such great flavor that it's all I use whenever I make pasta instead of ground beef. Having it on pizza is one of my favorite toppings! This pizza has all my favorite toppings-mushrooms and black olives-as well!

Sausage Pizza-adapted from Taste of Home
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Serves 8

• 1 can refrigerated pizza dough
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1/2 cup sliced onion
• 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 3 ounces sliced black olives
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, cook sausage, onion and mushrooms over medium heat until browned; drain.

Grease baking pan or pizza stone, and lay out pizza dough evenly. Spread pizza sauce over crust. Top with sausage mixture and black olives. Evenly sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Taco Casserole Supreme

This was one of the easiest taco casseroles I've ever made. I love adding corn into my Tex-Mex inspired dishes! The salsa gave this dish a lot of extra flavor, especially depending on what flavor salsa you choose to use (I choose medium). You likely have all of this in your kitchen, so give it a try!

 

Taco Casserole Supreme

Taco Casserole Supreme-adapted from Casserole Recipies
Total Time: 50 Minutes
Serves 4-6

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 ounces frozen corn
• 3 ounces sliced black olives
• 12 ounces chunky salsa
• 4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
• Additional salsa, sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9 inch baking dish with tin foil.

Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix, water, corn and black olives; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Spoon half of mixture into bottom of baking dish. Top with half of the salsa and cheese. Top with the remaining meat, salsa and cheese.

Bake 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips, if desired.

Lemon Chicken Breasts with Veggies

I have to apologize for not posting in so long. I got ahead on my posts in February and had them post automatically, so then I just got lazy! The chicken in this recipe was very tender, it did make a lot, however. I used chicken thighs instead of bone-in breasts, and that is something I will likely not do again. I'm still posting this as I'd like to try with chicken breasts at a later date. And for some reason it was very watery, but still tasted good!

Lemon Chicken Breasts with Veggies

Lemon Chicken Breasts with Veggies-adapted from Taste of Home
Total Time: 8 hours
Serves 6

• 1 pound baby carrots
• 3 cups cubed red potatoes
• 14 ounces frozen pearl onions, thawed
• 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
• 6 bone-in chicken breast halves
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine carrots, potatoes, onions and celery in a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Top with chicken. Combine the soup, water, lemon juice, thyme, pepper and salt; pour over top. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours.