Pink Shrimp with Bacons & Onions

Being a member of Foodbuzz means that I occasionally get sent goodies to test out. This time I got a jar of Four Cheese Rosa Sauce from Bertolli along with a few recipes on how to use it. I decided to go with Pink Shrimp with Bacons & Onions. All the ingredients sound fabulous, don't they?

It was a tasty dish overall, however I was a surprised to find that it could have used a bit of salt. Usually jarred sauces are way too salty. Otherwise, I definitely recommend this recipe.

I'm also submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights, a fun event created by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast. Check out her blog on Friday to see the other submissions.

Recipe:
4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 large onion, sliced into thin wedges
1 lb. uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 jar Bertolli Four Cheese Rosa Sauce
8 ounces fettuccine, cooked and drained (reserve 1/2 cup pasta water)

Cook bacon in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon; reserve drippings. Cook onion in reserved drippings over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until onion is golden. Add shrimp and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, 4 minutes of until shrimp turn pink. Stir in Sauce and reserved pasta water; heat through. Toss with hot fettuccine and garnish , if desired, with shredded fontina cheese and parsley.

Sauteed Green Beans II

I'm not a fan of the typical cream of mushroom green bean casserole, so I served sauteed green beans instead.

I made something similar last year and used a lot of bacon grease and decided to go a little healthier this year. There's still bacon, but it was crisped and crumbled separately and just sprinkled on top. Still delicious and a bit healthier :)

Ingredients:
- Green beans
- Red onions (or shallots)
- Mushrooms
- Bacon
- Oil
- Salt

Directions:
- Clean and trim all the green beans.
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
- Blanche the green beans until they're cooked but still crunchy.
- Immediately remove them from the water and plunge them into an ice bath.
- After the green beans have cooled, drain them.
- I did all this a few days ahead of time and put it in a ziploc bag in the fridge to make the day-of less stressful.
- Slice the onions length wise.
- Quarter the mushrooms.
- Cook the bacon until crispy and then crumble it into large chunks.
- In a large pan, heat a bit of oil.
- Add the onions and a bit of salt. Saute them until they're soft.
- Add the mushrooms and saute until cooked and slightly browned.
- Add the green beans and a bit more salt if necessary.
- Mix everything together until the green beans are heated through.
- Put it on the serving platter and top it with the bacon.

Pork Roulade

Since we had 20 people coming over for thanksgiving dinner and the turkey was only 20 pounds, we decided to do a second meat dish, just to be on the safe side. We decided on trying something new and made a pork roulade.

My husband went out and bought a big old pork tenderloin while I decided on a pear butter, bacon and mushroom filling. I've never tried it, but it sounded like a tasty combo.

The day of, my husband cut the pork loin in half to make it easier to work with. He then butterflied, but in 3 sections, is that still called butterflying? Anyway, he made 3 long cuts length-wise in each half of the pork loin to open and flatten them out. I diced and sauteed the mushrooms, my mom crisped and crumbled the bacon, and then I mixed the filling together and slathered it on the pork. My husband then rolled up the roulades, tied them up to keep them from unrolling and oil, salt and peppered them generously. We then browned them on our griddle and popped it in the oven at 350 for a little less than an hour and then took them out to let them rest.

Unfortunately, it turned out a little overcooked and dry because the turkey had hogged both of our probe thermometers (the turkey is more important after all) and we guess-timated how long it would take. Plus, this was our first time making something like this, so it really wasn't our fault. Especially for a first attempt and with all the other craziness going on in the kitchen, I think my husband did a fabulous job. With a little more practice and access to a probe thermometer, I think this could be a lot juicier and prettier in the future. It's definitely a keeper.

What do you think?


Ingredients:
- Pork tenderloin
- Pear butter
- Mushrooms
- Bacon
- Oil
- Salt
- Pepper

Directions:
- Dice the mushrooms and saute them to release most of the liquid. Set aside
- Crisp up the bacon and crumble it. Set aside.
- If your pork loin is really long, consider cutting it in half to make it easier to work with.
- Make 3 cuts into the pork loin (length-wise), so that it can be "unrolled" into one large piece of pork that is evenly thick the whole way through. (This is much easier said than done and may take some practice).
- Mix the pear butter, mushrooms and bacon together.
- Slather the mixture on the "cut" side of the pork loin, leaving about half an inch to an inch of empty space along the border.
- Roll the pork and filling up and tie it every few inches with kitchen twine to keep it from unrolling.
- Generously coat the outside with oil, salt and pepper.
- In a large pan (we used our griddle), brown each side of the pork roulade.
- Put it on a baking sheet and place it into a 350 degree oven.
- Cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 160.
- Take the pork out and let it rest for at least 20 minutes (you can tent it with foil to keep it warm).
- Cut off the strings, slice the pork and serve. If there are any juices, pour those on top. Cranberry sauce and gravy go well with it too.

Potato Salad

So I make my potato salad a little differently than how most people make it. I have no idea where I learned it from, maybe my mom? But honestly, I don't remember her ever making potato salad growing up.

Regardless of where I learned it from, it's the way I like it these days, and this is how I make it...

Ingredients:
- Potatoes
- Eggs
- Bacon
- Ham (the real stuff, not sliced lunch meat)
- Peas
- Mayo
- Salt
- Pepper
- Cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions:
- Peel and boil or steam the potatoes until they're cooked through but not falling apart (a knife should go through it smoothly but still meet a bit of resistance)
- Drain the potatoes and dunk them in an ice bath to cool them down if you're short on time, or just set them aside and let them cool down on their own.
- Hard boil a few eggs and set aside or dunk them in an ice bath to let them cool.
- Crisp up some bacon and set aside to let cool.
- Thaw the peas if using frozen or cook them if using fresh.
- Dice the ham into 1/2 inch cubes.
- Peel then dice the eggs into 1/2 inch cubes.
- Crumble the bacon.
- Cut the potatoes into 1 inch cubes.
- If you're using cheddar cheese, either shred it or cut into 1/2 inch cubes, depending on your personal preference.
- Mix the potatoes, eggs, ham, bacon and peas (and cheese if you're using it) with enough mayo to coat everything.
- Season generously with salt and pepper.
- You can either serve it immediately or make it ahead of time, cover it, and store it in the fridge until chow time.

Potato Slabs

I saw these at Amber's Delectable Delights and knew that just I had to make them for our Super Bowl party. How she got them to be so evenly sliced, I have no idea. But regardless of how they look, they taste great!

Both the hubs and I like them better than traditional potato skins. Potato skins, although crispier, are often too oily. If we could just get these crispy like potato skins, they'd be perfect. Maybe deep fry them instead of baking them next time?

Source - Amber's Delectable Delights
Ingredients:
- Potatoes (I used russett)
- Bacon
- Shredded cheese
- Sour cream, chives, etc (optional)

Directions:
- Cut the potatoes into ~1/4 inch slabs.
- Lay them out in a single layer on a buttered baking sheet and put them in a 350 degree oven until soft (about 30 minutes).
- Crisp up the bacon and crumble into small pieces.
- Sprinkle the cheese and bacon bits on the potatoes and put them back in the oven until melted.
- Top with sour cream and chives if desired.

Sauteed Green Beans

I'm not a big fan of the traditional green bean casserole. I am however, a big fan of bacon :)

Here is my preference for Thanksgiving green beans, sauteed in bacon fat, with some red bell pepper for added color and sliced almonds as a garnish.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of green beans
• 1 onion sliced thinly
  
• 1 red bell pepper sliced thinly
  
• 2 (or more) slices of bacon
• salt to taste
• almond slices

Method:

• Clean and trim the green beans. Blanche them in boiling water or steam them until tender and put them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process and to keep their bright green color.
• Cut up the bacon into tiny pieces and cook until crispy.
• Add the onion and saute until soft and carmelized.
• Add the red bell pepper and saute until heated through. I like to keep it a bit crispy.
• Add the green beans to heat through.
• Add salt to taste (this may not be necessary since the bacon is already pretty salty).
• Sprinkle some almond slices on top and serve.
  

Award Winning Bacon Wrapped Dates

Can you believe these little guys have won an award?

Well, not these exact guys, but a variation of them that I made last year. We have some friends who have an annual Iron Chef potluck where you are told a secret ingredient about a week ahead of time and then everyone brings potluck dishes to share and vote on by secret ballot. We got to participate in this fun event last year and the secret ingredient was liqueur.

Normally, I either stuff my bacon wrapped dates with goat cheese or with an almond. Since the secret ingredient was liqueur, I decided to infuse the goat cheese with amaretto! Great idea, right? It tasted great and we won the prize for most creative dish and was up there in the running for best appetizer too!

But since Thanksgiving didn't require me to use liqueur and I was being lazy, I didn't stuff the dates at all. The hubby said that without the cheese, the dates were too overpowering, so next time I won't leave out the cheese.

Ingredients:
- Pitted dates
- Bacon
- Goat cheese

Method:
- Split the dates and stuff them with goat cheese.
- Microwave the bacon for about a minute to render out some of the excess fat.
- Cut the bacon pieces in half (unless you have huge dates) and wrap each of the dates in the bacon.
- Place the bacon wrapped dates seam side down on a baking sheet (I used a silpat to make clean up a bit easier). If you have trouble keeping the bacon from unraveling, stick a toothpick through them.
- Put them into a 350 degree and cook until the bacon is nice and crispy. I think it took about 30 minutes though I wasn't really paying attention =P

BLT with a Twist

Yum. My hubby makes the best BLT's (and his other sandwiches are pretty darn good too). You would think that sandwiches are pretty straightforward and if you use the same ingredients, it would taste the same no matter who makes it, but somehow, that's just not the case. Hubby's sandwiches are waaay better than mine, and one of his favorites to make is the BLT. Who doesn't love some crisp bacon and lettuce with some juicy tomatoes? This time, for an extra little twist, I asked him to add a bit of blue cheese. It's hard to improve on something as simple and great as a BLT, but personally, I liked this even better! If you are a fan of the smelly goodness of blue cheese like I am, I encourage you to give this combo a try.

And just because I want to, here's a picture of my first tomato ever! It was small and the skin was a bit on the tough side, but the flesh was oh so sweet. And look, it's shaped like a heart <3>
P.S. - I just learned from the hubz that one key to making this sandwich is to put the cheese on the mayo because it helps it stick better. See, I told sandwich making is more complicated than it seems! He was also the one who taught me to put peanut butter on one slice of bread and jelly on the other when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I used to try to put the jelly on top of the peanut butter and always had such a difficult time. I mean, duh! Doesn't that just make sense? How come I never thought of it?

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread 2 slices of bacon 1/2 tomato sliced 1 leaf of lettuce Mayo Blue cheese

Method:
Toast the bread and smear on a layer of mayo. Add the blue cheese, bacon, tomato, and lettuce. Cut in half and savor the goodness.

i heart bacon

Who doesn't love bacon? You can wrap almost anything in bacon and it'll be good. This time, I chose shrimp.

This is a super simple, super delicious appetizer.

Ingredients:
- 4 strips of bacon
- 12 Shrimp, peeled and deveined

Instructions:
- Lay out the bacon on a paper towel and cover it with another paper towel
- Put the bacon and paper towel in the microwave for 1 minute (this will soften the bacon and soak up some of the grease)
- Cut the bacon into thirds
- Wrap each shrimp with one-third of the bacon and place on a baking sheet, seem-side down
- Put it under the broiler for ~5 minutes, until the shrimp is cooked and the bacon is crispy. Be sure to keep an eye on it, it doesn't take long at all and can burn really quickly.