Bacon. It's a Food Group.

 

 I've always been a lover of bacon. Thanks to social media, ALL of my friends know I have a big, fat love affair with it.  Take a look at a few of things that have been posted on my Facebook wall by my friends or me, just because they know about my insane infatuation with the duct tape of all food.

Being the resident recipe housewife, I must share a favorite recipe involving BACON! 

I make so many things with it, Pampered Chef Chopped Salad (it's the BEST), Bacon & Tomato Cups, Outback's Alice Springs' Chicken, Cooked Cabbage, Arkansas Green Beans, broccoli/cauliflower salad, pasta salad, BLT's, etc. But, the one that comes to mind right at this moment and that I would love to sink my chompers into is...

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts! Mmmm!  

Click link to go to the original website -  

Oh So Delicioso

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds bacon

2 cans whole water chestnuts

1 cup barbecue sauce

1 cup honey

toothpicks

Directions

Cut your bacon in half. Wrap each water chestnut with bacon and secure it with a toothpick. Place in a 9"x13" cake pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

Combine barbecue sauce and honey and whisk to combine. Drizzle over water chestnuts.

Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour, or until bacon begins to crisp.

Serve warm.

Dear, SWEET Mrs. Priss even got me my very own BaCoN necklace the other day. Isn't she so thoughtful?! 

Do you have a favorite recipe that includes bacon? If so, I'd be ever so grateful to have it. 

I shall leave you with one more little bacon tidbit....

~Mrs. Albright Putting bacon on my bacon, like a...

Sum, Sum, Summertime!

Most people love summertime. They love the heat, they love the sun and can spend hours on end out on the water. Not me. Summertime is my least favorite season. I loathe heat and am allergic to the sun. For reals. But, there are a few things I do love about summertime. I love that my kids have no homework. I love not having schedules, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE summertime fruits and veggies. That's my absolute favorite thing about summer. 

I really wish I had a garden. I always say, "Maybe next year!" and it never happens. I end up buying my fresh fruit and veggies at produce stands. It tastes so good that I don't even complain much about how expensive it is. 

One of my very favorite summertime salad recipes is this pasta salad. It is so easy and absolutely delicious. One of my college roommates shared it with me and I've been making it for the past 25 years. 

Pasta Salad

1 box of Rotini pasta - cooked and rinsed with cold water

1 cucumber - chopped

2 tomatoes - chopped (or 6 Roma tomatoes, chopped)

1 can of sliced black olives

1/2 red onion - chopped

1 bottle of Zesty Italian dressing

3-4 Tbsp. Salad Supreme by McCormick

Toss altogether and let set in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. 

What is your favorite thing about summertime? Do you have a favorite summertime recipe you'd like for us to try? If so, please share it with us. If we love it, we'll blog about it. Have you ever used McCormick's Salad Supreme? If so, have you used it other than for the recipe on the back? 

~Mrs. Albright Enjoying the outdoors before it hits 90 degrees, like a.... 

Foodiness is so a Word!

I am a self-proclaimed foodie. I'm not a foodie like my sweet friend Katie over at Dish and Dishes who has written a book, Food Lovers' Guide to Oklahoma, and has her own segment on TV in Oklahoma City. I'm more of a foodie in the sense that I like to eat food. Eh. Okay, that and I do like to try new recipes, look for new recipes and share new recipes with my friends on Facebook. Katie really has it made. She gets paid for her foodiness. All I get are a lot of "likes" on Facebook. LOL! No really, it absolutely makes me smile when I have a friend come post on my "wall" that they tried a recipe I shared or when one comes and tells me they need dinner ideas. My husband says I need to figure out how to install a Paypal button on each post. He's so funny. No, seriously, anyone know how I can do that?!? :) 

I've got two recipes I want to share with you. The main dish, Outback's Alice Springs' Chicken, was a huge hit by everyone in my family. The cooked cabbage is only loved by my teenager and myself. We seriously love cooked cabbage so when one of my Facebook friends posted about her cooked cabbage I couldn't help but beg for the recipe. She was kind of enough to share it and she's given me permission to share it as well. 

Outback's Alice Springs' Chicken

Recipe: 
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

Lawry's Seasoning Salt
6 bacon slices
1/4 cup regular mustard
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp. Mayonnaise
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1 cup sliced fresh mushroom (I omitted because my family does not like mushrooms)

2 cup shredded Colby/Jack cheese
First, Sprinkle and rub the chicken breasts with seasoning salt. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is in the refrigerator, cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. ***Do not discard grease.***
Saute chicken in the bacon grease for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until browned. Place chicken in a 9" × 13" casserole dish or pan.
To make the Honey Mustard: In a small bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayonnaise and dried onion flakes.
Spread some of the Honey Mustard over each piece of chicken, then layer with mushrooms, crumbled bacon, and shredded cheese.
Bake in a 350° oven for 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and chicken is done.
Serve with the left over Honey Mustard Sauce that you made.
source: http://debrapate.blogspot.com/2012/01/outback-steakhouse-alice-springs.html

The chicken was very easy to put together. I made it even easier by buying thin-cut chicken breasts. That eliminated me pounding the heck out of the breasts. I did make a bit of an error. I forgot that I was going to need the bacon grease to brown the chicken in. I ended up throwing my cabbage in the bacon grease. I should have divided it. Oh, well. It didn't matter. I used a little coconut oil in the skillet and browned the chicken. I don't think it probably made a lick of difference. But, just in case you make these two dishes at the same meal, you might want to remember that. 

Cooked Cabbage 

Ingredients

•3 slices of bacon

•4 tablespoons of butter, divided

•1 cup of chopped onion

•1 medium to large head of cabbage, chopped (about 10 to 12 cups)

•1 teaspoon of kosher salt

•1/4 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper

•1/4 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning (like Slap Ya Mama), or to taste, optional

•2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, optional

•Dash dried red pepper flakes, optional

Instructions

Chop the bacon and cook until the fat is rendered. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter and the onion and saute about 4 minutes. Add a splash of water to the bottom of the skillet to deglaze the browned bits in the bottom. Add half the cabbage, salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning, and stir. Add the remaining cabbage, stir, reduce to a low simmer, cover and cook for about 30 minutes, or until cabbage reaches the desired consistency, stirring several times. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the cider vinegar. Adjust the salt and pepper if needed. 

That's some good stuff right there. Try it. You'll like it! 


~Mrs. Albright Trying to figure out how to make money sharing recipes on Facebook, like a...

School Lunch Ideas

If you clicked on this post thinking I was going to offer up some great lunch ideas, you have come to the wrong place.  If you want to commiserate with another parent about your child's horrible eating habits, you have arrived.
I have the worst time making a lunch for Jacob to take to school. He is Picky McPickerson when it comes to food.  The child doesn't even like peanut butter or any form of a sandwich - the staple of my own personal school lunches.  No lunch meat for this kid.
I make him eat in the cafeteria as many days as I can.  He is more likely to get a little bit of protein that way. But then there are the days when the cafeteria serves... sandwiches.  And other ghastly foods.  
I've been sending this.

Yup.  Whole grain peanut butter crackers. It's the one peanut butter this child of mine will eat and I'm pretty sure it isn't really peanut butter. It may say "whole grain" but it isn't really good for him.
I put this in his lunch with an apple and some chips. I am a HORRIBLE mother.
I'm seriously out of ideas so I googled for some new ideas.  I did not see one thing I thought my child would eat.  In fact, I found some sights with school lunches that had stuff that not even I would eat.    Surely I am not the only one who has this problem packing a lunch.  Right?  RIGHT?!!
I did come across one site with some good ideas for those of you with normal kids who might eat normal food: http://www.school-lunch-ideas.com/
Things are going to change around here.  I may go with the eat it or starve method.
I really want to know -  What's in your kiddo's lunchbox?


~ Mrs. Priss

Planning a lunch box revolution like...

Good Oklahoma Eatin'

Are you like me in that you tend to visit lots of the same restaurants over and over? I love to try new places, but I tend not to try them unless I've heard from someone that it's worth trying. If you, too, are stuck in a rut answering, "Where should we go to dinner?" I've got the information you need! 
I started following the blog Dishin and Dishes at least 3 years ago. I quickly fell in love with Katie's writing, stories and recipes she shared with her readers. I really related to her and she was just so sweet. We soon were blog friends, then Twitter friends, then Facebook friends and then this past summer, real life friends! 
Katie and her husband, Denis, who she refers to everywhere as Mr. Wonderful met us and another couple at Iguana Grill in Oklahoma City. Just like I thought, we hit it off and couldn't wait to get together again. Our husbands even had things in common - that's always a plus! 

Katie and me at Iguana Grill in OKC 
Katie messaged me a couple of weeks ago letting me know she was going to be in Tulsa for some local T.V. interviews. Ohhhhh..... I should probably tell you a little more about Katie. Katie's blog is mostly about food. She's what we bloggers refer to as a foodie. She and her husband got in to going to restaurants in the greater Oklahoma City area and she would take pictures of her food and then blog about the restaurant. What is really, really cool is Katie was noticed for this and asked to join local station Freedom 43 TV on Rise & Shine. She has her own foodie segment where she talks about restaurants and cooks! How cool is that? I can say, I knew her when....   I have just been so incredibly proud of her and being able to watch her climb has been fun. 
As if having your own little foodie segment on television wasn't enough, the girl went and wrote a book! Seriously. She makes most of us look like big, ol' slackers. Did I mention she also has a full-time job? Yep. The girl has got it going on. 
She wanted to get together for dinner while she was in Tulsa Monday night. I gathered a few of my dear friends and we met up at Cork Wine Cafe. I gave her several options of places and she chose The Cork. My friends and I love The Cork. We've held several of our RHOK events there. It's cozy and just lends itself to being a great place to visit and hang out. The food and drinks are yummy as well. 
Katie and her daughter, who attends a university in Tulsa, joined us. We had a great time visiting and laughing. When my close friends are around there is sure to be lots of laughing. Thankfully we didn't scare Katie or her daughter away. Ha! 

Katie Johnstonbaugh & me 

So sorry for the grain-y picture. The lighting was not the best in there. Katie with me and several of my dearest friends. 
Katie was so thoughtful and brought me a copy of her new book, Food Lover's Guide to Oklahoma. Believe or not, she has eaten at Tulsa restaurants I'd never even heard of! I can't wait to work my way through her book and try out some new places. This book would be awesome for you to do the same and to give as gifts to those hard-to-buy-for family and friends. 

You can find Food Lovers' Guide to Oklahoma on Amazon.
If you live in the OKC area, be sure to catch Katie on Freedom43tv's Rise & Shine on Wednesday mornings.You should also follow her blog Dishin and Dishes and her Facebook page. I know you'll be loving you some Katie, too as soon as you do! 




Mrs. Albright, Rubbing shoulders with local celebrities, like a....