A lil late for BB but still SO yummy!

I know I haven't been keeping up with Barefoot Bloggers lately but the recipes just didn't appeal to me (or Greg!). THIS though was a total winner and I knew right away that I'd have to make it. LOOK at my amazing Croque Monsieur! They're even better than my Croque Madame! I only made very few adjustments (due to the limited options at our Safeway) and served them with some tomatoes on the side. Does that ooey gooey cheese look yummy or what?

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 c hot milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Pinch nutmeg
2 c Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated
4 slices white sandwich bread, toasted, crusts removed
2 tsp Dijon mustard
4 slices ham
2 thick slices of tomatoes

Prep:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the flour all at once, stirring with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Slowly pour the hot milk into the butter–flour mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened. Off the heat add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1/4 cup Monterey Jack, and the Parmesan and set aside.

2. Lightly brush half the toasted breads with mustard, add 2 slices of ham to each, and sprinkle with half the remaining Monterey Jack. Top with another piece of toasted bread. Slather the tops with the cheese sauce, sprinkle with the remaining Monterey Jack, and bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned. Serve hot with tomatoes on the side.

BB: Banana Sour Cream Pancakes...I mean MUFFINS

Our latest Barefoot Blogger assignment is Banana Sour Cream Pancakes. BUT I thought I'd kick it up a notch and make some muffins instead since they're way more portable and easier to share! The sour cream and bananas were a new combination for me but they were PERFECT together! Sour, sweet AND creamy, how could you go wrong? The walnuts add a slight crunch making these great for breakfast, brunch, snacking, whatever!

Ingredients: (6 muffins)

¼ c (½ stick) butter, softened
½ c sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
¾ c all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ c (1 large) mashed banana
½ c walnuts, chopped
¼ c sour cream

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir in banana, nuts and sour cream.

3. Spoon into greased or paper lined muffin pan to ⅔ full. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

BB: Coq Au Vin (in the slow cooker)

It's Barefoot Blogger time again and we're making Coq Au Vin! I thought this yummy bacon and chicken dish would be awesome in the slow cooker and I was TOTALLY right! The meat was SO tender and juicy from the bacon drippings and stock. We still have left-overs and I'm thinking maybe in a pasta dish?

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon
8 chicken pieces (I used thighs)
1 large onion, sliced
4 Tbsp garlic, minced
½ lb mushrooms, sliced
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 c chicken stock
1 c dry red wine

Prep:

1. Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet to drain but reserve the bacon fat.

2. Brown chicken pieces on all sides in reserved bacon grease.

3. Put onion, garlic and mushrooms in slow cooker. Add chicken, bacon and any leftover juices from the skillet.

4. Mix remaining ingredients except wine and pour over chicken.

5. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Turn heat to HIGH and add wine. Cook for an additional hour.

BB: Veggie, No CHICKEN Pot Pie!

This time, our Barefoot Blogger recipe was Vegetable Pot Pie, but I knew Greg wasn't about to eat something with absolutely no meat in it! SO...I improvised and made Chicken Pot Pie instead! I've never even CONSIDERED making my own pot pie before but this was pretty easy! Of course, I cheated and used Bisquick instead of making the pastry from scratch and cooked chicken but, hey, I'm a working girl and this seriously beats the frozen Marie Callendar pies! :)



Ingredients: (4 servings)

12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1½ sticks)
½ c all-purpose flour
2½ c chicken broth
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 c frozen peas and carrots
1 c cubed cooked chicken
1 c Bisquick mix
¾ c milk

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, reduce heat to low, and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Slowly add the stock, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickens. Add chicken, peas and carrots; cook until hot and bubbly.

3. Spoon mixture into a 1½-quart casserole.

4. In small bowl, stir together Bisquick mix and milk until well blended. Pour evenly over filling mixture.

5. Bake 30 minutes or until light brown.

Barefoot Blogger - Risotto

This is my 2nd Barefoot Blogger recipe and I tweaked it quite a bit. It was supposed to be Butternut Squash Risotto, but they didn't have Butternut Squash at our little Safeway so I used Pumpkin instead. AND we also didn't have Arborio rice, so I used Knorr Rice Sides instead. Lastly, there was definitly no Saffron, so I used Sage. It turned out REALLY yummy and creamy though and we loved it! :)


Ingredients:

1 c canned pumpkin
2 c chicken stock
2 Tbsp butter
1 c ham, diced
1 pkg Knorr Rice Sies (chicken)
1 tsp sage
1 c Mozarella cheese
1 c Parmesan cheese

Prep:

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat, then stir in Rice Sides. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat.

2.Reduce heat to low and simmer, add sage, milk and ham, stirring occasionally. Simmer 15 minutes until rice is tender. Stir in Mozarella cheese and pumpkin. Mix well and serve with Parmesan sprinkled on top.

My First Barefoot Blogger!

This is my very FIRST Barefoot Blogger recipe and it turned out SO yummy! I did modify it a little bit though. First of all, I cut the serving size down to half because there's only 2 of us in the house and we didn't wanna be eating left-overs for the rest of the week. I also cooked everything in 1 pot instead of warming the milk in 1 saucepan, making the sauce in another and boiling the pasta in yet ANOTHER pot. (WAY too many dishes for me to wash!) Some of the cheeses were hard to find at our tiny Safeway so I just stuck with the Mexican Blend since it's got a great mixture of Cheddar, Monterery Jack, Asadero and Queso Blanco Cheese. (Plus we ALWAYS have it in our fridge!) I also didn't have any bread in the house (that wasn't moldy!) so I just used Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs, which turned out great! Lastly I added mushrooms because we LOVE mushrooms in our pasta dishes! Here's my modified recipe.

Ingredients: 2 servings

5 slices thick-sliced bacon
Vegetable oil
Kosher salt
1 c elbow macaroni
1 c milk
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz (1 c) shredded Mexican cheese blend
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 c sliced mushrooms
1 Tbsp dried basil
½ Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Prep:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon in 1 layer on the baking rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove the pan carefully from the oven - there will be hot grease in the pan! Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and crumble when it is cool enough to handle.

3. Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

4. Add mushrooms, butter and milk into drained pot and turn heat down to low. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the cheese, salt, pepper, basil and bacon. Pour into baking dish and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Here it is all bubbling away...

And here it is waiting to go into our tummies!