Warm Corn Chowder Salad- My Take.

I will openly admit, though some of my Idaho and Utah friends may think of it as blasphemous, that I am NOT a big fan of meat. 

It weighs you down, makes you feel heavy, and gives you a general all around "blah" feeling.

However, I feel like it needs to be at least a small part of the human diet (we have canine teeth for cripes sakes! It's SCIENCE PEOPLE!) and, let's be honest- I have cravings and, though it is heavy and makes me feel kind of gross afterwards, I do have the occasional craving for a Big Mac, Whopper, or a nice juicy steak. I'm human and when I am craving meat, I would prefer to chow down. 

This whole week I've been sick, tired and feeling blah...and tonight I REALLY didn't want to cook, but I also didn't want to eat something heavy and greasy like pizza. I had to fight the urge to order sandwiches from Pizza Hut (their sandwiches are the BOMB the night you order them, but be warned, they are not so bomb diggity the next day.) Then I remembered I had this recipe on my meal plan and hadn't made it yet. Light, easy, and quick...magic words when you're so tired you can barely see straight.

So,  as promised, here is my adaptation for THIS recipe. Sorry, its not a photo tutorial (the babies wouldn't cooperate for me to be in the kitchen that long.), but I did take a picture of the end result. P.S> TODDLER FRIENDLY ALERT! My girls DEVOURED this...Don't believe me? I took a few pictures of them devouring it for proof (you'll see them later.)

What did I need to adapt? Well... I'm not a HUGE fan of raw onions. I LOVE me some veggies, and can eat most of them raw with no problems, but onions and I aren't friends unless they are sauteed, sweet and tender...I also don't care for jalepenos. I LOVE spicy food, but not jalepenos (I know, I'm weird.)   I also felt like it just needed a little more variety when it came to veggies. I love corn and potatoes, but they are both high in carbohydrates and I just needed a little something extra in there to balance them out... 

Read on:

I took 5 strips of bacon and chopped them up into bite sized pieces, I also diced 1/3 of a medium sized red onion, and 1/3 of a green pepper. I threw them all in the pan together...While the bacon cooked, the onions and peppers sauteed in the grease.When the bacon was just about cooked and the onions were almost done, I chopped 1/2 c of spinach (I used it sparingly, but would have put more in if I hadn't needed to share with my girls) and tossed it in the pan. I cooked it until it was just beginning to wilt. I then dumped the contents of the pan into a bowl and set it aside.

Next, I ran a stick of butter over the pan to lightly coat it and sprayed that with some Pam to keep it from burning.  I then added 2 1/2 c of diced red potatoes (cut into about 1/4 inch cubes) to the pan. I salted, peppered, and onion powdered to what I believed would taste good. Tossed the potatoes around to mix the seasonings, and then covered the pan and left it for about 3 minutes. This allows the potatoes to brown on one side while becoming tender in the middle. It basically cuts your cook time in half. I stirred the potatoes, covered them and repeated the process. I tasted the potatoes after about 6 minutes to check seasonings (you don't want to over salt, remember you will have the bacon in there later) and to see how tender they were (it took about 10 minutes for my potatoes to be tender.) 

Once the potatoes were tender. I added 3/4 c frozen corn to the pan and cooked the mix, stirring occasionally, until the corn was cooked through. Your potatoes should have a lightly browned, crispy exterior at this point.  Go ahead and toss back in the bacon mixture. Cook together to meld flavors and reheat bacon mixture for 2-5 ish minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. Stir well to get the vinegar to dress the whole mix. (I was apprehensive about the vinegar too. To be honest, I kind of wish I'd added a splash more after I tasted it. When you add just enough it really makes the sweetness of the corn, onions, and bell peppers pop and brings out the lovely smoky flavor of the bacon. If you're really nervous, just add it in splashes, mix and taste it to be sure that its to your liking.)

Et Voila!

Again, I wish I'd added more spinach. 

Oddly enough, the Cupcake surprised me by picking through her food to find the spinach and eat it first and then ate everything else. As suspected, the Little Diva, who loves spinach when its raw, ate around it and ignored it in cooked form. 

Oh yeah...you need the pictoral proof that toddlers love this...Well then, here ya go:

The end!

Hugs and loves until next time, darlings!

Summer Veggie and Pesto Skillet

So....I will start with my husband's critical assessment of tonight's dish...

Quote 1: "Its so good-its almost disappointing because its so healthy, but then there's the bacon."
Quote 2: "This is really, REALLY good. Definitely a make again."

Isn't he so convincing when it comes to trying my culinary endeavors?

When I'm pregnant, I find myself craving certain flavors and I usually find that I'm a little more adventurous in the kitchen than I normally am...sometimes the results are disastrous, but then there are nights like tonight where all of the flavors that I want marry together into one harmonious dish.

The bonus of tonight's dish- Its actually semi healthy.  Yes, there is some butter when it comes to getting a nice crisp hash on the potatoes and the bacon....but other than that, its all summer veggies that you will find in your garden or really cheap in the store right now because its all in season.

Originally, I had intended the zucchini, bacon, and onion sautee part of tonight's dish to be on a bed of linguini tossed in pesto sauce...and you could totally do that (it would probably make it a bit more healthy because you're not cooking with the extra butter...) but I was craving potatoes tonight and decided we'd give it a whirl, if it was a disaster then, oh well...

Here's what you'll need:

4 medium red potatoes, diced
2 medium zuchinni, sliced
1 small red onion (or regular onion would work, red is just what we had in the house.)
1/2 package of bacon, cut into bits
2-4 Tbs of butter
1/4-1/2 c Pesto (to taste, you may like it with more or less pesto mixed in.)
parmesan cheese (optional, topping)
diced tomatoes (optional, topping)
onion salt (optional topping)

Here's what you do:

In a frying pan, melt the butter. Put the potatoes into the pan and cover with a lid for about 5 minutes to tenderize them. Add garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste (keeping in mind that you're going to be tossing them in pesto later) Allow them to fry on each side and turn them to get a lovely hash/fry on each side.  Remove the potatoes from the pan to a large bowl

Add the raw, cut up bacon and allow it to start cooking down. After about 2 minutes add the onions. Cook together until onions are translucent (aka getting a bit of a sautee, about half done) add the sliced zucchini and salt and pepper to taste(they will take less time to sautee- keep in mind again, as you season, that the zucchini are going to be tossed in pesto)  Cook until the zucchini is sufficiently sauteed and them mix in the bowl with the potatoes (trying to drain off as much of the grease as possible as you transfer it over.)

Add the pesto and toss. Be careful how much you add at first, depending on the pesto you use, you may need more or less.  Allow the dish to sit for a few minutes so all the flavors can "marry" together.

Dish into a bowl or onto a plate. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, then tomatoes, then sprinkle onion powder to taste...enjoy!

The perks of this dish?

If you want a vegetarian option, you can TOTALLY forgo the bacon and just use a bit of butter or oil of your choice to sautee the rest of the veggies...

If you're not a potato person, you can always opt to toss a pasta in the pesto and then cover it with the veggies and toppings, so its versatile.

Its in season right now- everything is probably getting ready to come out of your garden or is already sitting in your fridge right now.

For those of you trying to keep your "bikini bod", its light and semi-healthy so you don't have to feel like you need to do a million crunches to make up for eating it.

Its fast! It literally took me 20 minutes to cook everything so A) it won't heat up your kitchen B) its technically a better option than a fast food salad because it probably will take you longer to find your keys and drive somewhere...

Bon Appetit

Hugs and loves until next time darlings!