ARUGULA SALAD WITH WHITE BEANS AND BACON

This salad is a copycat of my favorite salad from a neighborhood deli.  The exact description from their menu: arugula, pastina, cannellini beans, smokey bacon, walnuts, parmesan cheese, sherry vinaigrette.  I always order it without walnuts, because I firmly believe that nuts and fruit have no place in salads.  Also, I couldn't find a sherry vinaigrette anywhere, so regular balsamic took over dressing duty.  And finally, I realized I had a perfectly ripe avocado ready to be used, and everyone knows bacon and avocado are best friends, so I threw that on there after taking pictures.  The avocado was amazing and I highly recommend you also use one.

The lineup.  I baked the bacon, method here.

How cute is this little pasta?  Reminds me of couscous. 

This salad makes me so happy.

Ingredients

Arugula
Acini di pepe, cooked and cooled (or any tiny, pearled pasta)
Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Bacon, cooked and broken into bite sized pieces
Shaved parmesan cheese
Avocado
Balsamic vinaigrette, or any vinaigrette

Toss arugula in bowl with dressing.  Plate the arugula, then top with remaining ingredients.  Season entire salad with salt and fresh cracked pepper.  Vary amounts of ingredients based on your preferences!

OVEN BACON

Things I love: bacon and Martha Stewart.  Things I hate: the way my house stinks after I make bacon in the griddle and cleaning up after.  Thank goodness for Martha!  This isn't so much a recipe as it is a method.  If you like your bacon crispy and want to avoid grease splatter all over your stove top and counters, do as Martha says: Put the bake back in bacon!

It's simple.  Line deep baking sheets with parchment, lay the bacon down without overlapping, bake at 400 for 18 minutes.  I loved everything about it, except I think I'll line the pans with foil next time.  Parchment paper doesn't crumple as nicely as foil, so little droplets of bacon grease ended up on my shirt during clean up.  Oops.

Martha's method: http://www.marthastewart.com/264476/less-mess-bacon

ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH BACON

Raise your hand if you hate brussels sprouts!  Okay, now put it down because I'm about to convert you.  People either love them or hate them, and it takes a great recipe to turn the haters.  This is most definitely one of those recipes.  It is super simple and super delicious.  Did I mention the bacon???  These are the only ingredients you'll need:

Clean your brussels sprouts and cut off the hard bottoms.  Cut the bigger sprouts in half, unless you have a gigantic mouth.  In a baking dish or pan, toss them with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.  Mix mix mix.  Mentally prepare yourself for bacon time.  I read somewhere that if you rinse your bacon with water before you cook it, then it won't shrivel up!  This recipe sounded like it needed fat, soft bacon, so I rinsed four slices of thick cut bacon in cold water.  Then I cut them into inch sized pieces (get out those kitchen scissors!) and scattered them on top of the veggies.

Bake at 400 for half an hour, stirring once halfway through.  I put them under the broiler for a couple minutes at the end to give them a teeny bit more crisping.

Original recipe here

GUY FIERI'S WHITE LASAGNA WITH SPICY TURKEY SAUSAGE AND MUSHROOMS

This is the best lasagna I have ever had.  Seriously, ever.  In my entire life!  I am not patting myself too hard on the back here because all the credit goes to Guy Fieri.  His recipe was perfection.  Click here to find out for yourself!

This is a tomato-less lasagna and that includes the sauce.  Instead of a marinara, it oozes with a creamy white cheese sauce.  Surprisingly it didn't feel heavy, like a typical creamy pasta dish.  The addition of mushrooms, spinach and zucchini help push it away from the "heavy" category as well.

Speaking of spinach, I made a couple tweaks to the recipe.  Spinach was not listed as an ingredient.  Nor did the recipe call for copious amounts of cheese.  I know you are absolutely SHOCKED to hear that I deviated from the plan, and for that, I apologize.  No, you know what?  I don't!  I will never apologize for using extra cheese.  Anyway, here are the changes:  a full cup of parmesan for the sauce, chopped fresh spinach mixed into the ricotta mixture, aaaaaaaand like maybe double the amount of mozzarella.  What?  Cheese is delicious.

P.S. The people I served this to had seconds.  Gave compliments to the chef with their mouths full.  Asked for leftovers to take home.  Two mushroom haters gobbled it down.  It's that good.

HUMMUS CRUSTED CHICKEN

Do you ever bookmark recipes, only to forget about them and then of course, never make them?  Yeah. Me neither.  So when my friend, Nicole, sent me this recipe for Hummus Crusted Chicken I had two thoughts.  1, this chicken looks AMAZING.  And 2, this chicken looks FAMILIAR.  So I searched my saved recipes, and sure enough, there it was!  That's when you know you have to make something.  Nicole has never led me astray when it comes to food, and she absolutely raved about this chicken.  Oh, and did I mention it cooks in one pan and requires minimal prep?

I didn't follow the recipe EXACTLY (shocking, I know) so here are my changes: I used my mandoline to slice the veggies in record time, forgot to use an onion, fileted the chicken breasts so they'd cook faster, and used sumac AND smoked paprika for flavor.  Pat the chicken as dry as you can get it so the hummus sticks on there really well. 

Delicious and healthy dinner in half an hour, what more could you ask for?

P.S.  Apologies for the not great pictures.  Lack of daylight and desire to dig in are to blame.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS AND PESTO PASTA VIA SIRIOUSLY DELICIOUS

I don't know about you guys, but I am feeling lazy.  September means school is back in session and ordering pizza/Chinese/both is becoming extremely tempting.  Measuring ingredients and reading a recipe seems like too daunting a task these days.  So when I saw this "recipe" I knew it had to happen in my kitchen.  We've had this pasta twice now, and the first time I found a bag of shaved brussels sprouts at Target.  The second time, I finally got to use the amazing mandoline my lovely friend, Andrea, gave me for my birthday!  It was fun.  The pieces were more substantial than the bagged kind and had fresher flavor.  You could also use a very sharp knife if you aren't lucky enough to have an Andrea in your life.

The amount of pesto, pasta, cheese and brussels sprouts really depends on your personal taste.  I used an entire pound of veggies, but you may not love brussels sprouts so you could use less, of course.  Mix and taste until you find the amount perfect for you!

P.S.  This is fabulous leftover and definitely makes lunch a happy occasion.

Yup, that's all you need!

I love you, mandoline.

Crispy and browned.

Don't forget to save some yummy pasta water!

Mix mix mix.

Dig in.  I dare you to resist!

Ingredients

1 lb pasta (any short shape will do)
1 lb Brussels sprouts, shaved
7-10 ounces refrigerated pesto basil
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
grated parmesan cheese (I used 1/2 cup)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup reserved pasta water

Boil pasta in salted water in a large pot, according to package directions. Meanwhile, saute Brussels sprouts in olive oil until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  When pasta is al dente, scoop out about a cup of pasta water.  Drain pasta and return to pot.  Add pesto, brussels sprouts and almost all the pasta water.  Stir to combine, then add cheese.  Give it a good stir, and decide if you need to add remaining pasta water to give it a saucy consistency.  Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.  Serve immediately. 

SHORT RIB LASAGNA

I tore another recipe from one of my mom's magazines.  Better Homes and Gardens had this amazing recipe in their February issue.  I was instantly sold because I love tender, shredded meat and I do NOT like ricotta cheese.  This is a ricotta-less lasagna!  Instead, it has a creamy Gruyere cheese sauce.  It was so comforting and delicious.  Short ribs simmered for a few hours with carrots, onions, mushrooms, beef broth and red wine. Layered with the cheese sauce and pasta, baked to perfection!  Yum.  MAKE THIS!

A few tweaks to make this lasagna as flavorful as possible: after shredding the meat, add a little salt and pepper to taste.  Don't completely drain the meat super dry, let it stay juicy; you want those flavors in your finished product.  Season the cheese sauce with salt and pepper before assembling the lasagna.  Taste it and make sure it's to your liking.  Also, my meat took about four and a half hours to finish cooking on the stove top, so don't bank on yours being done after the stated time in recipe.  My meat was thick!  Broil at the end if you want a golden crust on top.

Hello, meat.

Hello, lasagna.