Pasta with Bacon and Leeks

After a very long hiatus, I've finally found the time to dedicate to my blog (and cooking!) My hubs and I had a very eventful Spring/early Summer - we put our house up for sale, packed, moved and unpacked all while I was traveling 4 nights/week and at one point worked 21 days straight with no day off. It was CRAZY! So now we are in the middle of Summer and enjoying our new house immensely. Therefore I figure it's time to get cooking again. Oh how I've missed it!!

I have a ton of recipes I will be sharing over the coming weeks, but here is one to get the ball rolling. As with most of my recipes this beauty is adapted from Pioneer Woman. I just love her. If you haven't checked out her website, it's a must. She has a great sense of humor.

This recipe is great because it cooks up quickly. Definitely what I would consider a quick and easy after work dinner. I liken the taste of this to Beef Stroganoff (no clue why). My hubs said it reminds him of Spaghetti Carbonara. In any case, it's yummy!

Prep Time - 10-20 minutes

Cooking Time - 15 minutes

Adapted From - Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

12 oz Pasta cooked Al Dente (reserve @ 1 cup of the pasta water)

3 oz thick sliced bacon or pancetta

3 small leeks or 1.5 large leeks

1/2 cup white wine (If you have dry wine that's best, I used a Sauvignon Blanc as that's what I had) - if you don't like wine, you can use Chicken Broth instead

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

Parmesan Cheese, Shaved

Directions:

Cook pasta and while cooking begin steps below. Set aside cooked pasta but don't forget to reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water (I usually ladle out and put the hot water in a measuring cup).

Slice leeks very thin. Chop bacon/pancetta and saute until fat is rendered and it starts to brown (I kept the heat at medium). Add sliced leeks and cook for 8 minutes. Pour in wine, then cook an additional 1-2 minutes, until reduced. Reduce heat to low, then pour in cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in Parmesan shavings. Toss in pasta, adding a little pasta water to thin as needed. Serve with Parmesan shavings over the top—delicious!

Enjoy!

~J

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

At any given point since late December, I can open my fridge and find it's packed. And not with over-processed junk but with tons of fresh veggies and ingredients that are just calling to me. And my jeans thank me. In any case, I have a ton of mushrooms and needed to find ways to use them up. I did a search through some of my favorite websites and came across an adapted recipe for crab stuffed mushrooms. I went seeking the original recipe but decided I too needed to change things up a bit. The end result made for a yummy and super easy treat. I made these beauties for dinner, but they would be great to serve as an appetizer. Since crab meat can be pricey, I wouldn't recommend these as something to bring to every party, but once in awhile they can be a fun addition!

Roasted Kale

Kale has always been one of those mystery vegetables. I see it constantly this time of year in the supermarket but never knew if it would be worth purchasing or not. Just recently I've been seeing a lot of recipes that call for kale too. Today I visited the brand new farmer's market at the Piazza in Northern Liberties. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was hoping for more veggie stands and way less baked good stands (too tempting!)

I was a good girl and only bought small potatoes and kale (for less than $4 total). The farmer said he had just cut the kale yesterday morning and it looked amazingly fresh. He had two types, green and purple. I decided for my first venture with using kale, I should stick to something green to be safe.

Baked Pasta with Butternut Squash and Ricotta

It's no fun when you are home sick. It's even worse when you are recovering from an operation and stuck inside for hours on end. My dear friend Chrissi recently had major surgery (but is bouncing back nicely). So my girls and I decided to make a trek to visit and cheer her up. I offered to make dinner for us all. I wanted to find a recipe that was winter appropriate, yummy and low-fat. I decided to do a search on WeightWatchers.com for a casserole dish. I found this recipe and decided it would be perfect. I'm so glad everyone liked it. I was impressed it was so easy to make and so good too!!

Slow-Cooker White Bean and Turkey Chili

I've been aching for chili for awhile now. I've read a hundred various recipes but knew I needed to make something low fat, healthy and delicious. Today we de-decorated the house and watched Football Playoffs, so what better time to eat some chili!

Since 2006, I've been on and off Weight Watchers. I've had great success in the past and recommend it to anyone looking to improve eating habits.

I stumbled upon this recipe on the Weight Watchers site. I believe you may need to be a member of Weight Watchers to read their recipes online, but here is my adapted version below (I served this with a simple salad of spinach, tomatoes, artichoke hearts and black olives topped with a balsamic vinegarette I pulled together).

Enjoy!

Homemade Salsa

Well something was definitely needed to go with my homemade chips, so why not some homemade salsa?

I stumbled upon this recipe linked in another blog and decided to give it a try. Mostly because salsa in the refrigerated section is really getting expensive ($4 or $5 per tub) and I don't like salsa from a jar. This little recipe pulls together quite quickly. The aroma is amazing too. Then again I love anything with garlic, onions, and tomatoes.

But salsa, oh my, I could eat bowls and bowls of this stuff!!

Homemade Chips

I'm sure you've heard of Hungry Girl, right? If not, you definitely need to check out her recipes online or one of her many cookbooks. She also offers a daily newsletter with all kinds of healthy eating tips, recipes and more.

I stumbled across the recipe awhile back and made it several times when I was single but never for Paul, and I have no clue why. We both love chips and salsa.

Since I've been shopping, cooking and eating at home as much as possible since late December, I decided it was time to start making more snack foods too.

Here's a great little snack that's also low in Weight Watchers points.

Football Widow Shrimp Stir-Fry

This is partly in jest. My husband is a huge Eagles fan and normally hits Table 13 every Sunday to catch the game. Lately the Eagles games have been coming on at 4 or 4:30 so he's never home in time to have dinner with me. Much to his dismay, I'm not a fan of sports, really at all. If it's on in the background, I'll glance from time to time. Unlike most husbands, he is completely understanding and doesn't make me watch football games with him. What does this equal? For him, time to hang with his buddies. And for me, time to watch whatever I want on tv!

Tonight's dinner for me was super quick and super easy to make. You could increase this recipe for the appropriate number of people, but the recipe as you see below is ideal for one person. And great for a quick and fresh dinner after a long day at work!

Peanut Butter Temptations

This recipe was given to me by a co-worker. I mentioned that I made brownies stuffed with Reese Cups and she insisted I try these. They are sooo good, it's amazing. The original recipe came from Southern Living Magazine. I haven't been able to find the original recipe online, but I found plenty of variations.

Below is one variation. I hope you enjoy!

Salted Double Chocolate Cookies

Wow, two of my favorite things in one recipe? Sea salt and chocolate. Yum!

I found this recipe on a great blog I just recently stumbled across, Confections of a Foodie Bride. I'll be trying a lot more of her recipes in the future. But first I had to try the cookies.