Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops w/ Buttered Shells.

I will be loading you guys with two recipes today.  You. Are. Welcome.

The Buttered Shells part are just how they sound, but with a touch of Garlic Salt added.  Garlic makes many things taste yummier.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops

Bone-out Pork Chops

1 Slice of Bacon per Chop

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

2 tbsp Butter - softened

S&P to taste

Salt and Pepper your Pork Chops first, then wrap your Bacon around each Pork Chop - securing with a toothpick. Place Chops in a HOT pan drizzled with EVOO on Medium heat for about 8 minutes per side.

To make the garnish, mix together your Dijon and Butter.  Drop a bit on top of a steaming hot Chop and devour promptly.  I trust you will have no problem.

Yummy PIzza Cups.

I take these pictures on Friday mornings when I'm busy putting off work:

{I believe this showcases my most attractive qualities}

But for realz, these Pizza Cups were bomb.

Last week, I was going to make Pizza Biscuits, but decided to do a combo of those and Easy Peasy Cheesy Beefy Biscuit Cups, thus the Pizza Cup was born.

{I have many friends who are fantastic photographers.  Maybe one day they'll teach me the ways.}

You Will Need:

10 ct Refrigerated Biscuits
6 Large Pepperonis (or 12 small) - cut up into small pieces
6 slices Bacon - cooked and cut up into small pieces
Pizza Sauce ( I used Boboli - or you could make your own)
1 cup Mozarella Cheese

This is super easy, folks.  Grease a muffin pan and smooosh a Biscuit into each cup, covering all sides of the cup.  Pile Sauce, Pepperoni, and Bacon in each cup and top with some Mozarella!

Bake those bad boys according to your Biscuit package and be done with it.

Apricot Glazed Chicken w/ Cheesy Bacon Biscuits + FAIL.

I made Easy Peasy Beef Stroganoff and all was going well until...

...I used the wrong side of the pepper and put about 1/4 cup in the dish before I realized what I was doing.  What makes this even worse is that I already made this mistake just days before.  I am a self-proclaimed pepper lover, but the excess made the dish totally inedible to me.  Big Steven, however, chowed down because he can eat just about anything, which is great for my self-esteem.  He did be sure to write a big 'NO' in permanent marker on the large pepper side for future reference.  What a doll.  I managed to refill my pepper shaker to avoid any future issues.

Now to the good stuff:

Apricot Glazed Chicken

1.5 lbs Chicken Breast
1 jar Apricot Preserves (12 oz)
1/4 cup Water (cold)
2 tbsp Flour
S&P to taste
Poultry Seasoning to taste
EVOO

Drizzle a pan with EVOO and heat to Medium Heat.

Season your chicken with S&P and Poultry Seasoning.  Add to the heated pan and cook for about 5 minutes on each side.  Remove Chicken from the pan and transfer to a new pan (or rinse the old one) to avoid that yucky greasy chicken taste. 

Pour Apricot Preserves over Chicken and keep on Medium Heat.  Mix together the Flour and Water and slowly pour into Apricot and Chicken, wisking the whole time to avoid lumps.  This creates a sort of Apricot Gravy.

Reduce heat to Low and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Cheesy Bacon Biscuits

stole the idea from Rachel Ray, my bff;

The difference between my Cheesy Bacon Biscuits and Rachel's is that she used Jiffy boxed powder and I used refrigerated biscuit dough.

1 can Refrigerated Biscuit Dough (10 biscuits)

1-1.5 cups Shredded Cheese (your choice)

8 slices of bacon; cooked and chopped

Mix your Shredded Cheese with your cooked and chopped Bacon and fold into each Refrigerated Biscuit.  Cook according to package and VOILA!

Easy and delicious.  These were the star of the show!

Bacon Wrapped BBQ Shrimp w/ Creamy Linguine!

O M G.  I can't believe I forgot to share this recipe.  School is taking up way too much of my brain :).



pardon the horrible picture quality - this was taken with my phone which is NOT a smart phone





For the Bacon Wrapped BBQ Shrimp:

16 large shrimp (peeled)

8 slices bacon
barbeque seasoning

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Wrap shrimp with 1/2 slice of bacon, securing with a toothpick.

Line a pan with foil. Place the shrimp on the rack, and sprinkle heavily with the barbecue seasoning, turn and sprinkle second side. Let the shrimp sit for 15 minutes. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

For the Creamy Linguine:

1 box linguine pasta

2 thick slices bacon

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup heavy cream (or evaporated milk)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until soft.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet cook bacon over medium heat until crispy. Break up into small pieces and set aside.

In the pasta pot, melt butter over medium-low heat and add cream; heat thoroughly, but do not allow to boil. Combine cooked pasta with butter/cream mixture. Add Parmesan cheese and bacon and toss. Allow sauce to thicken for a few minutes; add nutmeg.

P.S. Nutmeg = my favorite spice!  It's delicious!