Bacon Mac & Cheese

It's been a minute since my last post, but I'm hoping to be posting more frequently again now that I'm settled in our new house. Yes, the delay in posting is because we bought a house! I have a new, spacious, beautiful kitchen that really lends itself to loads and loads of baking. That said...this post isn't about a baked good. Woops.

I know I've mentioned that when it comes to cooking, I am not really a fan. I love recipes that are quick and easy and require few ingredients. I just don't have the patience for complicated. So, obviously, I love Crockpots. They are the most amazing invention ever. You just throw everything in in the morning before work and when you get home it's done. Yay! This particular recipe isn't an all-dayer, but look for some in the future.

I also love mac & cheese (and honestly, who doesn't?) and was so excited to find this easy Crockpot recipe on the interwebs. I made it as is and it was awesome, but, of course, I decided to step it up and put my own delicious twist on it. Which clearly started with adding bacon.

Bacon Mac & Cheese
1 1/2 cups whole milk
12 ounce can evaporated milk
1/4 cup of butter, melted but cooled to room temperature
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded Italian blend cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
1 1/2 cups shredded regular cheddar
2 cups elbow macaroni 
6 pieces of cooked, chopped bacon
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Grease the inside of the slow cooker with butter. Combine milks, butter, eggs and salt in the slow cooker and whisk until smooth. Add the Italian blend and cheddar cheeses, macaroni and bacon and stir gently until everything is evenly spread/coated. Sprinkle the Parmesan on top. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes. Reduce to low heat and cook for an additional 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Edges will begin to burn if left in too long.

Fiesta Chicken

There are two things I almost always have in my fridge - salsa and cheese. I'm not sure why - well, actually, I guess I do know why - because salsa and cheese are awesome. Especially cheese.

But I digress. Anyway, I had chicken and was trying to figure out what I could do to make it delicious. I did my typical fact finding mission by looking through the fridge to see what was in there for me to use. It was hard to miss the gallon of salsa verde (green salsa) and 5 pound bag of shredded Mexican cheese.

I figured it taste great on chicken tacos, so why not just bake with them? It was super easy and ended up tasting great. As mentioned previously, I used salsa verde and Mexican cheese, but you can use any salsa/cheese combination (I'll definitely be experimenting with these). Go nuts. And enjoy another super easy, why-didn't-I-think-of-that? dinner!

Fiesta Chicken

2 chicken breasts

1/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup shredded cheese

Cut fat off of the chicken. Combine chicken with salsa in a large zip locking bag. Shake until chicken is completely covered. Let sit in fridge for 30-45 minutes (or longer).
Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken in a glass dish and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 20-40 minutes, depending on size of chicken.

Pizza Chicken

This is a super easy and totally customizable dinner option. I've made it simply with just sauce and cheese and it was great. In this version I decided to add some vegetables (because they were in my fridge and I didn't want them to go bad).

I decided to make this recently because I didn't feel like going to the store and didn't want to order out. Also, I've been trying really hard to cook at home more often. Also, I hate wasting food so I wanted to use the leftovers in our fridge. I call it "re-purposing" and it's quite possibly my favorite thing to do (hey, when you are fearful of cooking you gotta try to take the edge off by making it "fun"). 

What I found: marinara sauce left over from cheesy bread we had ordered, half a tomato, 8 stalks (plus or minus 2) of cooked asparagus and mozzarella cheese.

Pizza Chicken

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup marinara or pizza / tomato sauce
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
vegetables (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash chicken and cut off fat. Place into a glass dish. Cover with desired amount of sauce. Add vegetables (if you want). Covered with the desired amount of cheese. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breast.