Low Carb Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

Low carb living can be tough. It can be obnoxious. It can be depressing, really. But not when you have broccoli cauliflower salad. Then it's nice and decadent and delicious.

What You Need:

2 cups raw broccoli florets, bite size

2 cups raw cauliflower chunks, bite size

6 strips of bacon, fried and crumbled

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp cracked black pepper

What To Do:

Mix everything together in a large bowl. 

Yeah that's it. This is a pretty easy recipe. Make it triple batch and take it to parties! Or make a triple batch and go to get some the next day only to discover it's gone because the very thin man you married that one time saw it and decided he and his friend needed to eat all of it. All of it. It's good stuff folks!

Another great dish from my kitchen to your table!

Cheesy Bacon and Potato Faux Quiche

Quiche itself isn't a hard dish to make. That being said, I concocted this faux quiche because I don't really care for eggs. I know that seems strange to say, but I really do feel like it's a texture issue for me. So I made this dish to try to re-create the feel of a quiche for my family without having to eat my way through all of those strangely textured eggs to get to the good stuff.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 can refrigerated biscuits, quartered

3 eggs, scrambled

1/2 pound bacon, cooked and chopped

2 cups frozen potatoes O'Brien

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

Grease a round cake pan. I use Pam but I suppose you could use butter. Place your quartered biscuits into the cake pan in an even layer. Sprinkle the potatoes O'Brien over top of your biscuits and an even layer. Follow suit with the shredded cheddar cheese. Mix the seasonings into your scrambled eggs, and then add your bacon to the scrambled eggs. Pour your egg mixture over top of the ingredients in the pan as evenly as possible. Sprinkle on some more shredded cheese if you want to. I know I wanted to! Bake covered (I used aluminum foil) at 350° for 35 minutes. Remove your cover, and bake for an additional five minutes. Allow the faux quiche too cool for 10 minutes before dividing into wedges and serving. I ate mine with hot sauce.

There you have it! Another great meal from my kitchen to your table! 

"Snowberry Crostata" from Skyrim

So here's a fun fact some of you guys might not know: I'm a HUGE nerd. I started out late, but I blossomed into a very proud geek. One of my favorite things to do is play a video game made by Bethesda. The Fallout series and The Elder Scroll series are my go to games. The recipe I'm giving you today is from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In a game where you can do absolutely anything you want; cooking is one of those options. So naturally, I decided to try out some of their recipes IRL. 

Today I'm showing you how to make a "Snowberry Crostata". See those quotes? That's because in real life, snowberries are deadly and I want all of you to live. So I substituted them with bing cherries. 

For The Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated or superfine sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 pound (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, diced

2 tablespoons ice water

Mix all your dry ingredients before you start cutting in your butter. I used my hands because I'm pretty quick but I'd recommend a dough cutter to keep from melting your butter. Then add your ice water, a tiny bit at a time. Your dough shouldn't be sticky. If it is, sprinkle some flour on it and mix it in. Let it chill in the fridge for an hour before you plop it out onto a floured surface. 

While your dough is chilling, pit your bing cherries by cutting them in half.you need about 1/2 a pound. You need them in half anyway so it's easy to put them like that. I didn't wear gloves and I was alllll stained up. I recommend gloves. Once they're all halved and pitted, mix them in with 2 tbsp corn starch and 1/2 cup sugar. 

Roll out your dough into a circle. Lay it on your baking dish of choice. I honestly used a pizza pan. It doesn't have to be perfect. This is a rustic dish. Arrange your cherries in the middle, dome side up, Fold the edges of your dough over the cherries, brush the dough with some beaten egg and sugar and bake that bad boy at 400 for about twenty minutes or until golden brown. 

Boom. "Snowberry Crostata" from Skyrim. Impress the nerd in your life today! Or at the very least, serve a great cherry dish to someone you love.

Strawberry Shortcake Bonbons

What You Need:

1 angel food cake, crumbled

1 can strawberry chocolate

1 package vanilla candy coating

1/4 cup pink sugar sprinkles

Directions:

Mix your strawberry frosting into your crumbled angel food cake. Roll a tablespoon of this mixture in your hands until you have a round ball. Place them on a nonstick baking tray. Stick a toothpick in each ball, all the way through. Freeze until solid. Liquify your candy coating according to the directions on the package. Dip each cake ball into the candy coating, then sprinkle with the pink sugar immediately. Allow to set completely before removing the toothpicks. 

Easter Leftover Shepherds Pie

Easter Dinner this year was extravagant, as usual. Roasted a huge shank ham, prepared some scrumptious mushroom free green bean casserole, baked sweet and russet potatoes not to mention the delicious buttered corn. It was great. 

But trying to come up with unique things to do with leftovers, now that's the tricky part. So I went with throwing everything together. I mixed diced up ham into my green bean casserole along with the corn and a can of mixed vegetables. I decided it looked a little dry so I added a can of tomato soup. Then I layered that into a baking dish. I topped that with shredded sharp cheddar. 

I mashed my sweet potatoes and russet potatoes together with salt, pepper, garlic and milk. I spooned them on top off the meat and veggie mixture. Then top with French fried onions and bake at 350 for half an hour.

Yum!

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Bacon Bean Soup

Bean soup is an old family favorite. I do not make it the same way my great grandmother did. I'm a wee bit lazy compared to the beloved Matriarch of our family. 

What you need:

2 Yukon gold potatoes, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

1/2 cup onion, diced

1/2 pound bacon, chopped

2 cans white beans, undrained

2 cups milk

2 tbsp garlic powder 

2 tbsp salt

2 tbsp pepper

2 tbsp onion powder

What to Do:

Sauté the potatoes, carrots, celery, onions and bacon until bacon is crisp. Stir in your seasonings. Then stir in your beans and milk. Let the soup simmer on low for three hours, or until all your veggies are tender. Allow to thicken up overnight in the fridge, reheat the next day for a great dinner.