Alotta Frittata

For the last couple of weeks, it seems that I can't get my fridge any less packed-to-the-gills. Last night was yet another night of trying to take bits and pieces of leftovers and put them to use once and for all.  I have 2 cooked chicken breasts and half an onion that have been staring back at me.  So, I grabbed the eggs and decided to whip up a big, puffy frittata.

I learned to make these from a cool cookbook called How to Cook without a Book.  I can't remember how long I've had this book, and in truth, I still read it just to make sure I have my measurements correct.  I've decided to make some notes in it and when Vivian is old enough to move out on her own, I'm going to give her my copy.

Last night, I chopped up most of that leftover chicken, used 3 slices of bacon, chopped up that onion, used a little Parmesan and the last little bit of the Colby we got from the Wisconsin cheese box that my brother-in-law sent.  All you do is cook the bacon and as it begins to render, add the onion.  Once these were cooked, I tossed in the chicken.  You spread all this out to cover the bottom of your skillet.  I'd already mixed 8 eggs, the cheeses and salt and pepper together.  You pour that over the bacon/onion/chicken and cook for about a minute or so to get the eggs to just begin to set.  Then, into the oven for about 13 minutes and you get a golden, puffy frittata.  Very little effort and very big payoff in the delicious department.  

I've never been able to get the Vivver to embrace the idea of an omelet.  But, as she ate her dinner and told me how much she liked it, she said "Hmm, this is kind of like an omelet and a pie, isn't it?"  Call it whatever you like, as long as you eat it!

So, kale me maybe

Once upon a time, kale was only known as two things.  Decorative "cabbage-y" things for the Fall garden and the frilly, yet rigid garnish on the dinner plate.  Oh sure, the vegetarians have been consuming this stuff by the truckload all these years, but who ever paid attention to that?  Until the late 80s, John Q. Public viewed vegetarians as hemp-smoking, free-loving, dashiki-wearing weirdos.  

Finally, they broke that mold and emerged into "mainstream America" as health-conscious, animal-friendly, normal people.  (I know my veg friends are getting a kick out of this!) So, then, the rest of the world started paying attention.  "Hey, what do they know that we don't?"  At first, people thought they only ate side dishes.  Some thought there's no way they could keep it up...what about protein? But as more attention and seriousness was paid to our veggie-loving brethren  (and sistren? is that a word?) we began to learn a lot about nutrition and how "we carnivores" could adapt.

Which brings me back to that kale that was tucked in under your baked potato to brighten up your plate.  Kale is really, really, seriously, majorly, hugely good for you.  I'll skip ahead in my history lesson (yeah, I'm a real scholar here!) to where kale is today. Two words:  IT'S EVERYWHERE. But, there's a trick to kale.  I still think it's too rigid to eat raw, although I know people do it.  So, the trick is to cook it correctly.  I've cooked it before and have gotten a thumbs down from Neil.  This caused me to abandon the idea for awhile then I tried again.  This time I went for kale chips.  I kept hearing everyone on Facebook and Pinterest raving about them and how their kids love them. Turns out, I'm the only one who likes them.  Good thing though, because I've learned that I can mow through an entire cookie sheet full of them.  I'm the lone kale eater.  Well, I was...

I came across a Weight Watchers recipe that piqued my interest.  

It had bacon.  It had cannellini beans. It had onions. So many elements used Chez Akre. And, it had bacon.  Did I mention that?

 

 <<Ok, despite all I had to say earlier about vegetarianism, clearly, I'm not a vegetarian.  

I am an admitted baconivore.>> 

In a nutshell, this recipe involves cooking bacon (see photo above for reference.) Crumble it and set it aside. Then, saute some crushed red pepper and garlic in the bacon grease for about 30 seconds and add chopped onion. Cook until the onions soften then add your kale and cook until it starts to wilt.  Add some chicken broth, cover & simmer until the kale is tender.  Add cannellini and cook until liquid evaporates.  Finish it off with some salt, a little sugar and balsamic vinegar.  Sprinkle with bacon and serve it up.  

I loved it.  The kale was cooked well and was nicely tender. This is where I've fallen short in the past.  Another way I know this was successful?  Neil actually said, "The kale is good."  This was meaningful because last time the subject came up, he flatly stated that he just doesn't like kale. Unfortunately, the Vivver is going through an intermittent phase of deciding in advance that she's not going to like something, so this kale dish never really got a fair shake from her. 

Going back to my vegetarian friends, obviously, this dish can be made without bacon and would be (almost) as good.  I really loved it because I'm all about dark, leafy greens and incorporating more of them into my family's diet.  The beans added some heartiness and protein, of course.  And, well, then there's the bacon.  Need I say more??

The Godfather of Bacon

I've admitted to you all before that I am an unabashed fan of bacon.  I love it.  I admit it and I'm not ashamed of it.  If I'm ever in a coma, please just advise the nurses to start cookin' up some bacon and I'll wake up in a flash.  

Today, the Vivvo and I joined my parents for lunch at the Gourmet Shop.  Viv loves to eat here for a few reasons:  1) our friend Brandi manages the place and always comes over to talk to us (Viv thinks that means we're VIPs) 2) One time, the owner let Viv go with her behind the counter and pick out any cookie she wanted (complimentary... of course it took a few conversations for me to make her understand that we don't get free cookies every time we go there) and 3) She loves croissants. I mean, really loves croissants.  She's actually developed her own "usual."  She orders a croissant with raspberry jam, butter and honey and a glass of milk.  Every time, without fail.

Like most people in Columbia, I usually order the chicken salad.  I mean, it IS what makes the Gourmet Shop famous.  One of their staff shirts reads "Peace, Love and Chicken Salad."  But, today, I decided I was up for a change of pace. There are lots of other dishes that I love at the G.S., but I decided on something new, well, new in the sense that I've never ordered it. The BLT.  OMG, call the BFF about the BLT, it's the BOMB.

You can't see the tomato, but trust me, it's in there!

This is the bacon lover's dream sandwich.  It is packed to the gills with beautiful bacon.  I mean, see that pile of it to the left?  It was just spilling out.  And this wasn't paper thin Waffle House bacon; no, no this was the real deal.  And, under all this dreaminess were two nice slices of bright red, beautiful tomato.  A little mayo completed the package.  And, as you can see, it's served on a croissant.  The waitress did ask if that was the bread I wanted, but I just don't like sandwiches like this on multi-grain because I think it's too sweet and the baguette can simply be too tall for me to bite.  I ordered the pesto pasta salad as my side.  This is a great pasta salad...fresh tasting pesto, bowtie pasta and green peas.  Today, however, I could only have a couple bites because of my monster baconator!

Since my big tomato breakthrough last summer, this is the best BLT I've come across so far.  Next time you're in Five Points, pop in there and see what you think.  If you get a really sticky table, chances are Viv was sitting there with all her honey and jam!
  

The Chicken Drop

I've told you guys before how much Southern Savers has changed my life.  Jenny Martin is a genius and a kind soul to share all this valuable information with the rest of us free of charge.  A few months ago, one of her posts on her site caught my eye.  It was about chicken.  Lots and lots of chicken.


She shared that every so often, she buys meat in bulk from a company called Zaycon.  They have "events" in cities around the country at various times.  You sign up with them and when an event is coming to your town, they'll let you know.  I signed up right after reading Jenny's post, but the event was already over.  So, I've been patiently waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting.  And alas, the great Columbia chicken event notification hit my inbox!

So, here's the deal.  You buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts in 40 lb. increments.  The 40 lb. box that my mom and I split was $71.00, which breaks down to about $1.79/lb.  Find that in your local grocery store.  Go ahead, try it.  You might get lucky at Aldi from time to time, but a regular grocery, don't hold your breath.  We placed the order online and received a notice of the date, time and location of the pickup.  Now, here's where it gets interesting...

The big day arrived and we were instructed to go to a Baptist church in West Columbia for "the drop."  The instructions were quite clear.  We had a 30 minute window for the pickup.  Stay in your car; do not exit your car.  Proceed through the line, receive your chicken and move along.  I'm not kidding you, that's what it said!  So, we threw a cooler in Dottie's van (we like to call it the Honda "Doddyssey") and set out for the big W.C.  We actually had to use the gps to find this church.  We got there and drove slowly by the sanctuary scoping things out.  Then, I spotted it.  A small, lime green and black sign "Zaycon event" with an arrow.  I looked and there it was.  A refrigerated truck in an empty parking lot.  Orange cones delineated the "zone."  

As we inched forward in line, mom asked me if I should get out and put the cooler in the back so the man could load the chicken.  Hell no!  This was like the soup nazi, as far as I knew.  I wasn't even thinking about exiting the vehicle.  I'd read the rules.  I'm a rules player.  So, we arrived.  Gave our name.  He checked us off the list, went into the truck and returned with a waxed box loaded with chicken.  

Turns out, he wasn't like the soup nazi at all!  He opened up the hatch, grabbed our cooler, took the bag of chicken out of the box and loaded it into our cooler.  He asked us how we heard about them, thanked us and sent us on our way.  That was it.  Still, it felt kind of cloak and dagger, so we sped away with a feeling of mystery and intrigue with our major chicken score!

When we got to mom's to divide it all up, we discovered that these are WHOLE chicken breasts and they are monsters.  Big as hell. I wouldn't want to meet one of these chickens in a dark alley, if you know what I mean.  

So, we whipped out the freezer bags, stuffed them and parted ways for the day each armed with enough lean protein to last quite some time.  Those of you who read me often know that I sleep well when I know I have provisions safely tucked into my freezer.  I've been sleeping like a baby.

If I'm not mistaken, the next "event" is bacon.  Hello???  Bacon, people!  And then after that I think it's hamburger meat.  The quality of the chicken we received is top-notch, so I expect their other products to be comparable.  Check it out.  And if you don't have room for 40 lbs. of chicken, split it with a friend.  It's a heck of a deal, and in this marvelous economy we're all experiencing, the savings is most welcome. 

Sour Cream Chicken: Mission Accomplished

I love it when I run across a recipe that looks and sounds so damn good that I can't get it out of my mind. That happened recently when I found a recipe on Pinterest for crockpot bacon-sour cream chicken.  I loved the photo, I read the instructions over and over and for about 2 weeks, I just kept telling myself that I needed to make this dish.  Sooooooo...I did.

Lemme tell ya friends...this is a bona fide winner.  Even the wunderkind was raving about it. That's always a good sign.  I can't take credit for this recipe, because as you know from my previous post, I found this on Pinterest.  However, as is usually the case, I have some modifications I'll make next time around.  But first, here's the recipe:
 http://momswithcrockpots.com/2012/01/sour-cream-and-bacon-crockpot-chicken.

So my modifications are these: I cooked this about 8 hours, next time I think I'll take it down to 6.  The chicken was wonderfully tender, but as I grasped it with tongs, it began to fall apart.  Great if it was enchilada chicken but for presentation, I'll cook it less time in order to have it hold together better for looks.  Also, I'll wrap each chicken breast in more bacon; I think 2 slices per breast.  The reason for this is: I love bacon and all that it does for a dish and in this case, it became crumbly and became part of the sauce and I just would like a little more of that smoky bacony component to the sauce next time.  


Frankly, any time you have a 5-year old exclaiming "I love it!" and giving you a thumbs-up, you know you're onto something.  So, to whoever the author of this recipe is, I say "Well Cooked my friend, well cooked." To you, my dear reader, trust me and try it.  You can thank me later ;-)

Snacking with Soul

Send me to the grocery store and I'm armed with a specific list, a fistful of coupons and a pit bull will to pay as little as possible.  Send Neil, or most men, and they will return with whatever you asked for (most of the time!) and anything else that caught their eye.  That's how Palmetto Cheese ended up in our house.

It has soul indeed!

For those of you not from South Carolina, this is a SC product that we all love.  It's pimento cheese but much more special than that.  It's made with real cheese, real mayo, real pimento, by real people.  It comes out of Pawley's Island and we're proud to eat it, serve it at parties and claim it as our own.  But, Palmetto Cheese isn't cheap.  Don't get me wrong; it's not outrageously expensive but it's pricey.  So, I stop and look at it in the store, but then my coupon-psycho brain kicks in and talks me out of buying it.  

Delightfully, Neil ended up at Publix. He saw, he bought, he brought home.  While at first I looked at it and said to myself, "OMG, I can't believe he bought this!" I was secretly jumping for joy because I haven't had it in so long!  He chose the Palmetto Cheese with bacon. Highly recommended.  I've been snacking on it with pretzels.  Neil has varied his morsels this afternoon.  First, he started with a small spoon.  At the time of this post, he's using one of our home-grown jalepenos as a "cracker" and just topping it with the cheese.  I'm looking at him now...he looks like one happy little snacker.

If you haven't tried Palmetto Cheese, you should.  If you're a man, head on over to the grocery.  If you're a frugal woman, like me, send your husband.  

I love coupons!

Yes, I love coupons.  In fact, Southern Savers has forever changed my life.  Getting a rock bottom deal is such a rush.  I wonder why it took me so long to understand this stuff.  

Recently I told you guys about Pillsbury's new Grands! Biscuit sandwiches.  I want to try these out because my Kindergartener is becoming bored with my breakfast offerings.  I mean, this morning the child rejected a piece of peanut butter toast because "it has too much peanut butter on it."  What?? Who are you?  You eat peanut butter with a spoon.  You have actually asked me to give you a bowl of peanut butter before.  And today, there's "too much."

Anyway, Publix has the Grands! sandwiches on sale 2/$5.00.  There is also a $1 Publix coupon that you can stack with another $1 manufacturer's coupon, making these little babies $0.50 per box.  But, Publix's sales run Wed-Tues, so tomorrow, this deal will probably be gone.  If you're interested in trying them for this ridiculously low price, print a coupon, head to Publix and get the store coupon in the Yellow Advantage pamphlet from the kiosk at the front door.  

Hopefully the wunderkind will dive into a bacon and egg biscuit tomorrow morning and squeal with delight. I just hope there's not "too much" of anything that might prompt a rejection.  Get your coupons and go try them out.  For $0.50 I'll try anything!