I can hardly believe it. In just a few short days, my nephew Davey enters Kindergarten for the first time. I’m so excited, freaked out, flabbergasted – and I’m just his aunt! I can’t imagine how my sister is feeling about all of this.

Since removing high fructose corn syrup from the kids’ diet earlier this summer, she and my brother in law have seen a remarkable change in them both. But doing so also means that breakfast times are a little bit more plan-ahead than they used to be. After all – no more pop-tarts!

Two weeks ago, I ventured into New York City with Aimee from Simple Bites and Tracy from Sugarcrafter. We decided to do a self-designed trip through NYC, one blissful bite of food at a time.

Aimee quickly came up with the idea to start off at Clinton Street Baking Company, where we gorged on freshly made biscuits and pancakes, and one thing I could not stop eating – their sugar cured bacon.
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Post tags: bacon, Breakfast, breakfast-on-the-go, cheddar, cheese, rosemary, savory, scones

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Casey tells it better than I do, so I’ll let her tell you how we met. Every piece that I read on her blog blows me away. She’s an excellent, articulate and thought provoking writer – who just happens to write about food. It makes me happy to read Good. Food. Stories. because of just how well written it is, but luckily there’s also really great recipes and, well, good food stories! Thank you, Casey, for guest posting. I hope you guys enjoy her journey into Southern Decadence. - Amber

Agreeing to carpool for five hours with someone you’ve just met is a risky proposition. You’re either going to have slumber party-level bonding on wheels or suffer through the most mind-crippling 300 minutes of your life. So let’s take a moment to pity poor Amber, who was stuck playing passenger/navigator to my talkative speed-demon self on our way from New Jersey to Blog & Bake in Norwich, VT.
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Read the rest of Guest Post: Pecan, Bourbon and Bacon Brownies (856 words)

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Post tags: bacon, bourbon, brittle, brownies, chocolate, Desserts, pecans

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One of the best things about winter eating is soup, and one of the best things about winter eating in my kitchen is Bean, Bacon and Ham soup. I don’t know about you, but I always want Ham when it comes to holidays. But even when I buy the smallest spiral ham I can find, James and I are left with days and days of leftovers.

There’s only so many ham sandwiches a girl can eat. Even when they’ve got stone ground mustard and crisp lettuce, and super wonderful KerryGold Dubliner cheese on them. So the perfect use for all those leftovers, including the ham bone is a no-brainer. It’s soup every time.

When I was a kid, my dad used to come home to eat lunch every day. During the summers, we’d always eat Campbell’s Bean with Bacon soup and a sandwich. The sandwich always varied, but the soup never did. We both adored it.

I’ve come as close here to that commercial version as I think I can. But I promise, there’s not nearly as much salt, nor are there any chemical preservatives. Just good, honest soup that is easily frozen in zip loc bags for future meals. It’s comfort in a bowl, and if I do say so myself, mmm mmm good.

Come join Soup-a-Palooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by Bush’s Beans, Hip Hostess, Pillsbury and Westminster Crackers!

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Post tags: bacon, beans, dinner, ham, leftovers, soup

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Borracho Beans, or “Drunk” beans, are a year round favorite in San Antonio, but I personally love them doubly so in Autumn. They’re warm, and earthly, and oh so filling. Great for eating before you head out to the Friday night lights of the home team’s football game.

Really, you can’t go wrong with pinto beans, and bacon, and onion, and cilantro, and beer. The beer adds character, while the cilantro kicks the entire thing up a notch with a major blast of flavor. The real trick to these, to making a full meal out of them, is serving them over rice flavored with chicken-tomato stock. The entire dish is amazingly savory and delicious.

You can make Borracho beans with canned pinto beans, or go old school and use dried beans. I prefer dried beans because they’re about 75% cheaper.

If you use dry beans, you first need to soak them for at least 24 hours. Or longer is fine too, if you happen to forget they’re at the back of the stove.. *ahem*.

Right, so soak them for 24 hours, in plain water. When they’ve been softened, rinse them to make sure they’re clear of any dirt or tiny pebbles that might have made their way into the bag of beans.

You can actually cook the beans on the stove, of go for the crock pot. Personally, if dinner doesn’t get started around 10 a.m. around here, we don’t eat until 10 p.m. So any time I can get things going in the slow cooker and have them ready for when we both finish work, it’s a bonus.

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Post tags: bacon, beer, cilantro, pinto beans

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My Nan’s potato soup has always been on my list of comfort foods. It’s never the same twice, but it always tastes amazing. It’s one of the few things that I like the taste of pepper in.

When we decided to have friends over for New Year’s Day, I wanted to keep the food simple. The excesses of the previous few weeks were catching up to all of us, and the last thing we wanted was another heavy calorie-laden meal.

Call me crazy, but I was also pretty nervous to be making a meal for a cook book author. She’s like a second mother to me these days, but this was my first time really cooking for her. If you care about the food you make for other people, I don’t know who wouldn’t be nervous!

I’m happy to say our little party, and the soup, went off without a hitch. This warm and hearty soup was exactly what we all needed on a cold day. Along with the wonderful conversation and nibbles like My Mamma’s Salsa, and pigs in a blanket, we were one happy bunch, and it really started the new year off right.

The Players:: Potatoes, an Onion, Celery, Bacon, Green (Spring) Onion, Chicken Broth, Salt, Pepper, Nature’s Seasoning (or garlic and celery salt instead), Milk and Cornstarch (pictured later)

Start by chopping the ingredients that will cook first – potato, onion, and celery. There’s no need to peel the potatoes, though you can if you want to. On New Year’s Day, we made this soup using red potatoes, but for this attempt I used golden ones.

Per Nanny’s instructions, use one medium sized potato per adult you’re feeding. Because we wanted leftovers, I used 4 medium sized potatoes to double the batch.

There doesn’t seem to be too much of a taste difference, but I think I’ll probably use red potatoes from now on, just because they’re prettier in the finished product. (Call me a silly girl if you want to, I like asthetics!)

No need to dice things extra small, though I did keep the celery tinier because I didn’t want it’s crunchy texture to compete with the potatoes, onion, and bacon.

As you go along, just throw everything into your soup pot.

When you’ve got all three into the stock pot, sprinkle the whole thing with kosher salt. I’d say it was probably 1 tablespoon.

Then fill the pot with water so that it covers all the vegetables, with between 1/2 and 1 inch of water above. You can do more if you like a lot of broth. I then added 4 chicken boullion cubes. Instead of water and boullion, you can use the ready made boxed or canned chicken stock, or you can use vegetable stock if you’re going for vegetarian soup.

Now that everything’s on the stove, go ahead and add a little heat. This is all down to taste, but I’ll gather a guess that I added 1 tablespoon of black pepper, 1/2 tablespoon of Nature’s Seasonings, and 1 teaspoon of white pepper.

Please ignore my messy kitchen. Please?
Look! Here’s a pretty picture of it all bubbling away, just before I stirred the pepper in properly.

Allow this all to cook on high for as long as it takes the potatoes to get soft enough that they break apart when pierced with a fork, just like when you’re making mashed potatoes.

While that’s bubbling away, grab the bacon. (no, that’s not a euphamism!) Use as much or as little as you want here, but for goodness sake, don’t subsitute bacon bits! Use the real stuff! I used 4 strips of bacon, and I used kitchen shears to cut it into smaller pieces, which is much easier than trying to chop bacon with any of the crappy knives I own. One of these days I’ll get some good knives.. and a kitchen that has drawers on rollers.. and a double oven..***snaps back to reality*** where were we? Oh right.

Bacon. Mmmm.

Fry it up until it’s a little crispy. Don’t do what I did and char it until it’s in cinders.

When cooked, remove from the pan, and drain on a paper towel until the rest of your soup is ready.

The potatoes should be just about done after 30-35 minutes, though you can leave this to cook for up to an hour if you want. Everything will just get more tender and flavorful.

You’ll need a collander, and a second stock pot for this next part. Set up your empty pot with the collander over it. Pour everything from one pot to the other. All the lovely veg should stay in the collander, and the stock should now be in previously empty pot.

Don’t adjust your monitor. My sink is green. It’s kitschy in a cool way, but I really wish it were a double sink.

In this new pot, turn the heat back up to high. Now mix some cornstarch and water. I don’t know how to explain to mix the cornstarch in mathmatical terms, and for this, I am very sorry. I put a little more than two tablespoons in a cup, and a little bit of water, and stir until it’s a thin paste consistency.. then I add that to my stock to thicken.

At this time, also add in your milk. Add as little or as much milk as you want. I added about a cup. We’re all about cooking with love instead of math ’round these parts.

When the stock is thickened to a consistency you like, you can add it back to your potato-onion mixture. Make sure you don’t scald the stock. Now that it has milk in it, that can happen.

Also, chop up your green onions. Add both them and the bacon to your soup.

I’d let it simmer on low for another 5 to 10 minutes, but you can actually let it simmer for as long as you’d like, so long as the temperature is low enough to not scald the soup.

Mmmmm. Yummy stuff, man. Yummy stuff.

Variations of this soup can include swapping the bacon for ham, adding in chopped spinach, or using vegetable stock instead of chicken.

I topped mine with sharp cheddar cheese and saltines, James had his straight up. This soup freezes beautifully, and keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days. Enjoy!

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Post tags: bacon, chicken stock, cream, Nanny, potatos, soup

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Club sandwiches were a favorite growing up. There used to be this pub.. or, the closest thing to a pub you can find in San Antonio, called Chelsea Street Pub. They tried desperately hard to be very British.

One of the coolest things about the place though, was that they had live music on Friday and Saturday nights, so my first experience of the place was seeing my dad play there with his band.

It was such a special treat to go there to watch Dad, and also get dinner. Not to be missed were their club sandwiches. Years after the place closed, my mom was still making club sandwiches at home. My best friend through out school, a guy called Art, used to get down on his knees and beg to stay for dinner on the nights he knew we were having these lovely sammies.

Now, I know clubs are nothing special to a lot of people – a diner standard, and you might think that one is as good as the next. But I’ll tell ya – nothing beats my mom’s club sandwiches. The secret? A lot of love, and a little bit of Season-All. To make the perfect club, assemble your ingredients.

The Players: Sandwich bread (I used organic honey and oatmeal, but white bread is traditional), sliced ham and turkey deli meat, American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo and Season All. You’ll also need a toaster and a frying pan.

Do NOT. I repeat, DO NOT use Miracle Whip. For the love of baby jeebus, do not use Miracle Whip!
Oh yeah.. there’s no PG Tips tea in this recipe. I just kinda forgot it was hangin’ out back there, as it’s kind of a permanent fixture in my kitchen.

Start by frying up some bacon. Usually, I stick with 2 slices of bacon per sandwich, because you’ll half them, and end up with 4 pieces across the width of the bread.

When the bacon is nicely browned on both sides, but not overly crispy, lay it on folded paper towel to get rid of some of that grease.

Now for the bread. Typically, Club Sandwiches are layered sandwiches – so there are usually 3 pieces of bread PER sandwich. However, I am a wimp, and only eat it with 2. If you’re looking for the carb overload, go ahead and hit up that 3rd slice of bread.

You want to toast that bread up now, until it’s a nice golden brown.
Then lather each slice of bread with a bit of mayonnaise. You don’t have to heap gobs on, but it really is the ‘glue’ of this sandwich, so each slice should have a little bit.

Now we’re ready to start building our sandwich.
Start by placing a few lettuce leaves and slices of tomato one slice of bread. Sprinkle the tomato with Season All. This savory little spice mixture is actually the secret ingredient to this sandwich – the ingredient that makes this meal absolutely irresistible. Something about this seasoning mix brings out the flavor of the tomatoes and adds subtle improvements to plain ol’ deli meat that just makes for an amazing meal.

On the other slice of bread, layer slices of ham. If you love Season All like I do, you’ll sprinkle just a little bit on the ham too.

Don’t forget a slice of American cheese!

Now, there’s a bit of a debate as to whether you should put a slice of cheese on every layer. I gotta tell you… there’s a way to enjoy this sandwich without instigating a coronary. So stick with one slice.

Now layer your third piece of bread on top of the cheese. On that bread, add slices of turkey, and your bacon, broken into 4 pieces so that you have even ‘coverage’.

Lastly, stack it all together.

Mmm mmm mmm, Dagwood would be proud. Add some potato chips or fries and a pickle, and you’ve got a meal to make any pub proud.

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Post tags: bacon, cheese, club sandwich, ham, lettuce, mayonnaise, pub lunch, toast, tomato, turkey

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Breakfast tacos. On every worth-their-salt Mexican restaurant menu in Texas. The great thing about these is that it doesn’t matter if you’re vegetarian, carnivore, or somewhere in between, you can fill your taco with whatever tickles your fancy, and have a delicious breakfast in just a few minutes.

I’m pretty sure the first time I made these for my husband, he wept a little.

The Players: Eggs, Bacon, Hash browns (shredded potatoes), chopped onions, flour tortillas, salt and pepper. You will also need 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, but I forgot to drag that into the photo.

Optional, but tasty: sharp cheddar cheese, salsa, sour cream etc. to top.

This recipe is for 2 people, but feel free to double, triple, quadruple it, etc. to feed your family.

Start with 4 slices of thick bacon.

Using sharp kitchen shears, because it’s easier than using a knife, slice the bacon into small pieces, like so:

Now layer the bacon pieces in a hot frying pan (set to high) to cook.

And let it brown up nicely, but not get too done. You’re going to be adding that back into the frying pan at some point, so don’t let it get crispy.

When it’s brown, but not crispy, remove it to a plate with paper towel to drain some of the grease off. Do not drain the pan.

Add two tablespoons of vegetable oil to your bacon grease in the pan, and make sure it heats up thoroughly. I suggest keeping it on medium-high heat.
Add approximately 1 cup of hash browns to the pan. Be careful to add gently so as not to splatter yourself with hot oil. Ouch!

When the potatoes start to brown up nicely, add about 3 tablespoons of chopped onion, and stir.

Now add back in that yummy bacon.

In a bowl, crack 5 eggs, and stir them well, so that all the yolks are broken. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Go ahead and pour those eggs right on top of the rest of the ingredients in the frying pan, and stir with your spatula. Set the temperature to low.

Now leave those eggs to cook, stirring occasionally so that they don’t brown.

This next step is VERY important for authenticity!

Take a smaller, ‘omelet’ sized frying pan, and place it on high heat. When you can feel heat coming up from the face of the pan, lay a flour tortilla in it. No need for any kind of grease, flour tortillas are initially made with lard, and so retain some natural cooking oil.

After about 20 seconds, use tongs to flip and cook the other side.

This, my friends, is how you properly reheat a tortilla. It makes it taste like it has just come off the griddle in your abuela’s kitchen.

At this time, your breakfast taco mixture should look like this:

Take your just reheated tortilla, place it on a warmed plate, add two tablespoons of this loveliness, and you’re good to go.
Add any toppings you want. I like mine with sharp cheddar cheese. James likes his with HP Sauce (gross!). Other people like ketchup, salsa, sour cream, or nothing at all.

You can put anything you want into breakfast tacos. Popular menu items back home are:

Potato and Egg
Bacon and Egg
Sausage and Egg
Bean (refried) and cheese
Carne Guisada (see recipe!)
Chorizo and Egg

Go forth and make Breakfast Tacos! You will not regret it.

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Post tags: bacon, Breakfast, eggs, homesick, tacos

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