Fancy Mac N Cheese

Caramelized onions, cheese, bacon, macaroni. All delicious, even better together. One of the favorite sides I make is this glorious dish. I got the recipe from The Pioneer woman herself, but made it with my own favorite cheeses. So definitely make it your own way, after reading her instructions.

First you gotta prep all your ingredients, so you aren’t scrambling around for them later. I like an organized kitchen. Bacon takes the longest, so it goes first. After its mostly cooked, but not too cooked, I set it aside. Save about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat too.

Then in the hot bacon fat, I sautee the onions. Your house should smell fabulous at this point.

Then set everything aside.

Boil your macaroni for half the time they tell you to on the box. Drain and set that aside. Now for the fun part.

Take the bacon fat you reserved, and melt it down with some butter.

Measure out your cheese and your flour while the butter melts.

Don’t forget to whisk it real good. Then slowly add the flour and keep whisking so it is smooth.

Then add your dairy…

And your seasoning.

While that cooks, whisk together the egg yolks. Then grab a quarter cup of that hot milky, buttery, fatty liquid…

And slowly whisk it into the eggs. Then add it back to the pot!

Stir in the cheese until melted. Turn off heat.

Add in the bacon and onions.

Stir in the macaroni.

Lay it out on a baking dish and then top with more cheese and some bacon. Then watch it disappear at dinner. You can find this recipe at The Pioneer Woman’s Website. My changes were just the kinds of cheese I used. I used cheddar, gruyere, and an italian mix. Enjoy!

Posted on November 24, 2014 by miemo 0

Bacon Egg Toast Cups

These cute little guys are my favorite brunch thing to make. And apparently a favorite to eat as well! So I guess it’s about time I share the recipe. They are super easy to make, and always a hit.

Ingredients
1/2 stick of butter
12 slices of wheat bread
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar
12 slices of bacon
12 large eggs
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F. Rub down a cupcake/muffin tin (for 12) with butter. Using a rolling pin, flatten the slices of bread. Cut a circle out of the bread using a mug (approximately 3.5″ diameter). Cut the circles in half. Place two halves of bread, overlapping in each cup of the muffin tin. Arranging it so that it lines it like a cup. Sprinkle cheddar in each cup.

Partially cook the bacon, rendering out most of the fat. Set on paper towels to get excess fat. Cut the bacon in half and arrange over cheese in the muffin tins. Be sure to flatten them out in the muffin cup.

Crack an egg into each of the muffin cups. Top with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven until egg whites are set, about 15-25 minutes depending on how you want your yolks cooked.

Posted on August 13, 2014 by miemo 0

Dukkha Crusted Pork Chops with Bacon Sprouts

Another recipe for the often asked question of, “What am I going to eat for dinner”. This one is great, because you can pick up the groceries after work, head to the kitchen and start cracking away at it.

Start off with pork chops. Dry them, then rub a little avocado oil on it (or oil of your choice that can cook at high temps)

Crust with Dukkha. I bought mine from trader joes. If you are fancy, you can make it yourself! Be fancy.

In a cast iron skillet, heat some avocado oil, then cook on both sides until done.

As a side, I went for Bacon sprouts. Cook bacon in a pan, remove bacon from pan and reserve the fat. Toss brussels sprouts in the hot pan with leftover bacon fat. Season with black pepper. Let it brown a little bit. Toss them on a cookie sheet then into the oven to finish. When it’s almost done stir in chopped cooked bacon. Serve with pork chops.

Again, no measurements. If you have questions feel free to contact me! ENJOY!

Posted on June 6, 2014 by miemo 0

Bacon Wrapped Mini Meat Loaves

I don’t really eat meatloaf. But in order to feed the hungry men in my house and get them to eat vegetables there needs to be a substantial hunk of meat involved. This is my hunk of meat…wrapped in bacon. I took a pound and a half of lean ground beef, added a lightly beaten egg, some lawry’s, nature’s seasoning, tomato paste, A1, Italian breadcrumbs, a chopped onion and mixed it all together to a nice consistency. Then I shaped out mini loaves. And browned all the sides in a pan.Then wrapped it in bacon, stuck it in the oven until the bacon was crisp and the inside was cooked!

I made a side of spinach, sauteed in ghee and garlic slices, seasoned with a little black pepper, and mashed sweet potatoes. The end!

Posted on May 23, 2014 by miemo 0

Krispy Kreme Donut Breakfast Sandwich

Aka the “Travis”. You have heard of the Luther. Meet it's breakfast counterpart, the Travis. Sausage, egg and cheese squeezed between a Krispy Kreme doughnut. This is real. Real delicious. I was nervous about how people would like it, but it was well received! These went fast, as well as some of my other favorite brunch items.

Bacon egg toast cups.

And Mama D's famous challah French toast.

I love hosting brunches, complete with a build your own MIEMOsa bar!

Posted on September 11, 2013 by miemo 0

Peanut Butter Bacon Pancakes

Breakfast on weekends are a pretty big deal at my house. We are so busy during the week that we always skip out on the most important meal of the day. But not on Saturdays and Sundays! As you may remember, I made macadamia nut pancakes before.

This time lets use peanut butter! This recipe comes from Joy the Baker and I pretty much did exactly what she said so if you want instructions, click away!

Bacon and peanut butter sounds weird…but it worked well together, especially topped with banana. There is just enough peanut butter to give you a hint of nutty sweetness, but not enough to overpower your palate. Don’t just trust me for it, make it yourself!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by miemo 0

Epic Smokehouse

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Epic Smokehouse, 1330 Fair Street Arlington, Virginia 22202
The name suits it well. It’s pretty epic. This place is what you would call, upscale bbq. Bacon is a key player in their menu, and I am appeased. On one our date nights, the boo and I chose this place because, after the Bacon Shortage scare, I wanted to consume as much pork product as possible. Lucky for us, there was plenty.

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The Appetizers

We chose the bacon app, and the kahlua pig roll.

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The Verdict

The bacon appetizer is just a slab of pork belly, smoked and cooked, topped with sprouts and their fig and mustard sauces. Delicious and fatty. The kahlua pig roll was something to write home about. It’s pulled pork and kimchi rolled in an egg roll wrapper, with a lemongrass coconut dipping sauce. I don’t like kimchi on the regular, but the way the flavors presented itself in that rolled up bite worked really well. Top it off with the cool, creamy coconut dipping sauce, it made me sad when the appetizer was over. But at least the entrees were next!

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Entrees

We had the filet mignon with the crawfish hollandaise, with fried asparagus and an extra side of bacon sprouts. Also the applewood smoked baby back ribs with fries and an extra side of sauteed portobello mushrooms.

The filet was perfectly seasoned, and you could cut it with a butter knife. I ate it with a bite of mushrooms and it was amazing. Making my mouth water just thinking about it. I love asparagus. But battering and deep frying it was a bad idea. There wasn’t really any flavor to the batter, but the asparagus was perfectly cooked. They topped the steak with two crawfish tails, which was pointless and didn’t bring anything to the meal. Our hollandaise came out later and had no flavor. It literally just tasted like egg and butter..no salt. Nothing. Disappointing.

They don’t say how many ribs on the menu. It’s just “Ribs”. Its a full rack. I got mine with a side of mushrooms, it also comes with fries. These were smoked to perfection. I loved it. It was quite intimidating when it came out, there really was no right way to go about it, so I just dug in. I really enjoyed it. But I like things extra saucy, so I might ask for more ‘cue sauce on the side next time.

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Overall, I had a great meal and would love to go back again! Who doesn’t love a bacon dominant menu? If not for food, then at least for dessert!!!

Posted on October 19, 2012 by miemo 0

Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin with Bacon Sprouts

Yep. That really happened. What we have here is a bacon wrapped pork loin, with a jazzed up bbq sauce and bacon sprouts. Yes BACON SPROUTS. The best way to get your man to eat veggies (if you have that problem, I don’t).

The best part? It was pretty easy.

It all started, because I found these at our local Trader Joes. I had NO IDEA that brussels sprouts came from a stalk. Nuts! It was 3 bucks so I was like hmm, why not?!

I didn’t realize I was going to end up with so many sprouts. Chopped in half and I had twice as much…I literally only make about 10 sprouts at a time. I was intimidated. But I calmed down and just made a meal of it. Everything tastes better with bacon right? And that’s how it all began.

This is the first time I cooked a perfectly moist pork loin. My chops always end up dry. But this is why I like cooking over baking. Baking is an exact science, where as with cooking, I just put my heart into it, and it always works itself out. No recipes needed!!

What have you made lately? I am always curious to try out new foods!

Oh and remind me, that my sauce is just bbq sauce, vanilla apple cider, and chipotle hot sauce. WIN.

Posted on October 17, 2012 by miemo 0

So Quiet?

October has been really busy! Doctors, dentists, work, LIFE. It is cold so now I have an even harder time getting up. The days are shorter so I get sleepy so early. I fill my schedule with friends and food, and though I’m taking pictures and thinking “I should blog about this”…I don’t. I know. I am a mess. But here’s what I’ve been up to.

Baked chocolate bacon cupcakes, with salted caramel buttercream frosting topped with candied bacon. The cake was too thick. It was brownie like. I must try again.

I made “Cocktail Cupcakes” where I turned Ashley’s favorite cocktail into a cupcake. For her birthday I made “amaretto sours”. It was a amaretto cupcake with lemon whipped frosting topped with a cherry. Just like the drink!

So many birthdays! For my big brother’s birthday I made him, bacon egg toast cups for brunch. These are definitely a hit. I always overcook the egg though. I need to put it in for less time I guess. I like it medium.

My aunt and uncle are moving soon, and I am trying to get some time in with them before they leave.

It’s definitely been busy filled with eating, cooking and enjoying my friends and family. Oh and guess what, I am still going to the gym!! No more cardboard box diet updates for me though. I think I’ve gotten to the point where I am getting into the groove myself.

Oh and did I mention I contributed to the recent issue of Sage Magazine? Check out my piece on french comfort food. NOMMMMMM. Another busy weekend ahead of me. Isn’t fall great? What have you been up to?!

Posted on October 11, 2012 by miemo 0

Eat Bar, Arlington

Food. I love it. We already know this. New favorite place to grab a bite? Eat Bar in Arlington. Its attached/next door to Tallulah, which I have yet to try out. The place is small, and has it’s own tiny parking lot, but you can find parking through the neighborhoods because the lot will most likely be full. Just go in a grab a seat if you can find one and a happy server will come tell you about any specials and their small plates menu.

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