This recipe was submitted by Sherri W, into March’s Food Challenge where the theme is GREEN!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs of brussel sprouts
• 1/4 lb father’s tomato blt bacon (bacon of choice)
• 1 tbsp evoo
• 1 tsp thyme
• 3-4 thinly sliced or minced garlic cloves
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. wash and trim brussel sprouts. cut tips off and slice in half
2. cut bacon into 1/2 inch strips
3. in a large heated frying pan add the evoo and bacon pieces. fry bacon until crispy. remove the bacon and set aside.
4. toast garlic about 1 minute until golden brown. remove and set aside
5. add brussel sprouts, thyme and salt (if needed) and pepper to pan. don’t crowd in pan. pan roast brussel sprouts about 5 to 6 on each side until golden brown
6. add bacon and roasted garlic to the brussel sprouts

This is an excellent side dish for St. Patrick�s Day. Serve with corned beef and oven roasted potatoes. Enjoy!!

We are bacon-a-holics around here. We eat bacon for breakfast, at lunch, in a pot of beans, and of course with salad.  You know the best thing about bacon? It gets my 3yr old to eat all his eggs in the morning.  For reals!  Because he knows that he’s gonna get bacon but has to eat all his eggs, he gobbles them up to secure that extra piece of bacon. Oh you laugh but I know how picky toddlers can be and I’ll about feeding my family a good, filling breakfast so if I have to use bacon to lure him in, so be it!

Oscar Mayer (one of our most favorite brands around here), wants to help make your Easter tastier and just flat out lovely with their Easter Breakfast Kit that of course, includes some Oscar Mayer Bacon.  One of the things I love about Oscar Mayer is that they partner with Feeding America and if any of you have followed me for any length of time, you know how important that is to me.

Right now, you can get a coupon for $1.50 off a package of bacon.  Take advantage of folks..we could all save a little money when we can.

Now for the giveaway.

TWO WINNERS will receive the following Easter Basket Breakfast Kit:

• Oscar Mayer Bacon Coupons
• $25 Grocery Gift Card
• 12pc Dinnerware set (Striped Eggs)
• Skillet
• Spatula
• Egg Timer
• Bacon Press

All of which, in total, values approx $125.

HOW TO ENTER

Leave a comment here telling me one of your Easter Breakfast Traditions.

Additional entry options are, and should be left in a separate comment to count:

• Share via social networking site like twitter, facebook, or at your favorite forum.
• Subscribe to My Wooden Spoon via Email or using your favorite RSS Reader.

Giveaway ends on March 31st at 10pm CST. Good luck to all who enter!

Disclosure: I received a gift basket myself for my time and efforts. All opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.  Read my full disclosure for my blogging ethics.

Tomatoes and onions create some wonderful dishes and this one is no exception.  Because it’s nearly impossible to find green tomatoes around here, I used firm red tomatoes instead.  This is part two of three of the dinner meal I planned for you guys.  You can see the creamed corn I made earlier and stay tuned for part three, Blackened Catfish, to complete the dinner.

INGREDIENTS

• * 1/4 pound bacon
• * 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
• * 2 large onions, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
• * 4 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• * 6 ounces sharp white Cheddar, grated, about 1 1/2 cups

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Render bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Add the bread crumbs to a small bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the skillet and stir into the bread crumbs. Add the onion rounds to the skillet in batches and cook, without breaking the round slices apart, until there is some golden color, about 5 to 6 minutes per side.

To assemble the gratin, overlap the green tomato slices in 1 row in a large baking dish, about 9 by 11 inches. Next, make a row slightly overlapping of the partially cooked onion rounds, being careful to keep the slices intact. Repeat steps until all tomatoes and onions are used. Season tomatoes and onions lightly with salt and heavily with pepper. Crumble the bacon over the vegetables; sprinkle the grated Cheddar over the top followed by the bread crumbs. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 to 45 minutes. If the top is getting too brown, loosely cover with foil.

Recipe courtesy of Food Network’s 5 Ingredient Fix

Do you know what real creamed corn is?  I’m sure you’ve eaten it from the can but making creamed corn from scratch, well, it’s just better.  I thought it was interesting to learn that the cream is actually inside the kernels so in order for you to get it out, you have to put a little work into creaming that corn.  The only drawback to making it from scratch is that it takes a whole bunch of cobs (at least 2 cobs per person) to make a good amount to the feed the family so unless you’re feeding only 4-6 folks, I would probably just buy the can…unless you are out to impress;)

This recipe is the first of three that will end up as a complete dinner.  Enjoy and if you have ever shucked and creamed your corn, I’d love to hear your recipes and stories!

INGREDIENTS

• * 6 slices bacon
• * 8 large cobs fresh corn, preferably white, shucked and cleaned
• * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a large skillet, (seasoned cast iron does well here) cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Turn off the heat and transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Reserve the drippings in the pan.

On a cutting board, cut the stalk ends of the corn cobs to make a flat surface; stand them up and shave the corn from the cobs with a sharp chef’s knife. Return the skillet to medium-low heat, and add the corn kernels. With the back of the knife, firmly scrape the cobs over a shallow plate to extract as much liquid (milk) as possible and add it to the skillet.

Season corn lightly with salt and pepper and cook until broken down and creamy, about 30 to 45 minutes, stirring often; add water if the pan gets too dry.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: Crisp bacon can be crumbled over the creamed corn when serving or reserved for another use. If you have bacon drippings on hand, use 1/4 cup for this recipe.

Recipe courtesy of Food Network’s 5 Ingredient Fix

Just another side dish idea.  We try to cook potatoes in a variety of ways and for everything but mashed, we use red potatoes. Basically you throw all this in a bowl, mix and bake. Pretty simple. I chose to use light dressing and no cheese since I’m trying to lose weight but normally we do add cheese.  Another great variation of this if you don’t like ranch, is to chop up an onion, mix it in, and cover with 1 cubed stick of butter.  Ummm, yeah, not so great on the heart but it sure is good.

The casserole pan is Emile Henry, some of the finest bakeware around. I love the way it cooks and if you have the chance to pick up some pieces for yourself, you should!

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup Light Kraft Ranch Dressing
• 1/2 cup Kraft Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)
• 1/4 cup Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits (or real bacon)
• 2 lb. small red potatoes, quartered
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
• Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix dressing, cheese and bacon bits in large bowl. Add potatoes; toss lightly.  Spoon into lightly greased 13×9-inch baking dish; cover with foil.  Bake 40 min. Remove foil; bake an additional 15 min. or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with parsley.

Menu planning is essential for keeping your pantry stocked and budget in check. I don’t know about you guys but with the kids out for Summer, they are eating EVERYTHING in sight which means I’m spending more on food. I’m terrible at menu planning and prefer to fly by the seat of my pants when grocery shopping or have a menu plan made for me.

This is where Kraft & Sam’s Club come into play. Both companies have partnered together to bring you a 2-Week Meal Planner. Their goal is to get you to the store  once and have meals to last 2 whole weeks, saving you money on frivolous grocery spending and gas to go back and forth! As an added bonus for Sam’s Club members, you can create a personalized cookbook!  If you’re not a member, you should be.  You can find a location near you with your zip code.  We love shopping at ours and it’s very handy for us to buy in bulk since we live out in the boonies so to speak.

Back to the meal planner.  I have downloaded it and already begun to make the recipes included in it.  They are very easy and have been very good!  I love that I have the meals all planned out for me but most of all, I love that they are easy to make.

Our first night of cooking with the meal planner was actually quite surprising. We chose to make the Di Giorno Pizza with BLT Topping.  We never buy just a cheese pizza, we always buy one with tons of toppings but this recipe called for the Rising Crust-Four Cheese.  It never occurred to us to add fresh toppings like the recipe called for which was a great way to add a little coolness during the hot day, not to mention the addition of veges.  My husband insisted that we start making our pizzas this way instead of buying one that’s loaded with other toppings. WHOA!  I think he must have fell in love with the bacon and ranch, don’t you?

Di Giorno Pizza with BLT Topping

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Di Giorno Rising Crust Pizza-Four Cheese
• 1⁄2 cup shredded lettuce
• 1⁄4 cup chopped tomatoes
• 4 slices Oscar May er Bacon, cooked, crumbled
• 2 Tbsp. ranch dressing

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400°F.  Bake pizza as directed on package.  Serve topped with remaining ingredients.

I’ll be sharing more of the recipes over the next couple of weeks but I hope that you’ll go and download the 2-week meal planner yourself so we can try them together!!  How fun would that be. Then when I talk about one of the recipes, you can tell me if you’ve tried it and how you liked it!

OVER TO YOU

Are you a meal planner?  If not, do you think having a meal plan at your fingertips would make a difference, cooking & budgeting wise?  I love that it gives me new creative meal ideas for the future because I’m always running out of ideas on what to cook.  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Hmmmm, I’m not sure how maple and bacon cookies are going to taste but they sure look good! If you make these, please let me know. I would love hear how they turn out for y’all.

Things have been crazy around here but hope to have things back to normal soon! Thanks for bearing with me guys.

INGREDIENTS

• * 1 c. butter or margarine, softened
• * 3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
• * 3/4 c. sugar
• * 2 eggs
• * 1 t. maple extract or 1 T + 1 t. maple syrup
• * 2 1/2 c. flour
• * 1 t. baking soda
• * 1/4 t. salt
• * 1/2 – 1 lb. bacon, cooked, crumbled and well drained

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter or margarine, brown sugar and sugar until fluffy. Stir in eggs and maple extract or syrup. Beat for 1 more minute.

2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Stir to combine and add in batches to mixing bowl. Beat just long enough to incorporate.

3. By hand, stir in the bacon pieces. Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.

About the Author:

Kate is a stay-at-homeschooling mom to 4 (10, 4, 3, 2) and wife to a wonderfully crazy man. She banished the daily dinner witching hour when she learned to use Stolen Moments throughout the day to have dinner prepared before lunch time every day. Kate cooks from scratch, bulk cooks and sticks to a strict monthly grocery budget. You can read more about Kate and her methods and recipes on Cooking During Stolen Moments.

Not as healthy as the Beef Rolls but using lean cuts of beef does make a difference.  If you’re not sure on what qualifies as a lean cut of beef, check out the lean beef section at Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.  They have a handy wallet card for download so that you can carry with when you go to pick out your cuts of beef.

I had a few problems with this one and I think it’s just my small town but I was unable to find shiitake mushrooms and blue cheese.  I should have chosen a different recipe but once my man saw it, there was no turning back.  So I substituted portobello mushrooms and mexican crumble cheese for the two.

All three of my guys LOVED it!!  They were drooling as I was making it and kept asking, “when will it be done?”.  I don’t eat mushrooms but the flavor was very good overall.  I was really surprised at how fast making this was.  I really had a good time and was very pleased with the outcome.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 beef round sirloin tip center steaks, cut 1 inch thick (about 8 ounces each)
• 4 slices thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 small shallots, thinly sliced, separated into rings
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
• 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, diced
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS

Cook bacon in nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon with slotted spoon to paper towels, reserving 2 to 3 tablespoons drippings in skillet. Set aside.

Meanwhile combine flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in small bowl. Add shallots; toss to coat. Heat bacon drippings over medium-high heat until hot. Add shallots. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until well browned, stirring occasionally. Remove from skillet with slotted spoon to paper towels. Set aside.

Reduce heat to medium. Season beef steaks evenly with remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place steaks in same skillet; cook 14 to 15 minutes for medium rare doneness, turning occasionally. Do not overcook. Remove to serving platter; season with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Keep warm.

Add mushrooms and water to skillet. Cook and stir 3 to 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add cream. Cook 1 to 2 minutes or until cream is almost absorbed. Stir in cheese and bacon.

Spoon mushroom mixture over steaks. Top with shallots. Sprinkle with parsley

Notes:

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 30 minutes
• Total recipe time: 40 minutes
• Makes 4 servings
• This recipe is an excellent source of protein, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, iron, selenium and zinc.

You can’t make a pork tenderloin much easier than this folks!  If y’all thought I was some gourmet cook, you have now learned the truth!  lol

So obviously this is just bacon, a pork tenderloin, and a little time! In the oven at 325 for a few hours!

Enjoy y’all and don’t forget to visit my gal Amy, who got to test drive a Mercedes for 2 weeks, and maybe one of you will win $50! She really does have some delicious ‘simplified’ recipes.

P.S. I tend to overcook mine because I like WELL DONE and since this was cooked just for me, I was able to cook it any way I wanted. NO, I didn’t eat all by myself but I easily could have….*sigh*

The Super Bowl is right around the corner so if you’re looking for some quick and easy recipes to make your party delicious, look no more!  Also, tonight at 10:30pm CST, I’ll be hosting a radio talk show on Super Bowl Party Ideas for a fabulous party!  Join me and listen, chat or even call in!

DIPS

The Ultimate Cheese Dip

5-Minute TexMex Dip

(be sure to read the comments because they mentioned some great variations to make this!)

Holy Moly Guacamole!

Lori’s Hot Sauce

YUMMY BITS!

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos with Cream Cheese

Cocktail Weiners

Bacon Brunch Bites

Now this is a breakfast appetizer BUT you could totally use pizza sauce & toppings instead!!

DRINKS

• Slush Punch
• Peachy Iced Tea
• Jello Shooters (Alchohol in this one)

For a HUGE list of other recipes from around the web, check out the list Tipnut compiled and shared!