Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Carbonara can be made with any kind of noodle, but it's most commonly made with spaghetti. You just basically need noodles, eggs, and bacon, and you're ready to go.

When I made this a month or so ago, it wasn't this exact recipe from allrecipes.com that I used but rather I looked at several recipes and kind of combined them to come up with what I made. It is a pretty fair representation of what I made.

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 slices bacon, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine (I often substitute chicken broth)
4 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti pasta until al dente. Drain well. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and set aside.

Meanwhile in a large skillet, cook chopped bacon until slightly crisp; remove and drain onto paper towels. Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon fat; add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, and heat in reused large skillet. Add chopped onion, and cook over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add minced garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add wine if desired; cook one more minute.

Return cooked bacon to pan; add cooked and drained spaghetti. Toss to coat and heat through, adding more olive oil if it seems dry or is sticking together. Add beaten eggs and cook, tossing constantly with tongs or large fork until eggs are barely set. You may want to temper the eggs with a little bit of the hot water from the pasta so the eggs don't scramble when they hit the hot pasta. Quickly add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and toss again. Add salt and pepper to taste (remember that bacon and Parmesan are very salty).

Serve immediately with chopped parsley sprinkled on top, and extra Parmesan cheese at table.

photo by Inga Beretta

Peppermint Bark

As requested, here is the recipe for peppermint bark that we made for the family Christmas party. Also, you can find the marbled bark recipe with oreo chunks over on our blog.

• 1 pkg. (8 squares) semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 pkg. (6 squares) white chocolate
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup crushed candy canes

Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, smoothing out any wrinkles.

Melt the semi sweet chocolate with 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a microwave-safe dish. Immediately pour the melted chocolate into the prepared pan and tilt the pan so the chocolate makes an even layer. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Melt the white chocolate and remaining 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Immediately pour the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate and spread evenly. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes evenly over the white chocolate. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Remove the firm chocolate from the pan by lifting the edges of the aluminum foil. Peel back the foil and break into small irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

From Allrecipes

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes: My kids love mini muffins, so I made them in mini muffin tins and baked them for 12 minutes. I made the batter last night and baked them this morning, they were delicious with yogurt and Christie's granola recipe.

String Beans with Garlic

So I made these beans tonight and Jacob and Zach said they were the best beans they ever had.


From the Barefoot Contessa
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds French string beans, both ends removed (I bought mine at Walmart in a little bag)
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 to 3 garlic cloves, sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions

Blanch the string beans in a large pot of boiling salted water for just 1 1/2 minutes. Drain immediately and immerse in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. When they are cool, drain and set aside.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a very large saute pan over medium heat and cook the garlic for 1 to 2 minutes, tossing occasionally, until lightly browned. Add the string beans, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss together. Reheat the string beans and serve.

Peanut Butter Crunch Granola

This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Tami. I just made it today and keep grabbing handfuls as I walk by. Its tasty. The peanut butter is not overwhelming.. its just right. I made half the recipe just to try it out and it made a heaping cookie tray full, so depending on how much granola you will eat, you may want to do half.

Mix together:
10 cups oatmeal (not instant)
2 cups Grape Nuts (for crunch)
1 small bag coconut (optional)
2 cups wheat bran
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup walnuts, seeds, almonds (optional)

Boil for 1 minute:
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 cup honey
1 cup peanut butter (or less if you prefer)

Remove from heat and add
2-3 teaspoons vanilla

Pour over oat mixture. Bake on cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes at 325 until golden. After baked and while still hot you can add any dried fruit you want. (I added craisins and it is delish)

Pupusas

Someone I know was asking about good Mexican restaurants around town. One person mentioned a couple pupuserias, even though they're from El Salvador, not Mexico. I'd heard of them, so thought I should give them a try.

I found various recipes, most pretty similar. The one I followed the closest was this one for pupusas de queso, although I filled them with other stuff, too.

The dough is pretty much just the same as for corn tortillas:

2 C corn flour (masa de harina or maseca)
1 C water

Just mix that up, adding more water as needed, until it has the consistency of play-dough and so when you squish a chunk of it flat, the edges don't crack. Separate into 8 balls, shape into little cups, fill with refried beans, chicken, cheese, etc. I made half with refried beans and half with chicken with taco seasoning. I added some cotija and monterrey jack cheese to each. I recommend giving cotija cheese a try if you haven't.

Seal up the little cups, so you end up with a ball with the filling inside, and then smoosh it so it's the size of a pancake, keeping the filling inside and the masa outside as much as you can.

Pan fry them a couple minutes on each side. I sprinkled a little salt on top of them to add a touch of flavor. I made them pretty mild so the kids would like them, but you could stuff them with jalapenos or other spicy stuff. It would be good with salsa, sour cream, cilantro, or anything else you might eat with tortillas. They eat pupusas in El Salvador with a pickled cabbage; since I didn't have time for the pickling process, I just pan fried some cabbage with Mexican gray squash and served with cilantro lime rice.

You could probably fill them with some dessert fillings and come out with a pretty good treat. Or you could just spread nutella on your chicken and cheese pupusa.