Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Wreath

Ok I'm posting this quick cause it was a really easy and fast recipe I found on Pinterest! It can be switched to any type of meat and done a lot of different ways. These are our favorite breakfast flavors though. 

First pre heat your oven to 420° and bake your bacon strips for 15 minutes. Not all the way cooked and a little bendy. Like 3/4 of the way cooked. Spray a parking sheet with pam. Then open a tube of crescent rolls and line them up in a circle leaving room for the filling to fit on the dough not the baking sheet. 

Put a slice of bacon on each triangle.

A scoop of whatever your favorite shredded cheese is. I'm using cheddar and Colby.

In a skillet cook 5 large eggs or 6 small ones till they are still runny but set enough to lift them out of the pan. I cooked mine in some butter and remember to season well with salt and pepper. Place them in a circle on top of the cheese and bacon.

Bring up the tips of the triangles and pull them over the filling and press into the ring. Then top with more cheese. All in all you will prob use about a cup of cheese.

Put the oven down to 375° and bake it for 15-17 minutes until the crescents are golden brown.

I cut mine into individual crescents and topped with hot sauce. But you can top with anything like ketchup or salsa. So yummy!!

Pesto Chicken Parmesan

This is easy peasy for sure! I used some of my homemade Asparagus-Spinach Pesto that I put in another post but you can use any type of pesto or even store bought.

First in a large sprayed baking dish lay 4 thin chicken cutlets, I bought them this way but you could take 2 breasts, slice and pound them thin. Salt and pepper these.Take about half a cup of pesto and rub it over the breasts on both sides.

Then pour over like 3/4 a cup of marinara sauce, I used pizza sauce cause it's what I had on hand.

Then sprinkle with half a cup to a cup of shredded mozzarella. Put in a preheated oven at 350° and bake for 30 minutes till bubbly and brown on top.

I cooked some noodles and added a tbls of butter and some salt then steamed some green beans for a side. Delicious!

Mexican Quinoa and Grilled Chicken Bowl

This is an easy quick dish that is amazing! I even got a non quinoa lover to say it's delicious!

First dice half an onion and put it in a sauce pan with a lid on medium high heat with a tbls of olive oil.When the onions have softened after a few minutes throw in a large garlic clove minced

1 tsp of chipotle chili powder.

I ran out if cumin so normally this would be a tsp of toasted cumin but I used a tsp of taco seasoning instead. Made it even better! Stir to toast the spices.

Then put in a cup of rinsed quinoa.

Mix to toast the quinoa for a min then pour in a cup and 1/2 of chicken broth.

Half a cup of chopped tomatoes or tomato purée. I used half a cup of chopped tomatoes with chili seasonings cause it's what I had in my pantry.

Next put in 1/2 a tsp of oregano

Then a pinch of salt

Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Mean while grill a chicken breast marinated in olive oil, minced garlic, minced onion, half a lime juice, cumin, oregano, chipotle powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. I just threw some of each seasoning in a small Baggie with the breast and marinated for 30 minutes. You can marinate as long as you want. Once grilled I sliced it diagonally.

Once the quinoa is cooked let it sit off the heat for 5 minutes then layer it into the bowl on bottom, top with some heated up seasoned black beans rinsed from a can, half a cubed avocado with lime juice, the chicken breast, then sprinkle with crumbled cotija cheese, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. Delicious!!

Homemade Pasta with Garlic Herb Shrimp and Asparagus-Spinach Pesto

For the homemade pasta I first took 4 large eggs and whisked them in the bottom of my stand mixer bowl.Over that I put a sifter bowl and sifted in 3 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 a tsp of salt.

Then I added 2 tbls of cold water.

Turned on the machine with the flat batter blade and mixed for a minute. Then switched to the dough hook and kneeded it at a speed of 2 for 2 minutes and poured it into a floured surface and hand kneeded for 2 minutes then let rest for 30 minutes.

For the pesto I started in a food processor with 3 cups if spinach and added half a cup of grated Parmesan.

I grated 4 garlic cloves.

1/4 a cup of toasted pine nuts

1/2 a tsp of salt

Half a lemon squeezed.

In a pot of boiling water I cooked a bunch of asparagus with the ends chopped off and the rest cut in half. Boiled for a few minutes then dumped in an ice bath to stop cooking. Then I drained and added then to the food processor.

I pulsed it a bunch to get it mixing together then drizzled half a cup of evoo slowly while pulsing. 

So bright and fresh looking!

After the dough is rested I took it and cut it into 4 pieces. Take one piece and flatten into a rectangular shape. Adding flour to both sides. Be sure to cover the other pieces. Attach the pasta sheet roller to your stand mixer and set it to #1. Turn on the stand mixer to speed 2 and run the pasta dough through the pasta sheet roller. While on #1, fold the dough in half and run it through again. Do this a couple times.

Adding a little bit of flour on each side of the dough again, change setting to #2 and pass the pasta dough through the sheet roller. I did this twice and then twice each on #3 and then #4. If you want thicker dough, don't do the #4 setting.

Once again, add flour to each side of your long pasta sheet. Then I changed the attachment to a fettuccine cutter and turn on to speed 2. I ran the pasta sheet through with my left hand, held on to the pasta as it comes through the cutter with my right hand. Allow pasta to dry for a few minutes before boiling.

I love this drying rack, before I got it I would put it on a sheet and they would usually stick together.

Then put in a pot of boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Fresh pasta doesn't take long.

It will float when it's done.

Take it out and put in a large bowl. I used only half the dough for this recipe and it would feed 4.

Then with a little starchy water still dripping from the noodles I added a couple big spoonfuls of the pesto, like a cup maybe.

I have no idea where my other pictures I took of this went to but after this I sautéed half a pound of peeled and deveined shrimp and added that to the pasta and another 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts. Then plated and topped with some shredded Parmesan.