thick cut bacon

Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs

January 26, 2018 by Dana

The Super Bowl is right around the corner, and these Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs are a crowd-pleasing appetizer worthy of bringing to the big game!

Truth: I don’t care about the Super Bowl. I don’t follow football, my husband doesn’t follow football, and well… we just aren’t a sporty family. I GUESS I’m rooting for the Eagles because my Mom is a super fan and I’m close to Philadelphia. 🙂 We usually go to a family friendly party, and I’m strictly there for the food so don’t ask me about the game or even the commercials because I could care less!

My ALL TIME favorite Super Bowl appetizer is Buffalo Chicken Dip. It is addicting, delicious, and expected to be at every party. Wings are also right up there on the list of must haves, but you will always need a few other items to fill in for the folks who aren’t into spicy foods. Shrimp, meatballs, guacamole, pizza… you know all the good stuff!

For these Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs, I did make my meatballs from scratch because it is super simple to do! HOWEVER…. if you happen to pick up frozen meatballs to make this recipe, no judgement here! That is what I love about this recipe, it is customizable and can be made in even less time if you are in a hurry. Getting all of my family ready and out the door for a Super Bowl party is stressful enough, so I totally get it. If you are running low on time or just don’t care…. GET THE FROZEN MEATBALLS. 🙂

Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs Recipe Tips

Again, this recipe is totally customizable. Don’t have time to make meatballs from scratch? Buy frozen! Want your sauce a bit sweeter? Add more honey! Really love ranch dressing? Drizzle some on there like I did!
If you are making meatballs from scratch, the meatball recipe is a basic tried and true recipe. There isn’t anything particularly different about it, because the sauce and the bacon are really making these meatballs.
The sauce is WAY better the next day. I would suggest maybe making it the day before, and letting all of the flavors come together overnight in the refrigerator. Here is the thing about homemade sauces like this…. they need time. Just like the sauce you buy in the grocery store has been sitting for a period of time, it is also good to let your homemade sauce sit and mingle together.
If you’d like to make these as a meal, they are great with a simple side like buttered egg noodles or jasmine rice. We have eaten them as a meal with rice and they were fantastic.
If your party is large, I would suggest making a double batch. If you’d like to stick with a single batch, you can always make them mini-meatballs to stretch them farther.
For the meat… I prefer to use a meatball/meatloaf mix of meats. It includes beef, pork, and veal. I know, I know. But listen, the meat matters! My local grocery stores do sell this already pre-mixed specifically for meatballs and meatloaf. If you can’t find a meatball mix at your grocery store, I would ask the butcher there to make you a mix, or just purchase 1 pound of each and make a large batch and freeze the extras.

Chicken, Bacon, and Broccoli Pasta

August 18, 2015 by Dana

One. More. Week. Just one more week of summer vacation left. Have you seen the video of the mom singing “Bye, Bye, Bye” as the bus leaves on the first day of school? Yeah, that’s me right now. I’m ready to see that bus pull away (ok, we don’t have busses but if we did….) and I’m ready to get back to the “school year” schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I love my oldest son dearly. It is just that I’m 36 weeks pregnant, FAT as ever, out of energy, can’t bend over, and have exhausted all of our summer plans. But here I am making this Chicken Bacon Broccoli Pasta anyway!

I never thought I would be ready for summer to be over, but today when it hit me that next Tuesday is the first day of school I was kind of excited! Maybe it is because I really am just tired of adulting, or maybe it is because I have been telling myself over and over again that at the end of summer I will have a new baby. Which ever the case I’m just not so sad to see summer go this year.

Speaking of adulting, I did a little bit of it today and whipped up some brownies PLUS this delicious, cheesy, and somewhat indulgent pasta. Who doesn’t love a pasta dish like this one? Cheesy..check. Creamy..check. Bacony..check. Carb-o-licious..check. Oh and then there is the broccoli that I threw in there to convince myself I was being healthy..check. 🙂 This dinner is a win-win in the ingredient department, but even better is that it takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish! With back to school schedules in full swing I know I will be needing meals like this to get me through the week (and keep my kids from complaining).

Recipe Tips:

I used thin sliced chicken breasts for this recipe, as I always do. If you pick up regular chicken breasts at the grocery store, you can easily slice them in half lengthwise before slicing into strips, or use a meat tenderizer to flatten them a bit before slicing into strips. There is something really gross about biting into a super thick and chunky piece of meat so I always recommend thinner pieces.
I only cook the broccoli for a minute or two when I first put it in because it will continue cooking. When your broccoli brightens up in color you are good to add the rest of your ingredients.
Additional salt and pepper to taste can make or break a recipe. The cheese in this recipe is pretty salty, so you probably won’t need to add too much additional seasoning if you do.
When cooking your bacon you may notice some residue on the bottom of your pot. THIS IS GOOD. When you stir in your milk go ahead and scrape that residue off the bottom of your pan for extra flavor.
As always when cooking I keep my burner at a medium temperature. Often times I feel like people want to crank up the heat but this can easily ruin a recipe. A steady low-medium is where I do most of my cooking!
Recipe Update: I have made this recipe a couple times and have found that I like cooking the bacon separate from the rest for a crispier result. I just throw my bacon in the oven. When it is cooked I diced it up and mixed it in at the end.

Bacon and Mustard Asparagus

November 30, 2014 by Dana

Bacon. Mustard. Asparagus. Hello, I’m so glad we’ve met! I’m so glad me and my *asparagus loving* one year old just devoured a whole bunch of asparagus together, covered in whole grain mustard and bacon. Ok, I’m the only one who ate the bacon, because salt-fest 5,000 isn’t exactly a good idea for a one year old. Over concerned Mommy? Possibly. Greedy bacon lover? Yes.

Ok, so I’m not teaching my kids to share bacon. Truth! But you should most definitely make this delicious asparagus to accompany your holiday party this year, and share with your family, because Hello! The table needs a bright and colorful veggie dish and the broccoli casserole just isn’t cutting it anymore. Ok, I’ve always hated broccoli casserole anyway so maybe I’m biased, but seriously this asparagus just screams delish!

I have an asparagus secret weapon that enables me to purchase the perfect, skinny asparagus every week for $2.99 a bundle, and the bundle is huge! On a past recipe a reader mentioned the cost of asparagus and I KNOW, it is super expensive compared to other veggies. If you are looking to save some green on your asparagus GO TO ALDI! GO TO ALDI! GO TO ALDI! I can’t say it enough. Go to Aldi! This time of year they have some awesome seasonal products and if you can find your way out of their junk food isle you might just find some awesome deals on real food. We shop there a lot because 3 kids and a husband that eats like a horse is expensive. We got our bacon at Aldi too, organic, for a fraction of the price of what I would pay at Giant or Wegman’s.

And now… I present to you… the most in-your-face asparagus picture ever. Guiness Book of World Records here I come!

Beautiful, right? Perfect bright colors for a holiday table, right? Yes and yes! Above all this asparagus is just amazingly delicious and I’m not just saying that because I made up the recipe. It might be the *Best Ever* asparagus recipe, but you know pulling out the *Best Ever* card isn’t really my style so let’s just leave it at this: This asparagus is awesome and could be, would be, the *Best Ever* if we used those words. The end!

I must also stress this recipe is SO EASY. Easy as in it takes less than 20 minutes to put together, and as little as 5 if you decide to omit the bacon. Healthy weeknight side dish right here. 🙂

And guess what? We picked a tree this weekend. Hello hunky husband! #Imarriedwell