Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Muffins

We had a lack of food in our fridge this morning, so I used what I found to make breakfast...

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Muffins

I tweaked the original recipe to make them, though.  Mine had more egg and different spices (including some good 'ole Old Bay).  You can't go wrong with Old Bay.  At least, I haven't found out how to go wrong with it yet... yum. 

These muffins were pretty good, but I think even with my tweaks, it needed something more.  They were a little too biscuit-y for my liking.  If I make them again, I'll put much less flour in and more egg.  Maybe even some sausage instead of the bacon.  I ended up making some eggs to go on the side.

Alissa's Bacon Eggs

They may have been the best eggs ever. 

I also dipped the muffin into some red raspberry syrup.  It was a good breakfast.  :-)

Fake Crab

For those of you who know me personally, you know that I love seafood.  I haven't blogged too many seafood recipes though, because I don't tend to make a lot of seafood dishes.  Mainly because hubby is allergic to shellfish.  :-(  Very sad. 

To live in Maryland and not be able to eat crabs is just awful! 

Don't get me wrong, I eat seafood every chance I get... I just try not to flaunt my seafood eating in front of those who cannot partake.  See how much I love you, honey? 

So, the other day I discovered Pinterest.  It's a little too addictive for someone like me.  If you know about it already, you know what I mean.  If you don't, you should check it out!  ;-)  I started pinning all kinds of recipes to my board to try at a later date (I'm pretty excited).  That's when I found a recipe for Pasta Crab Casserole that uses imitation crab meat. 

Why, oh WHY have I never thought to use imitation crab meat before?!

It's super fun to chop!

Pasta Crab Casserole

...and is a great substitute when you can't eat real crab (for whatever reason).  I'm sooooo excited to try some other seafood recipes with imitation crab to see how they turn out.  This one was delicious.  Mmm...

Barley?

Hey people... this is just a WW soup recipe I wanted to try since I had barley in the house.  I never have barley in the house.  Have you eaten barley before?  It's got an interesting texture to it.  It's quite different from rice and makes for a good change if you're looking for something healthy and tasty to try.  Here it is cooking:

Garlic, carrots, and mushrooms sautee-ing...

...in the giant soup pot.

Wild Rice, Barley, Corn, and Mushroom Soup 

Mmm... soup. 

Cincinnati Chili

As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of chili.  It's a staple in our house.  I generally make it using chili packets of seasoning and pretty much always follow the same recipe.  It's not tough. 

However, my favorite kind of chili is not exactly convenient to make.  I used to be able to find Cincinnati chili packets, but they no longer sell them around here.  The packets were convenient because you just add them to some meat and cook away.  Without the packets, the chili has to simmer for a looooooooong time to get all of the spices and flavors going.  If you follow my chili link above, it will take you to where you can actually order the packets.  OR... you can just try this recipe.  I crockpotted it up.  Yep, I made a new word there. 

I think the main difference with Cincinnati chili is that you serve it over spaghetti noodles.  Oh, and you put chocolate and cinnamon in it.  Sounds crazy, but it's amazing!  Mmm... as I was cooking it, the house smelled terrific and it brought back all kinds of good memories.  :-)

All spiced up in the crock.

Simmering meat...

Dump it all in and cook!

Cincinnati Chili

Now, I think if I make it again, I may try it without the kidney beans.  I know that you usually put beans in chili, but the way I remember having Cinicinnati chili is without them.  Kidney beans have never been my favorite anyway... although they apparently have all kinds of health benefits. 

Yummy!

What's your favorite kind of chili?

Pie :-)

Big news!

I made my very first pie last night!  Nope, not cherry, blueberry, or lemon meringue...

Nacho Pie!

It's nacho ordinary pie... *snicker snicker*.  Okay, that was pretty bad.  Just go with it, folks. 

Now, I know that you are probably shocked that the first pie I ever made falls into the Mexican food category.  NOT.  This pie was amazing.  So easy to make and easily customizable.  I added diced green chiles to mine.  You could easily add mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, or whatever else floats your delicious nacho boat. 

Ready to eat!

Meat, Mushrooms, and Herbs, Oh my!

I just spent waaaaaaaay too long organizing my blog pictures.  My advice to you is that if you ever start a blog, make sure you have some system of organization from the beginning.  Not just a jumble of delicious looking pictures.  Yeah. 

Now that I have all kinds of folders and labels, I'm ready to show you what I cooked yesterday... more meat! 

Hearty Rice Casserole

I have no idea why this is called "Hearty Rice Casserole" and not "Hearty Double-Meat Casserole".  In my humble opinion, that would be a much more appropriate name.  Sooo much meat.  It smelled so good while it was cooking and I think it tasted even better leftover tonight. 

I also made these:

Sauteed Mushrooms

Mmm... I love mushrooms so much. 

Apparently I'm all about meat and mushrooms lately.  I'm not really sure why.  Everything I seem to cook has both!  What's up with that? 

Oh, on a side note... here are a few pictures of my growing herbs:

The good news is that they're not dead yet.  However, it doesn't look like the cilantro is really growing.  I shall keep watering it and see what happens! 

Off to bed.  I'm sooooo tired and that baby of mine is going to wake me up soon.  Thank goodness she's cute.  ;-)

Omelet Folding

I'll make this quick.  For all the times that I've made yummy scrambled eggs, I've never thought to make an omelet.  Mainly because I can't fold them correctly.  See?

There's a little bit of omelet fail going on there.  I can apparently fold them in a haphazard way...  but the perfect omelet fold eludes me.  I even waited until the omelet looked a little bubbly before trying to fold it.  Does anyone know if adding milk to it helps?  Any tips or suggestions to perfect my omelet skills are welcome!  

Alissa's Scallion, Mushroom, and Cheese Omelet