bacon Archives - Page 2 of 2

Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancakes

May 23, 2012 · by Ari ·

Yup.

That happened.

You guys…I don’t even know what to say. These should have had like a zillion calories. With the name, and the deliciousness, and the whole eating dessert for breakfast thing. But really, a little dark chocolate is good for us, yes?

Okay, so I’m not about to switch out my Greek yogurt, pumpkin puree, chopped apple weirdness and turn bacon chocolate chip pancakes into my staple breakfast, but on a Sunday morning? Hell, yes.

I’m really sad you weren’t here to share in the fun. Although, I bet Steve and Jason are not in the least bit sad, because it meant more pancakes for them.

Sweet, salty, fluffy, melt in your mouth pancakes that will satisfy every single breakfast craving you’ve ever experienced. And just a little hint: whole wheat pastry flour is the secret to perfect whole grain pancakes. Do not used regular. Do not use white whole wheat. And please, do not think you need to add in bleached out white flour.

Oh, and my final instructions: Save that middle section with the most chocolate for last. It will be the best bite.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancakes

yield 6 servings

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
dash salt
2 tsp sugar free maple syrup (or honey, agave, or pure maple syrup)
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 slices center cut or turkey bacon, cooked, chopped and cooled
1/2 cup all natural dark chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently mix in syrup, egg substitute, milk, and vanilla, stirring until just combined. Then fold in cooked bacon and chocolate chips. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Preheat a large pan over medium heat, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Pour approx 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook until top forms small bubbles and bottom is golden brown. Flip and continue cooking until both sides are golden.
Serve topped with any combination of Greek yogurt/syrup/light whipped butter

Barbecue Ranch Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

January 9, 2012 · by Ari ·

You know those barbecue bacon cheeseburgers that you can order at all those greasy hamburger restaurants, and then you smother ranch all over it and it’s even more delicious? This is like that. Only healthy 😉

When I was in NYC, we ate at a restaurant called Chelsea Grill per Mac’s suggestion. On the menu they had “Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf”. Now, I am not the type of person that orders that at a restaurant. Lots of healthy eating folks could, but knowing I could make it so much healthier at home would stress me out. So instead, I did just that and oh my gosh, it was so amazing. I would make it again and again and again. The cheese on top got the perfect amount of melty and the bacon on top got perfectly crispy. It was just like the type of cowboy burger you’d order at a restaurant. In fact, if you made it as a burger, it would also be healthy and delicious!

I made 2 meatloaves for 5 peoples plus roasted sweet potatoes and there wasn’t a single bite left at the end of the night. I was totally looking forward to leftovers this week, but I’ll take the lack thereof as a compliment about my awesome cooking!

Barbecue Ranch Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

yield 4-6 servings

1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef/turkey (at least 93% lean)
1/2 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2/3 cup raw oats
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
generous pinch each of salt, garlic pepper, and your favorite burger seasoning
dash ranch reasoning
1/4-1/3 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
3 slices center cut or turkey bacon

For the sauce:

3/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
3-4 tbs barbecue sauce
1 1/2 tsp ranch seasoning

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together egg substitute, almond milk, and seasonings. Mix in onion and oats.
Add meat **this is the fun part!!** and use your hands to thoroughly combine. (Note: you may add the cheese at this time if you wish. I didn’t, but I imagine it would be especially delicious if you mixed it in and put it on top 🙂 )
Using your hands, remove meat mixture from bowl and make a loaf shape on your prepared cookie sheet.
Top with cheese, then bacon slices.
Bake for 1 hour, or until cooked throughout.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients. Heat in microwave for 45-60 seconds when meat if ready.
Serve meatloaf and top with barbecue ranch sauce.

To be fair, I made 2 different kinds of meatloaf. Obviously, this is the one on the right 😉

I discovered through the picture process that meatloaf is, in fact, kind of an ugly food. Sorry about that. But I promise you it tastes delicious!

Steak, Potatoes and Beer, Oh My

December 26, 2011 · by Ari ·

I am a person who loves to be busy. Some may say I’m a workaholic, but I am MORE than happy to keep busy by celebrating and spending time with family and friends. Is there a job where they pay you to do that? I think what I do is actually probably as close as you get. Lucky me 🙂

Let’s catch up, shall we? 2 days before Christmas started out with the 2nd to last long run Kara and I will do before PF Chang’s. We planned for 10, but Kara has been sick for like 2 months straight and after 8 she just wasn’t feeling it, so we ended up walking the last 2 miles home. At this point, we’re ready and the ending walk where we were just able to chat felt really nice actually. We ended up covering just under 10 miles total in about 2 hours. Still not too shabby.

The past few weeks after my long run, I’ve had the craziest cravings for steak. I don’t really eat red meat, but the evening after a run, all I want to eat is a big, juicy fillet! Well, Friday night I finally got what I had been craving! Kara, Charlie and Hermano met us at our house before heading out to Whole Foods to pick out our meat and our drinks. I love the type of dinner party where everyone picks their own meat, Steve grills it all up and I make the side dish. So simple, and much cheaper than trying to buy steak for everyone (ummm Steve’s steak was $30).

Hermano and I each picked out a fillet, although his was 13 oz and mine was 6 haha. Steve and Kara both picked out massive rib eyes. Charlie picked out some chicken, and Hermano also picked up a pound of macaroni and cheese because he was skeptical about the side dish I had planned.

Kara and I also picked out some cherry stout and cappuccino stout. Delicious.

As soon as we were home and we had popped open our beers, Steve fired up the grill and I got to work on the taters.

Hard at work. Obviously. I actually think I was trying to put my hair up, maybe?

Soon enough, dinner was served!

That, my friends, is what a 1.3lb piece of meat looks like.

Hermano's pound of steak and pound of macaroni.

After trying my Maple Bacon Sweet Potatoes (don’t you worry, recipe is coming soon), Hermano regretted his decision not to get some himself, so 2 lbs of food later, he went back to get some.

Yes, that is the pan I cooked them in. Apparently I need to hit my growth spurt so I can polish off pounds of food at a time and still be thin.

Then, 2 beers later (apparently I’m a light weight because that was seriously all I could handle), we were watching The Muppets Christmas Carol and I decided to make dessert. Very tipsy, recipe-less dessert. I didn’t measure a single thing and I thought it was going to be a disaster, but the entire 8×8 pan was gone in about 10 minutes flat. No pictures. No recipe. Sad day. I do remember it included mashed banana, caramel and white chocolate chips. Maybe one day I’ll try to recreate it 🙂

Skinnified Sunday: Maple Bacon Pancakes

September 25, 2011 · by Ari ·

Hi everyone! Man, the weekend seems like a total blur. Today was day 7 of my 33 straight work days. Craziness is beginning to set in especially considering Fiddler officially began today with the audition workshop. Only 26 days left 🙂 Needless to say, not a lot of cooking has been going on in my kitchen, well at least not a lot of exciting cooking, but I did manage to pull out something quick and delicious yesterday morning that filled my sweet and salty craving!

Back in the day, one of my favorite things to order at a restaurant was pancakes with over medium eggs and bacon that I would put on top and cover the whole thing with maple syrup. I LOVE sweet and salty combinations! Salted caramel mocha? The vain of my existence right now. There is no way to make that drink healthy. I’ve been through it in my head 100 times. But this breakfast totally did the trick. Not to mention is was ready in about 15 minutes.

Maple Bacon Pancakes

2 cup of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon sugar
2 egg, lightly beaten
2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoon of butter
6 slices of bacon, sliced horizontally and then diced

My swaps:

1/2 recipe (-temptation)
Whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose flour (+protein, +fiber)
Red fat buttermilk for regular (-fat, -calories)
Brown sugar and Splenda for sugar (I think I forgot to half the sugar part so honestly calorie and sugar wise it was the same as the original, but I would probably do it that way again and I prefer brown sugar to regular)
Egg whites for whole eggs (-fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
Cooking spray for butter (-fat, -calories, -saturated fat)
Center cut or turkey bacon for regular (-fat, -calories, – saturated fat)
+ 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (+protein)
+ vanilla extract (+yum)
+ maple extract (+yum)

Skinnified Maple Bacon Pancakes

yield 3 servings