Easy Pasta Carbonara

I’m not sure which is my favorite, Mexican or Italian food, but the two are definitely neck and neck.  And with Italian food, I can’t help but indulge in those rich, creamy and oh so fattening sauces.  When I was looking for a quick and easy recipe that satisfied my need for sauce, I came across our favorite TV Italian cook, Giada De Laurentiis.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Mario Batali as well but his dishes are entirely too involved and complex.

Pizza Time: Fun with Brie

Is this the second consecutive post from one BeeStew?  That’s insane.  Someone should call the doctor on this girl. Haha!  I wouldn’t hold my breath you guys.  I’m almost out of the recipes I have backed up on my computer.  We’ll see how far this takes me. But do enjoy these fancy pants pizzas topped with ooey, gooey brie in the meantime.

Simple Bruschetta with Goat Cheese Spread

Oh my word it has been forever since my last post. I'm just going to keep this post short and sweet and give you the straight up ingredients and whatnot. I'll save my best anecdotes for my Freindsgiving posts in the coming week. I'm so excited. I already bought the turkey!!!

Ingredients

1 medium tomato chopped (I used a few cherry tomatoes), 1 garlic clove (2 if you like it pungent. I used two :), 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (roughly), 3-4 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), 1-2 tbs chopped fresh basil, plain goat cheese, a hardy baguette, salt and pepper  

Directions

1. The directions are super simple. Combine all of the ingredients except for the goat cheese and bread in a bowl. 2. Refrigerate for an hour or two.  Maybe more. 3. Prepare your baguette by cutting it into thick slices. Drizzle a little EVOO over each piece of bread.  Broil the bread for abut a minute or two. 4. Once bread is out of the oven, spread each piece of bread with a dollop of goat cheese. 5.  Take the bruschetta out of the refrigerator and top each piece of bread with a little of the mixture. 6.  Pour yourself a glass of wine and freaking eat the hell out of that bruschetta! Nom nom nom nom...

Roasted Veggie Enchiladas

What I loved most about being an army brat is what some people might think I would like least, traveling.  Traveling from state to state, country to country, and having to be at a new school every 2 to 3 years isn’t ideal for many people growing up.  But what’s great about traveling to new places is experiencing new foods.  While I was too young to fully experience the food there, I think my parents really fell in love with Mexican food while stationed in el Paso, Texas.  The layers of flavor topped with gobs of cheese made its way into many dishes growing up.  I will mind you that it’s probably more so Tex Mex food that we loved.  I don’t want to insult the Mexican food purists out there.

Crunchy Avocado Wrap

It’s been entirely too long since my last post. How dare my full time job get in the way. At any rate, I’ve had loads of ideas during my impromptu hiatus. One of which came from a request from a vegan co-worker of mine.  She showed me this amazing crunchy, avocado wrap that looked like it had layers on top of layers of flavor. Unfortunately for her, my adaptation of the wrap is not vegan but I’m sure there’s an awesome alternative to the egg I used in the dish.  Nonetheless, the results were a symphony in my mouth.

BeeStew Bakes: Blueberry Muffins

Oh my have I missed blogging as of late.  That pesky job of mine is getting in the way of all of my tasty experiments.  I guess if I got a little organized I could be a little more consistent. But what’s the fun in that?? Nonetheless, I did muster up some energy to make these oh so blueberry, blueberry muffins.

BeeStew Bakes: Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi day! Today is March 14th and clearly if you’ve learned anything from 7th grade math class 3.14 is Pi. I am in no way a math maven, although I secretly do wish I was, I am however a pie person. Now if you know anything about my blog you know I can’t bake. So clearly I’ve come up with a no-bake pie that hopefully anybody can master.  

Mocha Beer Float

I’ve never been a huge fan of root beer floats, strictly for the root beer part. Root beer is just entirely too sweet in all the wrong ways. In the same respect, I do love beer. So why not replace the root beer with beer? I wish I could say I was that innovative to be the first person to make the realization but, like all good ideas, it’s already been done. But to my credit, I’ve never seen a Mocha Beer Float! The mocha part you ask, is a chocolate beer stout. And the coffee part is a coffee bean ice cream. I knew this float would be good but good grief it was amazing. It was sweet, it was rich, it was deep, it was oh so good.

Grilled Cheese Sliders

Grilled cheese has to be on the list of great bar food.  It’s got the greasy, cheese something necessary to soak up all of that booze you’ve been drinking throughout the night.  Now I didn’t want to do your typical American cheese, grilled cheese.  I decided to get a little fancy on ya.  First, I made the grilled cheese a small slider.  Next, I did a brie and raspberry jam combo and the other a cheddar, apple, bacon delight.  Each is so good in its own right.  The brie is smooth with a little extra sweet, tart coming from the rasberry.  And the other slider is smokey, tart and oh so cheesy with that nice white Wisconsin cheddar.  I can already tell this is going to become a new staple in my home.

Loaded Potato Quesadilla

Well it’s pub grub week on BeeStew and I’m bringing lots of greesey gastro delights starting with my Loaded Potato Quesadilla. Like all of my great ideas this one comes from a lovely dish I had in a restaurant.  I saw potato, cheese and a tortilla in the description and hopped right on it.  The restaurant I went to called it a Potatoskinadilla.  While I love the name, I chose to call my version a Loaded Potato Quesadilla.  It has all the makings of a good loaded potato; cheese, bacon, sour cream. Yum! I’d like to say my version is a lot better.  You be the judge.

Chocolate-Almond Pots de Creme

So, originally I didn’t plan on doing a Valentine’s Day blog, simply because I knew everybody was hopping on that red rose covered train.  But this past weekend I was watching a lot of Food Network and Cooking Channel TV and it felt like every chef was making pots de creme.  I’ve never heard of the stuff before but I’m sooo much happier now that I have.  I’m in love with rich and decadent chocolate desserts and this hits the nail on the head.

Fat Tuesday: Bread Pudding with Rum Butter Sauce

Happy Fat Tuesday!  In honor of the occasion, I made some yummy bread pudding inspired by NOLA.  I’ve never been to New Orleans but I’m sure they know how to throw down on some bread pudding.

Chicken Meatloaf and Onion Rings REDO

So I originally posted this recipe back in August but sense then I've been making small strides with my photography and photoshop editing skills.  Food blogging is so dependent on great pictures that I don't want anybody passing up on a great recipe because the photos suck.  While I still have a lot to learn I felt it necessary to just repost one of my favorite recipes with some newly edited photos.  Enjoy!

Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs

I decided to keep this pimento cheese train going and put a little in some deviled eggs.  I'm a self professed non-egg person but I love me some deviled eggs.  I think it's because all of that mayo and cheese kind of drowns out that gross odorous egg taste that I hate so much.

Pimento Cheese

Since I’m in the middle of divorcing myself from my current cable company and am debating not having cable at all, I’ve been watching a lot of Hulu Plus lately. Just to see if I can handle not having my beloved cable for a while.  With that being said, I’m watching the entire season of random shows, one of those shows being Nashville.  I really didn’t think I was going to like this series as much as I did this weekend.  I’m not a huge fan of shows that take place in the South, simply due to the actor’s accents.  Some of them just can’t get that twang down.  But the actors on Nashville do a great job.  Plus I love seeing a few of the places I use to go to when I lived in Tennessee.

Pot Pie Tarts

Since starting this blog, I’ve had to dig deep for some food inspiration.  But searching for inspiration is a lot easier when it’s right in front of your face asking, “Have you made the pot pie yet, have you made the pot pie yet, etc.” A friend/co-worker of mine has seriously been begging for some chicken pot pie for some time now.  Since I love it when people ask for my cooking, I didn’t mind setting aside time to come up with a recipe.  I decided to use the pop tart as the vehicle for my pie not only for nostalgia reasons (who didn’t have pop tarts as a kid?) but also for the portability.  It was a lot easier for me to wrap up a small pop tart and bring it to work rather than to transport a full pie to my friend.  

Sriracha Hot Wings

I love hot wings anyway you slice it.  I love them in a wrap.  I love them on a bun.  I could eat them in a box.  I could eat them with a fox. Whoa, looks like someone channeled their inner Dr. Seuss.

Savory Scones Pt. 1: Fail :(

While I fancy myself an awesome home cook I’ve never been shy about professing my lack of baking skill.  I just get too bogged down by directions and the exact measurements that baking requires.  So it’s no surprise that my first attempt at savory scones failed.  To start, I really should have just paid attention to the directions the first go around and then change it up a bit.  But that just wouldn’t be true BS fashion.  

Splurge Meal: Beef Bolognese

So with a new year comes those pesky resolutions.  For those of us who like to indulge in one of those crispy planks lacquered in mayo called french fries or for those who like to escape to a saucy haven called chicken Alfredo land on more than one occasion; losing weight is on your resolution list.  In the blogosphere it's a 365 challenge (i.e. take a photo a day or blog a day).  Well we all know how organized I am so a 365 challenge is out but I guess I could eat one less french fry this year.

BeeStew Bakes: Oatmeal Rum Raisin Cookies

“‘Tis the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la, la la la la.” Oh it’s that time of year again when Christmas tunes are on full rotation on the radio and the smell of pine needles and holiday cheer fill the air.  It’s clear that I’ve been hit with the seasonal bug as I’ve gotten in the baking mood lately.  How unlike me?  Careful measuring and clear direction are not my forte.  But how funny is it that my baking fit has coincided with national cookie day? Who knew there was a national cookie day?  I didn’t know either.