Chef John's BLT Pasta

"The flavors of America's favorite sandwich, bacon, lettuce, and tomato, combine in a fresh and tasty pasta dish that cooks up in a jiffy."

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 pound bacon, cut crosswise into 1 -inch pieces 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons lemon zest 2/3 cup creme fraiche 2 cups ditalini pasta

2 cups halved cherry tomatoes 4 cups baby arugula, coarsely chopped salt and ground black pepper to taste 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste 1 tablespoon freshly shredded Parmesan cheese, or to taste (optional)

Directions:

1.	Pour olive oil into a heavy skillet over medium heat, add bacon, and cook until almost crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Turn off heat. Hold a paper towel with tongs and mop up excess bacon grease with the paper towel, leave about 2 teaspoons bacon grease in the skillet.
2.	Stir minced garlic and lemon zest into bacon in the skillet and let cook in residual heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir creme fraiche into bacon mixture.
3.	Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and stir in 2 cups of ditalini. Cook till tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and add pasta to the skillet. Stir pasta thoroughly into bacon and creme fraiche mixture.
4.	Return skillet to medium heat. Add tomatoes; cook and stir until slightly softened, about 1 minute. Mix in arugula, stirring until wilted, about 30 seconds, and turn off heat.
5.	Season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Stir again and garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

This is my tried and true sugar cookie recipe with the simple addition of sprinkles!

Yield: 18-24 medium sized cut out cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons non-pareils sprinkles
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl add flour, baking powder and sprinkles. Whisk together and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer add butter and beat until smooth.
Add sugar and blend until fully combined and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla and blend.
While mixing, slowly pour in the bowl of flour.
Mix until dough forms and starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
Scoop dough out onto a work surface and form into two large balls. Place balls of dough into a large ziplock bag and press the balls down into thick, flat disk (about an inch thick). Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface. I place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough to avoid adding excess flour, and to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Roll out the dough to about 1/3" thickness. Cut out cookies and bake similar sized cookies together on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat type liner.
Bake 8-10 minutes in a preheated 350*F oven.
Cool on the baking sheet for 1-2 minutes, then move to a cooling rack.
Once fully cool, store cookies in a sealed container until ready to decorate.
Cookies remain fresh (when stored well) for at least a week.

Glorious Treats

Homemade White Bread

Time: 1 hour
Yield: 4 loaves
Recipe from Susan Merrill

4 C hot water
1/2 C sugar
2/3 C canola or vegetable oil
2 Tb salt
10-12 C all-purpose flour
3 Tb + 1 tsp yeast (I use active dry)
butter

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees.
2. Pour 4 cups of hot water into your stand mixer. You want the water to be hot, but not so hot that you can't hold your hand in it.
3. To your stand mixer add 1/2 cup sugar, 2/3 C oil, 2 tablespoons of salt and 4 cups flour.
4. Turn your mixer on to low allowing the ingredients to mix for about 30 seconds.
5.  Add 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast.
6. Continue adding the flour, one cup at a time while the mixer is on low. When the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, you know you have enough flour. Turn the mixer to medium speed and let it mix for 6-7 minutes.
7. Remove the dough hook and take the bowl off of the stand mixer. Cover it with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. 
8. Spray your hands with cooking spray. This will help so the dough doesn't stick too much.
9. Spray 4 loaf pans with cooking spray and separate the dough equally between them.
10. Take each piece of dough and round it into a ball. Slap the dough a few times with the palm of your hand in order to remove any air bubbles that remain inside. Then form it back into a lovely ball and place it in the pan.
11. Shape the other three loaves and carefully place them in your oven to rise. When the dough has risen up about 1 inch above the side of the pan (should only take about 15 minutes) turn your oven up to 350 degrees. Keep the loaf pans in the oven while it heats up. This will help the dough rise a bit more before it begins to bake. Allow the bread to bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on the top and bottom. Your oven may cook faster or slower than mine, just keep an eye on it to be sure it doesn't burn. :)
12. Remove the pans from the oven and carefully dump the bread out onto your counter. Using two hot pads, place the loaves on cooling racks.
13. Spread a bit of butter onto the top of each loaf. This will help the outer crust to not get too hard.
14. Allow the loaves to cool for about 5 minutes, then slice and enjoy! 

Store leftover loaves in freezer safe gallon sized Ziploc bags and then place them in your freezer.

Blueberry Yum Yum

 

• 1 (10-ounce) package Lorna Doone Cookies
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (12-ounce) can blueberry pie filling
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Crush the Lorna Doone cookies and reserve about 1/2 cup of the crumbs for the topping. Mix the cookie crumbs with the melted butter. Press them into the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes and then cool completely.

In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1 container of the thawed whipped topping by stirring by hand. Once thoroughly mixed, spread the mixture over the cooled crust.

Drop dollops of the blueberry pie filling over the cream cheese layer and spread carefully. Sprinkle pecans over the pie filling. Top with the remaining container of whipped topping and sprinkle with the reserved crushed cookies. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Southern Bite