Bacon Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta

I don't buy bacon at the grocery store often- cuz I know I will binge eat it. But I made an exception this week for this recipe I found online.

What you need:
3-4 chicken breasts
2/3 cup ricotta cheese
1 (8oz) bag of spinach
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 package of bacon
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons oil

salt and pepper

toothpicks

cooking spray

 

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, heat your oil on medium heat. Add your minced garlic and cook until brown (about 30 seconds). Add in your spinach and cook until it wilts. Transfer the spinach to a bowl to cool.

 

 

 

Place your chicken breasts in between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Pound the chicken with your fist or a meat mallet until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Slice the chicken horizontally and open like a book.

 

 

Now your spinach should have cooled. Add in your ricotta, parmesan and Italian seasoning and mix everything together.

 

 

Place a couple spoon fulls of the mixture inside the flap and fold it over.

 

 

 

Now, the original recipe calls for 2 slices of bacon per piece of chicken. But let's be honest, you can never have enough bacon- so why not get a little wild and wrap the sucker in it?

 

 

Insert a few toothpicks to keep everything together and its ready for the oven!

 

 

Place your chicken in a 13x9 pan coated with cooking oil. Cook on 350 for 45 minutes, and then another 10 minutes under the broiler to crisp up that fatty deliciousness (be careful of the toothpicks catching on fire! that added a little bit of excitement to my night!)

 

 

OMG this was SO good! Restaurant quality with even more flavor due to the extra bacon! And the best part about stuffing anything? The epic 'cut in half' pic- I'm SO food network..

Nanner's Pierogies

My 50th post! Gotta make it a good one!

 

As I've said in this blog before, there are some dishes that no matter how hard you try, your mom always makes them better. For me, its my mom's calzone. What's even harder is attempting to make someone else's mom's recipe (its a confusing way to put it, take it word by word), because you know it will never be as good, but you still try, because your a dreamer. a believer. a chance taker.

Jake's mom makes the best pierogies, so I decided earlier this week to put it on the meal schedule for Friday! Let's see how it goes...

 

Now this recipe is divided into three parts, the filling, the dough and the sauce. So I'm going to separate the post that way as well.

 

Filling- What you need

2 Large potatoes

1/2 cup cottage cheese

Pepper

 

Peel and cut your potatoes. Put them in boiling water until they cut easily with a fork. Drain and Mash them. In a large bowl mix the mashed potatoes, cottage cheese and a couple dashes of pepper.

Dough- What you need
3 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons oil
1  egg
1 tsp salt

 

Whisk your egg in a small bowl. Add oil and water. Mix this in a large bowl with your flour and salt. Knead well, to make dough soft. Let it stand covered for 10 minutes. Roll out thin on a floured surface. With a large class, cut out circles in the dough as close together as possible.

Place a teaspoon of your filling in the center of each circle and fold over. Pinch the edges to seal.

 

 

Drop the pierogies in salted boiling water with a little oil. Cook for 10 minutes or until they float, stirring occassionally (and gently).

 

 

Sauce- What you need

Salt pork- 1 chub (diced)
1 Large onion- diced

 

While the perogies are cooking, fry your diced salt pork (like bacon) and diced onion.

 

After 10 minutes, your pierogies and sauce should be done. Drain your perogies carefully and place them on a plate. Cover them with the salt pork and onion. Serve with sour cream.

 

 

This recipe took A LONG TIME to make- at least an hour and a half. Definitely worth the while, just wish I had planned for it to take that long!!

Bobby's Burger Palace- 75 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, MA

I'm a big fan of foodie shows like Top Chef and anything on the Food Network. However, I am only actually able to sit down and watch these shows when I am either eating something delicious or at the gym working out SO I can eat delicious things all the time. Otherwise, I just can't do it. It actually causes me anxiety to watch them cook and eat really yummy food and me not have any.

 

 

Anyway- I have always wanted to try out one of the Food Network or Top Chef stars restaurants, and FINALLY  got the opportunity yesterday. First of all, I had no idea that Bobby Flay's was even located at the Burlington Mall, otherwise I would have tried it way sooner. But anywhoo I was so glad I gave it a try! This place features 10 specialty burgers with toppings like potato chips, hot sauce, coleslaw and queso. It also has a variety of grilled cheeses, salads and milk shakes. Its kind of like a super creative Fudruckers. Also like Fudds, you walk in and order at a counter then sit down with a #. I went with my mom and sisters and we all got different burgers. None of the sandwiches come with fries, so we ordered 2 regular fries and 1 sweet potato fry on the side. We also couldn't resist a black and white frappe!

 

 

My favorite part about this place is that there are dipping sauces everywhere. Each fry comes with its own special sauce, and each table has 4 or 5 special sauces for your extra dipping pleasure.
 

 
We got our food in about 10 minutes and our burgers were awesome! I got the L.A Burger which had an avocado relish, watercress, cheddar and tomato. The shake was sooo creamy and delicious, and I actually liked the regular fries more than the sweet potato fries (which is weird because I am a sweet potato gal!). I can't wait to go back and try the different burgers, especially the Dallas or the Sante Fe!

L.A. BURGER-Avocado Relish, Watercress, Cheddar, Tomato

 

BOBBY BLUE BURGER- Blue Cheese, Bacon, Lettuce Tomato

 

DALLAS BURGER-Spice crusted, coleslaw, monterey jack, BBQ sauce, pickles

CANADIAN BURGER- Canadian Bacon and honey mustard

 

Fries with special BBP sauce

 

Sweet potato fries with honey mustard and horseradish sauce

 

Bobby Flay,  you are my new best friend.

Granary Tavern-170 Milk Street Boston, MA

When I found out we were meeting friends at the Granary Tavern on Saturday, I was so excited. I felt like I had heard people talking about his place a lot lately, and you know how I love hip and happenin restaurants, so I knew this would be blog worthy.

 

Yes, we went in the middle of a blizzard

Located in downtown Boston, this place has the best of everything, with seating for 250 on two floors, two bars, and open kitchen and tons of windows. The atmosphere is casual and modern, perfect for drinks after work or night out with friends. I would say the coolest asset is their menu, having really different options than your typical bar food. It reminds me a lot of the Biltmore in Newton, but has a little more of a "city" feel to it.

 

 

When it came down to ordering, this is one of those places where the apps were way more intriguing than the entrees. We ended up ordering the BBQ Pulled Pork Nachos (which I actually considered ordering for my meal) and the beer and cheese fondue. OMG. Both were so delish. I could have eaten the bread on its own, but the cheesy fondue was a devine addition. I could have licked the bowl. The nachos were the perfect starter for a big group. I don't know if house chips are a new thing, but I feel like a lot of menus are starting to add them lately, which I'm obsessed with.

 

 

 

For my meal, I literally said the words Thai Noodle Salad to the waitress, and then when everyone around me chose the pulled pork flatbread, I made an epic swap to that as well. Oh! and when I asked for sour cream on the side (cuz everyone loves a good dipping sauce), the waitress said- is creme fraiche okay? Um yes...its okay- how chic! And it was soo delish with the flatbread.

Overall, great night, great service. Would definitely recommend this place for a fun night out with friends!

http://www.granarytavern.com/

The Talk-116 Main Street Watertown, MA

I was thinking about how I wanted to start this Valentine's Day post. I could either talk about how over-rated and annoying the holiday is, making people feel obligated to spend $$ on flowers and gifts. Or I could talk about how much I enjoy a day dedicated to looooooovvvvvvveeee and romance. But the truth is...I don't really have a strong opinion on the holiday. All I know is February 14th brings a dinner reservation and chocolate covered potato chips, so I am happy as a 'clam' (foreshadowing).

 

 

 

My dad works in Watertown and has been telling me to try "The Talk" since I moved here over a year ago. Its a nice place, so I never considered it as our typical weekend beer and burger spot (although I am pretty high class now a days with Ruth's Chris and Del Friscos under my belt). Valentines day seemed like a good opportunity to give this place a try. 

 

We made a reservation for 7 and were seated right away. We even got a premiere booth because the owner knew my dad- finally he comes in handy for something! Our server took awhile to come over, greet us and take our drink order, which unfortunately continued throughout the night. We chalked it up to it being Valentine's day and really busy, but still, it was a little bit annoying...

 

They had a number of app and entree specials, which all sounded really good. We chose the Ipswich whole belly clams as a start. They came out pretty quickly and were really different than any clams I have ever had (and I order clams a lotttt, especially in the summer). They were huge and a little more thickly fried than usual, but were really good. I mean, I ate far more than my share, and was reminded of it throughout the night. You'd think he would have learned by now, I'm not good at sharing food. 

 

 

When it came to ordering our meals, Jake got the broiled sea scallops, and I really struggled. The steak tips were calling my name, but I really felt pressure to order more of an Italian dish as we were in an Italian restaurant after all. I ended up choosing the Veal Piccata. I LOVE chicken Piccata, and that wasn't an option, so I went a little out of my comfort zone with the veal, but what do they say? You miss 100% of the shots you don't take? I'm not sure that applies here, but I was feeling philosophical...apparently I get like that at 9am on a Saturday morning.

 

We got our entrees pretty quickly, and were pretty impressed with them. Jake's scallops were really tender and flavorful, and I was really happy with my piccata. The lemon caper sauce was super yummy, AND it came with mushrooms, bada-bing bada-boom, my fav veggie. The veal was fine, I also haven't had veal in like 10 years, so I don't remember how it is supposed to taste. But it did the trick adding a protein to my entree. No dessert for us, as I had a bad of choc covered chips waiting for me at home.

 

Overall really great food at this place, definitely focusing more on classic Italian dishes.Its not a big place, but the tables (and fancy booths) don't feel like you are on top of each other either. The waitstaff is really nice, and knowledgeable about the menu. Definitely a nice occasion place, as the meal was a bit expensive (for us), I mean the Ipswich whole belly clams were $20, and we didn't even find out until we got the bill (our fault for not asking).

 

This is Watertown's "neighborhood" restaurant with a historic vault inside (which you can actually dine in as well!). I was worried it would be a little too old school/outdated, but was pleasantly surprised with its modern decor and atmosphere. I would definitely recommend this for a nice Friday or Saturday night out, but make reservations, I hear it gets pretty packed on the weekends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



"Frugal" Lasagna

I woke up in a cold sweat thinking about lasagna last week...

is that weird?

I have actually never made lasagna before so I started looking online for good recipes. Now when I look for recipes in general, my biggest concern is not the level of difficulty but the amount of ingredients I will actually need to buy for the dish, mostly because I'm frugal (aka the nice word for cheap as heck) like my mom.

As I was looking online for lasagna recipes, a lot of them included lists of ingredients that could really rack up my grocery bill. So at the cost of it not being the best lasagna ever, I FINALLY found an easy recipe that I could share.

What you need:
9 "no boil" lasagna noodles
1 32 oz jar of your fav pasta sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
2 bags mozz cheese
2 (16 oz) containers of cottage cheese
1 lb of ground beef or turkey (I chose turkey)
2 eggs
2 tsp of parsley
1/2 cup water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cook your meat in a saucepan until golden brown. Add in all of your sauce and let it simmer for 5 min.

 

 

In the meantime, in a large bowl,  mix together your cottage cheese, 1 bag of mozz cheese, 2 eggs, and parsley.

 Now its time to build your lasagna. Pour 3/4 cup of your sauce mixture to coat the bottom of your 13x9 pan and cover with 3 uncooked noodles. Next spread 1 1/4 cup of your cheese mixture and 1/4 cup of sauce atop the noodles.  Once you have placed your last 3 uncooked noodles on top, cover them with the remaining sauce mixture, 1 cup of shredded mozz cheese and your Parmesan cheese. Add 1/2 cup of water around the edges of the pan.

 

 

 

 

Cover with 3 more uncooked noodles and repeat this process once more.

 

 

Once you have placed your last 3 uncooked noodles on top, cover them with the remaining sauce mixture, 1 cup of shredded mozz cheese and your Parmesan cheese. Add 1/2 cup of water around the edges of the pan. 

 

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for 10 min.

 

The lasagna will be super hot coming out of the oven, but I obviously couldn't wait so i cut right into it- BAD IDEA. Let the lasagna sit for at least 15 minutes to firm up for a clean cut, otherwise its more like mush- but still very delicious mush!