Simple Spinach Dip

I love spinach dip! I love a dip that makes you think you're eating healthy. This dip is delicous served with carrots, cumcumber and bread or particularly anything!

This spinach dip is ridiculously simple. It literally has 4 ingredients, not including salt and pepper. I use frozen spinach, sour cream, mayo and chives or green onions. This time around I used chives. Whether green onions or chives, you can't go wrong.

This dip is great for parties or for simply eating while watching your favorite show on a lazy day. 

The measurements I give are estimates. Feel free to add more mayo or sour cream if you want it creamier. Keep it simple or jazz it up. Either way give it a try!

This is a great game day/night snack!! Go Giants!!

Buen Provecho!! 

16 oz of thawed spinach

Sniped chives, 1 Tbsp or Green onion 2 stocks thinly sliced

1/3 cup mayo

1/3 cup sour cream

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Stir to combine

Store and refrigerate for at least 1 hour for the flavors to meld together.

Slather on crusty bread! My favorite way!

Simple Spinach Dip

16 oz frozen spinach, thawed

1/3 cup mayo

1/3 cup sour cream

1 tbsp Chives, sniped or 2 Green onion stock, thinly sliced

Salt n Pepper, to taste

1. In a medium bowl put thawed spinach, sour cream, mayo, chives, salt and pepper. Stir and combine. Adjust seasoning of necessary. Put spinach dip in a container and chill for at least an hour. Serve with crudités or bread. 

Enjoy! 

Chicken Florentine Crepe with Hollandaise Sauce

 There is always something in our fridges that needs to be cook today or forget about it. This was my dilemma.  I had some chicken thighs that needed to be cooked and spinach and mushroom on the verge of spoiling. Necessity truly is the mother of invention. I decided to make Chicken Florentine. I could of easily just served it with potatoes or rice but I wanted something more elegant. This is where the crepe comes in. To make it even more fancy I made some Hollandaise Sauce to pour over it.

This dish is so delicious! I only had spinach, onions and mushrooms but you could use any vegetables you like and it will be incredible! It was light, satisfying and so savory!

I suggest doing the batter for the crepes first it needs to rest for at least 1 hour in the fridge.  Second work on the filling. Third do the hollandaise while warming up your filling. When each component is done, start making the crepes and adding your warm filling, roll and top with hollandaise.

Make Crepe Batter- Add 2 eggs, 1 cup of flour, 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, 3 TBSP butter & 1/4 tsp salt to a blender. Blend for ONLY 10 seconds.  Place in fridge for 1 hour.

Season and cut chicken

Add oil to a medium pan on medium high, add chicken

Brown chicken and remove

Add diced onions

and garlic. Cook until tender.

Move onions/garlic to outer side of pan and add mushrooms.

Cook until brown. stir together.

Add flour and stir into veggies while cooking out the flour taste.

Add 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock

Stir scraping bottom for flavorful bites. Bring to a boil and sauce thickens.

Put chicken and juices back, finish cooking chicken. 5- 10 minutes check for doneness.

Add 1/3 cup heavy cream, stir and allow sauce to reduce.

Add spinach and wilt.

Yummy Filling!!

Make Crepes. Butter pan, 1/4 cup batter in pan, swirl, cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, flip and cook other side.

Make Hollandaise- 2 yolks, juice of half a lemon, 1/4 tsp salt blend in blender. While blending pour in the top 5 tbsp melted butter. Blend until completely emulsified. Adjust for seasoning. 

Add a couple of Tbsp of filling

Gently Roll

Drizzle with Hollandaise sauce.

Delightful bite!

Chicken Florentine Crepe with Hollandaise Sauce - yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

1lb chicken thighs, skinless, boneless 
1 Tbsp Poultry Seasoning
1/2 an onion, diced
1 garlic clove
8 oz Mushroom, sliced
4-5 oz Spinach
2 Tbsp Flour
1 1/2 cups Chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
Salt n Pepper
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Crepes- store bought or homemade Crepes  
Hollandaise Sauce 


Roadmap:

1. If making crepes do that first. Batter needs to sit for at least 1 hour.
Cut chicken into strips or chunks. Season chicken with salt n pepper and poultry seasoning.

2. To a medium heavy bottom pan on  medium heat add oil. Brown chicken. Once all chicken is browned remove from pan and place on plate.

3. Add diced onions & garlic, season with salt & pepper,  cook until tender, 4-5 minutes, push onions/garlic to the outer sides of the pan and add mushrooms. Cook until brown. Add the flour, stirring to cover vegetables with flour and also to cook the flour taste out. 

4. Add chicken stock, stirring/scraping up with a wooden spoon the good bits from the pan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until sauce thickens.

5. Return chicken to pan and lower to simmer. Finish cooking chicken through, 5-10 minutes, check for doneness.

6. Add heavy cream, stir and allow sauce to reduce. Add spinach and wilt in pan. Cover and remove from heat. Keep warm.

7. Prep homemade crepes or store brought crepe. Make Hollandaise Sauce. 

8. Assembly: Crepe, spoonful of chicken mixture , roll and drizzle hollandaise sauce.

9.  Enjoy!

Films With A Foodie- Breakfast At Tiffany's - Millionaire Bacon

As I mentioned before, I love pairing foods with events. First it was the World Cup with my Fusion inspired Bratwurst Empanadas, then my periodically posts of Dining with Disney posts (pairing food with Disney films, check out my Princess & the Frog post)  and now I'm adding a new set of pairing post. Films With A Foodie. I love movies of all genres. My net is pretty wide. But my passion is in the classics movies, like All About Eve, Psycho, Adam's Rib, Girl Friday and Meet Me In St. Louis. I want to make fun meals to pair with these wonderful classics. But I'm not going to stop with the classics, I'll branch out and do not so classics as well.The point of this is to have fun. Movies are great and even better when eaten with creative foods that are giving tongue and cheek names. It's all about the experience and fellowship.

The first post of Films With A Foodie is one of Audrey Hepburn most famous characters, Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's. There hasn't been one girl who has seen this film and not wished to have Breakfast At Tiffany's. It's a quirky girl meets boy story, with a few crazy parties here and there. Holly's  a social climber who realizes that status isn't the most important thing in the world.

Holly may not have gotten her Millionaire but that doesn't mean she can't eat like one!

Breakfast At Tiffany Menu:

Lemon Souffle Pancakes

Millionaire Bacon

London Fog Latte

Bust out that China and sliver, it's time to eat! 


Buen Provecho!

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare the sugar. 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/8-1/2 tsp of Chili powder

1/4 - 1/2 tsp of black pepper. Combine.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Place a rack or broiler pan on top. Place bacon on rack.

Cover each piece with as much as the sugar as possible

Place in the oven. Cook for 30-35 minutes, depending on your crispy desire.

After 30-35 minutes, beautiful caramel candied bacon!

Perfection!

Bacon Art!

Up close and personal. You can see how deliciously sticky & peppery it is! YUM!!!

Millionaire Bacon - yields 6 slices

Ingredients:

6 thick cut slices of bacon
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/8-1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4-1/2 tsp black pepper

Note: The measurements of the spices are up to you. I started with 1/8 tsp of chili powder because my husband doesn't like things spicy, so that was perfect for him. But you can go up to 1/4 tsp or even 1/2 tsp depending on your heat tolerance. The pepper was a similar situation, I used 1/4 tsp but you can use up to 1/2 tsp.

Road Map

1.  Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place a rack or broiler pan on top. Lay the bacon on the rack. In a small bowl combine sugar, black pepper and chili powder and combine. Pack the brown sugar onto the bacon. Make sure every piece is covered and packed.

2. Place in the oven and cook to 30-35 minutes depending on desired crispiness.

3. Allow to cool before eating, careful not to burn yourself.

4. Enjoy!

Line a baking pan with foil. Combine all of your spices and sugar together into a bowl and mix thoroughly. If you want your bacon more coated in sweet and spicy flavor, add more ingredients to your liking. Apply liberally to each strip of bacon by taking each strip and hand rubbing them. Bake until crisp for 20- 30 minutes (depending upon your crispy liking). - See more at: http://bacontoday.com/millionaires-bacon-million-dollar-bacon/#sthash.UcUGXLD4.dpufTake a baking sheet cover it with foil.

Line a baking pan with foil. Combine all of your spices and sugar together into a bowl and mix thoroughly. If you want your bacon more coated in sweet and spicy flavor, add more ingredients to your liking. Apply liberally to each strip of bacon by taking each strip and hand rubbing them. Bake until crisp for 20- 30 minutes (depending upon your crispy liking). - See more at: http://bacontoday.com/millionaires-bacon-million-dollar-bacon/#sthash.UcUGXLD4.dpuf

Corn Bacon Casserole

One of my favorite potluck dishes that's always a big hit is my Corn Casserole. It has been requested on several family gathering. It is a very very simple casserole. It is a 5 ingredient dish; can of corn, creamed corn, sour cream, butter and Jiffy corn mix. You drop it in a bowl and mix, pour into a 9x13 dish, bake at 350F for 45 minutes & you're done! It's a no-brainer! The outcome is this creamy delicate corn delight.

The casserole is delicious as is, but I was thinking what if I add bacon to the mix. Bacon can only enhance this deliciousness. So that's what I did and boy does it work! The salty bacon plays well with the sweet corn. It's a balanced bite of salt & sweet.

I've made both versions, one with bacon and without. Both are a hit! You can't go wrong!!

Buen Provecho!

The Yummy Suspects!

Delicious crisp bacon, divided into 2 piles.

Into a medium bowl pour can of drained corn,

can of creamed corn,

8oz of sour cream, 

 2 oz of melted butter (1/2 a stick)

and then Jiffy corn mix.

Stir until it looks like....

...this.

Add 1/2 of the bacon and

stir to combine.

Pour into a 9x13 casserole, smooth out with spoon and gently shake and tap casserole to settle and even out mixture.

Crumble and sprinkle the other half of bacon. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Put toothpick in and if it comes out clean it's ready.

Put oven to broil and brown casserole for 1-2 minutes. Watch carefully don't let it burn! Take it out when golden brown.

Let it set for 5 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature. Delicious creamy, sweet and salty! So good!!!

Corn Bacon Casserole - 5-7 servings

1- 15.25 oz can whole corn kernels, drain
1- 14.75 oz can creamed corn
8 oz sour cream
2 oz butter, melted (1/2 a stick)
1- 8.5ox box of favorite corn mix (Jiffy is my brand)
4-5 thick cut bacon, chopped (I use applewood bacon)

Note: If you cook in a smaller casserole your cooking time will be longer, 50-60 minutes. Test doneness with a toothpick. It comes out clean your casserole is ready. Then broil until golden brown for 1-2 minutes.


Road Map:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Chop bacon and place in a dry skillet on medium heat. Crisp up bacon bits and drain on a paper towel. Divide bacon in half.

2. Place drained corn kernels, creamed corn, sour cream, butter and corn mix in a medium bowl and mix until well combined. Add half of the bacon and mix until combined.

3. Pour mixture into a 9x13 pan. Smooth out with the back of a wooden spoon. Gently shake and tap the casserole dish to help the mixture settle and even out. Crumble and sprinkle the half of bacon over casserole.

4. Place casserole into the oven, cook for 40-45 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Turn oven to Broil and cook until brown, 1-2 minutes. Watch carefully, will brown rapidly you don't want it to burn.

5. Once golden brown, place casserole on a trivet to rest for 5 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.

6. Enjoy!