Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Tenders

Time has flown, and it sort of feels like I completely missed the month of February. There are a lot of big but exciting changes going on around here, so I've been swamped with everything connected to that and haven't done a ton of cooking.

However, a few weeks ago I had a "we have a bunch of stuff that needs to be used up" day, and decided to play a bit with some bacon. 

Everybody loves bacon. Except vegetarians. And maybe even some of them love bacon, too, just secretly.

This looks a lot more complicated than it really is. Start to in the oven was about fifteen minutes total.

Here's how to make it.

Savory Beef and Root Vegetable Stew

The chilly weather is moving in here in the Northeast, and that means it's the season for soups and stews. Beef stew is a winter staple in our house, but I decided I wanted to play around a little bit to see if I could come up with something with some different flavors.

This stew is pretty versatile, as you can adjust the herbs and spices to your liking, as well as play with which root vegetables you include.

Read on to see what I did.

March of the Fondant Penguins

Wow, sorry for the super sporadic posts of late. Can I blame work? I've been just staying above the Common Core waters of late, and my focus has been elsewhere.

Anyhoo, I have something fun to share today. Not a recipe per say, but a fun way to play with food.

My sister got married about a month ago, and her theme was penguins. She really, really loves penguins.

Really loves penguins.

And she wanted her cake to look like a big ice hill with penguins playing and sliding and otherwise looking adorable on it. She found a cake topper on Etsy, and then asked me to make a whole bunch of fondant penguins to match. I agreed, though I wasn't sure exactly how this would all work out. But it would give me a chance to play with all the fondant tools I bought when I took the Wilton Method fondant and gum paste course a few years ago. I also made my sister help.

Fortunately for me, Wilton makes rolled fondant that's already dyed black. Otherwise it would not have been fun tinting white fondant.

We started off by making all the bodies. Sixteen of them. Most standing, but three sliding on their bellies.

Then we formed all the teeny tiny pieces and parts. Tummies, eyes, wings, beaks, and feet.

I made a fondant glue (a pea-sized ball of fondant dissolved in 1/4 cup of really warm water) and started assembling. And three hours later - voila! Penguins! (Sorry he's so blurry!)

Sixteen dang adorable penguins of all kinds!

They sat for a week to dry. Then we brought them to the baker who was making the cake, and he arranged them on the cake. And it looked awesome.

Sweet & Spicy Shrimp

Some of my best stir fry happens when I'm just playing around in the kitchen. A while back, I came up with this shrimp dish that rated "highly edible" on my husband's food-tastiness scale.

It's very easy and, like most stir fries, quick to cook and serve.  Here's how.

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Bake

There are many variations of cheesy chicken and broccoli casseroles out there, and I admit to researching said recipes in developing my own.  What I came up with is incredibly easy and very filling, especially on a cold, late winter day.  What my husband particularly liked was that the broccoli retained some of its crunchy texture, since I used raw broccoli rather than steamed.

While I specifically cooked some chicken to use when I made this recipe, it's a great way to use up leftover chicken (or even turkey!), since you only need about two cups at most.  Obviously, the more chicken and broccoli you use, the more people you can serve.  This recipe was enough for two people for dinner.

Fresh Lemon & Rosemary Tilapia (Meat-Free for Lenten Fridays)

This recipe started off as an experiment in making lemon pepper tilapia after discovering that *gasp* I had no lemon pepper seasoning mix in the house.  So I started playing around and came up with something even better!

Aside from being meat-free and super simple, there's no salt at all in this recipe, so it's even healthier for you.

Alas, poor Twinkie, I knew thee well...

The big news today is that Hostess, makers of the ubiquitous Twinkie, are liquidating their company and selling off their brands.

Including everyone's favorite cream-filled oblong cake.

Now, it's probably been at least five years since I last partook in Twinkie and Hostess Cupcake goodness.  Maybe longer. But the thought that I may soon not have access to these little bundles of yumminess (and whatever it is that keeps them fresh for, like, decades) makes me really want a Twinkie.

My guess is that some company out there will buy up the Twinkie brand, and probably a few other Hostess goodies as well.  Recall the case of Zingers - little chocolate cakes filled with cream, with a layer of fudge spread across the top.  I don't know what company originally owned Zingers, but Hostess bought them a while back.  I maintain that the original Zingers were better - probably because they were bigger.  But I therefore expect to see Twinkies remain on the shelves at stores, or at least return after a certain time period, made by another company.  

Will they be the same?  Maybe, maybe not.  

Will people buy them?

You bet your buttons!  Come on, have you met America?

Anyway, on the off chance that Twinkies do end up going the way of dinosaurs and Bonkers candy (remember Bonkers?), I think I may have to experiment with a homemade Twinkie recipe.  There's probably more than a few out there on the internet. But wouldn't that be a fun food experiment?