Found some inspiration for dinner tonight while perusing Pinterest this afternoon (will post links to the original recipes at the end). I made cheesy bacon potatoes, Grilled Cheese With Bacon, and had some Old Fashioned Lemonade to top it all off.
I used three large russet potatoes
Peeled and chopped them into large chunks, and boiled them, like I was going to make mashed potatoes. (I thought I took a picture of this but apparently I didn't but you get the idea. ) Next, I took out a package of bacon, and cut it in half.
I took half of the bacon and cut it up into little chunks and fried it up.
Then, after it was done, I blotted the grease off on put it on top of the potatoes, along with some fresh mozzarella I picked up at Costco..
... that needed to be used up. I took one of the balls and cut it up into little chunks and added it to the potatoes and bacon. I took some olive oil and drizzled it on top, and then added a spoonful of minced garlic, and sprinkled some pepper, garlic salt, and chili powder on top of everything.
I threw it in the oven at 350 until every thing else was done, about 30ish minutes. Really you are just melting the cheese and combining the flavors. About half way through I grated some cheddar cheese on top . About every ten minutes I went in with a spatula and turned everything around. It is done when the cheese is all melted an gooey, and the potatoes are a nice golden color.
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| The leftover potatoes |
I then started on the grilled cheese. Remember that half of the bacon I didn't cook earlier? I left it in strips and fried it up here, blotted of the grease and set it aside. I cut up the remaining two mozzarella balls (there were three in the package) and cut up some cheddar cheese. I took some bread, buttered both sides, and added a whole heck of a lot of cheese. 2-3 slices mozzarella, 2 small or 1 large slice of cheddar (enough to cover slice of bread), 3 pieces bacon, repeat cheese, cheddar touching bacon, mozzarella touching bread, and of course, the second slice of bread. I suggest heavily coating pan with pam so the bread doesn't stick to the pan and make you sandwich fall apart like mine did, but this was the first time making this so lesson learned.
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| note the bread sticking to bottom from the previous sandwiches? |
Watch carefully, as the bread can burn really easily.
Side note: All of you who love vanilla coke but never want to shell out the extra dough when regular coke is just fine...
... $1 2 liter of diet shasta and add a splash of Vanilla Bean Torani (which I found near the coffee at Smart and Final for about $4). SO freakin good!! Had this while cooking, but while eating I made some old fashioned lemonade the other day and so had a glass of that. I swear, after drinking this, you will never want to go back to country time or minute maid again! And it's super easy. One part lemon juice, one part sugar, one part water. in a big pot dissolve sugar into water (low or medium low heat should do it). Turn off heat, and add lemon juice. ( I had a lot of lemons that needed to be used, so I had 3 cups of each) add zest of one lemon and pour into a pitcher, mason jar or whatever you have laying around. This is the syrup. To make the lemonade, get a glass, put about 1/4 cup of the syrup..
.... add ice cubes if you have them, I do not, and so did not add ice cubes. If you want to be really fancy you can add a lemon slice. Next, add sparkling or regular water to the top of the glass.
Finally, add a few mint leaves and enjoy!
Here are the promised links for the inspiration recipes
I can attest to the excellent lemonade - it was THE BEST I have ever had!
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