Pâtes Aux Lardons (Pasta with Bacon and Gruyère)

Oh, how happy I am to have come across this recipe!  I've had dishes similar to this when in France, but the version I ended up with (after slight tweaks) was ahhhhmazing.  I could eat this far too often (but won't, given how many calories I imagine it must have...)--it's not difficult to make, so that doesn't help decrease the desire for repetition!
Anyhow, here is the link to the original recipe:
https://chezbonnefemme.com/pates-aux-lardons-french-pasta-with-bacon-and-gruyere-or-comte-of-course/

Ingredients:

8 slices of bacon, chopped (I suggest using kitchen shears--hold all 8 strips together and cut 1/4" sections across all strips)
2 T. unsalted butter
2 T. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. 2% or whole milk, plus a little more (I used 2%)
2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
4 oz. shredded Gruyère (or Emmental, or Comté, or Fontina) cheese
1/4 c. grated/shredded Parmesan-Reggiano cheese, plus more to garnish
salt
coarse ground black pepper
dried parsley
8 oz. dried pappardelle (or other wide, flat pasta, such as fettuccine)

Instructions:

1. Bring large pot of salted water to boil for pasta and cook according to package directions.

2. In a large saucepan or skillet (I used a skillet), cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp but not hard (basically, when it just starts to brown).  Use a slotted spoon to transfer bacon to a towel-lined plate and discard bacon drippings.

3. Wipe out pan and return to medium heat.  Melt the butter, then whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute--do NOT allow mixture to brown.

4. Slowly whisk in the milk, then add garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

5. Add cheeses to the sauce and whisk until melted and smooth.  If sauce is too thick, add small splashes of milk and whisk in until desired texture is reached (I think I added around 3T. more).  Remove from heat.

6. Season with salt, pepper, and parsley to taste.  Stir in bacon.

7. Toss with cooked pasta.

8. Garnish with grated Parmesan-Reggiano and dried parsley--enjoy (lots)!

Oatmeal Bread (bread machine)

Did I mention I love my bread machine?  Because I totally do :)  It's so easy to use, and who doesn't like the smell of baking bread to fill the house??  Decided to try a different type of bread this time, just to do something different.  As usual, glad I did--it's a lovely bread!  This recipe comes from the user manual that came with my machine, an Oster 2 lb. Expressbake.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. water (70-80°F)

3 T. honey

2 T. butter or margarine

3/4 c. quick-oats oats

1 3/4 tsp. salt

3 3/4 c. bread flour

2 T. oat bran

2 T. dry milk

2 tsp. active dry yeast

Instructions:

1. Measure and add liquid ingredients to the pan.

2. Measure and add dry ingredients except yeast to the pan.

3. Use your finger to form a small well/hole in the middle of the dry ingredients.  Be sure that the hole does not go too deep, as you do not want the yeast to touch the liquids.  Measure and add yeast into the well/hole.

4. Snap baking pan into the breadmaker and close the lid.

5. Select the "BASIC" baking setting.

6. Select "Crust Color" according to preference (I used medium).

7. Press "Start" and let the machine do all the work :)

This is what mine looked like when it came out:

I always turn my bread out on to a plate with a cooling rack within a few minutes of removing it from the machine.

Drop Sugar Cookies

Warning: these cookies are severely addictive, and this recipe makes a lot of them...
This is a family recipe that I love--too much.  The cookies are delicate and right between chewy and crispy mmmmm. As written, this makes quite a few cookies. In the video I made for these, I halved the recipe and it still turned out just as great, so feel free to do so :)

Link to my YouTube "making of the recipe" video: https://youtu.be/jK2Y6bjRBFI

Ingredients:

1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. sugar
1 c. canola or vegetable oil
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
4 c. flour
sanding/coarse sugar (around 3/4 c.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Cream powdered sugar, sugar, oil, and butter together until very well blended (around 3 minutes).

3. Beat in eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon extract.

4. Sift salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and flour together in a bowl.  Mix this into batter gradually, adding around a fourth of it at a time.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Use 2 spoons to "drop" cookies onto baking sheet.  (These are around 1 to 1 1/4 inch diameter.)

6. Pour some sanding sugar into a small shallow dish/plate.  Use the bottom of a flat measuring cup or glass to press into the sugar.  It will collect more sugar and more easily after the first few cookies.

7. Using the sugar coated bottom, press cookies gently to flatten; thickness should be around 1/4 inch.

8. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes.  They should look slightly puffy and "set", with slightly golden brown edges (depends on your baking sheet--but do not overbake!)

9. Let cookies cool on baking sheet on cooling rack for at least 3 minutes, then slide parchment off with cookies onto rack to cool a few minutes more.

10. Remove from parchment paper to finish cooling completely.

11. Enjoy lots!

Poulet Sauté aux Herbes de Provence

As you might guess by the picture, this is very not diet food lol.  This is yet another recipe I've had saved for quite a time; this one I resisted making because it involves making a Hollandaise type sauce, which intimidated me (I'd heard it is very tricky to get right).  My craving for a dish wish the wonderful herbes de Provence defeated my apprehension and decided I would go for it.  Oh, how glad I am that I did!  This dish is excellent, well worth the effort :) And the sauce wasn't nearly as tricky as I expected. This is the original recipe (which I adapted to my needs): http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/poulet-saut-aux-herbes-de-provence

Ingredients:

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 1/2 lbs. bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (this was 6 pieces of the package I got)
herbes de Provence
salt
pepper
1 tsp. minced bottled garlic
2/3 c. dry white wine

2 large egg yolks
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. dry white wine
herbes de Provence

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in large sauté pan over medium-high heat.

2. Cook the chicken in two batches (do not crowd into one batch!); each should take about 8 minutes.  I turned them every 2 minutes and used a splatter screen (highly recommend).

3. Return all chicken to the pan and sprinkle herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper over top of the chicken (use amount to your taste).  Reduce heat to medium and cover.  Cook for approximately 15 minutes (depending on thickness/size of thighs--mine were fairly large), turning over every 3-4 minutes.

4. Transfer chicken to a plate and cover to keep warm (I used aluminum foil).

5. Add garlic to remaining pan juices, along with the wine.  Return heat to medium-high.  Boil sauce until reduced to 3/4 c., scraping bottom of pan while stirring occasionally (this takes around 8 minutes).  Pour reduced pan juice into cup and reserve for use in making sauce.

6. To make sauce, begin with placing the 2 large egg yolks in a small heavy saucepan OFF HEAT.  Whisk the egg yolks until they begin to thicken slightly.

7. Whisk in the lemon juice and wine.

8. Using the reserved pan juices, dip up 1 tsp. at a time and whisk into pan.  Yes, this takes a bit of time, but you must not rush it or you may ruin the sauce (you do not want the eggs to cook/curdle!).

9. Add herbes de Provence to desired taste level and set sauce over the lowest heat setting possible on stove and whisk constantly for 3 minutes.  (You may also add salt and pepper, but I did not feel this was necessary.)

10. Spoon sauce over chicken and enjoy!  **I served this with rosemary potatoes.**

Rosemary Potatoes

This is one of my very favorite side dishes; you will see it featured often!

Ingredients:

8 red potatoes
1/2 c. butter or margarine (I often use half butter/half margarine)
1 T. garlic salt
fresh or dried rosemary (to taste)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Rinse/scrub potatoes and cut into small wedges.

3. If you would like to cut down the cooking time, microwave the cut up potatoes in covered dish for 8 minutes. (I always do this.)

4. Melt butter and stir in garlic salt.

5. Place potatoes in 8x8 or 13x9 baking dish and pour butter/salt mixture over to coat.  (If you microwaved them, I find it's easier to pour over and stir together in the bowl first, which is what I have pictured here.)

6. Sprinkle desired amount of rosemary over top of potatoes. (I used dried this time, but I have also used fresh; both are super tasty, no preference, just use what you have on hand.)

7. Bake until tender; the amount of time will depend on pan size, thickness of potato wedges, and whether or not you used the microwave to speed things along.  Typically, I end up baking them for at least 20-30 minutes after using the microwave (think I went a bit long this time, and I forgot to take the picture until after some had been dipped out lol.)

Lemon Shortbread Cookies

I'd had this recipe card in my box for a long time--well over a decade, easily, and had never gotten around to trying.  I can't say that I recommend this one personally, but my husband enjoyed the cookies, so I guess it's not a complete failure lol.  The recipe in just a slightly different form can be found here: http://www.argostarch.com/Recipe/Holiday_Shortbread_Cookies
The one I have on the card does not include putting icing on them, nor does it call it a holiday cookie.  The site is right about one thing--they are very tender...a bit too tender, actually.  They would crumble if you held them with anything more than a light grip, which was difficult since they were on the dense/heavy side.  Either way, here is what my experience with it looked like...

Ingredients:

1 1/3 c. corn starch
2 c. butter or margarine (I used butter)
2/3 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Beat butter until softened:

3. Add powdered sugar; beat until well combined:

4. Add lemon peel and vanilla; beat well.

5. In a medium bowl, stir together flour and corn starch; add to butter mixture and beat well:

6. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  **The dough was so soft that "rolling" it was not really an option.  Instead, I just tried my best to make rounded heaps:*

I put them far apart, as I really had my doubts about the batter holding up at all.

7. Bake about 15 minutes, or until bottom edges are lightly browned.
**I did exactly this, and the cookies barely changed shape; for some reason, I can't find the pictures I took of them.  The first one I tried to get off of the sheet nearly crumbled from being touched by the spatula a little too hard.**

The other odd thing about these cookies is that the picture on my card shows the finished product with fork lines on it, as though the cookies were pressed down prior to baking (which would make sense for a shortbread type cookie).  I added a little flour to the second batch and attempted in vain to make the fork mark flattening on them.  This still didn't help the results, honestly.  I won't be doing them again, as I have another shortbread recipe I like far better; just wanted to blog this one to remember NOT to do these lol :)

Nutella Cookies

I was inspired to make these not only due to the love of Nutella, but also an ingredient I had purchased a while back and never got around to using: hazelnut sugar.  I've yet to come across a recipe calling for it; the original recipe for these doesn't, yet I figured with Nutella as one of the main flavors, substituting the cinnamon sugar for hazelnut sugar would work well (and it did :)).  The title of the original recipe is "Double Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies"; I did not choose to call them this as I think this title makes it sound like actual hazelnuts are in the cookies (there are not any).  Link to original: http://www.crisco.com/recipes/double-chocolate-hazelnut-cookies-6907?loc=7

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. original or butter flavored Crisco shortening (I used butter flavored)
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. Nutella
1/3 c. milk
2 T. hazelnut sugar (or cinnamon sugar mixture)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Beat shortening, sugar, and vanilla with mixer until fluffy:

4. Beat in Nutella until smooth:

5. Add flour mixture and milk alternatively and mix in completely:

8. Form balls of dough (around 1 inch diameter) and roll in hazelnut sugar (or cinnamon sugar) to coat:

9. Place on cookie sheet:

10. Press flat with bottom of a measuring cup or flat bottomed drinking glass:

11. Bake 10 to 12 minutes:

13. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to rack to finish cooling.  Enjoy!