Show Your Summer Head Cold No Mercy

photo courtesy of Kokoro Photography

I realize it's officially summer now, but unfortunately some of us are plagued by a typically winter infection, the most dreaded of all illnesses--the summer cold! The dastardly summer cold sneaks its way into the most active and unwilling of hosts, bringing the poor soul to his or her tanned knees.

Let's face it: colds always suck. But in the summer?  Colds suck MORE.

My best friend is a dynamic girl-on-the go, spending her summers chasing brides around with a camera. Recently, she fell victim to the terrible summer cold and so, like any good best friend, I whipped up a pot of soup because my Mama taught me that soup fixes almost anything, including a cold.  But in hot hot heat of June, classic chicken noodle soup is a bit too hellish to endure (though tasty, we know).  

Cue this recipe, which is lighter in flavor and consistency than it's noodle-y cousin and is chock full of veggies to soothe that runny nose and sore throat without over-heating the poor sicky. It's also heavy on the garlic; garlic has been used by many cultures for centuries to help kick colds and other bugs. I have a friend who (force?) feeds her children sauteed garlic cloves at the first sign of any cold or flu-like symptom.  Added bonus: Garlic tastes good, even when you're sick, as its strong flavor still comes through all the snot...

Summer Cold Chicken Soup
--TBSP olive oil

--4 whole carrots, scrubbed and sliced into thin rounds

--5 whole cloves garlic, sheared into thin slices

--1 shallot, sheared into thin slices--1 leek stalk, sliced into thin rounds

--3 cups chicken broth

--1/2 rotisserie chicken, shredded

--1 cup water

--salt and pepper

--1 bunch of spinach, thoroughly washed and leaves separated

--garlic powder

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Saute the carrots, garlic, and shallots for a few minutes, until the carrots begin to soften. Add the leeks and cook until the carrots are tender.

While the vegetables cook down, in a large stock pot or dutch oven heat the chicken broth over high heat. Bring it to a rolling boil before added the shredded chicken pieces and the water. Turn down to simmer and add the carrot/leek mixture and add salt and pepper to taste, stirring all together to combine.

Simmer the soup pot for 15 minutes before adding the spinach and some garlic powder. How much garlic powder you add will depend completely upon your personal preferences and how much you can taste through the yucky mucus.  Simmer another 5 minutes--just enough for the spinach to get wilted but not get too soggy--and eat it up.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4
Calories: 336

Are You Going To Scarborough Fair?

So there I am, standing in a strange kitchen staring at what I have. I have chicken. I have tomatoes. I have decided to roast them but haven't planned any farther.  Since I'm housesitting I open the spice cabinet to see what else might be at my disposal. And there they were, the four musical spices...

If you're planning to take a trip to Scarborough Fair any time soon (or you just happen to like Simon & Garfunkel) the mention of parsley or sage or rosemary or thyme always makes me hum the tune. And I've used each of these glorious spices (dried and fresh) to make many meals have that extra oomph. But how would all these herbal powerhouses taste together?

Really, really good as it turned out.

Roasted Chicken & Romas

--1 cup brown rice

--1/4 cup vegetable broth

--8 roma tomatoes

--4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (any additional visible fat removed)
--2 TBSP olive oil

--parsley

--sage

--rosemary

--thyme

--salt and pepper

Cook rice according to package directions, substituting 1/4 cup of the water with vegetable broth.

Core the tomatoes and cut a small X in the bottom of each tomato.  Place the tomatoes and the chicken in an oven-safe dish and coat with the olive oil. Season tomatoes and chicken breasts with the spices.  Cover the dish with aluminum foil and roast in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Serve each piece of chicken over the brown rice with two roasted tomatoes. Remove the tomato skin if desired.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 55 minutes
Serves:4
Calories: 485

Poached Pasta Perfection

This recipe is one of my favorites for go-to grub! It's quick and easy and contains many ingredients that almost always live in my pantry. I like that I can make it for one or two (or seven if need be) and can easily add meat or other fresh veggies depending upon what I have on hand.

Poaching traditionally involves placing an egg into steadily simmering water (sometimes with a little vinegar to help the egg keep its shape). In today's recipe we will instead poach the eggs in the simmering tomato sauce. Mmmmmmm....

Poached Eggs Pasta with Tomato Tarragon Sauce
--4 oz. dry spaghetti
--TBSP olive oil
--small yellow or white onion, diced
--garlic, minced
--crushed red pepper
--small zucchini, either quartered or thinly sliced
--black pepper
--14.5 oz. can of crushed or diced tomatoes
--tarragon
--1/4 tsp sugar
--2 eggs

Cook pasta (I don't use salt or oil in mine so the calorie counts below will reflect this).

While pasta cooks, heat oil in a large deep-sided skillet over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, and crushed red pepper and cook 2-ish minutes before adding the zucchini and black pepper (to taste). Cook until vegetables are tender.

Add the tomatoes and sugar and tarragon and stir well to combine. Continue to heat over medium heat, allowing tomato sauce to warm. Eggs are best poached at about 160 degrees--you can measure with a thermometer if you like, but bringing the sauce to a nice medium simmer should suffice.

Once the sauce is heated to a constant temperature, scoot the veggies around to make little spaces for the egg. Make sure to keep some sauce on the bottom of the pan so the egg doesn't stick to it.  Crack the egg into a cup (to ensure it isn't bad) and then pour the egg into the pan. After 3 minutes the bottom of the egg white should be cooked. You can flip the egg if you need to and cook another 2 minutes, or cover the pan for 1 minute to let the heat encapsulate the egg. Serve immediately!

Perfectly poached eggs should be runny in the middle but with warm yolks and encased in a fully cooked fluffy egg white cave.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2
Calories: 308 per serving

One Hot Mess Of Veggies

As I said earlier this week, making salads can be a lot like making soup or pastas--you can throw together just about anything that tastes good!  There's pasta salad, and fruit salad, and a bevy of options when it comes to any greens-based salad. But I have to admit that even I hadn't thought of mixing in roasted vegetables until I ate a salad at a restaurant called the The Oven.

Their delightful mix of seasonal vegetables on organic greens inspired me to make my own roasted vegetable salad, with some of my favorite additions to add color, texture, and flavor. This salad is hearty enough to be served as it's own meal, but is also a great addition as a side dish as I learned when I made it for a family gathering featuring BBQ pulled pork...

Also, time is running out for our Operation Goodbye Gut contest. Be sure to email your recipe by Tuesday, June 15th to be entered to win our BIGS™prize packs!

Roasted Vegetable Salad
--Handful of raw almonds (about 50 or so)
--1 small onion, chopped
--1 medium zucchini, washed and sliced into thin slices
--1 head broccoli, stems removed and cut into florets
--1/2 bunch of kale, ribs removed and chopped or torn into pieces.
--2 TBSP olive oil
--salt & pepper
--6 medium strawberries, stems removed and sliced
--1 pear, cored and chopped into bite-sized pieces
--1 head of red leaf or romaine lettuce, torn into salad pieces

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place the almonds on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 5 minutes, removing once to shake/turn them for even roasting. Once roasted, remove from oven and set aside.

Coat the onion, zucchini, broccoli, and kale with olive oil. An easy way of doing this is to place all the veggies into a plastic bag, pouring the olive oil over top, adding some salt and pepper, and shaking the heck out of it until the veggies are evenly coated.  Spread the veggies out on a cookie sheet and roast, turning once, until the vegetables are cooked and begin to crisp.

Once the vegetables are crispy, remove them from the oven.  Combine the lettuce, veggies, fruit, and almonds and serve!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4 as a meal; more as a side dish
Calories: 235 per serving (as a meal)

Sure It's A Salad, But It Has Bacon Too!

I have no air conditioning.  The house I live in is a tiny place that was made for nuns. (Yes, really). It's made of bricks and windows (thankfully). So in the summer, "cooking" takes on a whole new meaning for me--it means getting in and out of the kitchen without having to slave over a hot stove!

Enter the salad, whose tag-line should be, "Not just for rabbits anymore!".  You'll see a lot more salads on this site in the next few months, because salads are the soups of summer.  Seriously. You can throw just about anything together and call it a salad, no lettuce required.  Today's recipe is a pretty traditional salad recipe that is packed full of protein (and delicious, clearly) from the bacon, roasted chicken, and goat cheese. Bonus prize: it's fast and oh so easy to make!

Summer Pear Protein Salad With Warm Sesame Dressing

--2 slices of bacon, cut in half to make 4 pieces

--1 carrot, peeled and sliced into 1/8" rounds

--2 pears, cored and sliced

--1/4 cup roast chicken (or rotisserie)
--2 cups red leaf lettuce, washed and hand ripped or cut into bite-sized pieces
--2 TBSP (1 oz) of goat cheese, crumbled (about 1/4 of a 4oz. log)

Dressing (makes about 3 TBSP of dressing)
--1/4 tsp sesame seeds

--2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

--1 tsp vegetable oil

--1/4 tsp sesame oil

--black pepper

Salad:
In a small frying pan, cook the bacon over medium heat until desired crispness.  Remove the bacon from heat and drain on paper towels.  Pour the bacon grease into your handy grease jar but a small trace amount will remain in the frying pan to add a little flavor to the dressing.

While the bacon cooks, add the carrots, pears, chicken, and lettuce in a large bowl.  When the bacon is done and patted down with paper towels, rip or slice into bite-sized pieces and add to the salad bowl.  Mix the salad together and set aside.

Once the dressing is done, portion the salad and add the goat cheese to the top.  Drizzle with the dressing.

Dressing:
In the same frying pan you used for the bacon, add the sesame seeds.  Toast over medium heat for about a minute, stirring consistently.  Add the other dressing ingredients and stir with a fork or whisk to mix.  Heat for about 2 minutes before removing from heat.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2
Approximate Calories: 381 per serving (Salad: 223 per serving; Dressing: 158 per serving)

Soft Fish, Tough Veggie-- Strong Partnership

Ugggggggh. Weekday slump. It's been a week that's been pretty ass-kicking mentally and pretty exhausting. So, for dinner options, the easier the better! This recipe is pretty rich in flavor and utilizes some simple fresh ingredients to pack a punch.  Dover sole is a light, flaky fish that almost literally melts in your mouth; the fennel bulb is a textured anise flavored vegetable.

Also, don't forget about the Operation Goodbye Gut contest!  It's pretty simple: send us a recipe, win a prize. You have until June 15th to email your recipes!

Dover Sole With Fennel and Kale
--1/2 bunch of kale (about 2 packed cups), stems removed and leaves torn into pieces
--olive oil, chopped
--garlic, minced
--small yellow onion
--fennel bulb, stalks removed and roughly chopped.
--1 lb. Dover sole filets
--2 TBSP flour

--salt and pepper
--paprika
--1/4 cup of white wine

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat the kale evenly with olive oil and spread out in an oven-safe pan or on a cookie sheet.  Bake until crispy.

While the kale cooks, heat 1 TBSP of olive oil over medium heat in a large deep-sided skillet. Add the garlic, onion, and fennel to the pan and cook to translucency.

While the vegetables cook down, prepare the sole filets.

In a shallow bowl or plate combine the flour with salt and pepper and paprika. Fluff the mixture with a fork.  Rinse the sole filets and gently pat with a paper towel so that the water is removed but the fish isn't completely dry.  Dredge the fish through the flour mixture until all fish pieces are lightly coated.

When the vegetables are cooked, remove from the pan and set aside. Add another tablespoon or so of the olive oil to the pan and shake so that the bottom of the pan is coated in a fine layer of the oil.  Add the fish filets and cook each side for 3-ish minutes or until the fish is golden.

Add the fennel mixture back into the pan along with the wine. Mix together, careful not to completely destroy the fish filets. (Note: Dover sole is a light fish, it will tear when you move it around no matter how careful you are; just try not to rip the poor things totally apart.)

Add the cooked kale into the mix--or serve the filets and fennel mix on a bed of crisped kale, mmm. Once the wine has reduced serve!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4
Calories: 297 per serving

Operation Goodbye Gut: A Contest!

Hello June. Hello swimsuit. Hello pool parties. Hello gut.

Grrr. Gut.

I know it could be worse. People don't (often) ask me if I'm pregnant. (I'm not, and yes, there have been one or two who have looked at my little round belly and asked). I have what is known as a "First World Problem."  I am happy, healthy, and well-fed. I have many options open to me as far as food is concerned and my little Buddha isn't so large that it's unhealthy. And I don't look like this guy:

But I'm tired of the chub-rub, where the top of my jeans digs in to my tummy.  Perhaps you've noticed some tweaks to the Bacon & Other Bad Habits site? There have been more vegetarian choices (because I'm not eating much meat minus the chosen pork product) and I've added nutritional content to all new recipes.

Okay, I love bacon. I know that it isn't the most health-conscious choice, but seriously, what is a life without things you love?  There IS a way to enjoy things we like in a way that is still good for us (and bad for our guts!) so.... It's CONTEST time!

I've got fun prize packs thanks to the folks at BIGS™ Sunflower Seeds (the makers of delicious summertime treats that feature J&D's Bacon Salt). These prize packs have everything you need to enjoy an afternoon at the baseball game or a bbq--including beer coozies!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

From now until June 15th, submit a recipe that is secretly healthy but sure doesn't taste like it!

You will be scored on the following three items*:

--Total calorie count per serving
--Ease of preparation
--Accessible ingredients/tools

*Extra points if your recipe includes bacon or a bacon-inspired product!

Winners will be chosen by June 30th and the winning entry will be posted here (clearly) with recipe credit of course, and perhaps a big fancy photo of you.

Email Your Recipes!

Federal Trade Commision, this fine print is for you:

Winners will receive one prize pack courtesy of BIGS™ valued at $50.00. Bacon & Other Bad Habits does not receive any funds from the fine folks at BIGS™. They were just nice enough to give us some super cool schwag that our fellow bacon-lovers could win because they're nice people and they love bacon too.