Bacon Bleu Cheese Pizza

Inspiration: Pizza is one of my favorite foods. And I love a nice, greasy deep dish pizza with a big pile of cheesy, garlicy breadsticks as much as the next person. But truthfully, nine times out of 10, I’d much rather make pizza at home. I like to do this for health reasons, but I also love it because it’s one of my favorite ways to relax on a Friday night. I love to come home from work, crack open a beer with my hubby, and make a pizza with whatever ingredients we happen to have in the fridge. And even a homemade bacon pizza is healthier than one ordered for delivery.

What we Loved: B and I only recently started exploring bleu cheeses, because it took us a while to learn to like them. Now that we do, though, we really loved the bleu cheese flavor on this pizza. I scattered the crumbles of bleu cheese over the pizza, so we didn’t get a singular bleu cheese flavor with every bite, which might have been overpowering. Instead, there were little pockets of bleu cheese goodness throughout the pizza, which was perfect. Together with bacon and onion, this pizza definitely had a lot of strong, intense flavors, and we both really enjoyed it.

Helpful Hints:  If you’re not sure that you really like bleu cheese, then I wouldn’t try this pizza. While it’s not completely overpowering in its bleu cheese flavor, I would definitely say that you have to really enjoy bleu cheese to enjoy it on a pizza, even in crumbles. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with a bacon and onion pizza. :)

Similar Recipes: Bacon avocado pizza

Bacon Bleu Cheese Pizza
Source: Original Recipe

1/2 recipe pizza dough
Extra virgin olive oil
Mozzarella cheese, freshly shredded
3-4 ounces bleu cheese (I used roquefort)
10 strips bacon
1/2 small onion, diced
Freshly cracked black pepper

1. Add the bacon to a saute pan or griddle, and cook until crispy. Drain on paper towels, and then crumble into small pieces.

2. Spread the pizza dough onto a greased pizza pan. Drizzle with olive oil, and brush to distribute the oil completely over the dough.

3. Top with mozzarella cheese, the bacon crumbles, and the diced onions. Crumble the bleu cheese over the pizza, and top with a bit more mozzarella. Sprinkle with black pepper.

4. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes, or until the crust is browned.

Roasted Red Pepper and Black Bean Soup

Inspiration: I’ve seen a lot of recipes for various kinds of black bean soup floating around the internet lately. While trying to plan a really healthy week of suppers to counteract my love of beer, wine, cheese, etc. etc., I decided that a black bean soup would be perfect. And it just so happened that I served this on the first day of fall, too, which was nice.

What we Loved: I chose this particular black bean soup recipe because it had so many ingredients in it that B and I both adore. Black beans, roasted red peppers, chiles in adobo sauce, a heaping cup of cilantro. I had high hopes for this recipe, and it really didn’t dissapoint. While B was eating, he said that it would have to be a repeat recipe in our household for sure. That’s always a good thing! The flavor combination is really just amazing, with a nice smoky flavor from the adobo sauce and the roasted peppers and a great freshness from the cilantro. The soup turned out really thick and creamy, too, and it was also very spicy, which we loved. I really enjoyed this soup topped with plenty of avocado and green onions.

Helpful Hints: Because of the chile in adobo, this soup is very spicy. If you don’t like much spice, I would consider adding just a bit of the adobo sauce to keep the nice, smoky flavor, or maybe just a small amount of the pepper. I added one chile and some sauce for a super spicy soup. The soup in the original recipe was topped with sour cream, which I omitted because I needed to use up some vegetables, but next time I would definitely serve this with my favorite alternative to sour cream, 0% Greek yogurt. I’d highly recommend that, because this spicy soup would be even more fantastic with the nice chill of the yogurt. And I love 0% Greek yogurt because it’s so similar to sour cream, but so healthy.

Roasted Red Pepper and Black Bean Soup

Source: A Good Appetite

I changed a few things around in this recipe, using canned beans and using cilantro instead of parsley. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup vidalia onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red peppers, roasted, stems and seeds removed, and chopped
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 cup fresh cilantro
Kosher salt
2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth to keep this vegetarian)

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat in a pot. Add the onion, and cook until tender, approximately 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and continue to cook for an additional minute.

2. Stir in the red peppers, chipotle, oregano, cilantro, and a big pinch fo salt. Cook for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken broth and one can of black beans, and stir to combine.

3. Pour the soup into a food processor, and process until very smooth. I let my food processor run for several minutes to achieve the right consistency. Alternatively, use an immersion blender.

4. Return the soup to the pot. Add the remaining can of beans. Cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes and serve. Top with sour cream, yogurt, avocado, green onions, or any other desired toppings.

Tortilla-Crusted Mahi-Mahi

Inspiration: A few weeks ago I ran across this post for tortilla chip coated salmon. I’ve kept it in mind ever since, because I, too, always end up with a quarter bag full of tortilla chip crumbs that just aren’t big enough anymore for dipping in salsa or guacamole. Several years back, I would also occasionally purchase a tortilla-crusted tilapia from the grocery store that I really enjoyed, so I don’t know why I never thought of making it myself at home. Now I have :)

What we Loved: I always love a crunchy coating on fish or chicken, and this coating was really crunchy with a nice flavor. Tortilla chips lend themselves really well to Mexican-type flavors, so I mixed the crushed chips with a lot of spices and served the fish alongside my homemade refried beans (sans cheese) and topped with pico de gallo. This meal was healthy, light, and flavorful, perfect for a weeknight.

Helpful Hints: This coating would work well on any kind of fish you prefer, and it would also work well with chicken. You could leave out the spices and just use tortilla chips for a plain breading, or mix any other spices in that you prefer for a different spin on the flavor. I always buy unsalted tortilla chips, but you could use salted and leave out the additional salt when adding the spices.

Similar Recipes: pistachio-crusted mahi-mahi, parmesan-crusted tilapia

Tortilla-Crusted Mahi-Mahi
Source: Inspired from Macheesmo

2 mahi-mahi filets
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup crushed unsalted tortilla chips, more if necessary
Chili powder
Ground cumin
Ground coriander
Garlic powder
Kosher salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Place the flour in a shallow bowl, and the egg in a second shallow bowl. In a third shallow bowl, mix the tortilla chip crumbs with a sprinkle of chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. 

2. Dip the fish filets in the flour, then in the egg, and then in the tortilla crumb coating. Place the coated filets on a plate.

3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan. Add the filets, and saute until browned and cooked through, approximately 5 minutes per side.

Pesto Shrimp with Bacon and Parmesan Polenta

Inspiration: I always think that polenta topped with seafood is a great combination. I’ve made red pepper polenta topped with fish and pepperjack polenta topped with scallops, and I adored both of those meals. When I saw this recipe a few months back, I knew that I would love it, too.

What we Loved: This meal is a just  full of flavors. I used a lot of pesto with my shrimp, which mixed nicely into the cheesy polenta as I ate, and the few bits of crispy bacon on the top added a really great saltiness to the dish.  I don’t know that you can go wrong with Parmesan, bacon, and pesto!  I served this with some sliced grape tomatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper for a delicious supper.

Helpful Hints: I could only find jumbo shrimp when I went shopping. As I was eating, I thought that it would be much easier to eat the meal if I had sliced the shrimp into smaller pieces before adding them to the polenta. Next time, I would chop the shrimp after cooking and also break the bacon into smaller pieces, so that I could mix everything together and get a bit of each flavor in every bite.

Similar Recipes: cornmeal-crusted orange roughy with roasted red pepper polenta, cumin-crusted scallops over pepperjack polenta with roasted vegetables

Pesto Shrimp with Bacon and Parmesan Polenta
Source: bitchincamero

I adjusted the recipe to serve two. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

3 tablespoons pesto
10 peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
1/2 cup polenta
1 1/2 cups water
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 slices bacon
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Toss the shrimp with the pesto, and set aside.

2. Place the water in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Stir in the polenta, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring and scraping the pan occasionally. When the polenta is done, stir in the Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper.

3. While the polenta is cooking, add the bacon slices to a saute pan, and cook until crispy. Drain on a paper-towel covered plate, then break into small pieces.

4. In a separate skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp, and cook until just opaque, approximately 2 -3 minutes.

5. Spoon the polenta into bowls, and then top with the shrimp. Top with the crumbled bacon and serve.