BLT Salad

BLT Salad

It doesn't get much easier then this, folks! My hubby and I have been doing the Paleo - Primal diet for a few months now. If you're not familiar with it, you can find lots of info and recipes for it all over the web. It basically takes out any processed foods, sugars, carbs, potatoes, grains, etc. You get the idea. We both have lost a considerable amount of weight, so we are going to continue to stick with it for a while. What I love about it, is you can pretty much eat as much as you want. Oh, and guess what? You can have bacon. I LOVE me some bacon! I've found most of my recipes via Pinterest. If you'd like to check out some of my recipes that I've pinned, you can go here.

So, I'm sure the BLT salad has been made in many kitchens. I've just never thought to prepare it this way. I decided I'd blog about it after posting the picture on Facebook. I will occasionally post a picture of something that I've prepared. After receiving several rave reviews of this, I thought I would share it with others.

Ok, get ready for the ingredients.... Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato. Wow, are you surprised?

BLT Salad for One:
1/4 head of iceberg lettuce, shredded
2 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 of garden fresh tomato, cubed
Salt and Pepper to taste
Dressing of choice

Sausage Manicotti and Garlic Knots

I thought I would post about this Manicotti again, since it's been a while since I've blogged. The last time I made it, I made Garlic knots with it also. They are made using canned biscuits. So easy, but very tasty. I've been getting most of my recipes from Pinterest now. Not only do I pin the items, but I've tried a lot of them too. The Sausage Manicotti was a recipe that I found from All Recipes before the Pinterest hype. You can click on either of the links above to see the recipes for these and I'll also post them below. I have a few more details listed about the manicotti in my previous post.

Sausage Manicotti

 Ingredients

• 1 pound ground sausage
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 12 manicotti shells

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add manicotti shells and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. In a skillet over medium heat, brown the sausage; drain and keep hot. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, 1 3/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese and sausage.
4. Stuff noodles with cheese and sausage mixture; place in baking dish. Pour sauce over top of noodles and sprinkle with extra cheese. Bake for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.                

For the Garlic Knots recipe, check out Real Mom Kitchen.

Pork Chops with Blue Cheese Gravy

Pork Chops with Blue Cheese Gravy

I've had this recipe for years and made it many times. I LOVE Bleu Cheese but my hubby is not a fan at all. When I first tried this recipe I wondered if I could sneak it in this gravy without him knowing. Well, as you can probably figure out, I did. It doesn't really taste bleu cheesy, but does have a nice rich flavor. I made it again a few nights ago. It had been a while since I had made it last. My husband is very critical of food. Usually when I ask him how something is, he says it's ok. Most people would say good. He takes leftovers to work sometimes and shares. They get devored by the men he works with with always great compliments. So, when I asked him how this was I was surprised when I got "it is actually pretty good".

The recipe came from allrecipes.com. I follow the recipe pretty closely. Instead of black pepper and garlic powder, I add my Tastefully Simple Seasonings. I use my favorite seasoning, Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt and I also add Tastefully Simple Garlic Pepper Seasoning blend.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 thick cut pork chops
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large skillet, over medium heat. Season the pork chops with black pepper and garlic powder. Fry the chops in butter until no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 20 to 25 minutes. Turn occasionally to brown evenly.
2. Remove chops to a plate and keep warm. Stir the whipping cream into the skillet, loosening any bits of meat stuck to the bottom. Stir in blue cheese. Cook, stirring constantly until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Pour sauce over warm pork chops.

I served the pork chops with mashed potatoes and a side salad. If you'd like to try out some Tastefully Simple seasonings, you can check out my website.