BLT Tacos

I'm celebrating National Bacon Day with these tasty BLT Tacos. Several years ago, I created my BLT dip, and it was very well received. So I decided to take it a step farther with these yummy tacos. The hubby is laid up with a bad back once again, so I made these for him to try. His response? "Oh my gosh! These are wonderful! (nom,nom,nom) Oh these are good!" I'll have to agree! :-)

8-10 pieces of Bacon, cooked, drained and broken into 1 inch pieces
2 cups Lettuce, chopped
1 large Tomato, chopped
* 1/2 or 3/4 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
Black Pepper, to taste
6-8 Flour Tortillas (soft tacos)

Combine all ingredients except the tortillas in a medium size bowl. Heat the tacos just until they are pliable. Stuff them with the BLT mixture. Enjoy!

* The cheese is optional, but I liked it. (And I'm a BLT lover!) You can choose which amount you want depending on how much cheese flavor you'd like... or leave it out altogether. 

The Southern Bite Cookbook Giveaway!

Stacey Little, author of The Southern Bite Cookbook, and I have a lot in common. We both come from a long line of awesome cooks, and we also love to feed people! I received his cookbook a few weeks ago and have enjoyed reading it! I was going to make his chicken and dumplin's casserole from his cookbook, but I changed my mind when I read about his Mama's Chicken Bog! It seems that his Mama was living in my home state of South Carolina for a while. That's where she picked up the dish. Yes Stacey! It is a kicked up version of chicken and rice. It's just a good bit juicier... hence the "bog". Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post! 

Stacey's Chicken Bog Recipe

OR

Order A Signed Copy of The Southern Bite Cookbook

OR

Enter below to win a free copy of Stacey's The Southern Bite Cookbook!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy Fish Fry... with two sauces for dipping!

Thanks to my brother Charlie, this is the first batch of three that I fried tonight!

Easy Fish Fry

• Fish... catfish, cut into nuggets
• Oil for frying
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

Mix flour, cornmeal and seasonings in a plastic container with lid (big enough to fit fish inside). Place fish in the flour mixture and carefully shake. Remove fish and fry in deep fryer set at 350 degrees until golden brown and fish floats.

I didn't have any relish for the tartar sauce,

so I just left it out. It was still very tasty!

Cocktail Sauce

1 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 small lemon)

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

dash Worcestershire sauce

few drops hot sauce

salt to taste

Combine and blend all ingredients well.

Tartar Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

1 teaspoon minced onion (optional)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons lemon juice 

salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, mix ingredients together. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chicken Bacon Roll-ups

I wanted to come up with something a little different, so I took the smothered chicken recipe and kind of used a roll-up concept on it. It was quiet at the table. That's usually a very good sign! LOL

4 chicken breasts
1 package bacon
1 cup cheese (I used colby jack)
1 bottle of Zesty Italian dressing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pound out each chicken breast evenly. Arrange 2 slices of bacon on each chicken breast, then top with cheese. Starting at the narrowest end of each breast, fold the chicken edge over and roll up each breast into a bundle. Pour a little dressing in a casserole dish and spread out. Place each chicken bundle in the dish. Arrange 2 more slices of bacon on each chicken bundle. Cover with a good coating of Italian dressing, and top with garlic powder and pepper.

Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is done. If the bacon starts to get too brown, lay a sheet of foil over the dish. Do not seal it or the bacon will get soggy... Unless you like soggy bacon, that is.

Farm to Table Outing... Hill Creek Farms, Midnight Rooster and Gardner's General Store!

My foodie friends and I had another Farm Outing this past Saturday! We had such fun bouncing around the pastures following John Rodgers from Hill Creek Farms and checking out his grass fed, Black Angus Cattle.

Hold on Caroline! Mary's driving!

Even the cows stopped to watch 

Mary driving through! :-)

The tags tell their age.

Did you ever notice that the trees in a pasture like this

all seemed to be trimmed at the same level?
That's because that's as high as the cows can reach!

One of the big boys!

Hey Ladies! It's raining!

They are hard to see in the rain,

but all those black dots in the grass are geese! 

One more look before we go pick up the

beef orders and go to lunch.

Our next stop...

Over to the MidnightRooster CoffeeShop!

I didn't get a picture of the "Cherry Bomb" that one

of the girls ordered. I guess it was too good! LOL

A wonderful place with lots of character!

 We had a "courtyard table" reserved just for us

compliments of the owner, Suzanne Galloway!

My first Mexican Coke... made with cane sugar! Yum!

My lunch...

Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil on Focaccia Bread!

The Crab Cake Sandwich!

My friend Mary 

(from All Things Food ~ Cooking with Mary and Friends)

had the specialty Quiche!

BTW... The Pickles are awesome! She let me have one! :-)

Last stop of the day... Gardner's General Store!
I loved this place! Another place with lots of character!

Very friendly and knowledgeable staff!

Lot's of fresh products from local farms!

I had a blast looking through all the jars!

OK... I will admit that as the Naviguessor (navigator/guesser) on this trip, I screwed up and got us turned around three times!!! In my defense, the map Mary printed out didn't give all the roads and names. One of the directions took us past the farm! But the girls will have to admit, I did NOT get us lost!!! We all had a great time... fresh beef and good food!

Shepherd's Pie

I was asked to make a post on my Shepherd's Pie. I hadn't because I really didn't think anyone needed a recipe. I don't think of it being a "recipe" to follow. It's just something I throw together... but here goes.

The pictures below are of my Shepherd's Pie at church for about 50 people in 2 buffet pans. So, the amounts are different when I do such a large batch. All the amounts are up to you and your taste. Use more cheese if you like, or more potatoes etc.

2 pounds Hamburger, cooked and drained
4 cups Mashed Potatoes*
8 oz Sour Cream
Butter, to taste
Salt and Pepper, to taste
2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Cook the hamburger seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Some people add diced onion while the meat is cooking.

Drain the hamburger, but don't let it dry out.

It helps keep the meat moist!

 Mix the potatoes, butter and sour cream.

Add seasonings such as salt, pepper and garlic powder

and spread over the meat mixture!

Top with cheese and bake at 350 degrees

until the cheese is melted and golden brown!

*Tips... As a short cut and time saver at church, I use potato pearls (They are dehydrated potato pieces). It's your choice. You can use homemade or instant! Also a lot of people add corn between the meat and potatoes. I have some people at church that can't have corn, so I serve it on the side instead.

Sweet Heat BBQ Baked Beans... and an Epic Fail!

Let me say that my recipe was a hit! The beans, themselves were a flop. I cooked them in the crock pot on high for 7 hours and they were still hard! I decided to let them stay in the crock pot on low overnight. I got up this morning and got ready for church, and this is what I found when I went in the kitchen. I thought, "OK, I can try and save them." Only the one end looked really overdone... After cooking for 18 hours the darned things never did soften! Still hard and crunchy! UGH! Awesome flavor in the sauce though!

FAIL!

6 slices bacon, chopped into large chunks
1 onion, chopped

1 pound navy beans, rinsed and cooked
1 cup ketchup
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup Texas Pete

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Fry the bacon pieces in a skillet until browned and crisp, remove from the pan and set aside. Cook onion until slightly soft. Transfer onion and bacon to slow cooker.
Pour the navy beans, ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar into the slow cooker and stir. Add hot sauce, garlic powder, mustard* and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until everything is distributed evenly. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, and cook on High heat for 1 1/2 hours before serving.

They should look more like this! LOL

*Quick tip... Adding the ingredients in this order keeps the vinegar from "cooking" the mustard. If that happens, the mustard "beads up" and won't combine smoothly with the other ingredients.