The Good Plate

Posts Tagged ‘bacon’

Again, just as on the 1st of the New Year, when I made Ascencia Salad, there was no guest chef, and The Good Plate again came to the rescue. When I looked for what was on hand, there was still a lot of pasta in the pantry, so I made my list to make Pasta Carbonara. I wanted everyone to have a well balanced meal, so the green choice was brocolli instead of salad.

Luckily, there were two large bags of French rolls, perfect for my Garlic Cheese Rolls. We also had a wonderful salad of peas, pepper jack and celery made by guest chef Jerome. A good and healthy time was had by all.

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Recipes in this Post

• Bacon Wrapped Dates
• Avocado Fries
• Chipotle Lime Sauce
• Beer Battered Fish and Onion Rings
• Red Pepper Sauce

I don’t eat a lot of fried food, but sometimes, you have to fry. I wanted to make Avocado Fries, and considering that there was already going to be a pan of hot oil, why not throw some other things in as well?

My friend, Amber Lewis, chief cook and bottle washer, and event planner extraordinaire at Cool Dreams, makes these wonderful Bacon Wrapped Dates and Artichoke Stuffed Wontons. She suggested we make fried onions to go with our other appetizers, and I said we should make beer battered fish to go with it.

Amber’s son, Zeik, helped make sauces, including Chipotle Lime Sauce, for the onions rings and avocado fries.

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Last night was Spane’s Chorus performance at John Muir Elementary School. Spane has been in the chorus since first grade, and he really likes it. He’s in the third grade now. It brought tears to my eyes seeing those children all dressed up in their best white shirts and black bottoms, most with red Santa Claus hats. The kids were just wonderful, lead by the talented chorus directory, Mrs. Melano. Those children worked very hard practicing and they did a really good job.

When we got home, I wanted to make something was easy, but a little celebratory. Spane has always liked Pasta alla Carbonara – it’s easy and flavorful.

I’m very grateful to the U.S. troops who brought bacon and eggs to Italy in the Second World War. Some Italian cook got the idea to combine the two and put them over pasta. We’ll never know the true origin of the dish, except that it does not appear in any cookbooks until after World War II.

The funny thing is, even though this is a quick dish to make, Spane had fallen asleep by the time it was finished. He was really tired. I had a little, and we wound up eating the rest for breakfast. Hey, bacon and eggs, right?

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We’re going to have good pirate themes food for Spane’s Eighth Birthday Party on November 19, 2011. Just as I did for Spane’s seventh birthday, I have loaded up my Lotus Organizer and started my recipes and grocery list. I thought I would share the menu and recipes. Note that all of these recipes can be used for other occasions.

Pirate Party Menu

• Dead Men’s Fingers
• Dead Parrot Wings
• Pirate’s Balls
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Cucumber Boats flying the Jolly Roger
• Orange Banana ships
• Cannon Balls
• Jolly Roger Flag Cake
• Grog

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Spinach Salad with Bacon Dressing, Grapefruit and Candied Pecans, an interesting way to have this famous salad. The grapefruit, blue cheese and candied pecans make a party in your mouth! Read the rest of this entry »

Recipes in this post

• Star Party Sandwiches
• See Food and Bows
• Helen’s Perfect Salad
• Guacamole
• Salsa Fresca
• French Onion Dip
• Virgin Mojitas
• Special Punch
• Rosary Cake

Spane’s First Communion was on Sunday, May 15, 2011 at the 9:30am Mass at Holy Family Catholic Community Church in Glendale, California.

When I had Spane on November 21, 2003, I started thinking about what his First Holy Communion was going to be like. When he was Baptized at Holy Family Catholic Community Church on May 17, 2007, I started counting down the days. There were 1460 days, or 3 years, 11 months, 29 days until his First Holy Communion. In case you wondered, yes, I am counting down the days until his Confirmation, which should be about 2192 days, about 6 years from now.

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