Spaghetti Carbonara or Spaghetti with bacon, eggs and cheese

This Carbonara or Spaghetti with bacon, eggs and cheese was so easy on a quick fix night I wasn't going to post it but then I thought, who can't use a quick and easy go to. Plus it was a big hit with everyone.

I adapted it from Rachels Ray's 30 minute meals cookbook.

Simple ingredients:
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- couple 1/4 teaspoons crushed garlic (from the
jar:)
- bacon (you could substitute turkey or veggie)
- Protein Plus Spaghetti
- two beaten eggs (add dash of milk)
- shredded parm (to your liking)
- 1 cup reserved pasta cooking water

I put the bacon on a broiler pan and baked at 400 degrees until crisp and then broke it up. Meanwhile I boiled the pasta and sauteed garlic in the Olive Oil. I added the pasta to the garlic and olive oil. Then I added the egg and pasta water, and stirred very quickly. Finally I added the bacon and cheese and you're done. So simple, not to mention quite affordable.

Birthday Pizza Night

For my hubby's B-day dinner he requested pizza. So I made several options:)

Up top is your basic peppers and onions. Used a store bought crust, store bought tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella and sliced peppers and onions. Not too fancy.

I used Rachel Ray's "Spanakopizza" recipe and put in on a store bought whole wheat crust. I was really excited about it but not very thrilled with the finished product.

The sauce was roasted red pepper and kalamata olives pureed in the food processor, then I topped it with sauteed red onions and garlic, put some mozzarella and feta on top and baked it. After baking it gets topped with arugula, diced tomatoes and pepperocini. If I added more olives to the sauce, more feta in the cheese mix and more pepperocini I might have liked more.

Here's my hubby's heart attack pizza with a touch of veggies to make you feel better about eating it.

Again store brought crust. For the sauce I pureed fire roasted diced tomatoes (cause it's what was in the cabinet), garlic, and basil and then simmered to absorb the flavors. It was topped with a very small amount of shredded mozzarella, bacon, ham, sausage, peppers, and onions. This was definitely the favorite.

Almost Local BLT

OK - so here's my almost all local BLT.

Bread - Jersey Farmer's Market (though I can't tell you where they get their grain)

Lettuce - Jersey Farmer's Market (yes, I'm a Jersey girl)

Tomatoes - my Garden! (and I'm still getting some)

Bacon - from Trader Joes, so at least it's with non of that extra junk:) I looked to see where they get their product from, it's New England, but can't say where the animal came from.

Oh well - 3 out of 4

B-Mom's Quiche (and it's low-fat!)

This is my mom's quiche recipe (actually it's from an old church cookbook but now she just remembers it) that she made a lot when I was growing up. Now that I have children, she is now B-Mom (because my oldest put a B in front of everything when he was learning to talk) thus the name. She made both a spinach and (turkey) bacon version.

Ingredients (for one quiche):
- pre-made pie crust
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
- 8 oz. shredded Swiss
- 1/2 onion chopped and sauteed
- 1 lb of cooked and chopped turkey bacon OR 1 box of chopped frozen spinach (defrosted & drained)
- dash of salt, and small amount of nutmeg in the spinach one

Really Easy -

Place the pie crust in a pie pan and use finger to scallop the edges

Mix all of the ingredients together and place in pie crust



Bake at 400 degrees until it looks done, my mom is very free spirited and doesn't seem to get along with timers or structure, she's an artist. The center will rise and brown when it's done.

Tip: The crust will brown before the entire quiche is so once the crust browns, cover just the crust with thin strips of foil and keep baking.

So good. Of course the kids preferred the bacon but I finished off the spinach:)

Mmmm Bacon

I'm sure you've heard that bacon makes everything better, well, I agree!

Last night's dinner was a quick, easy and cheap one thanks to my shopping at ALDIs and Target:)

I used Archer Farms' (Which is Target's brand name food) "Carbonara Bucati" boxed mix. Instead of the two strips of bacon I added a whole package for extra taste and protein, but didn't fell guilty because it was turkey bacon (from ALDIs) and my kids were none the wiser.

I also used skim milk and Smart balance butter (which is not so cheap but is healthy so I'll splurge on it) for the sauce and it was plenty creamy.

Wish the pasta was whole grain, but you can't win them all. When I'm not having a lazy night, I'll make my own with whole grain, which would really be easy too but I already had the box:)