Bacon Wrapped Garlic Glazed Green Beans

We enjoy bacon.

It's true. Not even trying to hide it. 

Sue would probably eat it every day for every meal if it were just a touch healthier. We've made a LOT of bacon-y things on our blog. Go ahead... search "bacon" on our site. You'll be a while.

Anyways.... We've never made bacon with green beans or asparagus. Our local grocery store was having a sale on green beans so I thought I'd give it a go. 

Turns out this was a brilliant idea. 

Ooooooooooooh  my goodness. The deliciousness exploded my brain. Not even lying. 

You need to try these. NEED TO. Right now. 

Hurry...

Go...

Bacon Wrapped Garlic Glazed Green Beans

Ingredients

1 lb fresh green beans, ends trimmed

10 - 12 slices of thick cut bacon

Glaze

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp chili powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

Bundle together about 5 to 8 green beans (depending on how thick the beans are). Wrap a slice of bacon around the bundle of beans and place, seam side down, in the prepared pan. Continue until you have used all the beans/bacon.

Prepare glaze - In a saucepan over medium heat, place the butter, brown sugar, garlic, salt and pepper, and chili powder. 

Cook and stir until bubbly.

Remove from heat and, using a basting or pastry brush, brush the glaze over each of the green bean bundles.

Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 for 35 minutes. Remove the cover.

Continue to bake, uncovered, for 10 to 15 more minutes - until bacon has crisped up.

Serve hot!

So super easy. Am I right?

It takes like 2 seconds to put together and looks all fancy schmancy. 

Like we needed another reason to eat more bacon.....

We're sharing at these fun linky parties - Dizzy Busy & Hungry, Adventures of Mel, Cookin and Craftin, Nap Time Is my Time, Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons, My Turn (for us), Carole's Chatter

Easter 2016

As you may already be aware, if you follow our blog, Sue and I are huge fans of the holidays.

Any chance we get to celebrate with food we like to go a little crazy. 

Here is our annual Easter Dinner (and Easter treats) from 2016 in pictures. Links are provided to the dishes that we have done separate how-to's/blogs on. 

Please let us know if there is anything you are interested in that we haven't posted recipes for. 

First up.... appies!

I fell in love with the "hatching" eggs that Beth from Hungry Happenings did (Link HERE)  so had to add them to our deviled egg tray!

The bunny bread bowl from The Idea Room (Link HERE) was another totally adorable idea that I just had to make this year. We turned him into a dip holder for our veggie tray. 

We made a simple cheddar cracker and used a bunny cookie cutter to make these tasty bunny crackers.

On to the main dinner....

We tend to go a little over board. I think Sue hosted 20 to 25 people this year at her house. 

My Sheep pull-apart bread served as the buns for dinner. (Stay tuned for a how-to on that recipe)

We had 4 salad selections.

Coleslaw (made, I believe, by Sue's mother-in-law), ambrosia salad (Made by our sister, Orra), a broccoli cauliflower salad (made by Sue), and a layered salad (also made by Sue). 

Sue made some smooth and creamy mashed potatoes, some delicious roast veggies, and some spicy chickpeas.

The spicy chickpeas were a trial run for Sue and turned out pretty darned tasty. (Check back for a link to that recipe) 

It's just not Easter without some ham... And this year our nephew, Jordan, smoked the chicken in his smoker. Sooooooo good. I need to invest in a smoker, I think. 

A nice surprise this year was from Jim, our sister Orra's beau. He made a huge pan of homemade cabbage rolls that were so so so delicious.

Orra made some homemade creamed corn and some corn pudding to round out the dinner. 

So. Much Food. 

It was awesome!

But, we can't talk about awesome unless desserts are being mentioned, am I right?

We had a nice selections to choose from.

Our crunchy chewy peanut butter eggs are always festive! (Click HERE for that recipe!) 

We baked our Vanderwolf's Family Secret Chocolate Cake in an oven safe bowl to make this cute bunny bum cake for dessert. (Link to that recipe HERE) 

With the leftover batter we also made some pretty Easter cupcakes!

Cousin, Carol-Ann, brought some gluten free cake balls which were amazing!

And so pretty!

Sue made this super easy, super tasty Eclair Dessert which we hope to share the recipe for soon! It's addicting! (UPDATE: Click HERE for recipe!) 

Another Easter dinner has come and gone! So many recipes on the list to make for next year already! 

Any questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you. Simply comment below. 

Mini Kafta Kabobs With Garlic Yogurt Sauce

Sue and I recently made a Lebanese Dinner (Click here to see that post) . 

We fell in love with the flavors and decided to make more Lebanese dishes. I started with a traditional kafta kabob and turned it into appetizers for a family get together. 

FYI - it is fairly garlic-y. Just warning you. 

Probably not a good date night dish. 

We did make it as full size kabobs for a catering job we did...

You can get the recipes for the rice and the bean dishes HERE. 

*Sigh*

It was sooooooooooo good. 

Mini Kafta Kabobs with Garlic Yogurt Sauce

(Ever-so-slightly adapted from Simply Heaven) 

Ingredients

Garlic Yogurt Sauce 

1 cup 0 fat Greek yogurt, plain

1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, finely diced (or grated)

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp salt

Kabobs

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 medium onion, finely diced

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1 whole bunch parsley, finely chopped

1/4 tsp all spice

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp salt

30ish wooden skewers, soaked in water

Directions

Prepare Garlic Yogurt Sauce - Whisk together all ingredients until well combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (FYI - the longer it sits the more the flavors mingle and the better it gets!) 

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and then place cooling racks on top of the parchment paper. Set aside.

Prepare kabobs - In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients until well combined - I find using your hands mixes things better than a spoon. (FYI - make sure your onion is finely diced, if it is too big then you may have difficulty pressing it on the skewer.) 

Break off golf ball sized pieces of the mixture and press firmly around a wooden skewer that has been soaked in water. Lay the skewer on the cooling racks on the cookie sheet. Continue until all the meat has been used up. 

Bake at 350 until meat is cooked through - about 30 minutes, rotating at the half way point.

Serve hot with the Garlic Yogurt Sauce. 

If you are making larger kabobs then you may want to finish them off under the broiler or on a grill to get those pretty blackened grill marks. Totally not necessary though. 

You can also cook these completely on the BBQ instead of in the oven. 

Served with the garlic yogurt sauce for dipping these are very addicting and just a little fancier than meatballs. 

Who doesn't love eating food off sticks?

Especially savory, Lebanese, garlic-y beef with tangy garlic sauce.......

We're sharing over at Carol's Chatter. Be sure to stop by and say hi!

Reuben Balls with Spicy Thousand Island Dipping Sauce

It's been quite a while since I (Sue) have posted a recipe as Jo has been hogging the blog. 

I'm sharing these tasty little appetizers because they are so easy and SO SO delicious. We whipped them up for St. Patrick's Day but these would be perfect for any time of year. We made them in our Bake Delicious Cake Pop Pan but you can easily make them in mini muffin tins as well - they just won't be round. 

The combination of corned beef and sauerkraut is classic and makes for a perfect appie with the zippy dipping sauce!

Reuben Balls With Spicy Thousand Island Dipping Sauce

(Adapted from Party Food To Go) 

Ingredients

Sauce

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tsp relish

1 tsp horseradish

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Reuben Balls

1 egg

2 Tbsp oil

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 tsp caraway seeds

1/2 tsp paprika

1 cup flour

1 cup cooked corned beef, chopped fine

1 cup sauerkraut, squeezed and chopped

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray your cake pop pan with cooking spray, set aside. 

Prepare dipping sauce - whisk together mayo, ketchup, relish, horseradish, onion powder, and garlic powder until well combined. Cover and refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Prepare Reuben Balls - In a large mixing bowl, whisk together egg and oil. Add in baking powder, baking soda, salt, caraway seeds, paprika, and flour. Whisk again until just mixed. 

Add in the corned beef, sauerkraut, and cheese.

Stir to combine. 

Drop by spoonfuls into prepared cake pop pan - filling bottom cups just a little over full (see pic below).

Top with other half of ban and place clamps to seal. Bake at 350 until cake pops are cooked through - toothpick inserted in the top will come out dry - about 20 - 25 minutes - keep an eye on it.

Remove top of pan and check to see that they are browned. 

If they aren't you can always cover and pop back in the oven for a few more minutes. 

If they are - remove to a wire rack to cool slightly.

Repeat with remaining batter. (We got 1 1/2 pans full - about 24 balls)

You can break into them now...

Or place them on a serving plate and serve with the dipping sauce (and some Bailey's and Guinness for St. Patrick's Day!)

They are just so cute.

Okay, last one, I promise...

We used all purpose flour to make these but you could do half and half with rye flour to make them even more reuben-y. You can also freeze these and simply reheat in the oven before serving. (Or microwave them but they won't be as crispy.) They are also good at room temp - just not quite as good as warm in my opinion. 

Bring these to the next family gathering, game night, tailgating party, luncheon, potluck, etc.... and you will be everyone's new favorite person. 

Just sayin' 

We're sharing over at Carole's Chatter! Be sure to click over for a visit!