Category: Winter Meals

2/6/2020 2 Comments

#47) Bean’s Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnut Recipe ~ A Super Food For A Super Sunday

If you’ve never had bacon wrapped water chestnuts in your life, I suggest adding them into your life - as soon as humanly possible.

All ingredients.

There’s a reason I continually make this delicious dish on special occasions. These terrifically tooth-picked creations are most definitely a quintessential party food… A happy food. A celebratory food. They are such a delicious treat that the dish garners a special occasion to quite naturally go along with it.

Chestnuts soaking in soy sauce.

Both trays to be used.

Tray with non-stick foil for the bacon to bake in the first time.

Bacon cut into thirds.

So, I tend to make this dish on the Christmas Eve holiday, on a night of casual and easy and most importantly, tasty, appetizers in my home. I also recently decided to make this on Super Bowl Sunday. A day which is Holiday in America - Holiday with a capital H.

And, although I don’t even watch the game…

I know, I know. I am one of those people who don’t even watch. Or should I say, I just don’t pay attention. I only watch the Puppy Bowl - if that. And the National Anthem. But - it’s Super Bowl Sunday in America - and I have to celebrate along with the rest of the country. If I must - I must.

I’m forced into it by tradition, whether I like the game of football or not. I’m just there for the puppies. And the commercials.

Stir until you get this consistency.

With that in mind, I’d highly recommend this dish if you need something to bring to a Super Bowl party, or any fun party really. It’s a great take-along dish. Something you can either prep entirely in advance and bring, hot, to a party that’s close to your home. Or, you can prep all the steps in advance except the final one. And then, once you arrive at your destination, bake the final step at the home you are bringing it to for the party. The chestnuts can then be served fresh and hot at your party location.

Either way, this dish is easy, quick, and a fabulous party food.

And guess what else, I absolutely promise you that your dish will be the highlight of the party. No other dish will bring such praise… The bacon alone will create quite a stir, but add in all the other flavors, and you are the hit of the party - guaranteed.

So prepare for this dish to go fast, whether you want it to or not, I promise.

Ingredients:

1 16 oz. package of bacon
3 8 oz. cans of whole water chestnuts
⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
⅓ cup ketchup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons Worcester sauce
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.
Drain cans of chestnuts.
Put the chestnuts in a quart size ziplock baggie.
Pour the soy sauce in the baggie and let the chestnuts soak in the soy sauce while preparing the rest of the dish.
Cut all the bacon slices into thirds.
After chestnuts are done sitting in their bath tub for a while, take the slices of cut bacon and wrap each chestnut with a bacon slice and then stab a toothpick through both sides of the bacon to hold it together.
Once all chestnuts are wrapped with bacon and held together with their toothpicks, place them on a tray of non-stick foil and bake in the oven for 30 mins.
While bacon is baking, prepare sauce.
Put brown sugar in a mixing bowl.
Add ketchup into the bowl.
Add 1 ½ tablespoons of Worcester sauce into the bowl.
Add freshly ground pepper into the bowl.
Stir all added ingredients to make sure the brown sugar is mixed really well, into a smooth consistency.
Once bacon wraps have completed their 30 minutes in the sauna, transfer bacon wraps into a pyrex tray to remove them from sitting in their fat drippings. Pour sauce over wraps.
Bake that tray for 15 mins.

Share & Enjoy! ~

For more of Bean’s Best Recipes, go ahead and check out these creations below:
10] Bean’s Soulful Southern Chili
38] The Year Of The Sweater ~ Bean’s Minestrone Soup Recipe
43] Bean’s Bold Beef Stew Recipe

Do you love incorporating bacon into your recipes? Go ahead and step foot in your kitchen and make this dish; then - tell me how you like it? I’m so curious - go ahead and share with me in the comments down below.

Author:

Christine Pieper is an Artist and Lifestyle Blogger, living, writing, and painting in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, with her hubby and eight year old puppy. She made a major life change in 2017 by uprooting and moving from Illinois to the Sunshine State, and has been living her best life in Florida since - detailing all her many and varied adventures living and traveling the Deep South to share with you. Her mission is to help you live YOUR best life - by getting out there, going for it, and making that big change you always dreamed of. Christine will inspire you to get over yourself, show up for yourself, and get out of your own way. The only one stopping you - is YOU.

To catch all of Christine’s Floridian Dreams, sign up your email below now.

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1/24/2020 0 Comments

#43) Bean’s Bold Beef Stew Recipe ~

I absolutely LOVE making Beef Stew! Especially in the crock pot. In fact, is there any other way to make Beef Stew? I’d love to know - because the crock pot is actually the only way I’ve ever cooked this recipe.

We make this recipe A LOT. It’s VERY simple, and takes hardly any time at all to prepare. Plus, by slow-cooking it, I get to enjoy the wonderful and hearty aroma floating around my entire apartment all throughout the day. By the time the dinner bell rings, I’m much too hungry. If only because my brain has been breathing in beef and potato filled oxygen all day long as I paint in my studio.

Another bonus with this recipe is that it is extremely hearty and healthy for anybody trying to build or maintain a healthier lifestyle.

The beef is loaded with protein - which keeps you fuller longer, and has the added bonus of making your body work harder to digest those proteins - thus, burning more calories in the process of consumption and digestion. And the remaining ingredients are loaded with other nutrients.

Adding olive oil first, on the bottom. Go ahead and guesstimate if you like.

Add cubed beef stew meat next after the olive oil.

Add peeled and chopped carrots next.

I love carbs... and I really love potatoes. So if you are aiming to get healthy and stay healthy, and you are leaning toward that low-carb or no-carb lifestyle - I highly advise against it. It may backfire in the long run, with the individual doing the restricting ending up craving carbs until they ultimately binge on them. It’s best to live WITH the carbs and not restrict the carbs - in my opinion. And add those carbohydrates into your life in a healthier manner. EVERYTHING in moderation does includes potatoes.

So don’t y’all ignore the potato - it might just become your best friend!

Besides, potatoes are one of the healthiest and nutrient dense foods on the entire planet. If you don’t love potatoes, go ahead and learn to love them. And NO - I am not speaking of french fries, even though, yes, I do love them like the rest of the world. But go ahead and add an entire bag of baking potatoes into the stew with zero guilt about eating a carbohydrate. Just don’t fry that potato up before you pop it into the pot.

Peel a bunch of potatoes, as much as you like or that can fit in the crock pot.

Add peeled and chopped potatoes into the crock next.

Add peeled and chopped onions next.

Add seasoning on top next.

Take and peek and say hello to your crock pot around half way through cooking... Just to make sure it’s alive and breathing. But you don’t need to lift the lid.

In our two person, plus one furry angel dog, household - this recipe makes a great dinner, with about two more nights of leftovers. I recommend making it on a Sunday and eating it right away on a Sunday night in - then you have one to two nights of leftovers during the week - depending on how many people you are serving. I really hope you enjoy this recipe; I hope you enjoy cooking it; and I hope you love it as much as my hubby and I both do.

All ready to eat @ 4pm.

Hello Hot Food.

Ingredients:
Roughly 3 pounds of baking potatoes - give or take - I usually buy a 5 pound bag and have a few leftover, to be used in other recipes throughout the week.
1 ½ pounds of beef stew meat (beef stew chunks cut into cubes)
1 bag of whole carrots from the fresh produce section
About 3 whole sweet onions
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt as needed - roughly less than a small tsp
Freshly ground pepper as needed - roughly a small tsp
Water (enough water to fill the ingredients about halfway or less in the crock pot)

Directions:
Heat slow cooker to Low (8-10 hours)
Peel all the potatoes and cube them
Peel the carrots and cut into roughly 1 inch chunks
Peel and chop the onions into chunks or quarters
Pour in Olive Oil to coat the bottom of the crock pot
Add all the beef stew chunks next as the bottom layer
Add carrots next
Add potatoes next
Add onions next as the top layer
Add seasoning on top the onions
Add water
Cook in crockpot on low for 8-10 hours
Share and enjoy! ~

For more of Bean’s Bold Recipes, check out these recipes from my kitchen to yours, below:
10) Bean’s Soulful Southern Chili
25) Don’t Google It, Just Do It ~ Christine’s Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ *Part of ~ Bean’s Baking Series ~
30) Bean’s Sugar Cookie Recipe ~ *Part of ~ Bean’s Baking Series ~
38) The Year Of The Sweater ~ Bean’s Minestrone Soup Recipe

*I’d love to know if you make my Beef Stew recipe? And, did you enjoy it?! Go ahead and leave me a comment down below:

And if you aren’t yet signed up for my twice-a-week newsletter, go ahead and sign up below, now. As one of Bean’s Sunshine Subscriber’s, you’ll receive two emails per week from me. One every Monday, and one every Friday. I’m here to help you turn your Monday’s into Friday’s, and live life like it’s a Friday, every gosh darn day of the week!

Author:

Christine Pieper is an Artist and Lifestyle Blogger, living, writing, and painting in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, with her hubby and eight year old puppy. She made a major life change in 2017 by uprooting and moving from Illinois to the Sunshine State, and has been living her best life in Florida since - detailing all her many and varied adventures living and traveling the Deep South to share with you. Her mission is to help you live YOUR best life - by getting out there, going for it, and making that big change you always dreamed of. Christine will inspire you to get over yourself, show up for yourself, and get out of your own way. The only one stopping you - is YOU.

To catch all of Christine’s Floridian Dreams, sign up your email below now.

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#47) Bean’s Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnut Recipe ~ A Super Food For A Super Sunday

#43) Bean’s Bold Beef Stew Recipe ~

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YOUR CART

#47) Bean’s Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnut Recipe ~ A Super Food For A Super Sunday

#43) Bean’s Bold Beef Stew Recipe ~

Become a Sunshine Subscriber:You’ll receive two emails per week - one every Monday and Friday, and you won’t need to remember to come to my site. Plus! All of my Sunshine Subscribers are always the FIRST to be notified of my newest available art released. I would LOVE to connect with you!

Sign Up Below To Be In All My Floridian Dreams!

Archives

Categories

Become a Sunshine Subscriber:
You’ll receive two emails per week - one every Monday and Friday, and you won’t need to remember to come to my site. Plus! All of my Sunshine Subscribers are always the FIRST to be notified of my newest available art released. I would LOVE to connect with you!