{cheesy, onion, bacon biscuits}

recipe source: The Pioneer Woman
Wow. I remember loving the cheddar biscuits that I got as a kid at Red Lobster but they don't even compare to how delicious these are! Cheese, check. Bacon, check. Onions, check. Gooeyness, check. Flavor, check. Breakfast, check. Rolled into a biscuit form, amazing. The Pioneer Woman has outdone herself with this recipe. I can't think of a thing that would have made it better. The batch lasted us almost a week and is perfect served warm. One was plenty for breakfast for me but John preferred two.

Recipe and pics after the jump.

{butternut squash lasagna}

recipe source: Closet Cooking
To continue the butternut squash obsession I'm having I discovered this great sounding recipe from Closet Cooking for a lasagna that needed to be made. Since I had a lot of leftover mix from the butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasties I went ahead and used it in this recipe instead of making a whole new batch of everything. It was just the right amount to make a delicious lasagna. The combination of flavors were fantastic and it went down oh so easily. This has to be one of the best bechamel sauces I've ever made. You could easily leave out the chicken to make this vegetarian.

Recipe and more pics after the jump

{butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasties}

recipe source: The Kitchn
I am currently on a butternut squash kick which works out nicely since it has been in season. Sadly its on its way out, but I have definitely gotten my fill of it this past month beginning with these: butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasty (pronounced: past-ee). I found the original recipe over at The Kitchn and have altered it slightly by adding in some chicken.

Pasties originated in the UK as a food for miners since it was a simple hand held pie usually filled with beef, potatoes, onion and turnips. According to Wikipedia, the miners could easily hold the folded pastry with their dirty hands and eat most of it, discarding the last little bits. The thrown away bits were said to please the knockers, mischievious spirits who were believed to play practical jokes on the miners by stealing their tools. Traditionally, the ingredients are placed inside the pastry dough uncooked and are then steamed inside as it cooks. This recipe is not exactly true to the original as most ingredients are cooked prior to placing inside the pastry.

More after the jump

{march daring bakers: orange tian}

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Spring has arrived! What better way to usher in this wonderful season than with this months Daring Bakers challenge: Orange Tian. I had never heard of this dessert before and in hearing that it was a recipe from France didn't help my intimidation level. I was however, thrilled to see that the challenge was a colorful citrus flavored dessert that looked light and perfect for Spring.

Orange Tian is made of several layers including pate sablee (tart crust), orange marmalade, a whipped cream filling topped with orange segments and a caramel sauce. Our requirements for the challenge were that we had to make the pate sablee, whipped cream filling, marmalade, citrus segments and caramel sauce. We were allowed to play with flavoring and different fruits in the citrus family. Immediately after reading the description I wanted to do a variety of toppings merely for the sake of playing with colors. I also decided to try making a strawberry marmelade in addition to the orange.

{the first cookout of the year}

The snow is finally melting! We can see the ground and the weather is a lovely 65 degrees. This is our first Spring in the mountains so we are really looking forward to a lot of camping and cookouts as the weather continues to warm. One of our favorite things to grill is hamburgers, so as soon as we realized that Sunday was going to be in the 60's we made plans to have a cookout.

More after the jump

{buffalo chicken chili}

Whoah mamma this was spicy! Dawn over at Vanilla Sugar posted this recipe and talked about how she had been sick and needed something spicy to open up her sinuses. If this chili didn't do it, I don't know what would. Salsa, spicey bbq sauce and jalepenos...need I say more?

Recipe and pics after the jump

{slow cooker pepper steak}

recipe source: allrecipes.com
Comfort food. Flavor. Colorful. Tender. This recipe was incredibly easy to put together and came out tasting oh so lovely. The only problem I had was smelling the delicious aromas all day without being able to eat it. I served it over some yellow rice to complete the meal. John was a huge fan of this dish and enjoyed the leftovers for his lunch.