Bacon Pierogie Bake

 

This may not look pretty on the plate, but I assure you that it's a delicious meal.

Along with frozen ravioli, frozen pierogie is one standby in the Mad Men freezer.  It's a favorite of BAJ's, and easy when things go haywire and dinner just isn't going to happen.  When I saw that Stephanie had made a "souped up" version of a pierogie casserole and raved about it, I knew I would make it too.

I find it nuts that this recipe appeared in Cooking Light, since there's no way this is a light recipe (using Neufchatel cheese a light recipe does not make when one is frying in bacon).  Perhaps what makes it light is that it's supposed to be an appetizer, but who can deny the ease of this quick dinner meal?  I took Stephanie's plan to make it as an entree, though she served with salad and I served with green beans.  Speaking of those green beans, we topped them with the very awesome sauce for the pierogies, make the green beans that much more awesome.

Is it wrong to admit I was almost licking my plate?

This one was great, though if I serve it as a main again, I will double it, in addition to serving with a side dish.  This is so versatile; you could use any kind of pierogie, add in some steamed broccoli, or pretty much anything you like.

Source: Stephanie Cooks, who Slightly adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) package frozen potato and onion pierogies
2 slices center-cut bacon, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup thin sliced green onions
1 small plum tomato, seeded, and diced  (I used an handful of grape tomatoes, which I diced)
Pepper
Cooking spray

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to 400.
2- Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange the frozen pierogies in the dish.
3- In a medium saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan.
4- Add garlic to the drippings, cook for 30 seconds. Add the cream cheese, stirring until it melts. Add the broth, stir continuously until it's all incorporated.
5- Pour the sauce mixture over the pierogies. Top with the cheddar cheese.
6- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, top with the tomatoes and bacon, and return it to the oven. Bake for 5 additional minutes.
7- Remove from the oven sprinkle with green onions and black pepper. Serve hot.

"Unrolled Rollatini"

Eggplant parm has long been one of my favorite things to order at Italian restaurants.  Being a vegetarian meal allows me to be deluded into thinking it's moderately healthful.  Trying to recreate the meal at home, however, has not proven to be super successful for me.  Here was ok, here was pretty good but very time consuming.

The other day, I saw this post on Stephanie Cooks, and decided to add it to the menu IF I could find frozen eggplant cutlets.  See, I'd never heard of such a thing before.  While I definitely prefer to keep things as minimally processed as I can, sometimes necessity calls and you go with the easy way. 

This came out so good.  The cutlets were monstrous, but M commented that this meal was awesome.  He said something along the lines that I just haven't gotten the eggplant right for eggplant parm (though he did say in the second version linked above that it was really good...selective memory, I suppose.)

I loved it.  M loved it.  Baby E made a huge mess of loving it.  Mr. A seems to be going through a not eating much but waffles, fruits, and veggies, so he wouldn't touch it.  M did get him to taste the cheese, and he "didn't like it," this coming from the kid who was sneaking cheese from the cutting board while I was cooking.



Source: Stephanie Cooks Original

Ingredients:
1 pound box breaded eggplant cutlets (or homemade if you prefer)
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg white  (I used a whole egg)
1 tsp. Italian seasonings
1 tsp. garlic powder
1-1.5 cups mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1-2 cups marinara sauce (depends how saucy you like it) (I used a jar of mushroom marinara sauce)

Directions:

1- Preheat the oven to 350. Cook the breaded eggplant cutlets according to packaging instructions and set aside.
2- In a bowl combine the ricotta, egg white, Italian seasonings, and garlic powder. Stir well.
3- Cover the bottom of an oven safe dish with marinara sauce. Add a layer of eggplant cutlets. Top with a generous layer of the ricotta mixture. Add some marinara and spread it over the eggplant. Sprinkle with parmesan and 1/2 cup of mozzarella.
4- Repeat step 3, layering eggplant/ricotta/sauce/parmesan/and mozzarella. The top layer should be just eggplant with sauce and some mozzarella.
5- Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce starts to bubble. Serve hot.