North Pole Breakfast

Elfie is back! In case you are newer to my blog, Elfie is the name of our Elf on a Shelf. Still confused? Type Elfie in the search box at the top of my blog and you can read up on all my posts from last year.

This is his second year coming to our house and boy did he come with a bang! The boys woke up to a fully decorated dining room with ribbons on the chairs, pictures on the wall totally covered in wrapping paper, and silver bells and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling.

Each of the kids had a personalized letter from Elfie reminding them to be good so they can stay on the nice list. In his lap was a note to me asking me to kindly fix up the food he had brought since he was so tired from traveling and decorating.

Turns out Elfie had brought all the fixings for a proper North Pole Breakfast complete with powdered donuts, berries, bacon and eggnog. Everything got wolfed up in no time and even our Little Guy was caught stuffing his face, mostly full of berries:)

We donned our Seahawk Santa hats because after all, that is appropriate attire for a North Pole Breakfast in the Pacific Northwest!

I can't wait to see what other things Elfie has up his sleeve as we count down to Christmas. Be looking for weekly updates to see all the fun things Elfie brings and does while staying at our house.

(P.S. - For any elves out there looking to duplicate this at their house, I heard that our elf used mostly decorations we had on hand and got the rest at the Dollar Tree and only spent around $10. That frugal little elf!;)

**Here is a post about our 2013 NPB for those interested**

Bacon MacNCheeseburger

I realize that I have shared several mac n' cheese recipes on my blog before (Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Mac N' Cheese - Mac N' Cheese with Steak and Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms). Both of those were using boxed mac n' cheese which I happened to have on hand due to a sale but rarely ever use. Ever since I learned how to make my own homemade mac n' cheese I have continued to tweak and play with the recipe and it has changed many times over. We love it plain but it is always fun to jazz it up with new ingredients as well.

Those of you who have been reading my grocery store posts or following Chrystal's Corner on Facebook know that I have recently gotten a HUGE stock of pasta built up. So this recipe doesn't actually use macaroni noodles because I wanted to use some of the penne I had on hand. I had been playing around with this recipe in my head for a little while and it finally all came together as I was cooking it. You could do lots of different things with this recipe like substituting the mustard and ketchup with BBQ sauce or using a variation of toppings. I am excited because I think it is a great summertime/BBQ/potluck version of mac n' cheese that I hope you will love as much as we did.

Bacon MacN'CheeseBurger
Ingredients:
- 1 lb box of pasta (macaroni, penne, shells, etc)
- 1/2 lb of ground beef
- 6 slices of bacon
- 1/4 cup of ketchup
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 4 Tbsp. flour
- 1-1/2 cup milk (more if your sauce is too thick for your liking)
- 3 packed cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (or whatever combination of cheese you like)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 extra large egg yolks
- 2 heaping Tbsp. spicy brown mustard
- toppings of your choice (shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, chopped pickles, additional shredded cheese)

Directions:
1. I start by getting the meat all cooked. Season your ground beef with a little salt and pepper and cook until brown and crumbled. Turn heat way down and add the ketchup, stirring until heated through. Remove from heat. In a separate pan (or on an electric skillet) cook up the bacon, remove to paper towel when crisp. Once cooled down chop the bacon into pieces and then mix it in with the meat mixture.

2. Cook your noodles according to package directions. Only cook until al dente as it will continue to cook in the oven (this would be a good time to preheat that oven to 325 degrees while you are at it). Drain the pasta.
3. Time to make the sauce. Heat a pan over low heat and add the butter. Once melted stir in the flour until all mixed in and then let the mixture sit over the heat for about a minute. Slowly whisk in the milk stirring continuously as it thickens. Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in cheeses. Then stir in egg yolks and mustard. If the sauce is too thick just add in a splash of milk and stir some more.
4. Add the cooked pasta and the meat mixture to the sauce and blend all together. Pour into a 13x9 pyrex and pop in the oven cooking for 20-25 minutes. Dish up and add desired toppings.

**I was kind of writing this as I was making it so sorry there aren't more pictures...but I figure most of you know what cooked pasta and cheese sauce look like! I mostly wanted to come back to add that this really was delicious! My husband ate after the rest of us and just heated up the mac n cheese without any toppings and as he was shoveling in large fork fulls he kept saying, "This tastes JUST like a bacon burger!" I liked it with the extra stuff but it is a winner all by itself too:)

Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Mac N Cheese

Let me start with the disclaimer that this is in no way a figure friendly recipe. You could definitely make it healthier (grilled chicken, turkey bacon) but as is it is super fatty. But oh so very delicious!! I will also say that I typically make homemade mac n' cheese but lately have been stocking up on the boxed version due to sale prices and coupons that have made it practically free. This would also be absolutely delicious with homemade mac n' cheese but since I used the box version that is the recipe I will share.

Ingredients:
* 2 boxes Kraft Mac N Cheese (or your favorite brand/homemade recipe)
* 3-5 slices bacon
* 1 pkg ranch dressing mix
* 2 cups shredded chicken (I used fried chicken leftover from a party, but grilled or rotisserie would work great too)

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to package directions. Layout other ingredients as listed on box (mine called for 1 stick of butter and half a cup of milk).

2. While the noodles are cooking, fry the bacon in a medium skillet until crispy. Remove to paper towels and chop when cooled.

3. Drain bacon grease, turn down heat and add butter. Once melted, stir in cheese packets and ranch dressing mix. Once mixed, stir in milk until well blended. Let simmer until thickened. I added some cream at this point to make it a little creamier. Put in the chicken and bacon and let heat through.

3. Drain the pasta, add it into the cheesy ranch mixture. Stir and enjoy!

I wish you could taste the ranchy, bacony, cheesy goodness of this through the computer!! Truly yummy:) Be prepared for some continued twists on the plain old boxed mac n' cheese as we have quite a few boxes stored up. There is some serious brainstorming going on around here!

What we had for dinner

I am so excited to share this recipe with all of you!! I absolutely LOVE avocado and was excited to find this Pita Pizza recipe in Everyday with Rachel Ray. I made a few adjustments so the recipe isn't all exact measurements but making it your own is part of the fun.

Bacon-Avocado Pita Pizzas

Ingredients:
* 1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
* 1 shallot of red onion thinly sliced
* 1/4 c EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) + extra for drizzling on the pitas
* 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
* Pepper
* 2 avocados
* 8 slices bacon
* mixed greens, torn-up
* shredded mozzarella
* whole pitas (I prefer whole wheat)

Directions:
1. Brush pitas with EVOO and dust with garlic salt. Place on cookie sheets and cook at 450 degrees for 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes, shallots, 1/4 c EVOO, and vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature.

In a medium bowl, mash the avocados, pressing plastic wrap directly on the surface to cover.

3. Cook bacon and drain on paper towels.

4. Spread the avocado evenly on each crust. Top with mixed greens and then scatter tomato mixture over pizza. Crumble bacon on top and then add cheese.
5. Put in oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!! I usually make 4 of these and have leftover of the tomato mixture which is good in a salad or on top of chicken or fish the next day.