Few salads have earned the right to be in the Nelson Family cook book. And I can guarantee you that every single one of them is amazing. Peggy has such a wonderful ability to pair flavors and she always whips up homemade dressings that will have you wanting to lick the bowl. This pear salad is no different. Its the perfect balance between sweet and savory, and has a wonderful salty crunch to it.

Salad Ingredients: 

2 heads romain lettuce

1 pkg mixed greens

1/4 cup walnuts, toasted

1/2 lb cooked and crumbled bacon

4 oz gorgonzola cheese

3 pears

Dressing Ingredients: 

2 cups sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp dry mustard

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 1/2 cup oil

2 tsp poppy seeds

Directions: Roast Walnuts for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then cool. For the dressing, combine the first 5 ingredients in a blender until the onions are finely chopped. Slowly add oil while the blender is still running. Stir in poppy seeds. In a very large bowl mix greens with bacon, pears, walnuts, and cheese. Toss with dressing and serve immediately. If you like your salads slightly underdressed you can always make 1/2 of the dressing. 

This is the perfect flavor combinations for a salad, all coming together in one beautiful bowl. We hope you try it and look forward to your feedback!

My husband loves when we have breakfast for dinner. Its probably because he is usually so rushed in the morning, a bagel and a banana is all he ever has time for. There is just something so satisfying about hash browns, bacon, eggs. It just warms the soul. Well today's recipe is a fun little twist on a traditional breakfast dish. It was a nice way to make "breakfast" even more special when served at dinner time. 

The trick here is very simple, you make your hash browns in your waffle maker! I loved this idea because hash browns can actually be pretty tricky. Mine always seem to stick to my pan, they burn easily, and never are crunchy enough for me. Well using the waffle iron was so simple and they turned out beautifully!

Ingredients: (Serves 2) 

4 potatoes 

2 eggs

6 slices of bacon

fresh parsley as garnish

salt and pepper

 First, peel and grate your potatoes in a cheese grater. Use the smallest grate side for crispier hash browns. Once grated, use a towel or paper towels and squeeze out all the excess moisture from your potatoes. You may have to squeeze out the moisture several times until they feel dry. Add some salt and pepper to your potatoes. You could add garlic salt, onion salt, tyme, parsley, whatever herbs or spices you like to use in your hash browns. Spray your waffle maker with cooking oil. Place your hash browns on your waffle iron and press down. Depending on how hot your waffle maker gets, and how crispy you like your hash browns, cooking time here can take 8-10 minutes. While this is crisping up, cook your bacon on medium heat in a frying pan until nice and crisp. Set the bacon out to dry on some paper towels, then chop into bite sized pieces. Fry an egg sunny side up until the white is set and the yoke is still runny. 

Once all your components are ready, simply assemble them on top of one another. 

This is a lovely crispy dish. Nice and salty from the bacon with a fun crispy crunch from the bacon. The runny egg yolk just takes everything over the top. Yum yum. Hope you enjoy this playful take on breakfast!

Its time for pizza to make another appearance on this good old blog today. This time in a flavorful bacon and brussel sprout pizza. This pizza has a lovely crunchy and creaminess from the cheese. Enjoy!

Pizza Dough

Ingredients: (makes dough for 2 pizzas) 
1 envelope yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil 
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Add your yeast, sugar, salt, water, and olive oil in your mixing bowl and stir. Using your dough hook, add your flour slowly and beat on medium until a ball of dough forms. Cover your dough ball with olive oil and leave in bowl covered with plastic wrap in a warm spot until it has doubled in size. Divide it into pieces and knead it lightly and let it sit for about 10 minutes before forming into pizza circles. 

Pizza Toppings: 
8 brussel sprouts
16 ounce package of bacon
1 garlic clove
3 ounces goat cheese
1/3 cup feta cheese
Olive oil for brushing
Black pepper
Balsamic glaze

Cook your bacon in a pan over medium heat until crispy. Remove from pan and drain off all but 1 tablespoon of the excess oil. Trim your brussel sprouts into small shavings. Add them to the remaining bacon grease in the pan and cook until wilted. Add 1 minced garlic clove and cook for 1 additional minute. Cut your bacon into small pieces. Brush your pizza crust with olive oil. Cover with brussel sprouts, bacon, goat cheese, and feta cheese. Crack some black pepper over your pizza. Drizzle your pizza with your balsamic glaze. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and crust is golden. 

When scrolling through Pinterest, I am a sucker for a beautiful food photo. This one  from Pinch of Yum of course caught my eye because anything you can do to jazz up everyday ordinary chicken, I'm game for. I made a few small tweaks to the inspiration recipe, but the result was delicious. Its savory, and the sauce was drinkable. 

Ingredients: 
2 large chicken breasts, cut in half width wise (to make 4 thin slices) 
4 slices bacon
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons Lavender Apple herbs de provence 
1/2 an onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup white wine 
1 cup chicken stock
few springs of fresh parsley 
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Heat your la cruse pot over medium heat. Cut your bacon into tiny pieces and crisp it up. While that cooks, mix your flour and herbs de provence together. 

Pat your chicken dry and coat both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge your chicken in the flour mixture. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and set it aside. Turn up your heat to medium high. Cook your chicken in the bacon drippings until its golden on each side. Don't worry about it being all the way cooked through at this point. Remove the chicken and set aside. Saute your onions in your olive oil until golden and caramelized. Add the wine and make sure you scrape off all the delicious browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add your stock and let everything reduce and thicken for about 5 minutes. Add your chicken and bacon back into your pan, then cook for 10 minutes in the oven. Spoon and pour the sauce over the top of the chicken at the 10 minute mark. Then cook for another 10 minutes and again, spoon the sauce drippings over the top of the chicken. Check for doneness in your chicken and remove it from the oven as soon as its cooked through. Sprinkle with fresh parsley when done and serve immediately with sauce over the top.