Bacon

Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

January 8, 2018

If you’ve ever eaten a bacon cheeseburger and thought to yourself, “You know what self, I would really love to eat a soup one day that tastes just like this bacon cheeseburger. It would be so delicious. Just so magical.” Then you are in for a real treat because your wish is coming true today. This soup brings my two favorite dishes together, burgers and soup into one comforting dish, and while it might sound a bit crazy, believe me when I say that it’ll be your new favorite thing to make. It’s hearty, filling, and the true definition of comfort food. If it’s unbearably cold where you’re at right now, and you’re reading this and you’re questioning whether or not to make this soup for dinner, then the answer is yes. You deserve it. Whip up a batch today and save the leftovers for later in the week, your future self will thank you for it.

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Loaded Baked Potato Croquettes

September 19, 2016

It’s always hard coming back to work right after a 2-week vacation. If you’ve been following me along on Instagram, you’ll have seen that I was just in Europe for 2 whole weeks. It. Was. Awesome. It was also the first time I was out of this country and I’ll remember it forever. Julian turned 30 this year so I surprised him with this trip and we finally got to go. I worked so hard on my cookbook over the past 2 years, and Julian has been working nonstop, so figured a vacation was in order. I had the best time ever and for the first time in a very long time (too many times in that sentence sorry), I didn’t work at all. I didn’t think about work or even look at my email. It was a luxury for sure. I posted a bunch of photos during my travels, so if you haven’t seen them yet go check them out on my instagram! I’m pretty sure that was the most non-food photos I’ve ever posted there.

All this to say that it was very hard getting back to work after those two magical weeks. I had a lot of emails to wade through this weekend, of which I’m only halfway through, and was fighting with getting back to my normal time zone and having to cook again and shoot so many recipes to catch up. Luckily I’m almost 100 percent back to normal and even though I still have a lot to shoot, at least I get to do something I really love, and so I’m really grateful for that. In other good news, I’m partnering again with Idaho Potato Commission and going to Idaho for their Harvest Tour tomorrow till Thursday. I’ll be sharing my potato adventures so stay tuned. I thought in honor of this tater tour, I would kick things off with these Loaded Baked Potato Croquettes! They’re like crunchy deep fried baked potato bites and they’re incredibly addicting. I’m warning you. Don’t let that stop you from making them though because you need to give them a try for yourself.

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Baked Idaho Potato Sliders

January 5, 2015

Thanks to Idaho Potato, I’m revisiting my self-proclaimed title of “Slider King of the World.” They gave me the opportunity to add to my obsession. (Thank you). As many of you may or may not be aware of, I’m addicted to sliders and if you have no idea what I’m taking about because you’ve been living under a rock, I’m going to remind you all about it. I’ve had quite a few slider posts on the site—each one getting me that more excited about tiny burgers and sandwiches—and I’m not even embarrassed to admit it. Pot Roast Sliders with Sriracha Aioli are one of my favorites. That was until Fried Green Tomato and Shrimp Sliders came into my life, those are out of this world good. But I can’t talk about sliders without mentioning these BLT Biscuit Sliders that taught me everything should be sandwiched between biscuits and bacon. Hence the birth of these Baked Idaho Potato Sliders. Chive biscuits loaded with a potato patty, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato and a creamy chive and garlic sour cream sauce. This one right here just might be my new favorite, until the next bigger and better (or should I say smaller and better) slider comes along. In the meantime though, these sliders will forever have my heart.

Just in case it wasn’t obvious already, I’ve partnered up with Idaho Potato to bring you a few amazing potato recipes. It’s a match made in potato heaven, which I really wish was an actual thing because that would mean I would be able to eat potatoes until the end of time. DREAM. COME. TRUE. I can without a doubt say that I’ve been eating potatoes non-stop since I was a kid and they’re by far, hands down, my all time favorite vegetable. Yes, it’s a vegetable and I have no problems eating it alongside other starches and carbs. That’s what veggies are for. If you’re interested in reading about my love affair with taters, you can read about it here and here.

Needless to say, I’ve been ecstatic about this partnership for months. It’s been so hard keeping a tight lid on it for so long, but I’m happy that I can finally share the recipes with you! This first one is very near and dear to my heart, of course, but it’s only the beginning, friends. The other recipes are just as big and exciting, if not more. So let’s get pumped up about this potato party! You’ve got an exclusive invitation. Don’t let me party alone.

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The Classics: Bacon Cheeseburger

September 22, 2014

Here we are again! The Classics are back; bigger and better than ever! This time around I’m taunting you with this crazy awesome cheeseburger. The cheeseburger to end all cheeseburgers. If you remember correctly, the last classic was this insanely good Buttermilk Fried Chicken, and if for some reason you don’t remember, I took the liberty of linking it for you. You can thank me later. I’ve gone ahead and added bacon to the mix because as I’m sure you’ve heard, everything is better with bacon. Just in case you didn’t know, I invented that saying. Okay, maybe I didn’t (but let’s pretend I did). Bacon just takes everything over the edge. You always want to invite bacon to any gathering, it’s basically the life of any and every party. You can quote me on that, although I’m sure you’ve already experienced it for yourself.

I know what you must be thinking, “Jonathan, burgers are so SIMPLE to make. Why are you sharing this easy recipe with us?!” Okay, so burgers are easy to make, I’ll give you that. But I’ve actually been told a few times that burgers are somewhat daunting to people. Actual homemade burgers, that is. I think it’s the whole mixing of the meat and shaping of the patties that scares people away. It shouldn’t be frightening at all, though. Not in the slightest. These posts are meant to bring you those classic recipes without all of the complicated steps and hassle of spending hours in the kitchen, remember? So that’s why I’m sharing my favorite cheeseburger recipe with you. Perhaps you’ll even learn a new tip or trick that you didn’t know before. Maybe, it’ll just inspire you to go out and make your favorite burger, that’s okay too. That just means I did my job well, and that’s all that counts.

The most important thing is that I’m not ready to let summer go—just for the food, the heat can go away—so I’m still cooking and grilling as if summer is in full swing. Although, it does feel like summer just started over here in Los Angeles. The heat has been insane. I figured why fight it? I might as well embrace it. Hence, burgers in late September. I’m okay with that though because cheeseburgers are everything to me. Especially if they’re mini cheeseburgers. Well, that’s a whole other topic. These? These aren’t mini cheeseburgers, no. But I will tell you what they are. They’re 100% awesome and bigger than life itself, and that’s a fact.

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Bacon Cheddar Jalapeño Corn Dogs

June 13, 2014

I’ve been wanting to make corn dogs for the blog since for as long as I can remember. In fact, I’m like 99% sure that I wanted corn dogs to be my very first recipe/post. I said, “Jonathan, you should totally make corn dogs as the first ever recipe/post on this new blog you want to start!” Unfortunately, as life would have it, it didn’t work out that way, and I ended up making a cinnamon swirl loaf instead. I wasn’t upset or anything, I happen to love cinnamon and bread is sort of my weakness, so there were no complaints here. I kept telling myself that corn dogs would be the next post, and then the next post and the next. Each post came and went, and as you know, corn dogs always got cut. So flash forward to me now, about two and a half years later (or is it three already? I really can’t remember at the moment) and corn dogs are still no where to be found. Until now of course.

Whenever I wrote it into the schedule of upcoming posts, something would always come up, be it a holiday or special day, where corn dogs just didn’t seem to fit. Now I know what you must be thinking, “Corn dogs always fit, Jonathan. Always and forever.” You’re right they do. That’s where I dropped the ball. I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t realize that by continuing to push corn dogs down the long list of upcoming posts I would be depriving not only me, but you as well. Corn dogs are delicious and I’m happy I finally got around to fulfilling my deep fried, corn battered hot dog dreams (with a few jazzed up ingredients of course). It’s hard for me to do simple on here. Don’t get me wrong, I love simple recipes. It’s just that I think you all deserve better than that. Plus, how can you possibly tell me that bacon and cheese and jalapeños don’t make everything better. They really do.

Sure it’s summer and I should be making lighter dishes and sharing healthy recipes that don’t require too much time in a hot kitchen. Sure, I should be doing that, but somehow my brain isn’t getting the memo. Somehow, I keep craving rich comforting foods, loaded with cheese and bacon and butter. I’ll get around to that “healthy” cooking and eating at some point. Right now, just let’s enjoy the moment. This moment being hot dogs on a stick, coated in a corn, bacon, cheddar cheese and jalapeño batter, and deep fried until crunchy and golden brown. Did I mention there’s a sweet and spicy honey mustard dipping sauce involved?

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Breakfast Ice Cream

May 21, 2014

You hear that? That sound off in the distance getting louder and louder? That’s the world exploding (ka-BOOM) and the internets collapsing [whoooosh (that’s the sound of the internet collapsing by the way, I’m a low budget blog, sorry)] because I just officially made eating ice cream for breakfast a thing. Like for real for real. Who would have thought that all my dreams could eventually come true in one simple recipe? Certainly not me. We finally have an excuse to whip out a spoon and head to the freezer first thing in the morning. Ice cream first, coffee later. Let’s all rejoice! Let’s hold a breakfast ice cream block party to celebrate. I took all the things we love about the most important meal of the day and combined it into a delicious ice cream. Maple syrup and fluffy buttermilk waffles and crispy bacon. It’s one tasty ingredient after another. I can hardly contain the excitement. (That’s me excited). I wish I could make it rain breakfast ice cream because I want everyone in this world to try it, but sadly I can’t make it rain delicious tubs of frozen treats. The shame, it’s too much to bear. Let’s not talk about it anymore.

I’m not going to take all of the credit for this one because that would be wrong. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Not because of a guilty conscious or anything, but because I’d be in the doghouse. Sure I helped come up with some of the important parts of this recipe—and sure I was the one who actually made it and brought it to life—but it was in fact the brain child of my boyfriend. We all have him to thank for it. Thank you, Julian. He was super excited one night as he tried to convince me to make breakfast ice cream with waffles and bacon for my blog, because “bacon ice cream is a really big thing these days.” I did however, add the maple syrup part to the mix and named it breakfast ice cream. Or maybe it was him. I can’t really remember who thought of the name right now, at this very moment. Of course he’s yelling “likely story” out loud as I type this. Between you and I, though, I really think it was me who came up with the name, but who’s keeping track? (I am).

So here I am today, freezer filled with breakfast ice cream, moms and dads and doctors and nutritionists all upset with me because I’m advocating the eating of ice cream for breakfast. Go eat ice cream for breakfast, kids! I regret nothing, and do you want to know something? You won’t regret anything either once you actually try it for yourself. Let’s just say I’m a bad influence and call it a day. But doesn’t the prospect of reaching into the freezer for a pint of this delicious stuff sound inviting and exciting? Yeah, yeah it does. You can thank me later. Right now, you have waffles to make and bacon to crisp and maple ice cream to churn, and hungry friends and family to fend off, I mean to feed.

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