We dug out an old favorite recipe for Cheeseburger Soup and gave it a little sprucing up.  Our NEW & Improved Bacon Jalapeño Cheeseburger Soup is the bombdiggity.

Those of us longing for spring and backyard BBQs, while Winter weather is still lingering, can get that fresh off the grill cheeseburger taste (and satisfaction) with this soup.  You just build it like you build your favorite cheeseburger and don’t skimp on the toppings.

Recipe tip: If you want a nice charbroiled flavor brown your ground beef in a hot pan.  You may want to wipe out any black bits before adding in the bacon.

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Bacon Jalapeno Cheeseburger Soup

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 6 slices of bacon
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 jalapenos seeded and fine diced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 medium baking potato peeled and cubed
• 2 Tbl. flour
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1/8 cup ketchup
• 1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbl. yellow mustard
• 2 cups milk or cream
• 6 ounces Cheddar or American cheese shredded
• salt & pepper to taste
• Toppings: crispy bacon diced tomato, shredded cheese and fine diced jalapeno. Serve with mini dill pickles.

Instructions

• In a Dutch oven, brown ground beef; drain and reserve. Add bacon and cook until crispy; remove to drain reserving 1 Tbl. bacon drippings.
• Add onion and jalapeno to pan and sauté until just tender. Add garlic and saute an additional minute. Return browned ground beef and potato: dust mixture with flour and stir until bubbly. Whisk in broth, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard; bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potato is tender.
• Stir in milk and shredded cheese; stirring until soup is hot and cheese has melted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve topped with crumbled crispy bacon, diced tomato, shredded cheese, and fine diced jalapeno.

Notes

Recipe tip: If you want a nice charbroiled flavor brown your ground beef in a hot pan. You may want to wipe out any black bits before adding in the bacon.

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Some of my blogging friends and I joined together to “Celebrate Green and Welcome Spring.”  We shared dishes featuring naturally green ingredients.  I chose to share Colcannon Cheesy Potatoes with Kale.  It’s a fun twist on a classic Irish recipe that I thought would be a great side dish for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Traditionally colcannon is made from mashed potatoes combined with cabbage or kale.  And while I think it makes a great St. Patrick’s Day dish, history shows that it was most often shared at Halloween.

For the first layer of this dish we make a mixture consisting of cream cheese or Boursin Spread, sliced scallions, shredded white cheddar cheese, and chopped baby kale then spread it into the bottom of a 9-inch square pan.

Another fun bit of colcannon history was that traditionally charms were hidden in the mixture.  Your fortune, or fate if you will, depended on which charm you were served.  A ring meant you would get married in the coming year while a button (for the gentlemen) meant you would remain a bachelor and a thimble (for the ladies) meant you would remain a spinster. Finding a coin in your serving of colcannon meant you would come into wealth.  Ha!  What fun we shall have with OUR Colcannon Cheesy Potatoes with Kale.

In fact, while we could mix our kale mixture with mashed potatoes which is classic, adding a layer of potato puffs sprinkled with cheddar cheese instead was too hard to resist.

Be sure to check out the other wonderfully green recipes below from my “Celebrating Green and Welcoming Spring” friends. 

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Colcannon Cheesy Potatoes with Kale

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author adapted from Publix Apron Meals

Ingredients

• 8- ounces Boursin spread or cream cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 8- ounces white cheddar cheese grated
• 1/4 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
• 3 cups baby kale finely chopped
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 4 cups frozen potato puffs

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Whisk together Boursin or cream cheese spread and milk. Stir in 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, black pepper, scallions, and chopped kale. Spread mixture in bottom of 9×9 pan.
• Arrange potato puffs in rows on top of cheese; top with remaining cheddar cheese.
• Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until potatoes are crisp and cheese is bubbly. Allow to stand 5 minutes before serving.

Pistachio Blueberry Cupcakes ~ Baking in a Tornado

Key Lime Chiffon Cake ~ Crumbs in My Mustachio

Asian Salad with Chicken ~ Tampa Cake Girl

Chocolate Mint Zucchini Swirl Bread ~ The Rowdy Baker

Roasted Tomato & Spinach Foccocia ~ Cooking From a SAHM

Lox me up and throw away the Key ~ Moore or Less Cooking Blog

Maple Poached Pear Salad with Walnut Crusted Goat Cheese ~ Hun, What’s for Dinner?

Green Tea White Chocolate Cheesecake ~ Manila Spoon

The post Colcannon Cheesy Potatoes with Kale appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I know for many families Friday is Pizza Night.  At our house we’ve been toasting the end of the work week with a cold beverage and a tray of Nachos.  Last Friday we made a big pan of roasted corn & poblano nachos with sausage and queso fresco.  They were amazing.  Tonight it’s Monterey Loaded Nacho Fries, inspired by our crazy good Monterey Chicken recipe.

In place of tortilla chips, we made oven baked potato chips.  We then layered them with bbq sauce, crumbled bacon, scallion, tomatoes, jalapeno, Monterey & cheddar cheese.  They were the perfect Friday night treat.

You might also enjoy some of our other Nacho Creations.  Here’s to the weekend!!

~ Jalapeno Pulled Pork Loaded Nachos ~

~ Fresh Veggie Nachos ~

~ Beef, Bean & Cheese Nachos {with Jalapenos} ~

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Monterey Loaded Nacho Fries

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 2 -4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 lb. small new potatoes sliced thin
• sea salt
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 4 strips of bacon cooked crispy
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 1 med. tomato diced
• 1 jalapeno fine diced
• 1 cup Monterey jack cheese shredded
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese shredded

Instructions

For potato chips…

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil. Place potato slices in a single layer on baking sheet. Spray with olive oil and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Depending on thickness some may brown more quickly. Remove them as they get done and sprinkle with sea salt.

To assemble nachos…

• Layer half of potato chips with half of each remaining ingredient and repeat. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.

The post Monterey Loaded Nacho Fries appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Baked Potato {with Tomatoes, Basil Pesto & Fresh Mozzarella}.

Fresh Basil Pesto might as well be classified as butter.  Because when you spoon it onto a piping hot potato, it melts into amazing.  Now add fresh diced tomato and shredded mozzarella.  This might just be as good to me as say Pizza Margherita with a Perfectly Baked Potato crust. 

The post Baked Potato {with Tomatoes, Basil Pesto & Fresh Mozzarella} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Chili & Cheese Topped Baked Potato {with Sour Cream & Bacon}. 

I love this combination so much that I got up bright and early one morning with the sole intention of making a pot of chili…so that I could picture it on top of this Perfectly Baked Potato.

If a baked potato is going to be served as a meal, I say serve it up loaded with this Beef & Bean Chili.  Then go ahead and load it some more with your favorite toppings like Sour Cream & Bacon.

The post Chili & Cheese Topped Baked Potato {with Sour Cream & Bacon} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Baked Breakfast Potato {with Scrambled Eggs, Avocado, Tomato & Queso Fresco.

Take all your favorite fresh Mexican flavors and layer them onto a Perfectly Baked Potato.  Scoop out the roasted potato flesh and season it with a little butter, a dash of cumin, chili powder and salt and return it to the jacket.  Now top with a scrambled egg, diced fresh tomato, sliced avocado, queso fresco crumbling cheese and fresh cilantro leaves.

The components of this dish give you the staying power to get you through to the next meal, while treating your taste buds to familiar flavors you love.  If you want a little extra kick, add some diced jalapeno or a spoonful of your favorite salsa.  If you can’t call a meal ‘Breakfast’ without adding a side of bacon, well then go ahead.  Be happy.

The post Baked Breakfast Potato {with Scrambled Eggs, Avocado, Tomato & Queso Fresco appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

This Classic Loaded Baked Potato.  Popularized as a traditional side dish served with a nice juicy steak dinner.  Any respectable steak house has worked nearly as hard to perfect the baked potato as they have say a Cowboy Cut Bone-In Rib Eye.

However, the baked potato has become just as popular as a meal in itself.  Simply begin with a Perfectly Baked Potato and don’t be shy with your toppings. Here we’ve loaded it with butter, cheddar cheese, sour cream, bacon, and chives.

The post Classic Loaded Baked Potato {with Butter, Sour Cream, Bacon, Cheddar and Chives} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Breakfast Taquitos.

It was high time for a new breakfast addition to the pages of Lemony Thyme.  It is after all my favorite meal of the day.  Eggs might be the one ingredient I couldn’t envision “giving up” (“live without” seems rather extreme….but it would be difficult).

Monday was Labor Day, a day off from work, a day off from labor.  I lay in bed pondering the ingredients in my fridge, bouncing breakfast ideas around in my head, sounds of my growling stomach filling the air.  I needed breakfast and I was on my own.

Entering the kitchen when you’re starvin’ like Marvin is almost as bad as entering the grocery store in such a state.  I decided on Breakfast Taquitos, which would nicely incorporate an abundance of flour tortillas taking up space in the fridge.  I then filled them with every breakfast item I could pull together.  If you’re going in, go all in.

On top of each flour tortilla you’ll see shredded cheddar cheese, a nice crispy piece of thick cut applewood smoked bacon, scrambled eggs with sliced scallions, home fried potatoes with diced red pepper, and a little more cheese for good measure.  I rolled them as tight as a I could and secured them with a toothpick.

I coated them with olive oil spray and baked them for 10 minutes at 425 degrees.  The entire tortilla had a nice crunch and the edges browned up so perfectly.  I removed the toothpicks and added a little more shredded cheese to the tops which melted quickly.

Breakfast Taquitos.  Another recipe I was excited to take full credit for inventing.  However, it seems they’ve been done a time or two before (not to mention being readily available in the freezer section of your local grocery store).  So instead, I will quietly enjoy the fact that I now have a new portable breakfast favorite that can be easily adapted to incorporate the ingredients already in your fridge/pantry.  Just think of the possibilities.  I’m thinking a sautéed veggie & egg white with goat cheese crumbles would be quite special.  I think butternut squash or maybe even pumpkin would be fabulous too.  In fact I may have a Breakfast Taquito for dinner.  Living on the edge.

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Breakfast Taquitos

Course Breakfast

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 4 flour tortillas
• spray olive oil
• 4 slices cooked bacon
• 1 small baking potato
• 3 Tbl. fine diced red pepper or jalapeno
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 2 Tbl. milk
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• sea salt & freshly cracked pepper
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbl. shredded cheddar cheese
• scallions for garnish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line shallow baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Prick baking potato several times with a fork and microwave on high for 4-5 minutes or until fork tender. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Peel and dice.
• In a medium skillet cook bacon slices until crispy. Remove to paper towel to drain. Add diced potato and red pepper to skillet and sauté until pepper is tender. Add salt & pepper to taste. Remove potatoes and reserve.
• Whisk eggs, egg whites, and milk. Add to skillet and scramble. Sprinkle with sliced scallion. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
• Spray one side of flour tortillas with olive oil and place oil side down on parchment lined baking sheet. Assemble 1/4th of each ingredient (reserving 2 Tbl. cheddar cheese) on tortilla and roll tightly. Use a toothpick to secure. Continue assembling remaining tortillas.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove toothpicks, sprinkle tops with a little shredded cheese and sliced scallion.

Notes

You can easily double or triple this recipe and freeze the extras. Then you’ll have a quick & satisfying breakfast on days when you don’t have time to lay in bed pondering your next move.
Simply freeze the filled taquitos before baking them. When ready to serve, place on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes at 425 degrees until golden on edges.

The post Breakfast Taquitos {with Bacon, Egg, Cheese & Home Fries} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

It’s really hard to top a nice big bowl of Classic Beef Stew.  Slow braised pieces of beef and root vegetables, cooked in a rich beef broth until tender.  Served in big bowls with crusty bread.

I’m not sure there’s much more to say about that.  I’ll let the pictures speak to you.  Take your time, I’m in no hurry.  When you’re ready, our recipe method is below.

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Classic Beef Stew {B is for Braising}

Course Stew

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 2 lb. beef roast cut into bite-size pieces
• 3 Tbl. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbl. canola oil
• 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
• 2 onions large diced
• 3 carrots peeled and sliced
• 2 stalks celery sliced
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves only
• 2 potatoes cubed
• 1-2 Tbl. flour
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 4 cups beef broth
• fresh parsley to garnish

Instructions

• Toss beef pieces in flour, salt & pepper. Heat canola oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef pieces in batches and brown on all sides. Remove beef from the pan and reserve. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, reserve with beef.
• Add onion, carrots, and celery, saute until just tender, then add garlic and fresh thyme and cook for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low, dust with flour, stir mixture cooking for 1-2 minutes.
• Add red wine to deglaze, scrapping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes, then gradually add in beef broth one cup at a time, allowing to come to a boil in between each addition. Add bay leaf and return beef to pot, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 1 hour until meat is tender. Add mushrooms and heat through.
• Serve in big bowls, sprinkle with fresh parsley.

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Moussaka.  The best Moussaka I’ve ever had was in ‘a diner.’  The kind of diner you find in CT or NY, that are open all night, where you can order fried eggs, t-bone steaks, pancakes, cocktails, Moussaka (or hundreds of other dishes)…any time of day.  Every time I visit my sister we have at least one meal at a diner, doesn’t matter which one because they’re all good, and most often I order Moussaka.

The easiest way for me to explain this dish is to refer to it as Greek Eggplant & Lamb Lasagna with a really rich cream sauce on top.  The truth is it’s nothing like Italian Lasagna except that it has layers.  Let’s talk about the layers, as they are what make this dish so rich and heavenly.  They are also what make it a bit time consuming to make (but oh soooo worth it).

Layer#1 ~ Potatoes & Eggplant

Like any ‘classic’ dish, the Moussaka recipe variations are endless beginning with whether or not to add potatoes and whether to peel the eggplant.  I love the potato layer, it creates the bottom ‘crust’ if you will.  And for the eggplant, peel it or not, your call, but I’m breading mine like I do for Eggplant Parmesan.  I mean really, we’re going to top this whole dish with an inch of bechamel sauce, we’re not tracking calories.  I prepare Layer #1 ingredients first, and sometimes the day before.

Layer #2 ~ Lamb Meat Sauce

Recipes I’ve read say you can use ground lamb or ground beef.  To me, the lamb is a key ingredient, but I’m sure it would be lovely with ground beef as well.  Having said that, the seasonings are another of the many unique features of Moussaka.  Cinnamon, allspice, and oregano combine with onion, garlic, tomato paste, and red wine in this lovely meat sauce.  This too can be made the day before as a time saving step.

Layer #3 ~ Bechamel Sauce

Bechamel Sauce, egg yolks and all, turns a great dish into a ‘classic’ masterpiece.  Ladled generously over the top of this layered dish, the bechamel sauce creates an almost souffle-like finish.  Incredible.  This step however needs to be done in real time just before assembling the dish for baking.

Before deciding whether or not I would even tackle a ‘Moussaka Post’ I ready many recipes.  I chose to follow this one from Simply Recipes because her step by step instructions are always so helpful and it sounds delicious.  I made just a few changes AND cut the recipe in half.  The original recipe serves 8.  The recipe below will make 4 generous servings.

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Moussaka {Greek Eggplant & Lamb}

Course Entree

Cuisine Greek

Prep Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours

Servings 4

Author Simply Recipes, lightly adapted

Ingredients

For Layer #1 ~ Eggplant & Potatoes

• 1 lg. eggplant
• 1 Tbl. salt
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbl. olive oil
• 2 yukon potatoes
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese grated

For Layer #2 ~ Meat Sauce

• 1 lb. ground lamb or beef
• 1 Tbl. olive oil
• 1 small onion diced
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbl. tomato paste
• 1/4 cup red wine
• salt to taste

For Layer #3 ~ Bechamel Sauce

• 4 Tbl. butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt or more to taste

Instructions

For Layer #1 ~ Eggplant & Potatoes

• Cut eggplant into 1/4-inch thick slices, place in single layer in colander, sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 30 minutes (during this time prepare the meat sauce). Rinse off salt then press slices between paper towels, removing as much excess moisture as possible. Dip each slice in beaten egg and then breadcrumbs. Pan fry slices in olive oil until browned on each side. Reserve.
• Boil potatoes until just fork tender. Allow to cool. Remove skins, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices. Reserve.
• Grate Parmesan cheese and reserve.

For Layer #2 ~ Meat Sauce

• In a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until translucent, add in garlic and saute another minute. Add in lamb and seasonings and cook until meat is cooked through. Add in tomato paste and wine, cook for an additional 5 minutes. Reserve.

For Layer #3 ~ Bechamel Sauce

• In a medium heavy bottom sauce pan over medium-low heat, melt butter. Once completely melted whisk in flour until well blended. Slowly pour in milk, whisking continuously as the sauce will become very thick until all milk is incorporated. Increase the temperature to medium and add in the salt and nutmeg.
• To temper the egg yolks so they won’t scramble when added to the hot sauce, beat egg yolks in a separate bowl and add a ladle of sauce to the yolks WHILE whisking. Once combined pour egg mixture back into sauce and whisk well. Reduce the heat to the lowest temperature, do not allow to boil.

To assemble the Moussaka…

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 11×7 or 9×9 pan with cooking spray.
• Line the bottom of the pan with a single layer of potato slices, overlapping slightly. Top with a layer of eggplant slices, then add the meat sauce, top that with any additional eggplant slices. Sprinkle with half of the Parmesan cheese. Ladle the bechamel sauce generously on top, then sprinkle with remaining cheese.
• Bake for 35 – 45 minutes until top is golden brown. Allow to rest at least 10 mnutes before serving.

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