I don’t want to alarm anyone or anything, but I am married to a very picky eater. He has passed his pickiness onto our 9 year old son and I have a feeling that one day soon our 4 year old daughter is going to start proclaiming that everything except for hot dogs and chocolate is GROSS! It’s a sad life to live, I tell you.

The one vegetable that everyone will eat is corn. Corn on the cob or corn off the cob, it doesn’t matter so long as it is yellow and has a bit of butter and salt on it. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how very boring corn can get after eating it once a day for the past 27 years of my life.

Well, I am through eating boring old corn every single day.

Let’s make corn exciting again, shall we?

First, chop up six slices of bacon into  bite size chunks. Pop them into a pan and let ‘em cook.

While the bacon is frying, dice a couple bunches of green onions. If your family is really picky you can leave these out. You could also use a yellow onion, but there is no way my kids would go for that. As it was, my husband took one bite and said “That green stuff is ONION!” and then he wouldn’t eat anymore. Yes, it’s true. I married a big baby.

After the bacon is nice and crisp remove it from the pan, but leave the drippings. Add in the onion and cook it until it’s nice and soft.

Dump your corn into the pan along with the green onions. I used 2 cans of corn this time, but I normally use one bag of frozen corn. I like the frozen stuff much better than canned. You could also use fresh corn.

Drop in a handful of grated cheddar cheese.

Saute the corn, green onions, and cheese for about 5 minutes, stirring pretty often. Don’t let the cheese burn on the bottom of the pan. You’ll regret it.

After the cheese has melted and the corn is good and hot, go ahead and dump in 1/2 cup of milk, cream, or half and half. I used cream, of course. I’m a bad girl.

Add the bacon back in, give it a stir, and cook over low heat until hot and bubbly.

It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the corn is so creamy and delicious. The cheese just kind of disappears into the background and leaves you wondering just what the heck it is that makes this so yummy. The bacon brings a nice smoky flavor to the sweet corn. What I’m trying to say is, go make this. Now.

Corn with Cheese and Bacon

6 slices bacon
2 bunches green onions
1 bag frozen corn
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, half and half, or milk
salt and pepper, to taste

Chop bacon into bite sized pieces and fry until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, but leave drippings. Cook diced green onions in bacon drippings until soft, add corn and cheese to pan. Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add cream and bacon to pan, stir and cook for about 5 more minutes until hot and bubbly.

Alright, I’m about to show you all something so simple that I feel kind of silly even posting this. I can’t NOT post it though, because, well, this has become one of my favorite foods and no, it doesn’t even contain chocolate or sugar. I’m about to show you how to take a boring bag of frozen vegetables and turn them in to something that you will enjoy. Yes, really. Vegetables. That taste good. Weird, isn’t it?

I am addicted to those steam in the bag frozen veggies, but they kind of freak me out at the same time. I’m not sure how healthy it is to be microwaving that plastic bag and letting your foods cook in all those chemicals, but man, they are so quick and easy to use. If you have a serious aversion to quick, easy, chemical-leaching foods, just go ahead and cook your veggies a different way. Steam them, boil them, microwave them in a glass bowl, whatever. Me, I’ll stick to the steam in a bag veggies and pretend that the extra eyeball I’m growing is pretty.

All you need is a 12 ounce bag of frozen vegetables (I prefer a mixture of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, but you could probably do this with just about any combination of vegetables and you’d get good results.), a tablespoon of butter, and lemon pepper seasoning.

Cook your frozen veggies  however you like. While they are cooking, get out a bowl large enough to fit them all in and add in one tablespoon of butter. Let the butter soften up a bit on the counter or pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.

Dump your cooked vegetables into the bowl right on top of the butter and sprinkle the top with some lemon pepper seasoning. (If you want to get all fancy and use real lemon juice and seasonings, go ahead, but the stuff in your spice rack will work just as well. Promise.) You can use as much or as little as you like. I usually sprinke on a couple of teaspoons, then stir it all up to distribute the butter and sprinkle on some more seasoning and stir it again. I probably use about one tablespoon of lemon pepper seasoning.

Oh, man. These veggies taste so good. Lemon just really brightens up the flavor of the vegetables and brings it all to life. Mm. Mmmmmm! Yum.

You can make this using any amount of vegetables, just adjust the butter and seasoning to your liking. Now, go make it. That’s an order.

I’m sorry, okay? I just can’t help myself. I like bacon. It’s who I am. It’s what I do. It’s an integral part of me and I won’t deny it.

The first time I tried this BLT macaroni salad, I really didn’t have high hopes. Macaroni salad should have mayonnaise, eggs, and green olives and that’s about it! That’s the way my mama made it and my mama couldn’t be wrong. Who decided it was okay to add bacon? And tomatoes! In a macaroni salad? Who the heck authorized that?

I am happy to report that bacon and tomatoes in a macaroni salad is actually completely legal and very yummy. (Also, my mama was wrong. Don’t tell her though, okay?)

This would be a perfect side dish for just about any kind of grilled meat. Macaroni salad just screams summer.

To get started, bring a large pan of water to a boil and add one pound of pasta. Cook until al dente or about 8 minutes. (I made this for a big group of people on Easter, so I used an entire pound of pasta. This recipe would be simple to half if you are making it for a smaller crowd, though.) Don’t forget to salt your water.

Grab two medium to large tomatoes and start dicing them up. My tomatoes were on the small side and, I’ll be honest here, it made a difference. The sweet juicy tomatoes really add something to this, so don’t skimp.

Go ahead and chop up two to three bunches of green onions, depending on how much you love green onions. Me? I love them. Add them to the bowl of diced tomatoes along with one cup of mayonnaise, 1/4 cup white vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir it all up and lick the spoon.

Now fry up around 8 slices of bacon, or more if your husband is a bacon thief like mine. It’s always good to have extra bacon laying around for back up. When the bacon has cooled off a bit, crumble it all up into bite sized pieces.

Drain your pasta and dump it into a large bowl. Chill in the fridge until good and cold. Pour on the mayonnaise mixture and stir it all up. Do a happy dance. Dump the crumbled bacon on top of it all and mix it all up again. Do another happy dance. Take a few bite to make sure it’s properly salted. Repeat the happy dance.

Dump it all into a pretty serving dish, stick a pretty serving spoon in, and garnish it with some pretty green onions.

Oh, and if anyone asks what the “L” stands for in the “BLT” portion of this dish, just stick your tongue out at them and then eat their share. That’ll teach ‘em.

BLT Macaroni Salad

• 1lb. macaroni pasta
• 8 slices bacon
• 2 medium-large tomatoes
• 2-3 bunches of green onions, plus extra for garnish
• 1 cup mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip)
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add macaroni. Cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and pour into large mixing bowl, chill.

2. Fry 8 slices of bacon and, when cool enough to handle, crumble into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

3. Chop tomatoes and green onions, add to small mixing bowl. Mix in mayonnaise and vinegar. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

4. Pour mayonnaise mixture over macaroni and stir together well. Stir in the crumbled bacon.

5. Serve in a pretty dish with some chopped green onions sprinkled on top. Enjoy!

I don’t know about you all, but I love corn. I could almost eat it for desert. I never have eaten it for desert, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t! When I saw this recipe for Scalloped Corn at The Homesteading Housewife I knew I had to test it out and, oh boy, am I ever glad I did. All the sweetness of the corn just bursts in your mouth and the smoosh-y texture of the cornbread combined with the crunch of the corn is out of this world. Just try it, you’ll see what I mean.

This dish is quick to put together and you can bake it up in your oven while your cooking the rest of you’re dinner.

You’re going to need corn, eggs, melted butter, sour cream, a box of cornbread mix, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. (You can also add in some diced dell pepper and onion, but I left this out to keep my picky eaters happy.)

Do me a favor. Don’t freak out about the cayenne pepper. It works so well with this dish. You’ll have no idea it’s in there, but it gives the whole dish a little depth.

Alright, now. Brace yourselves. This is where the recipe gets REAL TOUGH. You get out a big mixing bowl and then dump everything in it and stir it up. Whew. That was difficult. I’m going to need to sit down for a minute and catch my breath.

Oh, look. I survived.

Now dump the mixture into an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish and pop it into a 350 degree oven.

Oh my. You should smell my kitchen right now. It smells very corn-y. In a good way.

The recipe says to bake this for 30-35 minutes, but I ended up baking this for about 50 minutes. The center was way to jiggly after just 35 minutes, so I just let it keep on keepin’ on until a knife inserted in the center came out mostly clean.

Let this cool for just a minute and then scoop it out with a spoon.

You want some, don’t you?

I’d share if I could.

Scalloped Corn
Adapted from The Homesteading Housewife

• 2 15 oz. cans corn, drained
• 1 15 oz. can creamed corn
• diced bell pepper (I omitted this.)
• diced onion (Ditto.)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sour cream (I used light sour cream and it worked fine.)
• 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and stir together. Pour into an 8×8 or 9×9 dish and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the center is set and a knife instered in the middle comes out nearly clean.

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but here? It is cold! Ridiculously, outrageously, unbelievably cold! Okay, so I just checked and its sixty-one degrees, but it FEELS a lot colder and that’s what counts. Those thermometers just can’t be trusted.

When it starts to get colder out, I start baking and cooking and preparing myself for the winter by packing on an extra five or thirty pounds. I have to stay safe from the cold! Fat is the best way to do that! I’m sure of it.

I made chili this week. I made (two batches of) cookies. I made vegetable soup. And I’ve been making lots of crockpot chicken tacos, my new most favorite meal in all the land. But, forget all those, I’ve also made my favorite fall dish. Sausage dressing.

Wait! Come back! I know it isn’t Thanksgiving yet and you think dressing is a Thanksgiving dish. Or maybe you think it only goes with a big ol’ turkey or roast chicken. Either way, you are WRONG. So very, very wrong. Sausage dressing is DELICIOUS, no matter what the main course is. In fact, I’v been known to eat the leftover dressing for breakfast. Make it with meat loaf, make it with grilled chicken, make it with crab cakes, just make it! (Okay, don’t really make it with crab cakes. That might not be the best idea.)

Now that I’ve convinced you that sausage dressing isn’t just for Thanksgiving, let’s make a shopping list. You’re going to need a loaf of white bread, sausage, celery, onion, cream of chicken (or cream of mushroom) (or both!) soup, and sage. Mm, yummy!

First things first. Let’s tear up the bread into small bite-sized pieces and stick ‘em in a 9×13 baking dish. I use about 3/4 of a loaf of bread.

I love bread. Carbs are my friend.

Pop your bread in a 400 degree oven while we work on the rest. We just want to toast it for a bit.

Chop up your onion and celery. I used one smallish onion and about 5 stalks of celery. You can use more or less. Whatever. I’m not picky. You shouldn’t be either.

Alright, let’s get busy. Enough of this fooling around. Start browning your sausage in a big skillet. When it’s about half way done dump in your onions and celery. Sniff it. It smells good, doesn’t it?

Alright, your sausage is cooked through, your celery and onions are soft, and your bread is toasty.

Mmm. Toasty.

(It’s a horrible picture. I know. Let’s just acknowledge the fact that sometimes food doesn’t want to be photographed [and also that I don't know what I'm doing here] and move on. Thank you.)

Dump your sausage and veggies into a big bowl and add in your cream of chicken (or mushroom) (or both!) soup. Stir it all up into one big gloppy mess. I used one family size can of cream of chicken, but I always have an extra smaller can on hand for emergencies.

Dump your sausage-soup mixture on top of the bread and mix it all up. You want to be sure to coat every little piece of bread with the soupy goodness. Trust me on this. A piece of dry bread in this recipe would be, well, a tragedy. If you need to, go ahead and open up that smaller back up can of soup and drop a couple spoonfuls in.

Now run the back of your spoon along the top of the mixture to smooth it all out. I like to get it as smooth as I can, but that’s just because I think it’s fun to smooth it out. I suppose it would taste just as good if you were less enthusiastic about the smoothing process. You can take your chances if you like.

Oh, and don’t forget to sprinkle some dried ground sage on top. I probably used about a teaspoon. Use more if you love sage, use less if you don’t.

Cover your dish with foil and bake it for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the top gets nicely browned.

I know the smell is going to be tempting, but I advise letting this cool for a bit before shoving your entire face into the dish. Third degree burns are painful.

Mm, dinner. And lunch. And breakfast too.

Sausage Dressing

• 3/4 Loaf of white bread
• 1lb breakfast sausage
• Celery
• Small Onion
• Family Size can (26oz) Cream of Chicken (or mushroom) (or both!) soup
• Sage

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Tear bread into bite sized pieces, place in 9×13 dish and put bread in oven to toast.

2. Brown sausage, onions and celery until cooked through. Do not drain.

3. Transfer sausage and vegetables to a large bowl and add soup. Mix well.

4. Remove bread from oven and pour soup mixture on to bread. Mix together well, making sure to get all of the bread coated in the soup mixture.

5. Smooth mixture with the back of a spoon and sprinkle with sage.

6. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until browned.

7. Serve with turkey, chicken, or waffles. (Maybe not waffles.) Enjoy!