Chopped Salad!

Shout out to the great city of Chicago and one of the most famous restaurants there....Portillos!.  If you get a chance to travel to the Chicagoland area, this is a MUST stop.  Plus they have expanded to Arizona and California now too!  My favorite thing on their menu is by far the beef n cheddar croissant with cheese fries.  Sinfully bad and amazingly good!

Looks good, doesn't it?  Certainly.  But I have no intentions of recreating this masterpiece.  I will however give you my take on the Portillo's Chopped Salad.  

Ingredients

1 lb bacon

1/2 lb ditalini pasta

4-5 cups of romaine lettuce,chopped

1/2 head purple cabbage, chopped

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

1 cup tomatoes, chopped

1/2 head of iceburg lettuce, chopped

3 oz gorgonzola cheese chopped

Cook bacon until crispy.  I cook bacon in my dutch oven, of course :)  Set aside to cool.  Cook your pasta per the instructions on the box and let cool completely.  You could definitely cook the pasta in advance.   After the bacon and pasta are cooled, you can start combining the ingredients gently.  Super simple.  SUPER delicious.  Pick your favorite dressing.  This is our dressing of choice:

This goes fabulous with this salad!  

Enjoy friends.

Strawberry Cream Pie

Really....5 months since I've posted?  Slack.  The sad thing is as I'm typing this, I have pages and pages of recipes to post.  I "should" take a picture of my notepad.  There's tons.  I'm just slack.  But back on track.  I should also inform y'all that I got a new phone last week so my photos will be MUCH better quality after this post.  Or I could just finally buy better light bulbs for the kitchen so everything doesn't look so yellow all the time.  In any case, we're moving on up.

Since November we have hosted plenty of get togethers.  I have cooked and baked my way into the hearts of our friends and family.  And most recently, I experimented a new dessert for my dear friend and fellow blogger.  And hey-check this out-she just posted her take on my amazing chopped salad recipe today (to be posted soon!).  I am a proud lil chef :)  Anyways this is a great recipe for your summer gatherings.  And I've been dying to make a Golden Oreo crust.  Have you tried Golden Oreos---amazing!  And so not healthy.  Too bad.

Strawberry Cream Pie

For the crust:

25 golden Oreos

4 Tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Pulse Oreos in your food processor until crumbly.  Add melted butter and sugar and pulse until well combined.  Put mixture in a 9 inch pie pan and press down to cover bottom and most of the way up the sides.  If you use an 8 inch pan, you will easily be able to cover the bottom in crust.  Bake for about 7 minutes.  Make sure you don't burn those delectable Oreos!  Let crust cool completely.

For the filling:

1 1/2lbs fresh strawberries, sliced

1 cup sugar

1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

2/3 cup water

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla extract

Take half of your sliced strawberries and line them up neatly on the crust.

  Take the rest of the strawberries and puree them in your food processor.  Add to a saucepan with sugar and lemon juice.  Bring to a gentle boil.  In a separate bowl, whisk the water and cornstarch together.  Next add the cornstarch mixture to your pureed strawberry mixture.  Cook for several minutes until it thickens.  I'd say it should be the thickness of oatmeal (but not as lumpy of course). 

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. 

Pour mixture over your sliced strawberries and crust.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

For the cream topping:

6oz cream cheese

2 Tbsp sugar

1 8oz tub of whipped topping, thawed

Let your cream cheese get to room temperature.  It MUST be soft or this will not work.  In your stand mixer, blend the cream cheese and sugar.  Gently blend in the whipped topping.  Cover the top of your strawberry pie with this whipped cream cheese topping.  Garnish with fresh strawberries, chocolate, more Golden Oreos, or whatever makes you happy.

Enjoy friends.