Day 29: Its time to get serious….

So, its finally the penultimate day of KSCC, so it was time to step up my game and dive both into the store cupboard and the freezer with no fear and nothing held back.  I can’t believe its almost over – this has been quite the journey over the last month and a half.  I feel i’ve learnt a lot and grown hugely as a person.  Although that might be residual gas from yesterday.

Anyway, as i sit here and watch Masterchef on telly, I wonder how the cheftestants would have done on this challenge and whether they would have come up with such enduring classics as Quinoa Bird Seed Salad, Felafel Splat Patties or Cat Sick Cabbage.  I would hope not, but you never know.  Desperate times bring desperate measures.  But, tonight, I pulled it out of the bag as I finally thawed out that little packet of magic, the guaranteed Flavor Flav of the culinary world, none other than……*drum roll, please* yes, BACON!!  Tonight’s culinary endeavor is probably The Most Calorific and The Most Artery Hardening of the whole challenge – yes, it was time for bacon, cheese, cheese sauce and pasta.  Hubba hubba.  The plan was also to liberate the pack of frozen ham that had been languishing in my freezer for over a year – from the same heritage as Mr Carbquick, I’d inherited said Costco ham from Daniela, transferring from her freezer drawer to mine when she moved to Princeton.  I eagerly defrosted the motherlode of nitratey goodness – only to find out that my dearest colleague (like my quinoa tendencies) was the curator of a sliced ham museum as the packet had an expiry date of 2008!   Figuring that 4 year old ham was probably too much of a gastronomic stretch, into the bin it went.  But, not all was lost, so bring on the bacon!  It was an easy dish to construct, simply fry up the bacon and garlic, then stir into the cooked pasta, cheese sauce and peas and top with some herby cheese, before popping the whole lot into the oven to crispen up and turn a lovely, bubbly golden brown.  Mmm-Mmmm!!   Paired with a big leafy green salad and a perfectly chilled glass of Chardonnay, and it was the perfect supper.  Well done, me.

Day 29: Cheesey peas-ey pastaliciousness
Ingredients:  wholewheat pasta, jar of alfredo sauce, thawed out frozen peas, bacon, garlic, herby cheese, pepper, wholegrain mustard
DoD: 2 (some cooking and assemblage required)
II:  2 (bacon? cheese?  oooh – yes, please!)
PfBF: 1 (a guaranteed winning combination – yum!)
Overall assessment:  Second to last dish, and it was a winner.  Probably a million calories consumed tonight but we have another Challenge starting soon which will take care of that so, for tonight, anyone for seconds?

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