Our honey mustard glazed salmon with a lemon and olive oil infused quinoa and traditional cooked garlic spinach is sure to be a hit in any household.This meal is healthy and satisfying all at the same time! The lemon aroma coming from the quinoa, the honey and red pepper flakes exploding with flavor in the salmon, and the subtleness from the spinach all tie this dish together. It is pescatarian friendly, fresh, and could almost be kid approved (if we had a one) because the salmon is that good!

Ingredients:

• 1lb. of Atlantic Salmon Fillet
• 50z box of organic spinach
• 2 Tbsp. prepared chopped garlic
• 1 cup of dry quinoa
• 2 cups of water
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil (2 Tbsp. for quinoa & 1 Tbsp. for spinach)
• 2 lemons (1 whole lemon & 1 sliced lemon)
• lemon peels (from 2 lemons)

Honey Mustard Glaze:

• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/2 cup of Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp of red pepper flakes
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1/8 tsp of pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Start by making the honey mustard glaze. Combine the honey, Dijon mustard, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk until mixed together well.
3. Take the lb. of salmon and place in the honey mustard glaze and let sit for a few minutes while waiting for oven to preheat.
4. For the quinoa, combine the dry quinoa and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiled, turn the heat to low and cover with a lid. Let the quinoa sit for 15 min. and fluff together with a fork. Add the juice from one lemon and the lemon peels from the one lemon and replace the lid. Let sit until the end.
5. Once the oven is preheated, remove the salmon from the honey glaze and place on the baking sheet. Take a knife and make a slit in the middle of the salmon for proper cooking.
6. Take the honey mustard glaze left in the bowl and spoon over the salmon fillet, being sure to get in the slit. Take the sliced lemon and place it all over the salmon. Place in the oven for 30 min.
7. While the salmon and quinoa finish heating up, take a pan and place it on medium heat. Once heated, add 1 Tbsp. of olive oil and the prepared chopped garlic and heat up for 2 min.
8. Add the whole box of spinach to the olive oil and garlic and place a lid over it to wilt the spinach for 5 min. Open lid and stir spinach around for 5 min. and put on the side.
9. Remove lemon peels from quinoa and give one last fluff then add a cup to a plate as well as a couple scoops of cooked spinach.
10. Remove fully cooked salmon from the oven, cut in half, and place on plate with quinoa and spinach.
11. Enjoy immediately or store in the refrigerator for the next day.

Ratings:

Visual:10-appealing but subtle

Mouthfeel/Consistency: 9- melt in your moth

Smell: 9-the aroma filled the room

Creativity: 7- creative glaze but simple dinner

Taste: 10-the lemon taste came through the way we needed it to

For dinner, we decided to put our own twist on a traditional Spanish dish: paella! Instead of using a mixture of seafood in our paella, we decided to use chicken, which is usually much less expensive and more accessable to college-aged students like ourselves! Not only does our dish not break the bank, but it’s also loaded with high energy-yielding, nutrient-dense ingredients! And it doesn’t stop there: it also just so happens to be delicious!

Chicken Paella (serves 5-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of raw chicken breast
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• Splash of white wine of your choice
• 1 1/4 cups of brown rice
• 2- 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
• 3 cups of chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 large green bell pepper, sliced
• Chopped cilantro (optional)

Instructions:

1. Butterfly the chicken breasts. Season with paprika, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper.
2. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once olive oil is heated, add the chicken to the pan and cook until brown on both sides. Once browned, place the chicken on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven at 415 degrees to finish cooking.
3. In the same large pan the chicken was just taken out of, add an additional tablespoon of olive oil. Add in onion and garlic. Cook until the onion begins to soften. Stir a splash of white wine into the onion and garlic mixture.
4. After the onions, garlic, and wine have cooked together for about 2-3 minutes, add the brown rice, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and turmeric. Allow mixture to come to a boil.
5. Add the bell pepper into the rice and broth mixture. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked.
6. Take off the heat and stir in the chicken. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.
7. Add chopped cilantro on top and enjoy!

Ratings:

• Taste: 9
  • Some of us opted out of putting cilantro on top, but the overall taste with or without this garnish was really good– lots of umami from the rice and chicken with some added heat from the spice combination we chose!
• Consistency: 7
  • The rice was a little crunchy, so in the future, we would let it cook a little bit more before digging in!
• Visual appeal: 9
  • The tumeric and vegtables in our dish made it very colorful and bright!
• Smell: 10
  • The delicious aroma of our dish filled the room (and even the main floor of Blue Ridge, evidently!)
• Creativity: 8
  • Paella is typically made with a variety of seafood, so using chicken was definitely an “American” twist on this traditional Spanish dish! We also wanted to cater this recipe to the college crowd, so realistically in terms of budget and availability, chicken was the right choice for us!

Panini Taco Pizza

Total prep time ~ 15-20 minutes 

This Panini Taco Pizza is a quick and simple way to keep pizza healthy and simple. This dish can be cut up into slices or even rolled up to eat more like a taco. Any way you want it you can have it! Adding different spices can make this dish anything you want it to be. Want something super spicy? No problem, add what ever kind of spice you want and you can change the salsa on top to and level of spice (mild, medium, or hot). This can be prepared with your family, so it is fun and healthy for everyone.

Ingredients:

• 1 Panini Bread (per pizza)
• 2 Avocados– smashed
• 1 Can of Black Beans
• 1 Green Bell Pepper– diced
• 1 Onion – diced
• 3 pieces of Corn (could substitute 1 can of Corn)
• Salsa – varied to preference
• 1 lbs of choice Ground Beef 

Step by Step:

1. Add diced vegetables into pan on stove to saute (used vegetable oil).
2. Add choice meat.
3. Add seasoning (as much as wanted): garlic powder, cayenne salt, red chili pepper flakes, oregano
4. While vegetables and meat are cooking add corn into a pot to boil.
5. At this time peel and mash the avocados.
6.  Once corn is done boiling (around 5 minutes) take it our and cut corn off the ear.
7. Add corn to mixture on stove.
8. At this time the meat and veggies should be done.
9. Once corn is added, add the black beans to the mixture (make sure you stir!)
10. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.
11. Add avocado mash onto the Panini.
12. Add meat and veggie mix on top of the avocado.
13. Add salsa on the very top (add as much as wanted).
14. Put in the oven for ~5 minutes.
15. Cut up/ Fold it and Enjoy!!

Comments and Ratings (1-10  : 10 being the highest):

Taste- 10   This dish gave a more Mexican play on the typical pizza. It had a nice crunch to it with all the vegetables in it. Adding the spices was a good call, because it gave it more flavor. Overall, you could add as many vegetables as you want and that is what makes this dish so good.

Mouth Feel/ Consistency- 10   This dish took a nice bread and added some avocado which gave it a nice sauce feel while the vegetables gave it a nice crunch. The salsa on top gave it almost a taco kind of feeling. Cannot go wrong with a taco inspired pizza.

Smell- 8   While this dish smelled good throughout the whole process adding even more spice could have made it smell better. With the smells of the sauteing vegetables and the meat gave a nice aroma.

Visual Appearance – 10   This dish was very nice to look at. It had a lot of color and it looked exactly like a taco pizza. Tacos and pizza are always appealing looking and this combined the two very well.

Creativity- 10  None of us had made this before, so we took a leap of faith. That leap turned out well, with a great option for a healthy dinner. You do not see this being made very often, although it should be.

Crispy Cobb Salad

We decided to make a cobb salad because it is nice to know how to prepare a light weight yet fulfilling meal in the summer. With that said, we combined leafy greens, avocados, and tomatoes along with some key protein sources including, bacon, chicken and eggs. What really made this Cobb salad special was the homemade dressing being the ultimate complement.

Ingredients:

1 fresh roma tomato

1 fresh avocado

3 bunches of romaine lettuce

5 cloves of garlic

2 tbs of lemon juice

3 tbs of vegetable oil

2 tbs of balsamic vinegar

1 tsp of black pepper

1 pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of all-purpose adopo seasoning

½ lb. of crumbled feta cheese

1 lb. of boneless chicken breast

½ lb. of bacon

Directions:

Phase 1: Vegetable and Egg Preparation 

1. Boil 2 1/2 cups of water at medium heat. When boiling, place 4 eggs in water, eggs should boil in 25-30 minutes. Place boiled eggs in cold water to cool for 5 minutes.
2. Wash each bunch of romaine lettuce and the roma tomato
3. Cut stocks off the ends of each bunch of romaine lettuce and chop up 1-2-inch slices lettuce
4. Slice the roma tomato in half and slice into 1-inch cubes
5. Take your avocado, and slice in half—be sure to cut around the core to get an even two slices. Remove the core of the avocado, slice each half into strips, then cut horizontally into 1-inch slices.
6. Place cut up romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, and avocados in a bowl
7. Peel and slice hard boiled eggs in half and place on bowl

Phase 2: Protein Preparation

8. Wash and dry the chicken breast, using a knife, slice into 1-inch strips, season with a teaspoon of black pepper, salt, and half a teaspoon of minced garlic.
9. Heat up a pan at medium heat, once the pan is heated, cook chicken strips for 25-30 minutes.
10. Rinse pan and heat pan at medium to high heat, once the pan is heated, place 9 strips of bacon on pan and cook on each side evenly until desired crunchiness, this should take about 10 minutes.
11. After the bacon is cooked, place the chicken back in the pan in which the bacon was cooked in for 2 minutes.
12. Place the chicken in the middle of the bowl and the bacon strips around the perimeter of salad.
13. Once all the ingredients are placed in the bowl, place desired amount crumbled feta cheese over the salad.

Salad Dressing recipe:

1. In a small bowl, mix 2 tbs of lemon juice, about 3 tbs of vegetable oil, 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp of black pepper, 1 pinch of salt, and about a teaspoon of all-purpose adopo seasoning.

*The garlic will have a more pungent flavor if grinded

2. Place bowl in fridge to cool and take out when ready to eat!

Ratings:

Taste: 9/10—The chicken infused bacon mixed with the salad dressing brings the lemon juice flavor. The salad becomes whole with the dressing.

Mouth Feel/consistency: 8/10—Watery mouth that is craving more!

Smell: 9/10—Summer vibes from fresh veggies and citrus from the dressing.

Visual Appeal: 8/10—Colorful rainbow in a bowl with a glossy glaze from the dressing.

Creativity: 6/10—Chicken is cooked in bacon greasy and bits. Dressing is Ethiopian homemade tradition brought to a classic American Salad.

For dinner we made Chicken Marsala. This Italian-styled dish can easily feed a large group of people with leftovers to spare. In addition, the ingredients were obtained from the Fresh Market but these ingredients could be found in other stores as well. Overall, we loved making this dish. Bring a piece of Italy home with you with our Chicken Marsala! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 2 chicken breast
• ½ of a Vidalia onion
• 2 Tbsp of oregano
• 2 Tbsp of thyme
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 pinches of black pepper
• 2 cups of flour
• 8 oz of sliced mushrooms
• ¼ cup of Heavy cream
• ¼ cup of Marsala cooking wine
• ½ cup of Beef broth
• 2 tsp Balsamic vinegar
• 16 oz of angel hair pasta

      Steps:

1. Mince up 2-3 cloves of garlic. Also, cut a half of a Vidalia onion.
2. Cut the chicken breast in strips about 1 inch of thickness
3. Prepare the flour mixture for chicken: Mix 2 cups of flour, 2 Tbsp of oregano, 2 Tbsp of thyme, 2 pinches of thyme, and 1 pinch of salt.
4. Pre-heat skillet to medium heat with a tbsp of olive oil.
5. Coat chicken in flour mixture. Proceed to place chicken upon skillet and cook until the chicken turns semi golden brown.
6. Flip the chicken and continue the same process on the other side.
7. Place the chicken on a separate plate.
8. Place the onion, garlic, and mushrooms upon the skillet on medium heat. Add 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar into the vegetable mixture.
9. Combine the chicken with the vegetable mix in the skillet on medium heat. Add ¼ cup of Marsala cooking wine, ½ cup of beef broth and ¼ of a cup of heavy cream into the skillet as well. Proceed to cook until the vegetables are caramelized and when the chicken turns golden brown.
10. Optional: add more of the spices into the marsala sauce previously used for the flour mixture until it is good for your flavor preferences
11. On the side, prepare a large pot to a rapid boil on medium/high heat. Add the whole package of angel hair pasta to the boiling water. Boil for 8-9 min until al dente.
12. Place the chicken and vegetables upon the bed of pasta as the final result.

Presentation:

Taste: 8

The sauce itself was good. When we poured the sauce over the pasta it lost it’s flavor. For the future, we would mix the pasta in with the sauce to give it a more unified flavor front.

Mouth: 10

Everything was superb. The texture of all the ingredients were all just right where they needed to be.

Smell: 10

Smelled amazing

Visual Appeal: 6

Could have looked better. It also could have used some color as well.

Creativity: 4

It is very common dish. We did add red peppers to make it more spicy, (some added sriracha).

Mexican Burgers

This dish is a tasty twist that you will want to add to your dinner options as well as your cookout menus. This takes an ordinary burger and turns it into a Mexican fiesta in your mouth. Don’t be afraid to add a side of spanish rice or even chips, queso, and salsa. This dinner option will be a spicy hit for your guest at your next summer cookout and will provide your guests plenty of energy to have a competitive corn-hole tournament.

Ingredients:

-1.5 lbs of ground round beef

-2 Fresh Jalapenos

– 1 Fresh Avocado

– 6 slices of Pepper Jack Cheese (~0.45 lbs)

-1 tbsp of ground cumin

-1 tbsp of garlic powder

– Chipotle Mayonnaise (Sir Kensington’s 10 fl oz jar)

Directions:

1. Place ground beef in a bowl.

2. Finely dice jalapenos and add them to the beef.

3. Add garlic powder and cumin to the beef. Mix jalapenos and seasonings into the meat with your hands.

4. Form 6 patties. Each patty should equal about a quarter-pound. Use a food scale to be precise.

5. If a grill is available grill the patties, if not, use a skillet and stove top to cook the patties.

6. For medium cooked patties, cook them at medium high. Cook each side for about 4 minutes.

7. While the patties are cooking, cut slices of avocado. Place the avocado slices to the side. These will be used as a topping on the burgers.

8. Once one side of the burgers are done cooking (about 4 minutes), flip and add a slice of pepper jack cheese to the cooked sides.

9. Once the patties are cooked, place them on buns, add slices of avocado, and spread the chipotle mayo on the top bun.

Ratings:

-Taste: 8-9 Very flavorful, good spice (not too much actually), very Umami.

-Mouth Feel/consistency: 9 Well cooked medium meat and great consistency in the mouth. The creaminess of the avocado added a nice creamy feel to the burger.

-Smell: 5 Very spicy and strong which made it hard to breathe while cooking.

-Visual Appeal: 7 It looked like a good and delicious burger, the cheese covered the jalapenos and a lot of the burger so it wasn’t visually interesting.

-Creativity: 7 It was a creative twist on a burger, but it’s still just a burger. It could have been more creative with more foods mixed in and added on top, but due to a limited budget it was difficult to buy items.

As college students, most of us don’t really want to spend time cooking healthy breakfast meals the morning before an 8:30am class when we could be sleeping in. But never fear! Our Tasty Turkey Bacon and Hash Brown Skillet is the perfect dish for you! It’s super simple and quick to prepare and can easily be reworked into a lunch or dinner meal using whatever you have left over in your fridge/spice cabinet! The best news? Our recipe will leave you with enough leftovers for nearly a week’s worth of breakfasts and it’s WAY cheaper than going to Starbucks for a bagel every morning!

Tasty Turkey Bacon and Hash Brown Skillet (5-6 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 15 ounces of shredded hash brown potatoes
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• ¾ cup of carrots, shredded
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 1- 2.8 ounce package of turkey bacon bits
• 6 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon of rosemary
• 1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon of thyme

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium-size skillet on medium-low heat. Add the frozen shredded potatoes and cook until they start to brown.
2. In a small skillet, heat the remaining olive oil. Add the onion, carrots, bell pepper, and turkey bacon bits. Cook until vegetables are slightly soft.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add black pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, cilantro, and thyme.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the hash browns. Mix thoroughly and allow to set slightly—around 3-4 minutes. Stir in the vegetable combination and cook on medium-low heat until the eggs are fully cooked. Serve hot. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator—this recipe can easily be reheated in a microwave and still tastes equally as delicious!

Ratings:

• Taste: 9
  • We could have definitely enhanced this dish by topping it with sharp cheddar cheese to provide a nice contrast of flavors! Our dish was really savory (and delicious!), but the cheese would have given it the tangy element that we may have been lacking.

• Consistency: 8
  • Not totally softening the vegetables was a good idea! It added a little bit of crunch to the dish, which mostly consisted of softer foods (eggs and potatoes). However, we think that the potatoes needed to be a tad bit crispier to add another layer of texture.

• Smell: 10
  • The combination of spices that we chose for our dish made it smell absolutely delicious! They were definitely a stronger combination than some of the others that we have tried, as these were more herby as opposed to spicy!

• Visual Appeal: 8
  • Having the vibrant colors from the vegtables in our dish definitely makes it more appealing to the eye! However, we could have had neater/more creative presentation.

• Creativity: 7
  • Scrambles are a pretty common breakfast food, but we thought that the versatility that this dish allows for really makes it stand out! The spice combination that we used was also pretty unique, given the different ingredients that we mixed together! Using cilantro, rosemary, and thyme gave the dish an herbier taste that isn’t typically associated with eggs but is relatively common with potatoes. In the end, it was a risk using these spices with the eggs, but it really made the dish pop.

** Sidenote: We also bought a Kiwano fruit to try and incorporate into our dish (having no idea how to prepare it or what it tasted like), but ultimately we decided against putting it in our dish. However, it would have made a wonderful glaze to go on top of a sweeter meal when cooked down, so we may try to use this again in the future with ingredients that compliment its flavors better! **

For our project we made Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, a quick easy meal that can feed a group of 4 or more people. The combination of brown sugar and cinnamon resulted in a sweet The ingredients for this meal were purchased at the local Kroger supermarket, and came up to a total of about $7.

Ingredients: 

Pancake Batter:

• 2 cups of Bisquick pancake batter
• 3 1/3 cup of milk
• 1 tsp of cinnamon

Pancake swirl:

• 1 cup of Bisquick pancake batter
• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar

Cream Cheese Syrup:

• 8 oz of block cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 4 tablespoons of confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons of  imitation vanilla

Topping:

• 1/2 cup sliced strawberries

Directions:

1. Combine the Bisquick, milk and cinnamon in a large bowl to form the pancake batter.
2. Put the pan on the stove and turn onto medium heat.
3. Once heated, and a tbsp. of butter to the pan and pour 1/4 cup of pancake batter in the center.
4. While pancake cooks for 2 minutes, combine a cup of pancake batter, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a smaller bowl for the cinnamon roll swirl. Transfer cinnamon roll batter into a sandwich bag and cut a corner to form a whole.
5. When pancake is just about ready to flip, take cinnamon roll batter and create a swirl in the pancake, mimicking a cinnamon roll. Flip and cook other side for 2 min.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 until all pancake batter and cinnamon roll batter are used.
7. Once pancakes are done, combine the cream cheese, milk, confectioners sugar, and vanilla to create a cream cheese syrup and pour desired amount onto pancakes.
8. Take the half a cup of strawberries and place onto pancakes for extra sweetness.
9. Enjoy!

Ratings:

Taste: 10- They were heavenly.

Mouthfeel/Consistency: 9- The pancakes were fluffy and the added crunch from the strawberry added a nice feel.

Smell: 10- The aroma was in the whole kitchen and we felt that was a good sign that the food smelled good.

Visual Appeal: 9- The icing dripping from the pancakes with strawberries surrounding them was nice to look at but our cinnamon roll swirl didn’t come out the way we planned.

Creativity: 8- Overall the cinnamon roll pancake was a different thought but they were just pancakes and we took that into consideration on the creativity factor.

Yogurt Parfait

Total Prep Time- 10 to 15 minutes

The yogurt parfait is a quick and easy breakfast full of delicious granola, fruits, and nuts. This dish can be customized to any preference. There are many different fruits, nuts, and kinds of granola that can be added. The parfait can be prepared with a variety of different flavors of yogurt as well. It is a dish that is sure to provide the energy you need in the morning. It is very tasty and a healthy choice for the morning.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c Vanilla Yogurt
• 1/4 diced Bananas
• Hand full Blueberries
• Hand full Blackberries
• Hand full diced Strawberries
• 1/4 c Bear Naked Berry Granola
• 2 tbsp Chopped Almonds

Step by Step:

*Note: For all toppings, the amount depends on your liking. No specific measurement required.*

1. Add vanilla yogurt into bowls
2.  Place Bear Naked Berry Granola along half the bowl.
3. Add almonds to the granola
4. Place the banana on other half of yogurt
5. Wash the blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries
6. Add blueberries to the bowl
7. Add black berries to the bowl
8. Add the diced strawberries to the bowl
9. Enjoy

Comments and Ratings: (1-10: 10 being the highest)

Taste-   10   The yogurt parfait was delicious. Considering the season as well the berries were very rip and sweet. This added to the taste of the parfait. Suggestion if this was made during the winter or a season where the berries were not in season would be to add honey to the mix to help sweeten.

Mouth feel/Consistency-   10   The nuts and granola helped to give the mixture a nice crunch. The blueberries are a nice touch as well. They give a crunch in a slightly different way but still give the parfait a nice texture.

Smell-  5   This dish did not have much of an aroma. You could smell the sweetness of the strawberries, the vanilla sent from the yogurt, and banana, but this is not a dish that will have your whole house aware you are preparing a delicious meal.

Visual Appearance-  10   Laid out in the picture, the dish is very appealing. It has a lot of color and variety to it. Once mixed, everything gets covered in the yogurt so it has a different appearance, but it still appears appetizing.

Creativity-   8   The yogurt parfait has defiantly been created before. The dish is a creative way of mixing together a number of nutritious eliminates into once dish. This helps with a busy lifestyle. There are a variety of different things that could be added to the dish and can be made to anybody’s liking.

For breakfast we made a maple bacon crumble French toast with a cream cheese drizzle. This recipe can be made on a budget and satisfy a large group of people. The ingredients were obtained these ingredients at Kroger, but all of the items can be found at any grocery store. We really enjoyed making this dish and we hope that you enjoy it as well.

Ingredients:

• ½ lb Center-cut Bacon
• 8 oz Whole Milk
• 1 Large White Egg
• 1 tbsp Maple Syrup
• ½ tsp Vanilla extract
• 4 oz Cream Cheese
• 3 tbsp Butter
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Allspice
• 3 tsp Brown sugar
• Honey Wheat pre-sliced Bread

Directions:

• To make the french toast mix: 1 egg, 1/4 cup of milk, 1tsp vanilla extract, 3-4 shakes of cinnamon, and 3-4 shakes of allspice in a bowl (adjust spices to flavor preferences)
• Cook bacon on stove top on medium heat until crisp and set aside to cool off (pat grease off)
• Mix together 3tbsp butter, 4 oz. of cream cheese, and 1/2 tsp maple syrup in a sauce pan and heat on low heat until well mixed
• Finely mince the bacon and crumble the bacon into a sauce pan with 3tsp brown sugar and 1/2 tsp maple syrup. Cook this mixture at a low heat until everything is caramelized. (Add brown sugar and maple syrup to your preferred flavor profile)
• Add 1 tbsp of butter to skillet and heat on medium-high heat
• Dip bread in egg mixture and place in preheated skillet on medium high heat
• Flip the bread and cook until golden brown on both sides
• Plate the French toast with the bacon crumble and spread with the cream cheese spread

Presentation:

Taste: 9.5

Could have used more cinnamon

Mouth: 8

Could have more textures

Smell: 10

Bacon is the reason

Visual Appeal: 7

Could have looked better

Creativity: 6

It’s a common dish but the cream cheese was unique