Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Bacon Pierogie Bake


This is my 500th post! Can you believe it?! Be sure to check back tomorrow, I'm going to have a special post dedicated to my 500th post, plus a very exciting giveaway, so check back then.

Back in the day before I knew how to cook a favorite dinner of John and I's was a box of frozen pierogies, tossed with some butter, toasted up in a frying pan, topped with parmesan cheese, and served with a salad. This meal is a bit of a throwback to the old days... quite appropriate for a milestone post like this one, no?

This recipe is fabulous. I think it's meant to be served as a side dish and you most certainly could do that, but I chose to serve it as a main course with a simple light caesar salad. I loved how colorful and bright it was. Call me crazy but if my dinner is pretty I tend to like it more. What can I say, I like colorful things! The sauce is light and creamy, the pierogies are tender, and the whole dinner comes together in no time at all. A winner for sure.

Source: Slightly adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) package frozen potato and onion pierogies
2 slices center-cut bacon, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup thin sliced green onions
1 small plum tomato, seeded, and diced
Pepper
Cooking spray

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to 400.
2- Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange the frozen pierogies in the dish.
3- In a medium saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan.
4- Add garlic to the drippings, cook for 30 seconds. Add the cream cheese, stirring until it melts. Add the broth, stir continuously until it's all incorporated.
5- Pour the sauce mixture over the pierogies. Top with the cheddar cheese.
6- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, top with the tomatoes and bacon, and return it to the oven. Bake for 5 additional minutes.
7- Remove from the oven sprinkle with green onions and black pepper. Serve hot.

22 comments:

  1. We love pierogies! I love the colors too!

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  2. this looks so good! I've seen it making it's way around and I think it's time to try it.

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  3. This looks great, it might just be on the menu next week!

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  5. So many good meals, you're the best.

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  6. I usually add fried onions and sour cream on mine but this looks so much brighter and healthy I am totally going to give it a try. Plus I haven't had it in so long I am craving them!

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  7. Looks delicious! I'd love to try it. Congrats on your 500th post :)

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  8. WOWzer, 500 posts is great! This dish looks so scrumtpious.

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  9. Yum! I'm definitely bookmarking this one!

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  10. this looks really good!! like a nacho minus the chips, in a way.

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  11. This looks great! My husband loves plain piergoies, but I prefer them done up right like this! :)

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  12. Congrats on 500 posts!

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  13. I love pierogies! Thanks for sharing! Congrats on your 500th post, too :)

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  14. Congrats on 500! And YUM, this recipe is definitely starred and may be the very next thing I make!

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  15. I made this this week, except I didn't have as much cream cheese as I thought so I used ricotta...it was delicious

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  16. I made these last night, and can I say "YUM!!!" My hubby is super picky and swears he hates cream cheese...even he liked it! Thanks for sharing!!!

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  17. This was sooooo good! My husband and I loved it. I think next time I will make a little more sauce because mine kind of dwindled once I took it out of the oven, but otherwise, I cannot wait to make it again!!

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  18. This was absolutely delicious. I made it with a combo of spinach pierogies (had them on hand) & potato/onion, which was perfect for us. Thank you for sharing the recipe!

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  19. This was awesome! Thank you!
    Can't believe this was from Cooking "Light," though!

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  20. I've made this recipe twice and it's amazing!! I have to admit, although we typically eat healthy in my house, my husband does love his bacon, so I add a couple extra slices. The only problem I've had with this recipe is getting the cream cheese to incorporate with the chicken broth. Although I can never really get them to make a consistent sauce, the pierogies still turn out great. Any advice on the sauce??

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    1. Hey! Are you getting the cream cheese very melty before stirring in the broth? Also, you should beat the broth in quickly. If it's really not incorporating other options are to heat the broth before pouring it in... or just cover it in extra bacon so you can't tell!!! ;)

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    2. Thanks so much for the advice. Next time I'll try letting the cream cheese melt for a bit a longer and try to add the broth in more quickly. Either way, I will definitely continue to use this recipe in my dinner rotation!

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