It has been too long since my last post...as usual. I'm not very good at keeping a blog updated. I swear I am trying to get better! Anyway...because I took so long between posts, I figured I needed to post about something awesome. What is more awesome than bacon? Let me think....um, nothing. Bacon is the best ever. So here are a couple bacon recipes for your viewing (and hopefully, eventually gastronomic) pleasure.
This first recipe for toffee isn't really mine. The recipe for Popularity Cookies is one my mom showed me a couple years back and it is absolutely fantastic. So why am I posting it on my blog? Well because one day I was making these for a party and happened to have leftover crumbled bacon and bacon grease from another dish (bacon caramel popcorn, still perfecting that recipe). While I was getting all the ingredients together for the toffee, a beautiful idea struck me. BACON TOFFEE!!!!! Best. Idea. Ever. I didn't even have to alter the recipe that much. So here is my version of popularity cookies.
Extremely Popular Cookies
1 sleeve club (or similar) crackers
1 cups butter
1 cup packed, light brown sugar
2 Tbsp bacon grease
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line an 12x17" jelly roll pan with foil and line up crackers on foil. Melt butter in sauce pan and stir in brown sugar and bacon grease until dissolved. Stirring almost constantly bring mixture to a boil for 3 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn't boil over. Pour over crackers and spread evenly. Place in the oven and bake for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven, turn oven off and let oven door stand open for 1 minute. Pour semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips evenly over the toffee and place back in the oven for 1-2 minutes or until chocolate has begun to melt. Using the back of a wet spoon, spread chocolate evenly. Top with crumbled bacon and refrigerate or freeze until set. When set, remove from pan and break into pieces.
This recipe makes a decent amount of toffee but I almost always make a double batch...even without bacon this stuff goes fast!!
The next couple bacon recipes are ones I created for a special Valentine's day meal. I wanted to make a bacon themed meal for Wayne and I because we rarely ever buy/eat bacon but we both love it. I went a little crazy and used 2 lbs of bacon throughout the four dish meal: ) It was delicious. We started with a salad topped with bacon crumbles and homemade bacon-avocaodo-ranch dressing. Unfortunately I did not keep track of how I made the dressing. I just threw ingredients in until it tasted right so I can't give out that recipe. The main course (recipe below) was bacon stuffed portobello mushrooms with a side of cheesy bacon ranch mashed potatoes (recipe also below). For dessert we had pecan bars with bacon. That recipe came from the food network magazine bacon issue so I won't be posting it here. Really it was just a basic pecan bar with crumbled bacon added. Because I was making several different dishes and had only a short time to prepare them, these recipes are very simple but very delicious.
Bacon Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
4 large portobello mushrooms, washed with gills and stem removed
1 box cornbread stuffing
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with garlic
8 slices bacon
6 oz Fontina cheese, shredded (or your preferred white cheese, I thought about using smoked Gouda)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and place bacon on the pan. Bake for ten minutes (bacon will not be fully cooked) and slice in half. While bacon is baking, prepare box of stuffing according to directions and mix with diced tomatoes. To assemble place mushrooms on foil lined baking pan and top each with 1 slice (2 half slices) bacon, stuffing mixture and another slice of bacon. Bake for 15 minutes, top each with cheese and return to oven for 5 minutes (or until cheese is all melty and bubbly and delicious).
Cheesy Bacon Ranch Mashed Potatoes
6 servings prepared instant mashed potatoes (or make your own real mashed potatoes, I was pressed for time so I cheated with the instant stuff: )
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Fontina cheese
1/2 pkg dry ranch dressing mix (I know this is weird but I used the other half for the dressing I made)
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
about 2 cups steamed milk
Place all ingredients except for milk in a large bowl and stir until combined. Slowly add steamed milk and beat until desired consistency is reached.
Normally I would have experiment notes but all these experiments were a such a success, I wouldn't change anything! Hopefully you like them as much as I do: )
No comments:
Post a Comment