Good Morning.
There are three food groups I cannot live without: chocolate, cheese, and bacon. I'll take chocolate in any form, including expensive truffles with liquid centers, M&Ms, hot cocoa with
whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg, and French Silk pie. I get my calcium principally from Vermont cheddar so sharp it makes my eyes water, well-aged but not smoked Gouda, anything at all in the blue category, Havarti with or without dill, and Parmesan I use literally on a daily basis. And then there's bacon. I don't do the thick variety, just plain old hardwood strips from Oscar Meyer, but I love bacon. I like the smell of it, the taste of it, and the look of it in pure form on the plate next to a mound of fluffy scrambled eggs or crumbled up in a salad. In its honor, today I present a menu that uses bacon in every dish.
We begin with a Bacon Cheese Spread.
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded Pepper Jack
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 green onions, chopped
5 slices bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled
1 tsp. dillweed
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
More dillweed
Combine the cream cheese, cheddar, Pepper Jack, mayonnaise, green onions, bacon, teaspoon of dill, thyme, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire in a bowl. Use an electric mixer. Cover the cheese
mixture with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for several hours. Throw some dillweed on a plate. Remove the cheese mixture from the fridge, let it warm up a bit, and shape it into a ball or a log and roll it in the dill weed. Serve with crackers.
An alternate hors d'oeuvre is Bacon-wrapped Pickles that are a snap to make. Multiply the recipe
as needed.
8 dill pickle spears
3 oz. block of cream cheese, cold
8 slices bacon
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dry the pickles with a paper towel. Cut the block of cream cheese into eight strips. Place a strip onto each pickle spear and wrap with a strip of bacon. Secure with a wooden toothpick. Place the pickles on the baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven until the bacon is cooked, maybe 13 or 14 minutes but watch carefully. Let cool
slightly before serving.
For a salad, we suggest Broccoli with Grapes and Bacon.
8 slices bacon
1/3 cup pine nuts
1 head broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/3 cup chopped onion. Use red for color.
I cup seedless red grapes, cut in half
I cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
Freshly ground pepper
Put the bacon in a large skillet and cook until evenly browned. Drain and crumble seven of the slices. Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet for a couple of minutes. Put the toasted pine nuts and the crumbled bacon in a baggie. Now mix up the broccoli, onion, and grape halves in a bowl.
Crumble the last bacon slice. Mix the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, and a good sprinkle of freshly ground pepper in a small bowl and add the crumbled bacon slice. To serve, pour the dressing over the broccoli and grape mixture and combine well. Put some of this on individual plates with the salad greens of your choice and top with the bacon and pine nuts.
For an entree, we have Chicken Breasts with Bacon and Sour Cream. Sour cream is also an excellent source of calcium in my world, but then so is vanilla ice cream. With chocolate sauce.
My physician would prefer that I opt for skim milk on shredded wheat, but she's a doctor, not a food blogger.
6 chicken breast halves
6 slices bacon
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 green onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream
Cook the bacon in a large skillet, drain, and crumble. Reserve a couple of teaspoons of bacon grease and dump the rest. Pound the chicken breasts between sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap until half an inch thick. Sprinkle the pounded breasts with salt and pepper and dust them with flour. Cook the chicken until nicely browned on both sides. This will take about four minutes per side. Remove to a plate. Add the green onions and garlic to the skillet and cook until the onions are soft, about a minute or two. Remove the onion and garlic and set aside. Return the chicken to the skillet and add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for five minutes. Remove the cover, add the onion, garlic, and crumbled bacon and cook for a couple of minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken, onion, garlic, and bacon to
a platter. Add the sour cream to the remaining liquid in the skillet and stir to combine well but do not boil. To serve, pour some of the sauce on each breast.
As a side dish, we like Green Beans with Bacon and Feta. More calcium.
8 slices bacon
1 16 oz. package frozen green beans
1 tsp. minced fresh garlic
4 oz. Feta, crumbled
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Dash of freshly ground pepper
Cook the bacon in a large skillet until slightly crisp, not done to death. Drain the bacon and crumble. Reserve a little of the bacon grease. Cook the green beans in a pot of boiling water until al dente, drain in a colander, and set aside. Reheat the skillet to medium and stir in most of the crumbled bacon and garlic and cook for a minute. Add the drained beans and most of the crumbled Feta, sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper and cook until most of the cheese has melted. Place this mixture in a serving dish and top with the rest of the Feta and the rest of the crumbled bacon.
For dessert, we combine two of my food groups, chocolate and bacon.
1 Devil's Food cake mix
1 tbsp. leftover coffee, hopefully strong
12 slices bacon
Cook the bacon in a skillet, drain, crumble, and set aside. Mix up the cake mix, adding the coffee
and three-fourths of the crumbled bacon. Bake according to package directions. Remove from oven and cool.
Frost with a chocolate buttercream.
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tbsp. Half and Half or whole milk
Dash of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
With an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar, cocoa, cream or milk, salt, and vanilla, and beat until nice and smooth. Add more milk if needed. Frost the cake and top with the remaining fourth of the crumbled bacon.
Do not eat bacon again for at least two days. Do not ever go a day without chocolate or cheese.
Best regards,
Elisabeth
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