I would say that bacon has jumped the shark, but I don’t think that’s possible. Can bacon’s popularity ever begin to go downhill after reaching such trendy peaks as it has in the last few years? I guess you’ll just see less odd incarnations of bacon, such as bacon flavored lotion and toothpaste, but we’ll probably never see eating bacon drop in popularity. BACON IS TOO DELICIOUS. I put this in all caps because: 1. I’m yelling, and 2. It means it’s more important.
So, if you have guessed by now, this blog is about something with bacon on it. This year for Thanksgiving we were the hosts for the first time as a married couple. Some of our guests had dairy, gluten and egg allergies, so we did our best to make them feel welcome and cooked some foods they could eat. I’ve been dabbling with these sort of recipes for a bit now, so I always enjoy the challenge.
As an appetizer I decided to make Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos stuffed with a non dairy cream spread, which I typically stuff with cream cheese. I had planned to use Tofutti which Trader Joe’s normally has, but they replaced it with a nameless Non-Dairy Spread cream cheese, so this is my recipe using that.
INGREDIENTS
- 10-15 Larger Jalapenos
- 2 Packs of Bacon (thinner is better for wrapping, either applewood or maple)
- Trader Joe’s Non-Dairy Spread (or cream cheese if you can eat it)
- Lemon Pepper (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Rinse off jalapenos thoroughly.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Trim off stems of jalapenos and begin slicing them in half the long way. Remove all the seeds as well. (Protip, wear some rubber gloves and you will not have to worry about rubbing your eyes later)
- Take a spoon or butter knife and begin spreading the cream cheese spread inside the shell of the Jalapenos. You can fill it up as much as you want, but make sure to not go over the top of the peppers.
- Once you have a sheet of stuffed peppers you can begin wrapping them with bacon. Take one piece of bacon and start wrapping on one end of the pepper and cover down to the end of the pepper and fold up and over to cover the cut off end from spilling out all of the cream. (this wrapping picture is from another day, notice the real cream cheese box?)
- Then assemble them all on a foil covered cookie sheet, one with a lip, or a deep casserole dish. You will have some bacon grease runoff to deal with.
- Place the peppers in the oven for 30-45 minutes until your bacon is as crispy as you want it to be.
- Remove them from the oven and then remove them from the tray immediately and place them on paper towels or something else to let the excess grease drip off.
Now you have an entire sheet of bacon wrapped Jalapenos you need to eat. Lucky you!
It’s cold and rainy right now in San Francisco and pretty much all of Northern California.
When I get cold, nothing warms up my body and soul like a big bowl of hot soup. Well a little while back we posted another soup blog (Moroccan Chicken Soup) from a recipe we found in a book we have called “The Soup Bible“. This book is full of amazing soup recipes and a great place to start with learning to make some soups. So this recipe is the one that I was planning on making when I accidentally bought the ingredients for the other one.
I’ve made this recipe about 4 times so far and every time it is amazing. It is creamy, buttery, with just the perfect hint of bacon throughout. If you’re a vegan, this soup is not for you.
INGREDIENTS
(I wound up doubling these ingredients to make enough for a few days)
- 3 cups Chicken Stock
- 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 1/4 cup Butter
- 2 Onions, Chopped
- 4 oz of Bacon (or half a pack of bacon)
- 4 Cobs of corn. (I used frozen corn and around 3 cups)
- Pint of Milk (I used nonfat milk)
- 1 can of Lima beans, drained
- 3 tbsp Chopped Parsley
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup flour. (I used more than this to make it thicker, so about half a cup)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large pan.
- Add the whole or sliced chicken breasts to the stock and bring back to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and cook for around 12-15 minutes.
- Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the stock and set in a bowl for later. Also set the stock to the side for later.
- In another pan, begin melting the butter. Add the onions and cook for 5 or so minutes to cook until softened, but not brown.
- Chop the bacon and add to the butter and onions and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until beginning to brown.
- Then sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously.
- Gradually stir in the hot stock from before and bring to a boil, stirring until thickened. Remove from heat.
- Add the corn to the pan with half of the milk. Return to the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12-15 minutes, until corn is tender.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into the soup. Stir in the butter beans and the remaining milk.
- Bring everything to boil for 5 minutes, then season with salt and pepper to your liking and add parsley.
This soup is one of our favorites.
If you make it, we’d love to hear how you like it and if you made any variations on it.
Happy cooking!
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