Maple & Bacon Spiced Almonds

 

I always make spicy candied almonds (or pecans) for salads,

but the addition of bacon...oh my!!!  I just know you will 

love this one!

What you need:

2 1/2 cups raw almonds

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

5 strips of  center cut bacon, chopped up

Generous cracks of sea salt

 

Use kitchen shears to rough cut 5 strips of bacon and place in

a pan over medium/high heat.  

Separately:  preheat oven to 325

 Brown the bacon bits thoroughly, then remove the bacon 

from the pan. Center cut bacon does not render much fat

so there will be about a tablspoon of bacon fat in the pan. 

Leave it in the pan.  

IF YOU ARE USING LEFTOVER BACON FOR THIS

RECIPE, ADD 1 T. OF BUTTER TO THE HOT PAN AND 

CARRY ON WITH THE RECIPE.

Add the raw almonds and maple syrup to the bacon fat, in the

pan over medium/high heat.

Stir and coat.  Allow the maple syrup to bubble and reduce, 

while stirring constantly for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, all of the almonds should be coated in thick

maple syrup reduction. 

Turn off heat and return the bacon bits to the pan, along with

cayenne pepper (if you want a bigger kick, add more), and

a very generous dusting of sea salt. Stir to incorporate.

Pour the mixture onto a parchment paper lined sheet tray and

spread the almonds and bacon out into a single layer

Place the sheet tray in the preheated oven and cook for 7-9 minutes.

Remove pan from the oven and allow the coated almonds 15-20 

minutes to cool.  Then, try not eating them all.

 

Allow to cool completely, at least 1 hour before packaging up.

I am packaging up the almonds to give as gifts.  

This time of year you can find adorable containers in every store, 

otherwise, store the almonds in a sealed container or bag at room temperature.

Enjoy!

xo

Picnic BLTs

Several things in this great life give me great happiness, and I feel so lucky that I got to enjoy a few of my favorites, all squished into one night last week.  A picnic at Chatauqua Park in Boulder with girlfriends, before catching one of my favorite musical groups, The Indigo Girls, play at the auditorium at Chatauqua (which after Red Rocks is my most favorite of concert venues as it feels so very much like the mess hall at the summer camp I grew up at).  Oh, and I made BLTs for said picnic, so that is a grand tally of 4 of my favorites, in one night.

BLTs are classic.  They are summer.  They are picnic.  But...are you like me and are kind of ruded out by how soggy the bread is by the time you open your picnic basket, because of the (delicious, summer time favorite, for reals...just not here) tomatoes?  Well, I solved that problem years ago with delicious sun-dried tomato mayonnaise.

What you need:

bacon

3 T brown sugar

cracked black pepper

mayonnaise

sun-dried tomatoes

loaf of bread (ciabatta was my pick)

lettuce greens

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and a piece of parchment paper.

Place bacon and sprinkle with 3 T brown sugar and a very generous

crack of black pepper.

Bake in a 375 preheated oven for 20-23 minutes. If you 

want crisper bacon, watch oven closely as the sugar

will cause a quick burn, towards the end of bake time.

Delicious peppery, sweet bacon!  This is after 20 minutes bake time.

I promptly prop the baking sheet, so all the bacon grease will

drain off to the bottom, as it is impossible to 'blot' bacon that

has been baked in sugar...unless you love eating 

delicious peppery, sweet, PAPER coated bacon!

 Place 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (drained) and 1 cup mayonnaise

in a food processor.  Pulse until the tomatoes are fully 

broken down and incorporated throughout.

This recipe will make much more that you will need for this Picnic

BLT, but be prepared to thank me as it is good on everything!

 I placed the sun-dried tomato mayonnaise in the deli container that

first housed the oil soaked tomatoes.  I did drain off most of the oil

before pulsing, but did not think to wipe the container clean.

But...a little sun-dried tomato infused oil will do zero harm to

this goodness.

I like to make in advance to allow the flavors to love each other up,

at least over night.

 Holy Toledo, this might be the best store bought 'artisan' bread
ever.  I picked it up at King Soopers (Krogers).

I used a serrated knife to slice the loaf in half, then popped it in the
oven (with the loaf closed up) to allow the outside to toast up a bit.
350 degrees for 8- 10 minutes.  It was good and crusty on the
outside when I pulled it out.  I then opened and gave the bread 10 minutes
to cool down then generously slathered the bread with the sun-dried
tomato mayonnaise.

Layer on the candied bacon and a huge, heaping pile of greens.

 No words!  Cut how you wish OR pretend you are Rodney
Dangerfield in the 'sandwich scene' from Back to School
and eat the whole thing!  Here is the clip from the movie, if you
are all like, this B be crazy!

I wrapped each cut of sandwich in parchment.

The sandwiches joined iced coffee, palmier cookies and raspberry
and dark chocolate brownie & mousse trifles, as my picnic
contributions.  My girlfriends and I were so on point with our
picnic planning that our spread was one for the books.
I will later blog the palmier and trifle recipes, but until then
try these legit BLTs! Oh, and as usual...The Indigo Girls
were AmazeFest!

xo

Balsamic Candied Bacon Brussel Sprouts

While it is the heat of summer, and no one (including me) feels like cooking in the house, I was missing my brother (who I just left after a big family vacay in Kentucky) and must have been thinking of him as I ran to the grocery (without a list, of course) to restock the refrigerator after a week away. I picked up bacon and brussel sprouts, the stuff dreams are made of in side dish heaven (and my brother's favorite). 

What you need:

2 pounds brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved

8 ounces center cut pork bacon

small white onion, chopped

2 tablespoons light brown sugar (optional)

cracked black pepper

balsamic vinegar reduction

1/4 cup raw pecans

Line a baking sheet (with a generous lip) with aluminum foil

and parchment paper.  Top with brussel sprouts, onion and bacon

(I use my kitchen utility scissors to cut the bacon into bite size bits) 

cut and roll in the bacon bites in brown sugar.  

Top the pan of goodness with cracked  black pepper and a pinch of salt.

Back at 375 for approximately 1 hour. Remove the pan from the oven 

after 30 minutes to stir, coating the vegetables with the bacon fat 

(this is where center cut pork bacon is a must, renders less fat and will not require any drain off)

After the hour cook time, throw in the raw pecans, chopped roughly,

and return to the oven for 5 minutes.

Drizzle with a bit of balsamic reduction and toss around with 

a fork. I really love the reduction from Trader Joe's, but you 

can find different brands of reduction at any old market. I used to 

make my own, so if you want to give that a whirl, here is how I did it

So easy and delish!!!

xo.

Voodoo Doughnut DENVER

The entrance of the Portland shop.  My friend is holding up the classic

voodoo doll donut (raspberry filled, with a pretzel stick through the heart)

Gaaaaaaaw, I squealed a happy squeal when I read the following text from Zac yesterday, 'did you know a Voodoo opened in Denver?'  Gaaaaaaw, I am squealing again!!!

The legendary doughnut shop in Portland has branched out with the first shop outside of Oregon (me thinks thee ol' marijuana laws have quickly ushered them in.  Pot heads loooove doughnuts**).  Is it Christmas morning?  Basically!

Here are some pics from my last visit to Voodoo (in Portland) in 2008 (yikes, we need to get back to Oregon, that is ridiculous).  I cannot wait for the people of Denver to check them out, and quickly become obsessed with the tasty quirkiness of this shop. 

Pretty certain they were the first to roll out the bacon maple bar.  

I don't want to talk about it...

 The size of your face!

Still don't want to talk about it...

Okay friends, get excited.  Get really excited!  

GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION IS JANUARY 15TH, 

WHICH MEANS DOUGHNUTS FOR ALL!!!

Report back your favorites! 

** non pot heads love doughnuts too.  

Elvis Pancakes...OMG

Everyone should be so lucky to know a pregnant lady like me (so says me).  I have crazy dreams every night, but two mornings ago I woke up nearly embarrassed to share one dream with the hubs.  I dreamed about Elvis.  Not the cute, young Elvis...but the older, chubby hunk-o-chunk of burning love...wait, it gets better.  I was his cook!!!  The dream continued on that I made him his favorite sandwich...pancake style. 

 OMG, I better have this baby soon, I am for sure turning into a truck driver!!!  I have nothing against truck drivers, I just fancy them to be crazy eaters too, since they hit up truck stops galore...ya know?!?

What you need:

Pancake Mix (do what you like, but I love me some Krusteaz, just add water)

I used 2 cups of the pancake mix to 1 & 1/3 cups water (mix as directed)

1 banana, cut length ways then across into bits

5 strips of well cooked (crunchy) bacon, crumbled

Peanut Butter Syrup Topping:

2 T. butter

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup natural peanut butter

(heat in microwave safe glass bowl for ~45 seconds) 

ladle batter into a pan well heated, over medium heat.

Top the batter with pieces of bacon and banana.

Wowza, yum!!!  Just wait for the delish topping! 

The heated butter, maple syrup and peanut butter (as

stated at top) thickens a bit and becomes the consistency

of scrumptious caramel.  I just decided this would be

equally delish on apple slices. 

Beautiful stack of Elvis Cakes.  Topped with peanut

butter syrup and garnished with a few chunks of banana

and bacon.  Just because. 

Yum!  Dare you not to lick the plate!