bacon – Page 4 – The Pajama Chef

Bacon-Wrapped Feta & Almond Stuffed Dates

February 2, 2011February 5, 2016 Sarah

So, are you snowed or iced in today? Or were you yesterday? Something like 30+ states have been affected by this massive winter snow/ice storm. Indiana is one of them. As a precaution, I ran 8 miles on Monday knowing that I probably wouldn’t be able to get out and run for at least a couple days this week. Some people buy bread and milk, others run. What? 🙂 I am marathon-training after all…

As such… I’ve been sitting at home since Monday night relaxing, baking some delicious lemon-blueberry bread, and doing massive amounts of homework. Oh, and thinking about these delicious Bacon-Wrapped Feta & Almond Stuffed Dates and how great they would be on Super Bowl Sunday. Mmmm I can almost taste them already!

We all know that bacon makes everything better, but let’s be honest here–these stuffed dates would be just as good on their own. [Vegetarian friends, rejoice!] Salty almonds paired with tangy feta stuffed inside a sweet date… what’s not to love? Plus, they’re an appetizer you can make in 5 minutes flat then bake and serve… all while making your guests or your husband think you slaved away in the kitchen. Perfect-o! Now, if only the storm would break so I can get to the store…

Bacon-Wrapped Feta & Almond Stuffed Dates

Servings: 16
Time: 20 minutes
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from Kraft

Ingredients:

16 large, dried, pitted dates
about 1 ounce crumbled feta cheese
16 sea-salt & olive oil toasted almonds
8 slices bacon, cut in half [I used turkey bacon]

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place wire cooling rack on top of jelly roll pan [or any large baking dish/sheet with sides]. Then, cut a slit in the side of each date and stuff cheese and an almond inside. Wrap one slice of bacon around each date, sealing the cheese and almond inside. Place on wire rack and bake for 13-15 minutes, or until bacon is crisp. Cool for a few minutes on rack before transferring to a paper towel-lined plate to degrease. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes:

These can be made with fresh dates, but those will require pitting and likely more cheese and almonds to fill them.

Question of the Day: What’s the weather for you today?

Breakfast, Recipes, Waffles

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles

October 20, 2010December 14, 2015 Sarah

There’s nothing like a good waffle, hot and crispy off the waffle iron. Belgian waffles are one of my favorite part about staying at hotels with free breakfasts. Recently, Ben and I were in the waffle mood and we found this recipe and wanted to try it out. This recipe seemed perfect because it incorporated Ben’s love of bacon with the crispy waffle goodness I love, plus a dash of sugar and spice and everything nice!

They are so good, no syrup is required. Just make these now. But beware… don’t be like me… you’ll see what I mean below. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles

Servings: 6-8
Time: 40 minutes
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from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

5 slices bacon
1/4 cup brown sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and lay bacon out in a single layer. Sprinkle with 1/8 cup brown sugar. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until bacon is crisp and sugar is caramelized. Remove bacon from baking sheet to cool on a cutting board [they will stick to paper towels], then chop when cooled.

stove — How to not be like me #1: This is what happens when you do not use a rimmed baking sheet…

…grease spills all over the inside of your oven [hardly any of that mess was there before]. Smoke billows across your entire apartment. The fire alarm goes off. The cat runs to the spare bedroom in fear and hides under the bed. The husband turns off the fire alarm. The back door is propped open. You eat a piece of bacon. All is okay in the world.

Back to the recipe now…. mmhmmm…

Prepare your waffle iron, turn it on to preheat.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients–flour, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, then add the chopped bacon. Do not overmix–batter will be lumpy.

Cook according to your waffle iron’s specifications and enjoy!

overflowing waffle — because then it will overflow like this! Still tasty though!

Note: If you don’t eat bacon, feel free to leave out the bacon [obviously] and add some extra cinnamon and nutmeg to the mix!

Question of the Day:

What’s your favorite breakfast food? On weekends, I like waffles. Or pancakes. Or cinnamon rolls. Today I enjoyed a smoothie. I also like oatmeal. I might go have some more breakfast now…

Breakfast, Meat, One Tablespoon Testosterone, Recipes

OTT: Brown Sugar Bacon Twists

August 9, 2010June 4, 2015 Sarah

This is a guest post from my husband, Ben. Periodically, he has agreed to share some of his favorite recipes with you–and this is his first. He has entitled his guest post column, One Tablespoon Testosterone, or OTT for short. Enjoy!

———-

Hello all. I’m here to add a slightly more masculine variation to this blog. While I don’t claim to have the cooking experience my wife does, I’m not an incompetent bumbling oaf in the kitchen either. But I do like man food. Like bacon. Mmmm…nothing makes me happier food-wise than bacon. So today I’ll share a recipe I made with bacon as the main ingredient… too bad they didn’t use my recipe last night when bacon was the featured ingredient on The Next Food Network Star.

Brown Sugar Bacon Twists

Servings: 8+
Time: 40 minutes
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from the Peace Meals cookbook by the Junior League of Houston

Ingredients:

1 pound bacon (16 slices [the amount, of course, can be adjusted to fit the number of people you’re serving…this amount serves 1 bacon fanatic such as myself…actually my wife would have a heart attack if she found out I ate a whole pound of bacon, then I would have a heart attack because I ate a whole pound of bacon])
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 cup awesome

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; place a wire rack on top of the sheet. I don’t have a wire baking rack (or at least one that my wife would let me place in the oven), so I just use one of the oven racks, and place the rimmed baking sheet on the bottom oven rack to catch the grease. Sprinkle the bacon evenly with the sugar and pepper. The amounts for this are really subjective to your personal tastes. More brown sugar and less pepper make it sweeter, more pepper gives it a little more kick (which I like). You can also add cinnamon. Tightly twist each slice to form a spiral. Bake until the bacon is crisp and browned, about 30-35 minutes.

How long you cook them is also subjective to your tastes. The first time I made these I cooked them almost 35 minutes and they were crispier than I would have liked. This time, it wasn’t even 25 minutes and they were still soft, but perfectly cooked as far as bacon goes (in my opinion). So you just have to decide how crispy you want them.

Okay, I think this about wraps up my first guest post. I don’t have much else to say about this recipe…or anything else for that matter. I’ll be back (if my wife lets me) in the future with more man-approved recipes (mancipes?) or just random other things I find amusing for which I’ll use my wife’s blog as an outlet. In conclusion, bacon makes everything better. Everything.