People really like these

Last night, I stumbled across a great idea. Want to see a picture of it?


That, my friends, is an individually sized candied bacon cheesecake with a gingersnap crust and chocolate drizzled on top. Madness, you say? Maybe.

My friends Anna and Alan come over for a Post-Thanksgiving/Pre-Christmas dinner every year where I get to make all the holiday dishes that I don't make for my family. It's really awesome. I was going over my menu ideas with Alan this weekend and I mentioned that I'd make some candied bacon last week but that it was too sticky to sell or give out. "Why don't you put it in a cheesecake?" Alan suggested. Brilliant. So I did.

First, I made a crust out of Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Snaps, by putting them in a ziploc bag and whacking them with a hammer. Then I melted butter and added it to the crumbs. I pushed it into four individual springform pans (Thanks, Chris!!!!!) and baked them for about ten minutes. Then I let them cool.

Then I mixed a package of cream cheese, an egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla in my stand mixer. I chopped up my candied bacon (which had been drizzled with chocolate) and threw it in. I baked it until it was firm and chilled it. Then I put melted some chocolate and used a spoon to make pretty lines of chocolate.

The responses I got to this dish (which I admit, I was a little nervous about) were fantastic. Everybody loved it! I only wish I'd taken more pictures. If I'd known it would turn out so well, I would have taken more. Next time!

Sometimes life is just against you

This weekend I'd planned to do two things: volunteer for three days at the Arts for All Book Fair and attend Abby and Adam's Alternate Thanksgiving Party (where everyone brings a dish that their family wouldn't eat). Unfortunately, a nasty stomach virus wiped out all my plans entirely. Fail.

Sadly for me (but happily for Zack), I'd already made the dish I'd planned to bring to the party. He wasn't going to be able to attend because of work, so the silver lining of all this is that he got to eat the food I made. He seemed happy about that part at least (but sadder about me moaning in pain/falling asleep for 45 minute bouts all day).

Sweet Potato Sourdough Stuffing

4-5 pounds of sweet potatoes (I still have like 10 pounds left. My CSA went sweet potato crazy)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
half a bunch of sage
half a pound of bacon
olive oil
salt
pepper
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk or cream
2 cups chicken stock (or more if you want your stuffing super moist)

Peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Put on a baking sheet (covered with foil to make the clean up easier), cover with olive oil, and sprinkle on some salt and pepper to taste. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until tender (my oven is all wonky, so monitor these closely - my times may not be right).


Fry up some bacon. If you like it crispy, make it crispy. If you like it less crispy, that's up to you. Drain it on some paper towels until you're ready for it.


Add some olive oil to the bacon drippings in the pan. Mmmm, bacon fat. Chop the onion, garlic and sage to the pan and saute until soft (about 5 minutes). Add a pinch of salt and pepper if you feel so inclined.


Tear up a loaf of sourdough bread. I love the tangy contrast that the sourdough gives to the sweet potatoes. You could take the crust off if you want, but I like it.


Combine everything in a baking dish. Beat the eggs and milk in a separate bowl and pour over the stuffing. Pour the chicken broth over as well. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees or until the top is crispy but the middle is still kind of gooey. You don't want your stuffing to dry out.


I love any savory sweet potato dish. I often find sweet potatoes too sugary, but the onion and bacon really bring out some darker notes that are awesome. This is a great nontraditional stuffing (or dressing, if you want to get technical about it) that would be welcome on my Thanksgiving table anytime (but not my parents. They're anti-bacon).

Not for the health conscious

A few weeks ago, back when the Super Bowl was happening, I thought to myself, "Amazing! What a perfect opportunity to make the Pioneer Woman's Bacon Jalapeno Thingies!" And I bought all the ingredients and psyched up my friends.

Cut to the morning of the Super Bowl, when I am kidnapped by my husband and put on an early morning train to Washington DC and forced to watch the Caps/Penguins game (it was an awesome game. But still). So the Bacon Jalapeno Thingies were never made.

A few weeks later, it was the USA/Canada Olympic hockey game (not the gold medal one) and my hockey league was meeting at a bar to watch and yell and drink beer and stuff. This seemed pretty similar to the whole Super Bowl thing, so I decided to make the Thingies and bring them.

The Pioneer Woman's Bacon Jalapeno Thingies

Jalapenos (as many as you think you may need)
Cheddar Cheese (I used Cracker Barrel's 2% milk kind - no need for the fancy stuff here), grated
Cream Cheese (I used 1/3 less fat kind)
a few green onions, chopped
bacon!

Ok, this is super easy. Put the cream cheese, cheddar and green onions in a bowl.


Mix them up!


Slice all the jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds and ribs with a spoon.


I'm in front of my computer watching TheWB.com. Don't judge.

Be careful when you touch the insides of jalapenos because they will make your fingers burn. Then if you touch your eye (or wherever), that part of your body burns.....So wear some gloves, or just wash your hands a lot.

Fill the jalapenos with the cheese mixture.


Wrap the cheese stuffed jalapeno with a piece of bacon (you will probably cut a piece of bacon in 1/2 or 1/3 for this, depending on how long your bacon is). Secure it with a toothpick.


You're going to put a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and place all the jalapenos on it to bake. This way the bacon fat will drip below and not get everything all gross.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. You want the bacon to look kinda browned. The Pioneer Woman advises you to just throw them under the broiler for a few minutes if that's not happening.


Take to a group of sports fans and hope that they like them.

The west coast beckoned.....

So I didn't blog for a week. But I have a good excuse! I went off to Portland (Oregon, not Maine) to visit my sister at Lewis and Clark college. My mom came along as well and we all had a great time. I'm starting us off slow, but know that this trip ends at a Chocolate Festival. Rock it.

First stop on the Portland tour: Voodoo Doughnut!

This place came highly recommended by my good friend and former roommate Josh. His exact words: OH! Voodoo Donut!!! (he spelled it wrong. But I still love him) And so off we went.

There were literally a tower of doughnuts to choose from.


What I love the most about Portland is the hippie greenie crunchy vibe mixed in with tons and tons of bacon. Seriously. There was bacon everywhere we went. You'll see as we go on. But here?


Yeah, that's bacon ON A DOUGHNUT. Awesome. I totally ate it. My mom and sister tried not to vomit. I'm sure my dad is horrified. But it was amazing. Salty and sweet, with maple frosting.....gotta love it.

Don't worry, if you're not bacon friendly, there are plenty of choices.


Note the vegan options! Those crazy Oregonians. Also note the spirited names of doughnuts such as Cock N' Balls, Tex-ass and Old Dirty Bastard.

It was a nice start to the trip. Here we are, smiling and happy.


More Portland to come!