Makin’ Bacon

No really… Bacon.
I adore bacon. Its flavor enhances the most dull of vegetables and brightens breakfast. There are typically two camps of people when it comes to bacon- crispy and non-crispy. I am a card carrying, flag waving member of camp crispy. Non-crispy bacon just seems …. Weak. (No offense meant to the non-crispy group. Just don’t let me cook bacon for you.)

In today’ s class we cover how to cook an entire package of bacon at once and make it all crispy without decorating the kitchen with grease. First step is to take a baking sheet and completely line it with foil. Then drop in a wire rack. The rack is very important. You can bake without the rack, but instead of fluffy, crispy bacon, you run the risk of non-crispy bacon.

Next step- preheat the oven. This is my preferred temp. I’ve cooked it at 400, 425, 350, etc. For some reason 375 works, as I don’t cook the bacon too fast but it doesn’t take forever either.

Next up, take thick sliced bacon and line it on the rack. I have cooked regular bacon as well, but believe me on this- it cooks too fast and burns too quickly. The bacon will shrink as it cooks so you can line the pieces right next to each other on the rack. Don’t overlap or they will not cook evenly.

Cook 20-30 minutes. I know this is a wide range of time. I basically cook until the bacon looks almost burnt, but doesn’t smell burnt.

Voila! Crispy, crunchy and very tasty bacon. Perfect for you next BLT, omelet or alongside your plate of pancakes.

Shamrock shake paleo style

On St Patrick’s Day I shared a link for a smoothie on my Facebook page.

It was originally posted here. So, I decided to make it.

I didn’t have any coconut milk on hand, so I used coconut water. Hopefully it was the same potassium level, but I haven’t had a chance to look up the nutritional value differences. I made it the same way as the recipes except that I didn’t measure the coconut water. I think it was about one cup. I used one avocado that was mostly ripe, three tablespoons of local honey, one tablespoon of homemade vanilla extract, and a 1/2 tablespoon of peppermint extract. I also added 1 1/2 cups of ice and puréed everything in my vitamix blender. This is how it looked.

It was surprisingly good. My husband likened it to mint chocolate chip ice cream. The only thing I would do differently is either to use slightly less peppermint oil or not to do a Pilates class immediately after drinking the shake as it kind of gave me heartburn. But I would happily make it again. Tasty and good for you? Yes, please!