Ingredientes:

• 1 kg matambre
• Sal
• Pimenta
• Alho
• Cebola
• Guisado, bacon ou linguiça fatiada para o recheio

Modo de Preparar:

• Bater com vontade para que o matambre amoleça.
• Colocar numa panela com sal, alho, pimenta e cebola cortada em rodelas para ferver por 40 minutos.
• Deixar esfriar, abrir o matambre e espalhar o guisado, bacon ou as fatias de lingüiça.
• Enrolar o matambre cuidadosamente para que o recheio fique bem distribuído.
• Levar ao fogo numa panela com um pouco de gordura para fritar, virando o matambre enrolado para dourar parelho de todos os lados.
• Depois, adicionar um pouco de água para cozinhar.
• Tampar a panela e, de 10 em 10 minutos, verificar o cozimento, que deverá se completar em 40 minutos aproximadamente.

Fonte: http://www.ranchovirtual.kit.net

The boys at Bacon Salt have been at it again. They have four new products, just in time for the holiday season. I’ve tried two of them, and I’m intrigued by the other two.

First, the two I’ve tried:

1. Bacon Salt BIGS Sunflower Seeds. I’m not a huge sunflower seed consumer, so that might have affected my view of this product, but I was a little disappointed. The seeds are bacony, but not as bacony as the other products. The shells seem to be a little stale, and they break into several splinters when you bite into them, rather than two neat halves. Then again, it might be my technique.

2. Bacon Ranch Dressing and Dip Mix. We’ve only tried the dressing so far, but oh my god is it delicious. Hands down, this is the best product Bacon Salt has ever created (and as you all know, I have a profound love for many of their products).

Note that there was a lot more dressing in this bowl to begin with. We’ve gone through two packets in record time, and when I reorder I’m tempted to buy in bulk. The dressing is fantastic on salads, as a dip for vegetables (a holy union is achieved with carrots or tomatoes), or by itself with a spoon. The dressing combines a powerful punch of tangy ranch with the smoky flavor of bacon, and it is rich and balanced and flavorful.

Now for the two products I’m thinking of ordering when I restock our Bacon Ranch supply:

3. Bacon Pop. We’ve been making our own modified bacon popcorn for a while, with the help of several different varieties of Bacon Salt (cheddar works best) and some spray butter. At $3.99 for three bags, I’m tempted to give this a try. It sounds promising.

4. Mmmvelopes. This is a fun idea. Consider it the palate cleanser to all of those yucky-tasting regular envelopes. Sadly, I don’t write a lot of letters (I mean, look at how little I update this space…), so these would probably serve as my office decorations for a long time. But these would be a great gift for bacon-loving friends, or a whimsical way to correspond with them.

I will try this recipe someday, when I have more than two people to feed for Thanksgiving.

Can you blame me?

{picture courtesy of wan life to live}

If you can scramble eggs you should be able to make this:

Feeds about 5 people, easily add more or less if needed.
1/2 pkg. Bacon, cut up cooked
In bacon pan keep about 1-2 Tbsp grease, tear or cut 8-10 corn tortillas into pieces ( not too small, I break into 1/4 then a little smaller) cook tortillas on med-med high for about 7 minutes.
Add a dozen eggs and scramble. Cook through. Salt & pepper to taste. I eat mine with cheese and ketchup.
* you can also use sausage instead of bacon or no meat. Try with salsa or hot sauce. Enjoy

Of course you do!  Be sure to check out the “deal” that Flyingshare.com is having – a free 1GB flashdrive.

Just to inform everyone that we will have a server merge by the end of December that will allow us to integrate a lot of stuff onto the website that we haven’t been able to integrate before.  The update will also allow us to have more posts and be able to update the site more frequently so be sure to stay with us!

We are sorry for the lack of updates with the Girl of The Day.  There is no excuse besides maybe playing Modern Warefare 2 too much.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Sandwich: Leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, mac & cheese, spinach balls, puerto rican rice, brussel sprouts, pearl onions, BACON, white castle hamburgers and ravioli inside a foot long bun.

Source:
http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/post/258422664/thanksgiving-leftovers-sandwich-leftover-turkey

Hopefully with a title like that it’ll be easy to find in the archives How was your Thanksgivings?(if I haven’t already read about them on your blogs). Mine was pretty fantastic I’d have to say. But why take my word–the proof is in the pictures!

Firstly, the relatives were running “a little behind”. This is absolutely expected every time. So it didn’t really change anything. I knew Thanksgiving lunch wouldn’t be for a few hours, and I had no plans to touch the appetizers, so I got a head start on dessert.

Deep Chocolate Vitatop With Cocoa Greek Yogurt

Can you tell I had a chocolate tooth? I just mixed cocoa powder and sweetener with the yogurt and voila–it was so thick I think had it been frozen for 30 minutes it would have been like ice cream. At around 1:15 the relatives showed up(which impressed us who thought they wouldn’t be here until 1:40). They came bearing gifts.

Organic Balsamic Vinegar And Lemon Pepper Oil

Maple Syrup From Berlin

*Swoons* Something tells me my relatives are finally starting to “get” me; the maple syrup actually was on my Christmas list!! Now I need something to take its place, right? As predicted, my little cousins had one thing on their mind: video games. They aren’t allowed to have game systems besides a computer(they’re only 8 and 3) so my house is like gold. When they were doing that, the adults had appetizers:

Homemade Meatballs, Whole Food Stuffing Stuffed Mushrooms, Cheese Platter, Trader Joe Chicken Wontons

I’m pretty much the opposite of a grazer, and was still satisfied from my vitatop, so I was fine skipping all this. My mom’s meatballs are kind of famous within the family; maybe some day I’ll steal borrow the recipe and make it with bison and organic sauce. I don’t think I’ve seen someone attack appetizers like my grandfather on those wontons. Apparently he’d been “saving” calories all last week for today. Probably not the healthiest thing but when you’re 75 who’s to say you can’t do what you want.

Carved Turkey

The turkey rested while people chatted and then we got to carving. Notice how on the left it’s pulled like pork and on the right it’s nicely carved in tact. Guess who did the right My mom was anally organized about the table and had labeled everything a place so set up was fast.

Thanksgiving Table

Like usual, my mom and I were the first to the table with the old people behind only because they’re… slower. And the uncle, aunt, and cousins were running around enthralled with video games, haha. My cousin wanted me to help him on a level but I told him I was hungry, and when my grandmother said I’d need to prioritize with my own children I assured her that’s a ways away. And then there was food.

Turkey, Stuffing, Roasted Brussels, Organic Jellied Cranberry

Delicious. The turkey, from Whole Foods, was free-ranged so I felt perfectly fine digging right into it. Ironically, I probably took less than 2oz of meat! I think meat being absent so much while I’m at school makes a little seem like a lot and have me appreciate it more. My “strategy” going in was just to take 3 or 4 foods, even though there were plenty more on the table. I didn’t want to do a “sampler” of everything; I knew I’d have all this for leftovers so I’d rather eat what I did take and ignore what I didn’t. No regrets here or in the foods I did choose. I’ve loooooved cranberry sauce from a can since being a boy and am so happy that this didn’t have HFCS in it. Here are my 3 living grandparents also enjoying the meal:

Enjoying The Meal

We swiftly started heating up pies, defrosting desserts, and cleaning plates. I completely failed on taking a picture of the dessert line up but there was my pie, Trader Joe lemon bars, homemade berry pie from my grandmother, store bought cheesecake, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and a Carvel birthday cake.

Blowing Out The Candles

Tuesday was my grandfather’s 75th birthday. Happy birthday! Hopefully he doesn’t eat like that everyday or there’s no way he’s hitting 76, haha. There was also another unique item welcomed to the table.

TruWhip

This week I received a coupon from TruWhip to try and review their product. Could you think of a better time than Thanksgiving? Unlike its competitors, TruWhip is 100% natural, 70% organic, with no hydrogenate oils or HFCS. Not only was I happy to try this but it felt great to serve to my family. I took plate of the natural goodies that fit my hunger.

Pumpkin Pie, Trader Joe Lemon Square, TruWhip

What a sweet way to end the meal. The pumpkin pie came out as good this time as last time. The lemon square from Trader Joe was good but not superb; it was definitely better than any lemon bar I could’ve made from scratch. The real shocker here was the TruWhip, which everyone seemed to enjoy. It really tasted just like the competitor to me. I must admit there are some things I miss since eating all-natural so it’s always fun when groceries like this come along. It was light and airy, sweet with a hint of cream. I think the only one who wasn’t convinced it was an identical match was my mom, who went in with a slanted opinion to begin with. I think a carton is only 4 or 5 dollars, and since it can be refrozen for another holiday, this is completely worth buying and keeping around for a naturally special event.

Everyone had a good time and piled out by 5 o’clock. I think the most tired of the day was Montana, who was already sleeping on the couch. We tried passing off as much leftovers as we could but in the end our fridge was full. At least what we have is real food we can work into any meal over the next few days. By 5:45 I was feeling munchy.

Raw Vegetables

I started to work on the leftovers with the raw veggies. My mom couldn’t understand how anyone would still be hungry after Thanksgiving; I believe it’s called not eating 3 slices of Carvel cake? I was happy with eating until I was comfortably full and knowing how much was enough–I absolute despise that “overstuffed” feeling. Right like clockwork I had a dinner for one made and ready for 7.

Brussels And Tempeh Bacon With Maple Syrup, Grand Marnier Sweet Potatoes, Lightlife Breakfast Sausages

3 delicious meals in one day–how lucky am I! I wasn’t quite up to real meat for the time, so instead I let my protein be soy sausaged and tempeh bacon. I steamed and then pan seared some brussels to add some crust, and drizzled maple syrup at the end. The sweet potatoes were one of the dishes I passed over at lunch because I knew there’d be leftovers, and I rather liked this because it made it feel like I was eating a completely new meal! They were pretty good, but I think my mom had a heavy hand with the alcohol because these were pungent, haha

You know I was right there for the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special(it helped that Survivor was just a clip show, too). After a cup of coffee for good digesting, I got to work on more leftovers.

Plain Soy Yogurt With Cranberry Sauce

I will never understand how something like cranberry sauce has become accepted with dinner and not as dessert but I’ll just be thankful for that We got 365 organic and it is perfect. Not only does it not have HFCS but it’s and also a little less sweet so that the tartness is evenly balanced. Between the textures of jellied cranberry soy yogurt and the flavors this was just to die for.

I was also thankful for NBC’s People Of The Year special. I really hope it wasn’t just me. I think I’m becoming old, because in my head I thought of this as “The Today Show + 60 Minutes + Miracle Grow” and practically wet my pants in anticipation. It lived up to what I hoped. I’m really tired of the Octomom and balloon boy, but I could never get tired of hearing praise for Taylor Swift. Right before I went to bead I had what my day was lacking–whole grains.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Almond Butter And Smart Balance Peanut Butter

That brought me back to my roots. I’m liking the double nut-butter topping now as opposed to the nut butter and a topping(like chocolate). Not sure why, maybe I truly am just nuts for nuts

This morning there were plans to maybe attack Target for Black Friday sales with my dad, but my parents had to leave for a funeral at 8:30(irony) and the sales just weren’t as appealing as last year so we called it off. Today it’s planned raining all day so it will, by all likelihood, become a rest day, and I will be between the kitchen baking and my computer studying. Again, hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Now get to work on them leftovers

Thanksgiving Leftovers Sandwich: Leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, mac & cheese, spinach balls, puerto rican rice, brussel sprouts, pearl onions, BACON, white castle hamburgers and ravioli inside a foot long bun.

Source:
http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/post/258422664/thanksgiving-leftovers-sandwich-leftover-turkey

For many years I thought the Merkin was an urban myth.

It wouldn’t have surprised me… what better myth to invent than a funny sounding word about a naughty area of the body. I thought there couldn’t possibly be any circumstances in which someone would actually want to buy a pubic wig.

Until this week that is…

My wife has had an unfortunate accident at the waxing parlour.

Apparently she asked the “technician” to give her a “Brazilian” only to discover the woman got somewhat carried away. What was also carried away was with every wisp of fur on her body. She is now entirely bald.

The entire incident has raised a number of questions…

1. Why, given the myriad scientific advances we have made, do women insist THE most effective way of removing ones pubic hair is by pouring hot wax on it and tearing it out by the roots?

2. Why did my wife not realise the entirety of her bush was gone until she sat up and asked where it was? How can you not notice the pain creeping into the “landing strip” area?!?!?!?

3. Why did she not ask for her money back? (She said “It was too late by then” )

4. Why do so many women in the porn industry have completely shaven nether regions? Is there some sort of general idea that what men really, really want is their women to look pre-pubescent?

Whatever the porn industry says, you can count me out. I find it rather disturbing and off-putting. I prefer my women furred* and fabulous.

So, until a luxuriant new growth appears, does anyone know where you can actually purchase a merkin? The only ones I’ve found appear to be novelty items rather than quality goods that can deliver the “natural bush” look my pubically challenged wife requires.

Have a look at the samples I found….

The Doughnut. Although, puzzlingly, the instructions don’t say whether it should be worn front or back.

The "Doughnut"

Here’s one for lovers everywhere. Popular on Valentine’s Day although I’m glad to see the traditional “arrow through the heart” doesn’t feature on this model.

The "Valentine"

This model is a more “natural” shape plus it can handily be used should any of your children be cast as Fagin in the school’s production of Oliver this year.

The "Fagin".

But my personal favourite is this one. It might require a bit of negotiation to get my vegetarian wife to wear a bacon merkin but it’s not like she has to eat it.

And I can make it myself too… think of the savings!

The "Bacon Merkin". Breakfast of Champions

* By “furred”  I mean attractively tufted. Not “bush like a burst sofa”.

Share

Eating with relatives you don’t like is always a delight.

(pic is from here)

This year, I’m thankful for Williams, for being a far better college than I have any right to be in.  And I’m thankful for Pratt 3, for kicking serious ass.  No lie.

And I’m thankful for bizarre vegetarian bacon that stays bright pink and doesn’t get crispy, for making dinner funny.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

Låter inte särskilt gott egentligen, enkelt och billigt men inte gott. Men det ÄR gott, kan vara riktigt, riktigt gott till och med! Dessutom är det väldigt praktiskt för man hinner göra så mycket annat medan maten blir klar! Jag gör som så…

Ungefär 200 gr bacon. Jag köper ju allt kött i min lilla lokala butik där allt är i “lösvikt” så det blir inte så exakt, men å andra sidan är min matlagning aldrig särskilt exakt så var det bra med det!

Sätt ugnen på 225 grader. Smörj en långpanna med lite fett och klipp baconet i småbitar direkt på långpannan. In i ugnen tills baconet blivit lagom mycket stekt, hur mycket som är lagom är så klart en smaksak! Under tiden gör ni pannkakssmeten. Till den behövs (jag brukar göra en dubbel sats så räcker det till matlåda åt både mej och P också).

5 dl vetemjöl alternativt 4 dl vetemjöl och 1 dl grahamsmjöl
1 tsk salt
1,2 liter mjölk
6 ägg

Gör precis som vanligt när ni gör pannkakor. Blanda mjöl och salt, rör i hälften av mjölken först och sedan resten. I med äggen och vispa utav hut!Ungefär nu borde baconet vara lagom stekt. Ut med långpannan ur ugnen, i med pannkakssmeten och in med hela alltet i ugnen igen. Sätt en timer på ca 20-25 minuter. Den tiden kan man använda till att städa upp i köket efter sig, för är ni det minsta lik mig så ser det ut som ett smärre bombnedslag ungefär nu

Skär i lagom bitar, servera med sylt (jag tycker lingon är att föredra men det är ju en smaksak) och rivna morötter! Mumsigt!

Carol's Corner Cafe

I took my breakfast buddy, Amie, to Carol’s Corner Cafe in Vancouver, WA. I got an interesting first impression that reminded me of Tom Jones’ song You Can Leave Your Hat On.  No – it wasn’t that everyone was doing a strip tease. It was a place where most of the men were wearing hats – ball caps, to be exact. Every hat with every type of logo imaginable was present – one of them was of the hunting variety – camouflage. Obviously a down-home type place where folks can get comfortable in front of heaping plates of food.

Heaping is an understatement here. Even though they offer doggie bags, you may want to think twice about ordering the Full Order option on the omelette menu. They make full order omelettes with six eggs. Yes, you’ve read that right. Six eggs. A half order is your standard 3-egg omelette. When I asked about their specialty, our server said most folks love the CC Hash Special. On close examination, I found that it was very similar to the Hockinson Kountry Cafe’s version of the same – stuff covered with country grave. She also said they were known for their bacon and stated the reason for the claim to fame in the bacon department is where they buy it and how it is made. They buy the best bacon they can find from Jake’s Meat Market Inc. in Vancouver.  Then, they use a bacon press on the grill for the best possible results. I like bacon so I opted for a traditional bacon and eggs breakfast.

Best Bacon in America

Oh my! It didn’t take long for our order to arrive. There, on a pile of hash browns and scrambled eggs, were five planks of perfectly cooked meaty bacon. Even though the breakfast was fairly standard, the bacon surpassed any that I’ve had before. I had to give up on the hash browns (alas, hash browns come last behind toast on the clean-your-plate scale), in order to eat just three of the bacon slices. I shared one with Amie and took the other home, wrapped in foil for the bacon sandwich I had planned for later that day.

If you’re a hungry man – or woman – this is the place for you. Coffee rate: 2 out of 5.  Spendy scale: $

Other Offerings 

• Also serving lunch and dinner
• Kids and Seniors menu

Contact Information 

M-T 5:30am-3pm

W-Th 5:30am-8pm

S-Sun 6am-8pm

Nearby Attractions

• Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
• Hazel Dell Golf-O-Rama

Are you overwhelmed with leftover turkey and looking for a new and tasty recipe?  In 1976 my Mother came up with this recipe to get rid of the leftover turkey in a way that was new and not in a casserole.

Needed:

Rye Bread (toasted)
Sliced tomato
Sliced Hardboiled Egg
Sliced Swiss Cheese
Sliced Turkey (this is really best with real turkey not sliced from the deli)
Cooked Bacon
Capers
Thousand Island Dressing

Place the toasted bread on a plate, then place the following items on top of the bread:  swiss cheese, turkey, tomato, bacon and hard-boiled egg.  Pour a bit of dressing mixed with capers over the top to serve.  I recall one year my mother added asparagus from a can to the top of the sandwich as well.

These were a big deal in our house as we only had turkey once a year and therefore only had these sandwiches then.  You can layer them to be bigger or smaller depending on the eater and the appetite.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today is the day all domestic geeks look forward to (or dread for some)…a day focused on food, family and more food. I started my preparations at about 3 pm yesterday by making an Apple-Cranberry Sauce, Curry Sweet Potato Mash, baking bread (gluten free) for the stuffing, making the butternut squash for the stuffing and setting the turkey to brine (brining is a surefire way to create a moist and juicy turkey). I cheated a bit and just got a pre-made brine from Whole Foods…it smelled delicious and was almost identical to the one I was going to make so why not save some time? All I have left today is roast the turkey…which I forgot to mention will be bacon wrapped. I bacon wrapped the turkey last year and it was amazing! I waited until the turkey was almost done and applied the bacon for the last half hour and the bacony taste permeated the turkey to the core. Well this year I decided to start wrapping the turkey from the beginning and just remove and reapply the bacon throughout (to keep it from burning. By my calculations, this will either cause the turkey to have a bacony flavor the likes of which the world has never seen….or I will blow up my kitchen. Either way it should be good times!

So you might be wondering why Im here now and why Im live blogging. Well why not? People live blog stupid stuff all the time (ie: Live Blogging Martha Stewart) and dammit Im going to liveblog cooking my turkey. So keep checking back for more turkey updates and let me know what youre cooking and how its going.

8:33- Ok Ive hit snooze long enough, time to get up and get this bird going! I removed it from the brine and patted it dry. Next I heated up an apple quartered, a half onion, some cinnamin, some sage, a cup of water and a splash of maple syrup and filled the bird with the mixture (leaving out most of the liquid).

9:06- The Turkey has entered the oven! Its a scorching 500 degrees and Ive opened up all the windows in my apartment to avoid setting off any smoke alarms. It kind of sucks because it lets all the delicious turkey scent out.

9:36- Alright 30 minutes of broiling (and only one burn to my hand) and the heat has been reduced to 350 and the turkey wrapped in its FIRST layer of bacon! Look at this beauty!

Bacon application #1

10:15- OMG my apartment smells like bacon and all kinds of deliciousness. I wish I could transmit scent over the internet because this is what love smells like. Im trying to gauge how long to leave each bacon application on. I want it to cook trough but not burn…but I also need to make sure I dont open the oven too much because that will just add more cook time to the bird and lead to drying it out. Oh and have no fear the bacon from the turkey will not go to waste…what I manage to avoid eating will be diced and added to the stuffing to make a Bacon Butternut Squash Stuffing.

11:01- Alrighty, so the bacon has cooked and is ready to be removed…although some of the bacon decided to graft itself to the turkey and it took some finagling to remove it. But the first layer was shed and the second applied and the turkey is popped back into the oven for the final hour to 2 hours. Sadly I just realized I forgot to get a turkey thermometer so I have to run out and procure that. Lets hope the store isnt too crazy!

12:09- Back from the store and shockingly enough, there were hardly any lines! I was able to walk right up to a register and was out in less than 10 minutes! So now the thermometer is in the turkey and its just under 140 degrees and looking lovely. Check out the all that turkey n bacon juice accumulating at the bottom of the pan…that will make for some tasty gravy! Time to dice up the bacon I removed earlier and make the stuffing! Going to make the executive decision to drop the temperature of the oven a bit so that I dont overdo the bird (chow time is scheduled for around 2pm).

12:47- Success! The turkey has reached peak deliciousness (and something about proper temperature)! Final result was 2 bacon applications (about an hour and 15 minutes for each application). I cooked up some extra bacon and along with the bacon from before, diced it for the stuffing. Ive got to say, I might actually be more excited for the stuffing! Look at it! Homemade bread…butternut squash sauteed with onions, celery and herbs…and now bacon. Just popped that into the oven while the turkey sits wrapped in foil awaiting its transportation.

fun fact- between the turkey and the stuffing there is a total of 3 lbs of bacon!

1:33- Stuffing is almost done and the Curry Sweet Potato Mash is warming up. Just finished the gravy which involved not only the bacon/turkey drippings but a secret ingredient (hint- Aunt Jemima would be proud).

1:46- Huzzah its all done! Now to back it up and pray it survives the 2 mile trek to my friend’s house. Wish me luck!

2:21- Food arrived safely! Got a celebratory glass of wine and am waiting for everyone’s delicious contribution to the feast. Will post final pics later. Thanks for following and happy Thanksgiving everyone!

<3 seanalyn

1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved
1 tbsp evoo
4 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Steam sprouts over boiling water until tender, about 1-15 minutes.  Heat oil and garlic over medium-high heat until they smell good.  but don’t burn.  add sprouts, lemon juice, pepper flakes and salt, stirring until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes.  add bacon crumbles.  add balsamic vinegar and brown sugar, stiring for 1 minute and then remove from heat and serve immediately.

iwiLetter.com hopes you and your family and friends have a great Thanksgiving. No doubt 2009 has been a challenging year for many of us, but today is a day to pause and reflect upon and be thankful for what we do have. Let’s take this opportunity to be thankful for our families and our friends.

Of course, there are also many empty seats at tables across the country today. Empty seats saved for sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and parents. Empty seats of brave Americans stationed around the world fighting to protect our American way of life. Let’s not forget to pause to give thanks to these braves folks this Thanksgiving.


If you are gathered together and need a last minute idea of something to bake, and we assume you like peanut butter, cookies and bacon, then we have you covered. Here’s a great recipe for Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies!





Enjoy the cookies, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

I have mentioned the most excellent blog This is Why You’re Fat. Since today is the most grandiose this-is-why-you’re-fat holiday of them all, someone did a nice roundup of some ridiculous food items you may want to consider for your holiday feast. You can read the whole article, with wonderful pictures of each food item, or you can just read my summary below and click on anything that seems particularly delicious.

And by the way, I don’t appreciate the implication that taking any item and putting bacon on it is somehow over the top. More delicious, of course, but some of these are more inspired than others.

• Turbaconucken – Turducken, plus bacon
• Bacon Weave Apple Pie – Pictured above
• Oreo Stuff Dip
• Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf
• Carb Casserole – layers of pizza, mashed potatoes, cheese, Stove Top Stuffing, etc.
• Hot Beef Sundae – Don’t worry, it just looks like ice cream, doesn’t actually contain it!
• Krispy Kreme Pudding – As in bread pudding
• Donut Turkey
• Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich
• 12 Bird True Love Roast – Kind of makes a 3 bird turducken look pathetic, doesn’t it?
• Thanksgiving Sushi – Sushi in look only, no fish
• Snack Stadium – Pictured below
• Turkey Meatloaf Cake – It really looks like a cake (the sweet kind)

Link via Anna.

Ultimate (Leftover) Turkey Sandwich

A variation of the turkey sandwich from the Chesapeake Bagel Shop, this is a great way to upgrade the inevitable turkey sandwich you will be making the day after Thanksgiving!   Use the focaccia bread (see previous post) for a savory, crunchy base.

For vegetarians (of all types,) as in 75 percent of my household, the sandwich is great without the turkey, too. Vegans can replace the lettuce wih bean sprouts and seasoned / baked tofu for the turkey. My wife just slapped some butter on the focaccia bread, grilled it on a skillet, then added the tomato along with a little Havarti cheese. She loved it. Everyone wins, except maybe the turkey but that argument is for someone else’s blog.

Here’s what you do:

Slice about 3 inches of focaccia bread off of the loaf.  Then slice that piece in half, lengthwise forming two planks about a half inch thick or so.

Top the base with:

- shredded lettuce

- slice or two of tomato

- a little red onion slice, spread about

- cheddar cheese

- turkey (ahem…or other meat substitute)

- two or three pieces of crispy bacon (sorry vegans, can anything really replace bacon?)

The Ultimate (Leftover) Turkey Sandwich

Then spread a little cranberry jelly (or relish, even better) on the top plank of focaccia and top off the sandwich.

Viola!  You are ready to enjoy the savory bread, coupled with the sweet taste of the cranberry and the salty taste of the bacon.

Happy eating!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound bag of pinto beans
• ½ pound smoked bacon (chopped)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 large onion chopped (or ½ cup chopped) [Note 1]
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper [Note 1]
• 3 tablespoons salt (kosher salt is best)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground for best flavor)
• 1 liter chicken broth or stock (homemade is best but store bought will do)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

Start to soak your beans at least 24 hours before you would like to plate. Before you do, however, you need to spread your beans out on a cookie sheet or half sheet pan. Remove all of the rocks that slipped through the sorting process. Also take out all of the beans that look ugly or bad. Cooking will not help their flavor! Place the beans into a container that is at least three quarts deep. Now add the salt and the beans. Add about 2 quarts of water.

Soak for 12 hours, covered.

In a medium skillet over medium heat add the chopped bacon and the Worcestershire sauce. Cook the bacon until some of the fat is rendered out. Now add the onion, green peppers, pepper, chili powder. Cook until bacon is slightly crispy and the aromatics are slightly brown. Using a paper towel, soak up all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat. Transfer all of it to your Crockpot, turned onto high. Deglaze, if needed, with some of the chicken broth or stock.

Drain your beans (reserving the liquid) and add them to your Crockpot. Now add the deglazed liquid and the rest of the chicken broth. Top off with your reserved bean liquid (which still holds significant bean flavor and vitamins). Now stir in the dried oregano and the bay leaf. Set your timer for 4 hours and cover.

At the end of 4 hours, set your slow cooker or Crockpot to the low setting and simmer for AT LEAST two more hours. However another four to eight hours would be MUCH better. Just be sure to top off the Crockpot with water to replace any liquid loss.

Finally, Remove the bay leaf and then add salt and pepper to taste about an hour before serving.

[Note 1: Individually flash frozen, chopped green pepper and onion are both economical and a great time saver. They make adding both aromatics a simple procedure that does not involve tears or breaking out the cutting board. They're normally found in the frozen section of the local mega-mart.]

Instead of a sweet biscuit try something savoury for a change.  I made these little savoury rollups which were supposed to contain marmite but because I had no marmite I substituted bacon, onion and cheese, with good results.  They are at their best straight from the oven.  I had a friend around for tea so I put them on a hot-tray to keep them warm.

250 g flour

15 ml baking powder

150 g butter or margarine

1 egg

15 ml maizena (cornflour)

salt to taste

FILLING

5 rashers bacon, cooked and chopped

1 large onion, chopped and fried

250 ml grated cheddar cheese

FOR THE TOP

1 egg

sesame seeds

salt

Rub the butter or margarine into the flour.  Add the baking powder, maziena and salt.  Add the egg, beaten with 40 ml water and mix well.

Roll into a rectangle approximately 38 x 30 cm.  Trim the edges and spread with the cooked bacon and onion.  Sprinkle the cheese on top.  Cut in half so each is 19 x 30 cm.  Roll up each half fairly tightly like a swiss roll, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer (preferably overnight to make it easy to slice).

Then cut into thin slices.  Beat an egg and eggwash each slice.  Sprinkle sesame seeds on top if desired and a sprinkling of salt.

Bake on a greased baking tray for 10 minutes at 200 C.

VARIATION

Substitute the above filling with the following:

60 ml butter or margarine

15 ml marmite

125 g cheddar cheese, grated

Spread over the pastry and roll up as instructed.

The B in a BLT

and all through the house, the smell of bacon is wafting about. The pre Thanksgiving wheels are in full swing. Theo and Debbie are starting desserts. Bacon seems to be the common thread running throughout the entire Thanksgiving meal. Today Debbie sizzled up two pounds of the pork to be diced up for the Brussel sprouts. The bacon grease is reserved and later drizzled into the stuffing.

Oh precious nectar

I wouldn’t even begin to know all what Debbie’s puts in her stuffing, but here are some of the ingredients that I know. It all starts off with fresh pain demi, chanterelle mushrooms, artichoke hearts, dried apricots and a bunch of other stuff. And, as I said before bound together with bacon grease.

Stuffing Starter

For lunch today I fried up polenta in the bacon grease and leftover Bolognese sauce. Really, what’s not to like when it’s cooked in bacon?

never a drop we shall spill

This year I used a dry Sicilian sea salt rub on the Kosher turkey. I’ve been giving the bird a few daily massages and today applied some fresh herbs which Debbie got from the Santa Monica Farmers Market and Bell’s Poultry Seasoning. And of course, I put bacon on top of the turkey before cooking.

The herbs

A Falmouth Tradition

Sam and Henry have been incessantly bickering ( actually some violence ensued) all day about their trivia quizzes they hand out at Thanksgiving and our annual Saturday after Thanksgiving leftover party. Sam started this 2 years ago and last year Henry concocted a Harry Potter quiz. This year Sam somehow convinced (coerced) Henry that 80% of his quiz MUST be sports related. They made me take a photo of them shaking hands in accordance to this agreement.

Here's a photo of them shaking hands

Besides massaging turkey breasts I’ve been trying to get the yard in shape for the holidays. We had a guy come out yesterday to give us an estimate to put artificial grass on the side of the yard the boys practice their athleticism on. That side of the yard seems to take the hardest beating. I’ll give everyone a little quiz here. How much do you think it costs to scalp our old grass, level our soil, put 3″ of decomposed granite and install artificial grass in an area roughly 36″ X 15″? The answer is $6,295.00!  And if we do it before the new year he could do the job for $6000.00. Yeah, well that’s not going to happen. Anyways, I’m getting off the subject. Tomorrow we cook, eat and oh yeah give thanks.

Relaxing after a massage