Beautiful Bacon!

Don’t forget now!  There are RULES!

Oh yes!   My favorite day is here at last………..it was a long week you know – my parents deserted me for THEIR anniversary – I was all alone for one whole night (those of you who left anything behind at my house during the house trashing party, I’ll save it until you come by to pick it up…..hahaha).   I was a good boy – I slept all the time they were gone except for a few minutes when I was very carefully putting a little reminder of how much I didn’t appreciate them leaving in a conspicuous spot so they’d see it when they got home!    They did……..and Mom got out her “hork cleaning kit” and that was that.

HA!    You leave me – you have to suffer the consequences!

This morning I’m getting double bacon.  Mom promised.  She said I’d get as much bacon as I wanted.   I’m taking her up on that.   She’s making pancakes and bacon for breakfast………..YUM!

I got this little gem from my friend Scout Charles’s Mom on Facebook.  Candied Bacon!    Now doesn’t this just sound like the YUMMIEST thing?  My Mom is going nuts over the “sweet/salty” possibilities of making bacon candy!

Check it out – this is just ONE recipe of many I found online!!!!    (I’m sure you can vary this recipe to taste too….leave stuff out, add other stuff, etc.)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. good quality bacon, sliced
• 2 tbsp. pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
• ¼ c. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. Dijon mustard (Mom says she probably WON’T put this in her recipe but will try it some time)
• ½ tsp. Kosher salt
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (Mom also says this might not be in her first “trial batch” of this recipe but she will ALSO try it some time!)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
2. Wrap a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with a wire rack.
3. In a large bowl, add the maple syrup, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, Kosher salt, and cayenne pepper. Mix well.
4. Add the bacon to the bowl and toss gently with your hands. Make sure that all of the slices are evenly coated* See note below.
5. Place the bacon in a single layer onto the wire rack.
6. Bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes. The bacon will be a bit brown, but will most likely need to bake for another 10-15 minutes. It should look slightly dark (not burnt) and crispy. If you take it out too soon, the texture will be chewy. Be patient!
7. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes on the rack. Don’t let them sit too long or else they will stick.
8. Once cool enough to handle, you can break the bacon into chards (you’ll have about 32 pieces). Alternatively, you can leave them whole.
9. Serve at room temperature.

Notes

*Note: When using a full pound, the bacon mixture will seem a bit dry when tossing with the glaze ingredients. This is how it’s supposed to be. Additional sauce is optional, but not necessary.

OK – now that you’re all salivating, I’d like to leave you with this – HAPPY BACON DAY and if you love it like I do, please help yourself to my BACON APPRECIATION BADGE!   WE ARE UNITED!

♥♥♥

On a serious note, it is with a very heavy heart that I had to say goodbye to my friend Miss Lucy from 15andMeowing blog yesterday.   She had cancer……her time had come to go to the Bridge and I know my good friend SammyP – her brother – is sad as is her whole family.   I’m sending love and hugs…………I know the Bridge is a brighter place with Lucy there.

Sending Lucy purrs over the Bridge…..xxoo