Bacon Jam

Last time, I told you about the $9 Crock Pot my AWESOME coworker got me from Black Friday. I needed to christen it and what better way than with a batch of delicious Bacon Jam?! I first heard of this from my friend Flossie who loves bacon just as much as I do.

Now, I know what you're thinking... bacon jam... EW! But, take my word for it, it is AMAZING. It will change your life for the better, nay, the best. I brought a jar to work today for everyone to try and it got RAVE reviews! My officemate and I thought of ways to use it: on sliders, on biscuits or egg mcmuffins, as a "sauce" on a thin-crust pizza with onions, with baked brie instead of fruit jam. The list is truly endless. And, of course, it's SUPER easy. :)

Martha Stewart's Bacon Jam
1 1/2 lbs bacon, cut crosswise into 1" pieces
2 white onions, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup coffee
1/4 cup maple syrup (please don't cheat and use Aunt Jemima!)
1/2 cup brown sugar

In a large skillet, cook the bacon until the fat is rendered and the edges are just starting to brown.

Remove with a slotted spoon to the slow cooker. Add the chopped onions to the fat (Martha says to remove most of the fat first, but I refuse... fat=flavor) and cook until translucent.

Pour into slow cooker with bacon. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir to combine.

Cook for 3-4 hours on high with the lid OFF, until liquid is syrupy. Your house will smell amazing, as an aside.

Pour mixture into a blender or food processor, and blend/process until mixture is chunky, but not totally smooth.

 (As a reminder, if you blend hot liquids, leave the little middle lid off, and cover the hole with a dish towel to prevent blender explosions!)

Mmmm looks good!

Pour mixture into canning jars (I don't usually do the whole canning-jar boiling-water process because I put this right into the fridge, but you can if you want). Refrigerate until firm (the mixture will be runny when warm, but firm up in the fridge).

Then share with only your nearest and dearest!

Happy holidays lovies!
xoxox,
Janie from Scratch

I Love Bacon ... or How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

Pretty sure I might be going senile because I SWEAR I've written this post before, but I looked and apparently in 77 posts I haven't shared my DEEP ROOTED and PROFOUND love of bacon yet. It is TRULY shocking, even to me, because I LOVE bacon. Like probably more than I will ever love any other person in my life, I love bacon. Everyone who knows me knows I LOVE bacon. My old boss at Disney STILL sends me emails about bacon and I haven't worked for the man in over a year. (He also got me a bacon ornament as a Christmas gift last year.. LOVE HIM!)

There's a bacon coffin (for those who love bacon to death... HA!):

There's this amazing website that shows you 18 Life Changing Ways to Eat Bacon.

Um, bacon pancakes... YES PLEASE. 

A Bacon Sundae from Burger King:

(Haven't tried yet but I am DYING to... See what I did there?? With the coffin?? I crack myself up.)

My favorite sandwich is the BLT. Easy and so good. And I love a bacon-wrapped filet. I just recently made bacon-guacamole grilled cheese sammies. I've also made bacon cupcakes and they are AMAZING. And I've made bacon pie, ALSO AMAZING. Sadly, both are not on this blog.

So, you can see that I love bacon... but I guess after all this bacon talk, I should teach yall how to cook bacon. You can obviously fry it in a pan with it's own grease (delish!). Or in the microwave if you're in a hurry--just slap some paper towels on an microwave proof plate and zap it for a few minutes. Or my favorite way to cook bacon is in the oven. Grab a half-sheet pan and put some aluminum foil in the bottom (you'll still need to wash the pan because some of the grease always seeps through the cracks, but the foil makes clean-up a little easier). Set your cookie rack on top, then lay the bacon on the cookie rack.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Keep a close eye on it though because it can burn easily! Mine got a little brown.. that's why there's no after picture, oops.

Do you love bacon as much as I do?? Tell me about it in the comments!

Bacon-Guacamole Grilled Cheese Sandwich

My friend was in town this week, and I wanted to make something easy and delicious since we were spending the night in. On pinterest, there are a lot of grilled cheese sandwich combos, so I chose one of those. I've had this bacon-guacamole grilled cheese pinned for awhile, and my friends know how much I LOVE bacon, so this seemed like the perfect mix for me.

Bacon-Guacamole Grilled Cheese Sandwich
bacon
guacamole (I was lazy and got pre-made guac from the store, but this would definitely be better with homemade)
cheese (I used shredded per the recipe, but I think it might be easier with sliced American)
white bread
butter

Start by frying up the bacon! You could also cook it in the microwave or in the oven (I swear I wrote a post on this, but apparently I am going senile! Maybe another day). Butter one side of your bread, lay in a skillet on medium/medium-low (not too hot, otherwise the outside gets done before the cheese inside gets melted). Add your cheese, then spoon on the guacamole (this was really tricky with the shredded cheese, but easier on the last one where I used slices). Add your bacon slices, more cheese, and your other piece of buttered-bread. Finish frying until the first side is golden brown, then flip and fry until the second side is golden brown. Then, DIG IN!

This is truly so yummy, but a lot of people have asked, what kind of combination is this?? Well, the easy answer is a quesadilla is basically a Mexican grilled cheese, and you eat guacamole with quesadillas all the time. And bacon goes with everything... I MEAN EVERYTHING. :)

I served this with a yummy cucumber-apple salad (which has become my official new favorite salad).

And a big special shout out to Kevin who after this delicious sandwich helped my roomie & I build our new kitchen island!!

Bacon-Wrapped Filet Mignon

Ryan and I love steaks. But what we don't love is how much it costs to eat them at a restaurant! So we found the little bacon-wrapped filet mignons at Publix and have come to love them.

Look for something like this in the meat section. You can get 2 good-sized filets for about $5--try to find that at your favorite restaurant!