bacon

Homemade Bacon Dog Treats

August 13, 2018

While I don’t have a pup of my own (something I remind my husband of, daily), there is a special place in my heart for all dogs. If I see a person walking down the street with their doggo, I will instinctually talk…yes talk…to the dog while totally ignoring the human.

It typically goes something like this:

“Hey puppy! How are you today? Oh, you’re so sweet! Yes, you are!” in the most annoying baby/pet voice imaginable.

I am sure the owners think that I am a total weirdo, but I don’t care. I just want the dog to like me!

And that’s why I have gone about testing my own dog treat recipe! We have a few dogs in our community, and while they are all very friendly, I will do anything I can to win them over. Even if it means carrying around homemade bacon dog treats with me whenever I go outside.

I have no shame.

This recipe for bacon dog treats seems to be a hit amongst my test group. I mean, they have bacon in them. How can they be bad?

How to Make Them

Because some dogs have a wheat sensitivity, the recipe mainly consists of whole ground oats which can be kinder on a puppers tummy.

Process the whole oats in a food processor until slightly coarse.

Then add in the whole wheat flour, baking powder, and very crispy bacon. The reason for adding crispy bacon at this stage is so that it creates a bacon “flour” that is incorporated throughout the treat. Pulse until there are no large chunks of bacon left.

Add in the eggs and process until you have a crumbly dough.

Lastly, add in the rest of the less crispy bacon strips and just process until there are chunks of bacon throughout the dough.

Dump the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap into a disc. Refrigerate for about an hour so that all the moisture has a chance to be absorbed into the dough.

When you are ready to bake, roll out the dough and cut into shape. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes on one side, then flip over and bake for another 5-10 minutes on the other. You want these treats to be completely dried out.

Once they are out of the oven and cooled, you can choose to give them to your dog right away, store them in an airtight container, OR to add even more yumminess!

I know my old dog loved herself some peanut butter. You could give her anything if it had peanut butter on it and she would eat it. So in honor of her, I added a little peanut butter drizzle on top.

Tell me what dog could resist bacon covered peanut butter?

And I know what you are wondering. Did I try them?

Of course I did! I have to try everything I make. The verdict? Well, you probably won’t be reaching for these any time soon. They are a wee bit bland and definitely bacon-y, but really not that bad. Kind of like a bland bacon cracker.

But the pooches sure seemed to like them!

Supplies and Recipe

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Cheddar Bacon Cornbread Muffins

November 4, 2016

Did anyone notice anything different about the cornbread in Wednesday’s Turkey Chili post? If you looked closely, you might have been able to see that they were actually studded with bacon! And not just bacon, but bacon and cheddar cheese! Don’t you like how I make my chili healthier by swapping in turkey, then make my cornbread more unhealthy by adding bacon! Oh well!

Sometimes it’s truly about balance. You have to give up some fat in the chili to add some fat to the cornbread. And let me tell you, it was worth it. I couldn’t stop at just one cornbread muffin, they were so addicting!

I followed a basic cornbread muffin batter recipe for the base, but added in a little bit more sugar to balance out the saltiness from the bacon and cheese. Once the batter was whipped up, I folded in the bacon and shredded cheddar. It was so easy I wondered why I hadn’t been adding more fixin’s to my cornbread ages ago! I mean, corn bread is just fine on it’s own, but it can also be a great canvas to add some other wonderful flavors!

Next time I may try:

Jalapeno
Roasted corn kernels
Chorizo
Orange zest and cranberries
Rosemary and garlic

I am sure there are unlimited options out there, but the bacon and cheddar may be my favorite. Sure, I am probably biased. But it’s good y’all (Man, the Southerner is really coming out in mean writing about cheddar bacon cornbread)! The cornbread is sweet and soft, the bacon is salty with a bit of a crunch, and the cheese just adds an extra layer of saltiness and cheesy goodness.

Plus, if you are eating these with chili, there is a good chance you may be adding these toppings to your bowl anyways, why not have them all in one spot?!

PIN NOW, MAKE LATER

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Mini Quiches in Filo Dough Shells

April 29, 2016

Mini Quiches in Filo Dough Shells

I am finally getting around to sharing these mini quiches that I made for Easter last month. These little guys were such a hit with our friends and were almost gone before we sat down to eat. What I really like about these mini quiches is the filo dough shells that I found in the freezer section of my grocery store. They are smaller than your average mini quiche, so you can just pop it in your mouth and eat in one bite. Also, the filo dough is much lighter than the pie crust that quiche is normally baked in. So it made me feel a little better for eating about a dozen of them that I wasn’t eating a a load of pie crust. (FYI, in no way shape of form is this sponsored by the maker of filo cups. I know it sounds that way, but I it’s not.)

Customize these mini quiches to suit your tastes

I wanted a couple different flavors of quiches, so I made half of them bacon-onion-Gruyere and the other half asparagus-Gruyere. Both were delicious, but I think I was partial to the bacon mini quiches. I mean, they have bacon. Need I say more? Mini Quiches in Filo Dough Shells

But because they are so small, we had to use a small syringe to fill them with the egg mixture. You could use a small measuring cup and that would work just fine. But we had that little syringe laying around anyways so we decided to put it to use. (It’s a children’s medicine syringe I asked my local Pharmacist for when I was trying to make Jell-o Easter eggs. I know you were wondering why I had this.)

Another wonderful thing about just how miniature these quiches are is that they bake in no time! They were in the oven for no more than 15 minutes. If you have made a full size quiche before, you know it can take quite a while to cook which can be stressful if you are trying to time out a bunch of dishes out for a big brunch. These guys can be baked well ahead of time and served cool, or baked as people are walking in the door and set out 15 minutes later.

Mini Quiches-5

The best part is, your mom will love them! So make these for her for Mother’s Day. 🙂

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Pear and Bacon Salad

November 16, 2015

There is nothing like a big healthy salad, topped with juicy, fresh pears and grapes and toasted pistachios. Then ditching the healthy part and throwing on a hefty portion of crispy bacon and goat cheese. Because just about everything is better with bacon and goat cheese….especially salads.

Since it is pear season, I have been picking up a couple at the grocery store every week hoping that they would inspire me to bake something with them. But instead they just sat there staring at me offering little inspiration. And before they get to squishy I would just eat them.

After a few weeks of this routine, I started to think outside of my normal “baking” box and decided make a salad with the pears. While I love salads, they are normally outside of my cooking comfort zone – I never have the right toppings on hand to make a killer salad and they end up just disappointing me. Until now.

I added in some grapes to accompany the pear and then some salty and crispy bacon and creamy goat cheese. The bacon and goat cheese also helped win my husband over who doesn’t even look at a salad if it doesn’t have meat and cheese. I will admit that the bacon does make this salad a bit heartier and transitions this into a main dish from a side dish.

So this salad has juicy pears, crisp grapes, salty bacon, and creamy goat cheese. What else does it need? Crunchy pistachios!! I toasted the pistachios in the oven while I prepped the rest of the salad, then sprinkled them on tip at the end. Once they everything it tossed together, it balanced out the textures from the rest of the ingredients.

To dress the salad, I made a simple vinaigrette with a white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. I actually used a pear cranberry balsamic which was lovely, but any balsamic will do just fine. There are so many flavors going on in the salad, the dressing shouldn’t over power them.

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Maple Bacon Breakfast Rolls

August 29, 2014

Sure, I could tell you that these breakfast rolls were inspired by the maple bacon donut my husband had on his trip to Portland. But do I really need to explain myself? I don’t think so. So I felt like dousing a bacon-filled sweet roll in maple-spiked cream cheese icing. So what? It was delicious!! I regret nothing.

I started with a basic cinnamon roll/sweet roll dough, rolled out to roughly the size of a large baking sheet, then sprinkled with candied bacon bits, brown sugar, and pecans. To make the candied bacon, I cooked up some diced bacon, then added a little maple syrup and brown sugar to form a glaze. I didn’t add any butter to the filling like you might with a cinnamon roll because the bacon has enough fat. As the bacon cooks even more and brown sugar melts, it forms a sweet and salty filling in the rolls.

Please don’t judge my roll organization. I realize that I made two critical mistakes: 1) the pan is too small and 2) the rolls are not placed for optimal baking. But oh well…they all taste the same in my mouth.

Moving on.

After rolling the dough up and cutting into about 2 inch rolls, I placed them in the pan then let them rise until they were pretty much over flowing from the pan (see above).

While the rolls baked, I whipped up a batch of maple icing. I started with a fairly standard cream cheese icing but substituted part of the milk for maple syrup until I reached the optimal maple flavor.

See that bacon peeking out? Yum, right? All these need is that icing….

There we go.

Drooling yet? Just me?

My husband and I wasted no time digging in. Even though he is not a breakfast nor sweets lover, he loved these rolls! I think it was the bacon. Most sweet rolls can be too sweet (for some…definitely not me), but the bacon really rounds out the flavor and adds just enough saltiness to balance out the sweetness.

Ok, I have to stop looking at these pictures because I just can’t handle it anymore. As the kids say these days….I can’t even!

Hope you all have a wonderful National Bacon Day!!

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Bacon Marmalade

August 19, 2014

Apparently August is bacon month. Maybe it’s fate, but without even knowing that I had come up with several different bacon-centered recipes for this month. I guess on some level, I must have known.

Bacon marmalade might sound bit unusual. You don’t normally put bacon and marmalade together (semantically nor gastronomically), but it is quite extraordinary. It isn’t actually bacon mixed with a traditional fruit-based marmalade. It is bacon cooked down with some onions and garlic, then glazed in whiskey, maple syrup, brown sugar, and a bit of vinegar. Or processed candied bacon.

I started by cooking 1 inch pieces of bacon, then draining them on some paper towels. I reserved about 1 tbsp of the bacon grease for cooking the onions. The pieces will end up back in the pan and keep cooking, so I didn’t over cook the bacon to be too crispy.

In the same pan with that reserved bacon grease, I sauteed the onion and garlic until the onions were soft and translucent. Then I poured in the whiskey (shhh…don’t tell my husband I used his good stuff) and maple syrup and let that simmer and reduce a bit. After about 5 minutes, I added back the bacon as well as the vinegar and brown sugar.

I let this all cook on low heat for another 5-10 minutes until all the liquids formed a glaze. Then I spooned the bacon into a food processor and pulsed until I got the desired consistency. This would definitely be a personal preference, but I wanted my bacon marmalade to still be slightly chunky.

Before my husband and I could find a fun way to use this, we just slathered it on some bread. Which really was the perfect way to eat it. Keep it simple, stupid!

But, in case you are wondering, this bacon marmalade would be wonderful on a hamburger, pizza, brussel sprouts, sandwich, a spoon…really, you could put it on anything. Its delicious. Obviously. It’s pretty much just candied bacon!

What would you put bacon marmalade on?

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