ROMAINE SALAD with BLUE CHEESE, BACON and RADISHES

Dear Bacon Fans,

I'm always on the fence about salads that are considered bacon salads because you add bacon to it. UGH. But, sometimes, I think that certain combinations do indeed taste a little better when you throw on the bacon.

So, thanks to the blog called the Bacon Show, I whipped up this delicious little salad last night. If you don't like blue cheese, don't even bother making this. I personally love blue cheese and so did my guest who got to indulge in my dish. However, my 18 year old son, felt differently.

We learned last night that he did not like the salad. In fact, he said, don't be offended mom, but what was in that salad? I said, "why?" He replied, "well, it tasted like vomit." I said to him that apparently he does not like blue cheese and people who don't like blue cheese often do refer to it as vomit.

But, don't let that stop you from making this delicious salad! It really was good.

So, let's get to it!

First, the list of ingredients:
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
½ cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper
6 strips thick sliced bacon
3 (6-ounce) hearts of romaine
3 to 4 large radishes, sliced as thin as possible

Before we get to the mixing part, I just want you to know that I used Miracle Whip instead of Mayo. I know, I know.. but hey, i'm unemployed and it was what was in my fridge. It tasted just fine.

I also used the whole shallot and not just one tablespoon. The reason why is that I love shallots. I think they are so flavorful and one tablespoon hardly seemed enough.

So, after you mince up the shallot, place it in a small bowl and put your red wine vinegar in and mix well. You are going to let this sit for at least five minutes so that the vinegar softens the shallots. It's a wonderful thing... really.


Now, place your chunks of blue cheese in a bowl and add the mayo (or in my case the miracle whip). You will use a fork and do your best to really squish down that cheese into a fairly little chunky mixture.


Once five minutes or so has passed, you can now add the onion mixture into your mayo/blue cheese mixture


Stir and now you are going to add enough heavy cream to make it nice and creamy looking! I was generous and used at least three tablespoons.


Add some pepper. (Add salt if needed. Sometimes blue cheese is salty enough. In my case, I had to add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt)


Now, take your lettuce that you washed and tore into bite sized pieces (I didn't do that once and boy did I hear it from the boy!)


and your bacon that you cooked


and your sliced radishes


put it all together with your dressing! Yum!!


Would love to hear feedback!!

Bacon Wrapped Cherries

Dear Bacon Fans,

I found this recipe on the web from these ladies: Wearenotmartha.com.

They made it sound SO wonderful, I just had to try it!!! I mean, I love cherries and I certainly LOVE bacon (Big DUH).

They weren't too difficult to make, so let's start!

Turn your oven on to 350 degrees.
Pit and wash your cherries. One slice of bacon covers two cherries, so pit and wash accordingly!

So, in our first picture, I have the bacon (which I cut in half), our cherries with my cherry pitter and some thyme.


Then, place the cherry and a piece of thyme on the bacon


Wrap and stick with a toothpick and place on your baking pan! During baking, flip over the pieces half way through to ensure even cooking. I cooked them for about 25 minutes which worked perfectly in my oven.


And here is the final product!


The bacon cooked up so nice! The cherries were soft and tasty. However, there wasn't enough cherry flavor!! I did pull the thyme pieces out because who likes to eat sticks? Not me!!!

So, I'm thinking that these would be most tasty with a little bit of sweet cherry sauce on them after you pull them out of the oven.

And if you feel adventurous, wrapping the cherries with a flavored bacon like applewood smoked bacon would make these even better!

If anyone makes these, I would love to hear any variations and how they turned out!!

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Hello Bacon Fans!

This is by far one of my most favorite recipes of all time! One that (are you sitting down) I have made twice! It's so incredibly simple and superbly tasty!

My teenage son (well, he's 18, going to school and yes, Mommy still cooks for him) loves this meal alot.

Let's start with the ingredients:
8 oz. uncooked tube or spiral pasta
1 lb. ground beef
6 bacon strips, diced
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) tomato soup, undiluted
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
barbecue sauce and prepared mustard (opt.)

(note: we didn't like it with mustard. Add a dab of BBQ sauce on the finished meal and it was delicious!)

Before you start cooking the meat, get your pot of water boiling and add your pasta into it.

Here is a picture of all the ingredients you need!


First step is to brown your beef. I always season up my beef with some kind of steak seasoning. It really does make a difference.


Cook up your bacon and place on a plate with a towel to absorb some of the grease. Once cooled, crumble the bacon.


Remove the pan you just cooked the bacon and hamburger in and put in your cooked pasta. Stir to pick up the little bits of grease and meat left.


Stir in your can of tomato soup


Put your hamburger and bacon in and stir it up.


Sprinkle your cheese on top. Cover with a lid and let cook on medium-low to medium until the cheese has melted!


Put a dab of BBQ sauce on it and serve it up!!!

I would love to hear alternations to this recipe!

Love
The Bacon Lady