Monday, June 16, 2014

Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts

Over the years I have had several coworkers who made variations of this.  When I finally decided that I was going to ask one of them for the recipe, I asked "What kind of sauce do you use for this?"  and I was pretty shocked to receive a rambling list of ingredients, rather than the brand name of the barbeque sauce.  Silly me.

So much easier this way!


2 cans Whole Water Chestnuts
1/2 lb bacon (uncooked)
1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy Barbeque Sauce

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Drain waterchestnuts.  Cut bacon slices into shorter pieces that just fit around the water chestnuts (1/4s or 1/3s depending on your bacon).  Wrap one piece of bacon around each water chestnut, skewering with a toothpick to hold it in place.  Arrange wrapped water chestnuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

Spread barbeque sauce over water chestnuts and bake 45 mins or until bacon is done.  I put a an extra piece of bacon at one end of the pan to make it easier to tell.

Leave toothpicks in place when you serve, it makes eating these potentially messy little tidbits much easier.

By the way, technically, a single slice of bacon is also called a rasher.  Sort of puts all those scenes in fantasy books where everyone is excited over a crisp rasher of bacon into perspective, doesn't it?


Easy Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

We got a big ol' bunch of rhubarb in our farmshare box last week, so I thought I'd share this recipe!

Super Easy recipe for a SERIOUSLY under-rated piece of produce.

1 recipe of your favorite yellow cake
1 cup chopped rhubarb (5 or 6) stalks
1 stick of butter plus a little
1 bag of marshmallows

Melt stick of butter in a saucepan.  Add half of the marshmallows.  Once marshmallows melt, add remaining.  When second bunch of marshmallows are about half melted, add rhubarb.  Cook over medium low heat until the mixture forms a consistent sauce.

Grease 9x13 cake pan or casserole with a small about of butter.   Pour rhubard mixture into pan.  Top with yellow cake batter and bake according to cake recipe directions.

You could also use the sauce as a pancake or ice cream topping, or pretty much anywhere you're use a fruit topping.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

It's June and it's off to a great start!

The garden is coming along nicely, but not nearly fast enough for my liking.

I made 2 amazing gourmet cheesecake recipes this past week.  (Sorry, for those of you who are interested, I'm working on a recipe book for a business plan, they're hush, hush, secret.)

We tried a fantastic new restaurant today, Full of Crepe, in Bethlehem.

We found a dragonfruit at Wegman's.

We had a bunch of people over for movies last night.

And we're going to try making chile rellenos for dinner tonight.

I'll let you know how that goes, and if it works well, I'll post the recipe!