Seduction By Bacon

Subject: Mmmmm … Bacon!

That’s how the e-mail went out two months ago to a group of friends.  This weekend, we had a potluck party celebrating the salty, crispy, sinfully deliciousness of bacon… and so it began.  But how did it really begin?  Honestly, I just started thinking about cravings one day; they’re not just reserved for pregnant women, you know.  When I was pregnant with Madeline, I was all about fruit and fish.  Every night I had 2-3 oranges and we had fish often.  Now that she’s here (and nearly three months old already!), the fresh fruit and fish kick is still here.  With Nicholas, Boston Market’s Sweet Potatoes all the way.  I had so much of them in the beginning, it was most definitely a few years before I could look at them again.  But this weekend?  We celebrated bacon.

I asked everyone to bring a dish with bacon as an ingredient, though it didn’t necessarily have to be the star ingredient.  The e-mails started rolling in while the menu got nailed down … polenta with bacon, a broiled fish entree, a broccoli and bacon salad, appetizers and more.  I toyed with the idea of finding a bacon dessert recipe to make, but was quickly told “enough!”  But honestly, although I can’t wrap my mind around Bacon Ice Cream, this is surely the perfect occasion to investigate it, right?

As soon as The Neighbor Husband walked in the front door yesterday afternoon, he said it smelled like bacon.  Rightly so, considering I had been making it for the past two hours.  I don’t fry bacon; to shave off a little bit of the fat and grease, I bake it in the oven, laying the bacon on a wire rack that is set inside a cookie sheet.  This way, the bacon grease all drips to the bottom, and you’re not eating quite as much of it.  It takes a little longer, but I think it’s worth it.  Way to rationalize, right? 

The guests started coming in, twenty in all, bearing their bacon goodies.  Let’s see … we ended up with:

Awesome Bacon-Tomato Dip
Bacon Crack
Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs
Broccoli Salad with Bacon
Seared Scallops with Bacon
Mini Bacon Quiches
Polenta with Peas and Bacon
Broiled Salmon with Bacon
Avocado, Watercress and Bacon Pizza
Loaded Baked Potato Salad

I do believe that is the most amount of times I have ever written the word bacon in one post.  Bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon.  Everything was so good, each dish producing more moans than the one before.  One of our guests made the comment that “I think this is the amount of vegetables I’ve eaten all week,” which was interesting since the focus was bacon, but she was right.  Vegetables made appearances all over.

I made a few new recipes myself, and will be delving into them here in greater detail soon, promise.  I also stepped out of my comfort zone and tried polenta for the first time (surprisingly not bad!) and salmon broiled (so far, the only way I like salmon is in dip, on pizza, and in a rice dish my mom makes, so this was big).

Remember folks, everything is better with bacon.

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