Mmmmmmmmm
Its Bacon. Its Jam. Its perfect! Seriously, I had my doubts about this one when I read about it on my FB feed, but I have a party tomorrow and I wanted to try something different from the usual fare.
So we went hunting at our local grocery store and managed to russell up all the needed ingredients. Its pretty straight forward. The next time I will have all the prep work done in advance and all the ingredients pre-measured and ready to go (HAHAHA yeah I don't believe me either but its nice to have a goal in life).
Anyway, you can go here for the recipe, but just so you know I didn't follow it exactly (I know I'm terrible)
Here's what I used:
1 pound sliced bacon cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 large yellow onion, diced small
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brewed coffee
I pretty much followed the recipe exactly. My biggest suggestion is don't get distracted and over cook your bacon. Its a tragedy. Possibly even a crime in some areas. So watch the bacon!!
1. Place your bacon in a pan over medium heat. Stir frequently and cook until the bacon is lightly brown. There's gonna be a lot of bacon fat in that pan, so fish out the bacon when its done and place it on a napkin to drain and drain off all but maybe a table spoon of that grease out of the pan.
2. Place the onion and the garlic into the pan and cook (stirring frequently) until the onion is translucent. This can happen quick so, again, don't over cook it!
3. Mix in the remaining ingredients and stir it up and don't forget it get the bits off the bottom of the pan. THose are the yummies! Cook it all until its well mixed up and then stir in the bacon again and get it covered in the juices.
4. Now here's the fun part. Stick it in the crock pot. Just put it in there. Set it on high and stir it every once in a while for the next 3-4 hours. Don't put the lid. You want that juice to thicken up and get uber yummy. Try not to stick a spoon in there and eat it yet.
5. Once its all thickened up a bit, and you've watched a couple of movies, stick it in a food processor and pulse that baby until its chopped up into bits and chunky. You do NOT want to turn it into a paste. Trust me you want that texture to be there.
6. Let it cool off and enjoy! I have been informed by the boyfriend that it would likely taste good on english muffins (hint hint). So English muffins will be next on my hit list!
Anyway we've already previewed this jam and its fantastic and I'll be passing it out to friends tomorrow! New christmas gifts possibly?
Friday, August 23, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
What to do... what to do
So.... I figured what the heck. Why not post about some of the things I make. If nothing else it gives me something to refer to later on.
Needed something sweet tonight AND I wanted to try a gluten free recipe for future guests. Im a cake and pie kinda girl but that doesn't always work for everyone. bummer.
So In the freezer I had some uber ripe bananas that I was going to make into banana bread, but that felt like a lot of work for a tuesday. After a glass of wine. And its hot and humid. And I have this ice cream maker. Sooooooo.......
Banana Ice Cream. OMG YUM TYVM!
It passed the boyfriend test with flying colors. Could be better with chocolate. Or nuts. But then again what isn't?
So the recipe? I kinda tweaked three or four recipes to make something semi edible since I didn't have enough cream and only two bananas. But it came out quite fine anyway. (eventually I will learn to add pics to this)
1. Take some nice and ripe (read black) bananas from the freezer and let thaw for 45mins to an hour. You want them to be smooshable. I used two but you could use more if you want more of a banana-ery flavor.
2. Mix in about 1cup of sugar. I stuck it in the stand mixer. I love that thing. I want flame decals for it someday. Mix it till the sugar is all smooshed up with the banana.
3. Add about 2 to 2.5 cups of milk. (I eyeball things sometimes. That's terrible I know. Im a terrible terrible person, but I can live with that). Anyway mix that in till the banana is all swirled in there.
4. Then add about 2 cups of heavy cream, mix that in slowly, we don't want butter or whipped cream ice cream (I've done it by mistake, not as good as you might think) And while you're at it throw in about 1/2 to 1 tbsp of vanilla. I think it adds a nice flavor.
5. Once those are all mixed together throw it into your ice cream maker. (if you dont have one GET ONE. BEST. THING. EVER.) and let the machine do its thing until you have a nice soft serve style ice ceram on your hands. About 30-40 mins on mine (it was hot and humid today remember?)
6. Empty that bad boy into a container and put some plastic wrap against the cream (it will prevent ice crystals that will make it yucky) and stick that in the freezer until its firmed up.
7. EAT IT. Enjoy. Share. Make some more
Ingredients:
2-4 really ripe (and smooshable) bananas (mine were frozen and then thawed)
1c. sugar (can use splenda, let me know how that turns out!)
2- 2 1/2c. whole milk (could probably use low fat milk, I don't know. Try it, let me know)
2c. heavy cream
1tbsp vanilla
Needed something sweet tonight AND I wanted to try a gluten free recipe for future guests. Im a cake and pie kinda girl but that doesn't always work for everyone. bummer.
So In the freezer I had some uber ripe bananas that I was going to make into banana bread, but that felt like a lot of work for a tuesday. After a glass of wine. And its hot and humid. And I have this ice cream maker. Sooooooo.......
Banana Ice Cream. OMG YUM TYVM!
It passed the boyfriend test with flying colors. Could be better with chocolate. Or nuts. But then again what isn't?
So the recipe? I kinda tweaked three or four recipes to make something semi edible since I didn't have enough cream and only two bananas. But it came out quite fine anyway. (eventually I will learn to add pics to this)
1. Take some nice and ripe (read black) bananas from the freezer and let thaw for 45mins to an hour. You want them to be smooshable. I used two but you could use more if you want more of a banana-ery flavor.
2. Mix in about 1cup of sugar. I stuck it in the stand mixer. I love that thing. I want flame decals for it someday. Mix it till the sugar is all smooshed up with the banana.
3. Add about 2 to 2.5 cups of milk. (I eyeball things sometimes. That's terrible I know. Im a terrible terrible person, but I can live with that). Anyway mix that in till the banana is all swirled in there.
4. Then add about 2 cups of heavy cream, mix that in slowly, we don't want butter or whipped cream ice cream (I've done it by mistake, not as good as you might think) And while you're at it throw in about 1/2 to 1 tbsp of vanilla. I think it adds a nice flavor.
5. Once those are all mixed together throw it into your ice cream maker. (if you dont have one GET ONE. BEST. THING. EVER.) and let the machine do its thing until you have a nice soft serve style ice ceram on your hands. About 30-40 mins on mine (it was hot and humid today remember?)
6. Empty that bad boy into a container and put some plastic wrap against the cream (it will prevent ice crystals that will make it yucky) and stick that in the freezer until its firmed up.
7. EAT IT. Enjoy. Share. Make some more
Ingredients:
2-4 really ripe (and smooshable) bananas (mine were frozen and then thawed)
1c. sugar (can use splenda, let me know how that turns out!)
2- 2 1/2c. whole milk (could probably use low fat milk, I don't know. Try it, let me know)
2c. heavy cream
1tbsp vanilla
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