Deep Fried Bacon Stuffed Chicken

I've been eating so much "healthy" food recently, I nearly forgot what's really healthy. Bacon! So, I thought- "How can I make bacon really HEALTHY". Deep fry it, of course. I've already used wonton skins for such a thing, and I wanted to do something different. That's when the lightbulb turned on. What if I stuffed the bacon inside chicken? What if I also added cheese, and some spiced jam? What if I took all that, rolled it up, then breaded it in a cornflake crust? That sounds healthy to me.

Chicken Breast
Bacon, pre-cooked
Apricot Jam
mixed with a small amount of crushed hot pepper
Smoked Gouda Cheese
2 Tbs. Flour
4 Tbs. Milk
Cornflake Crumbs

Pound a chicken breast to about 1/4 inch thickness. Spread a bit of the spiced jam on top of chicken, then a layer of cheese, and finally, top with pre-cooked bacon. Roll the chicken tightly, and hold together with toothpicks.

In a small bowl, combine flour and milk. Dip rolled chicken in mix, then roll in cornflake crumbs. If you have time, let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Fry at 365 for 6-8 minutes, depending on how thick your roll is.

*If you don't have corn flake crumbs, you can use bread crumbs. Add a bit of salt and sugar to flour mix if you do.

Bacon Filled Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef, grass-fed 15% fat

1/2 lb ground turkey, mix of dark and white

1 cup ground tomato

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1/2 tabelspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon pepper

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

6 thick slices of bacon

6 thick slices of bacon!

Ketchup

Fried Onions, optional

I was having a conversation the other day about the need for another post about bacon. Somehow the subject veered to meatloaf, and I thought, 'great, meatloaf often has bacon on top of it!' That was when the light bulb went off. Yes, meatloaf often has bacon on top, but I've never seen a recipe with bacon INSIDE! Thus, a new and exciting dish was born. Bacon Filled Meatloaf.

Begin by dicing the first 6 slices of bacon. Remove some of the extra fat. Add to a frying pan over medium-high heat. Render bacon until it just begins to crisp, about 3-4 minutes. This will help the texture of the meatloaf greatly. Drain rendered fat, saving it for another day.

Place the almost crisp bacon in a large bowl, and add all other ingredients save the other bacon slices, ketchup, and fried onions. Mix well (best done with your hands!), and let rest for an hour at room temperature. Don't skip the resting. Trust me, you'll be sad if you do. The mix needs time to let the breadcrumbs and meat absorb all the seasonings. If you don't let it rest, you'll end up with a strange textured loaf and a pool of sauce at the bottom. See? Sadness.

Put rested mixture in a loaf pan. Put loaf pan in a 375 degree oven. After a half hour, remove from oven and carefully drain most of the melted fat. Cover top of loaf with a layer of ketchup, then cover pan with foil. Return to oven and cook additional 30 minutes, removing foil for the final five.

At some point, cook the additional slices of bacon.

Rest, covered, for 10-15 minutes. Again, you'll be sad if you don't do this. After resting, cut into slices to serve. Top with a little more ketchup or crushed tomatoes, just a dab. Top that with extra bacon (crumbled), and, if you'd like, some canned fried onions.

Note: This one is still a work in progress. I'm going to play a bit with fresh onions and garlic, though I do like the convenience of using powdered. This was made using thick sliced bacon, so if you only have thin, use more.

Meatloaf is a million times better the next day. I'm not saying you have to wait a whole day to dig in, just that you should dig in again the next day.

Technique: Freezing Bacon

When you read my blog, you probably think all is great in my kitchen. Pretty true, but I have a problem, a big problem. I have too much bacon. You see, I'm a fella who lives alone. Sure, sometimes I'll cook a big meal that involves a fair amount of bacon, but, the reality is, I usually have more bacon than I know what to do with. More than four slices of bacon per serving is gluttonous. Bacon every day isn't very good for you. But leaving extra bacon to go bad in the fridge isn't very good for you, either. Have a problem, find a solution. My solution: freeze the bacon.

I don't know why I'd never thought of this before. So much bacon gone to waste or waist. Poor tasty pigs. Poor gluttonous belly, overstuffed with bacon. Well, that's not a problem anymore. This simple solution will allow you to have bacon on hand whenever you need it. Whether you just need a slice to enhance a dish, or if you're going for a full breakfast, just open your fridge!

Here's what you do:

1: Set aside two to four slices of bacon. You'll see why soon.

2: Lay out a sheet of parchment paper.

3: Place bacon on paper, leaving a slice-sized space in between each one.

4: Roll parchment over each slice, stacking on top of each other.

5: Wrap parchment roll in heavy foil. This will prevent freezer burn.

6: Place the wrap in a plastic freezer bag. This will keep nasty smells away from tasty bacon!

7: Place in freezer. The roll will keep for three months, but I doubt it will last that long. Use as needed.

8: Cook the bacon you set aside and eat it. You can't work with bacon without enjoying some!

Saturday Special: I Love This

My friend Nico found this on xkcd.com.

I would like to add another line on the graph representing happiness of the belly, which would go up exponentially as bacon consumption increased.

French Beans With Bacon

1/3 Pound French Beans, use string beans in necessary
2-3 Slices Bacon
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Shallot, diced
1/2 Sweet Bell Pepper, diced
Salt

Goodness, this is a tasty one. It's a nice compromise dish, too. You get to eat some healthy veg, but there's a little bacon, too.

Begin by dicing two (or three...) slices of bacon. Cook over medium heat until bacon turns a nice mahagony. Remove bacon to a paper towel, and drain off most of the fat, leaving about two tablespoons.

Add garlic, shallots, and beans. Cook for about four minutes, until the beans begin to show a bright green color. Add diced bell pepper, and cook another minute. Add bacon, a pinch of salt, toss, and serve.

BBQ Chicken with Bacon and Cheese!

Chicken Breast

Bacon

Your Favorite Cheese

BBQ Sauce

This one couldn't be easier.  It couldn't be more delicious, either.  It could be less kosher, if you use pork chops, I suppose.  Still, it's pretty unkosher, too.

Cook bacon.  You can use store bough, pre-cooked bacon if you'd like.  Cook chicken.  If you decide to cook the bacon, you can cook the chicken in a little of the bacon fat.  It makes for tasty chicken!

Place cooked chicken on foil.  Spread a layer of your favorite BBQ sauce atop chicken.  Add two slices of bacon to that.  Top with your favorite cheese- I used muenster.  Put it under a broiler or in toaster oven.  Let cheese brown.

See.  Easy.

Technique: Makin' Bacon

This blog was inspired by my good friend Karen, over at Off the (Meat) Hook. Karen writes a really excellent blog about all things carnivorous. Check it out if you have a minute.

Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Possibly the most delicious of all meat. Salty, fatty, smoky. Pure goodness. Yet messy, and, for many people, hard to cook right. Here's a good technique from your friend Hal B.

Wrap a cookie sheet in foil. Strictly speaking, you don't have to do this, but it will save you a whole lot of cleaning up! If you have parchment paper, you can add a layer of that over the foil for more even cooking, but, no worries if you don't. After that, place a single layer of bacon. Cover the bottom of another pan with foil, place over the bacon, and weigh that pan down with bricks, rocks, bobble-heads, whatever. I know it seems like a bit of work- trust me, it's going to end up saving you a lot of time in the clean-up. Plus, the bacon will rock.

Put the whole hullabaloo into a 350 degree oven. Cook for 8 minutes, rotate, cook for another 8 minutes. Remove the bacon, pat down with paper towel, sit down, eat bacon. You can strain the rendered fat and use it for lots of tasty things, like cooking eggs to go with your bacon. Do it!

Note: Cooking time will depend on the thickness and quality of your bacon. I'd recommend a thicker cut, and try to avoid the over-processed Oscar Meyer type bacon. If it's undercooked after the cooking time, just take the top sheet off and cook another minute or two.