Saturday, January 2, 2010

Bacon-Wrapped Pineapple

1 lb. bacon
1 can large chunk pineapple
1/2 c. brown sugar

Set your oven to 375F.

Cut the pound of bacon in half. Put the brown sugar in a shallow bowl. Take a half a slice of bacon and dredge it through the brown sugar. Put a chunk of pineapple on one end of the bacon slice and roll up. Secure with a toothpick.

Put a cookie cooling rack into a foil-lined jelly roll pan. Lay the bacon pineapple bundles onto the rack.

Bake for at least 25 minutes, or until the bacon looks brown and crispy. You can pop them under the broiler for the last few minutes just to get them really crisp. But watch out – the sugar will burn!

from: Tasty Kitchen website

Sweet Red Pepper Jelly

3/4 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
3 tablespoons pectin
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vinegar
50 drops or 1/4 teaspoon red food coloring
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
dash cayenne pepper
dash garlic powder
dash paprika
1/4 cup minced red bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced canned jalapeno peppers

Combine all the ingredients except the bell and minced jalapeno peppers in a small saucepan. Whisk well.

Set saucepan over medium/high heat, uncovered. Add peppers and bring mixture to a full boil, stirring often.

Reduce heat and simmer sauce for 5 to 7 minutes, or until thick. Remove from heat and let sauce sit for about 10 minutes. Stir and cover.

Use sauce when it reaches room temperature or cover and chill until needed.

Makes 1 cup.

Audrey's little note: Serve this sauce with bacon-wrapped jalapenos. Yum.

from: Famous Tasty Recipes site

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapenos

20 whole fresh jalapenos, 2-3 inches in size
2 cubes cream cheese, softened
1 pound thin (regular) bacon, sliced into thirds

If you have them, slip on some latex gloves for the pepper prep…

Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT). Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half. Wrap jalapeno with bacon pieces (1/3 slice). Secure by sticking toothpick through the middle. (At this point, you can freeze them, uncooked, in a Ziploc bag for later use).

Bake on a pan with a rack in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You don’t want the bacon to shrink so much it starts to the squeeze the jalapeno. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of bite to it.

Audrey's little note: These are very tasty with this knockoff of Arby's Broncoberry Sauce.

from: Pioneer Woman