Bakin' Bacon

In case no one has ever shared the secret to easy bacon, I will let you in on this.  I am surprised that I did not know about this until I was well into my 20's with a husband and 2 kids.  We eat a lot of bacon, but I always hated how long it took to make, and need I mention the mess, the splatters, the burned spots on my hands and arms.  I viewed it as a labor of love.  Once I heard I could just place my bacon in the oven, I had to try it out immediately.  I'm sure Husband loved me a lot more after all the bacon I was making. 

All you need to do is get a baking sheet or two.  Make sure this has edges, no cookie sheets.  Bakin' you bacon will make grease and you don't want that all over your oven, trust me.  Depending on how thick your bacon is, you might be able to use one baking pan per pound.  The bacon I get needs about 1 1/2 sheets per pound.  If you need to, you can even use a 9x13 cake pan.

Line your baking sheets with aluminum foil.  I tried to skip this step to have less waste and my bacon stuck to my pans.  I'm not sure if it's my old pans, but I need to line them.  Using aluminum foil makes for easy cleanup anyways.

Put your bacon on the sheets.  You can make designs if you want.  Weave them together to create a small sheet of bacon for a sandwich, or shape them into hearts or letters for a special treat.  Hearts are nice on Valentine's day.

Place your bacon in a cold oven and then turn it on to preheat to 350℉.  You want to start with a cold oven so that the bacon can cook slow.  Set your timer for 15 minutes.  If it's not as done as you want it, add 5 more minutes to the timer and check again.  Keep an eye on it and check frequently as it gets close to done so you don't over cook it.  I keep my bacon in the oven for about 20 minutes.  If there is a lot of grease after 15 minutes, I will drain it, but that isn't very often.

 

Remove the bacon from the sheets right away so it doesn't continue to cook.  Place the bacon on some paper towels to drain the excess fat.

 

Then save the grease (if you like to use bacon grease).  I save mine in canning jars with reusable storage lids.  You can find wide mouth lids here and standard mouth lids here.  I use them all the time.  They can even be used for freezer storage (like freezer jam).  I use the standard size the most since I have homemade jam and salsa.

 

Once the pans have cooled, crumble up the aluminum foil and throw it away.  Then the clean up is done.

 

Just think of all the ways you'll use bacon now that it's easier to cook.  I like to use it in baked beans.  I will also make extra and crumble it.  Then I place it in a freezer bag and store it in the freezer until I want crumbled bacon for salad or potatoes.

My Favorite Potato Soup Recipe

This tastes so much like Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana and I love being able to cook it in the crock pot.  I can't stand kale, but I'm all for the nutritional benefits of it.  If it's cooked into a soup, I can't taste the bitterness or strong taste of it.  I also use whole milk in my potato soups.  It's what we have on hand.  I also don't think I need to add salt and pepper, the Italian sausage has enough seasoning for us.  This soup goes great with homemade focaccia bread.

First, sauté the sausage and onion

 

While the sausage is browning, I cut the onions and put them in the crock pot.



 

I add everything else to the crock pot except the kale and milk.  Those get saved for right before we serve it.

 



 

Add the chopped kale and milk.  Once it's warmed back up, it's ready to serve.

 

Crock Pot Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients

• 1 lb Italian Sausage
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3-5 medium russet potatoes, cut into bit size pieces
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 cups water
• 16 ozs of chicken broth
• 2 c kale, chopped
• 1 c heavy whipping cream or milk 
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a medium sized skillet, sauté the Italian sausage with the onion and red pepper flakes.
2. Place the potatoes, garlic, chicken broth, and water into your crockpot.   Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3-4.
3. 30 minutes before serving, with crock pot on low, add in the kale and heavy cream or milk.  Season with salt and pepper.  Let the soup heat through and serve.