Maple Bacon Cupcakes and more…

In my quest to find the best ways to use our year’s supply of bacon, I stumbled onto this recipe in Oprah’s magazine that sounds devine.

Gayle King says: “”Best thing I ate while judging the Vendy Awards—a cook-off among New York’s incredible street food vendors—this fall: the Cupcake Crew’s maple bacon cupcake. I knew I liked maple and that I also like bacon, but who knew how much I’d like them together?”— Gayle King

You can find out more about the Cupcake Crew and where they’ll be serving cupcakes (in the Big Apple only) on their website or Facebook page.

Cupcake Crew's - Maple Bacon Cupcake

Photo by: Molly Rundberg

And here’s a link to the recipe on Oprah.com.

Have you ever had a cupcake like this?  If so, what did you think? I’ll let you know our vote when we have a chance to try it out.

Oh, and did I tell you that my husband took Chocolate Dipped Bacon to a work potluck the other day?  It was a big hit!  Sadly, I forgot to get a picture of it.  I know, can you believe it!  I forgot!

It was super simple.

A pound of (Oscar Mayer, of course) Super Thick Cut Bacon, cut into thirds – cook until starting to crisp, but not overdone.  It will cook more after you take it out of the pan.

A container of dipping chocolate (this is what I had on hand).

Melt chocolate according to package directions.

Once the bacon is crisp and cooled and the chocolate is melted and still warm, dip as much of the bacon as you want in the chocolate.  We left about half of each piece of bacon exposed so the chocolate flavor didn’t overwhelm the bacon.  Set it on wax paper to cool, then arrange on a plate to serve.  Of course you could add sprinkles or nuts or whatever, but I prefer the pure chocolate and bacon flavors.

This photo from the Taste of Aloha website looks most like what we made.

Hey and next time you see a great bacon recipe, don’t forget to pass it along.

Fort Myers, FL (Part 5) – This and That

Here are some places we visited just for fun.

We had a chance to “meet” Alice’s pets on Friday night.  Aren’t they the cutest little ones?  Lacey is a Pomeranian, but Alice keeps her trimmed really short (except her tail).  I really love the look.  She looks like a miniature fox.

And Charlie, the cat was given to her by her neighbor.  He’s a beauty, isn’t he?  He’s about twice the size of our cat, Shredder.

Diane was warming up for a fun evening.  She looks a little messy from the rain that fell earlier that night.  It’s amazing what humidity does to your hair.  I forget about that when we live here.

Saturday Alice took us to Norman Love Confections and it was wonderful!  Norman even came out and talked with us.  His chocolate is delicious!  Look at those gorgeous desserts!  I couldn’t talk anyone in our group into splitting one with me…bummer.

We also went to Manatee Park to see if we could get a glimpse of those interesting creatures.  We were able to see them poke their noses and tails (photo above) out of the water.  Sadly the cold weather there in the last month is taking it’s toll on this endangered species.

Made a quick stop at the Shell Factory and saw hundreds of shells of all shapes and sizes.   The store is pretty kitchy, but a fun place to visit. Look how cute my mom looks here.

While passing through town one day, we made a quick stop to see the Banyan tree at the site of the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford summer homes.  You can see Diane and Alice standing in the center.  Remember this is just ONE tree.  They’re all over southwestern Florida.  The homeowners keep them trimmed, but they are so unusual looking.

Several times while we were there we had to cross the Caloosahatchee River between Fort Myers and North Fort Myers.  It’s a huge river!  There seemed to be water everywhere we went.  We were never quite sure if we were looking at a river, a canal, the Gulf of Mexico or some other body of water.

We had dinner overlooking the beach. It was beautiful.  This is the view from our dinner table.  Doesn’t this look like a preview of the Spring Break crowd?

And here’s the view down the beach.

Here’s Diane daydreaming that she could live in Florida.  She couldn’t stop talking about moving there.  I told her she’d better go visit for a while in the summer before she made a final decision.  I can’t quite imagine 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity.  Can you say “stifling”?

So I leave you with a beautiful sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.  I hope you enjoyed the quick tour.  Tomorrow’s post will be about our cruise to Cabbage Key.

How would you feel about living in Florida?

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Happy Mother’s Day to all!
We’re having a busy weekend so I’ll have lots of pics to post as the week goes along, but wanted to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.

As is the custom in our home, I woke up to a delicious breakfast of steak, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, juice and coffee. Before today, I asked Terry to cut back on the size of the meal because I can never finish it. So he didn’t make hash browns. 🙂

Notice that Shredder is sitting in my chair. We were debating about whether she thought it was HER Mother’s Day breakfast or she was guarding it until I was ready to sit down. In any case, she moved over to her own chair and I gave her a few treats since she is a mother too after all.

I love my gifts too! I got hydrangeas which are my favorite flower in the whole world. I wish they would grow here. Does anyone have any tips on keeping them alive in the desert? I also got dark chocolate, mmmmm. And although we don’t normally do “real gifts” on Mother’s Day, Terry got me a gift card for Christopher & Banks. What an amazing husband I have! He spoils me rotten.

Kevin just emailed a bit ago to say that the phones at the base are all backed up so he’ll have to call later. It was good to hear from him and we’ll look forward to talking to him soon. Amy just called and we got to visit a little too. I love my kids and am privileged to call them mine.

So we’re off to Hope & Steve’s for the Perkins family Mother’s Day gathering. Of course, I’ll have more pics from that gathering too, so watch for more to come soon…

Enjoy your day moms and pamper your wives and mothers, guys.