Spicy Bacon Bloody Mary and Bacon-Infused Vodka

So, do you remember a few days ago when I was all excited to wrap #BaconMonth up with a neat little bow? I told you that the 31st was International Bacon Day, making it the perfect close to a month-long bacon fest? Turns out, I lied. Not purposefully—it was due to a mistake on a website that lists food holidays (it was actually the 30th, and the Saturday before Labor Day). Consider my bubble burst.

Ultimately, though, even if my bow is a little crooked and wonky (believe me, that's nothing new), it was still an amazing month. I also mentioned a raising of glasses, and that is still on! This Bloody Mary was the majority of bacon month in-the-making. I know have a jar of vodka infused with the flavor of bacon sitting pretty in my fridge. I'm pretty sure that calls for a Bloody Mary a day all weekend long. How perfect is it that this is a long weekend, by the way!?

I like my Bloody Mary with a kick, so I start out with spicy tomato juice or V8. From there I add more spice. You can always tame it down if you don't like as much heat by using regular tomato juice and/or leaving out the horseradish and hot sauce. But that's no fun.

Maple Bacon Doughnut Holes

It's official, school is back in session. I watch the cats suspiciously eye the hush that has settled over the house as I sip my coffee. Although I think it's too soon for school to be back in session (I'm an after-Labor-Day cheerleader), it is nice to fall back into a routine after a loose summer.

I would like to say that routine includes popping doughnut holes in my mouth while formulating recipes and writing stories to accompany them, but it doesn't. And truthfully, that's a good thing. One (me) can only handle doughnuts sporadically these days. So really, it's more likely that doughnuts will happen on the weekend when people besides me are home to eat them.

Case-in-point, these little fried dough balls of delight. Basically, they're raised doughnuts infused with real maple syrup and bacon. After you fry them, you drop them into a snow drift of powdered sugar and shake. The result is nothing short of dangerous.

Black Bean and Bacon Flautas

Last month flew by so quickly that I wasn't able to hang out in the kitchen with my foodie bff, Leslie for she made, ella hace. But we're back this month, and you'll never guess what ingredient we decided to bring with us! Okay, maybe you will. I mean, I've only been using the same ingredient in full-force all month long. Mmm hmm, it's BACON!

Fortunately, when I asked Leslie if she'd mind if we chose bacon {as if} as our theme this month, she said that she was thinking the same thing. See, there's a reason why she and I get along so well.

When trying to decide what I wanted to share today, I knew I wanted it to be something with a Mexican twist. You may know that we eat Mexican food on a regular basis. We also eat bacon on a regular basis. But when thinking about it, I was hard-pressed to think of a time when the two were combined. Huh.

Chicken Scaloppine w/ Bacon

Juicy chicken infused with the flavors of bacon and garlic. The end.

Okay, not the end - but it would totally be enough said, don't you think? I mean, maybe I could just say...

Both this juicy chicken and the tender-crisp bed of green beans it is perched on are infused with the flavors of bacon, garlic, and white wine . The end.

I don't know about you, but either of those sentences would send me flying to the dinner table. The same is true for my family. This is such an incredibly simple meal. I mean, four ingredients (plus a little salt and pepper). Five ingredients if you count the green beans, which are a side dish and entirely optional. I recommend just thinking of them as part of the process. I mean, swirling them around in the bacony sauce that smothers everything is a blissful bit of magic all in itself.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates stuffed w/ Blue Cheese & Smoked Almonds

In my family, we have a couple of favorite holiday appetizers and nibbles. Okay, maybe more than a couple, but let's just go with it. Those appetizers are both wrapped in bacon. I wonder why everybody loves them so?

The first are bacon-wrapped water chestnuts. Looking back over the last 5-1/2 years of recipes that I've shares here, I'm dumbfounded that I have never shared them before. The recipe is simple, and it's one of the longest-running recipes in my family. Generations upon generations have been clamoring around the oven for them to finish cooking during family holiday get togethers. Mental note - share them SOON.

The other bacon-wrapped nibble is one that I started making 12 years ago, give or take. They don't have the longevity of the water chestnuts (yet), but check back with me in 50 years. Again, they're so simple to make, and even simpler to pop in  your mouth.

Bean, Bacon, and Tomato Bake

This is not the prettiest dish on the shelf. At least not after it's baked. It's pretty gorgeous beforehand, actually. At a glance, the pan straight from the oven is rustic and humble. But, you know what? Those are actually my favorite kind of dishes. You could serve this atop some nice crusty sourdough, perhaps that's been charred a bit on the grill. But since I had just pulled a warm loaf of Ciabatta from the oven, I sliced it to go alongside.

I wound up scooping spoonfuls of the mixture onto slices of the Ciabatta. It was a messy job, but somebody had to do it. Seriously, even though warm tomato juices escaped through the holes, the textures and flavors played so perfectly together. You know how something is so good that you are confident you won't stop eating until every last morsel is gone? These beans baked with tomatoes, garlic, and bacon are just like that.

Though you may not be able to tell by the photos, the beans are beautifully creamy, and laced with the smokiness of bacon. Whole garlic cloves turn spreadable. Soft green sprigs of oregano whisper tales of the fertile earth from which they sprung. Bright tomatoes burst with a warmth that mimics the steamy summer evenings that currently envelop us.

Flourless Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies

So, a few days ago I mentioned that I'll be taking part in a bacon hijinks, a celebration of all that is bacon, otherwise known as Bacon Month! My goal is to share at least two recipes that highlight bacon each week. I thought I'd start with dessert. Afterall, one can make the argument that with bacon in it, it's sort of like eating breakfast.

Since my childhood, warm peanut butter cookies fresh from the oven have been a favorite of mine. I've always loved making them...rolling the dough into balls, cross-hatching them with a fork, biting into the warm, tender cookie and washing it down with some cold milk. Mmmm!

Although I really do prefer a peanut butter cookie made with flour, I'm always amazed by how quickly the flourless variety like the one I'm sharing today (or this one) come together. I find that the thing with flourless cookies are, they have a bit more of a sandy texture, and they fall apart quicker (storing well for less time) than their with-flour counterparts.

Bacon Month 2014!

It's August, and that means it's BACON MONTH!

I know what you're thinking (because when I mentioned Bacon Month on social media a couple of weeks ago, I received all sorts of replies of the sort) - Isn't every month Bacon Month!? That's a sentiment that I can't argue with. But let's just call this a "more prominent month of bacon", mkay?

I mean, it's not every month that can you see almost 20 bloggers unite to share 2...3...even 4 bacon-centered posts each during a week. Right!? And that is exactly what will be happening during the month of August. Hence, BACON MONTH!

So yes, my goal is to share at least 2 baconrific posts each week, all month long. Each post will contain a "linky" at the bottom, so that you can see, progressively, all of the bacon recipes coming together throughout the month.  Plus, each week we'll be holding a new giveaway in which a cookbook centered around bacon will be up for grabs! If you're doing the math, that means we're giving away 4 Baconlicious cookbooks. Each giveaway will be open for only 1 week. The giveaway widgets are located at the bottom of this post, with the first one open at the top, and so forth. Be sure to come back each week to enter (don't worry, I'll give a reminder and the link to this post in each of my weekly bacon posts). A huge thanks goes out to our host, Julie from White Lights on Wednesday for bringing us all together and taking care of the nitty-gritty.