Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops with Bleu Cheese

Last week I bought some pork chops.  I don't know why I bought them since I really don't like pork chops, and I really don't cook them very well.  But it was probably because my husband said that he didn't want to eat chicken anymore. 

So I had the pork chops, but I didn't know what to do with them.

And then it came to me - wrap it in bacon!  My husband would be thrilled because: (1) it wasn't chicken; and (2) it was wrapped in his favorite thing, bacon!  And he was thrilled.  But he said the ingredient that pulled this meal together wasn't the bacon, it was the bleu cheese on top of the bacon.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Chops with Bleu Cheese
Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops, cleaned and trimmed and seasoned with salt and pepper
8 pieces of bacon
optional (but highly recommended): crumbled bleu cheese

Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 425 F.  Wrap each pork chop in two slices of bacon and place the wrapped chops on a baking sheet.

Place bacon wrapped pork into oven at 425F for 15-20 mins depending on how thick your chop is.  Drop temperature of oven to 350 F and cook chops for about 5-10 mins long, again, depending on how thick your chops is.  Remove chops from oven.  If using the cheese, turn on broiler and sprinkle chops with your desired amount of bleu cheese.  If there is excess grease on your pan, you should remove it before placing the pan back into the oven.  Place chops under broiler for a few minutes, carefully watching to make sure there is no burning or grease splatter.  Remove after desired meltage/browning has occurred.

Enjoy!

Updated: I'm linking up to bouffe e bambini's linky party!

Bacon 'n Brussel Sprouts

Q: How do you get the Husband to eat brussel sprouts?

A: Add bacon!

So that is just what I did!  I got the idea from my friends on Facebook when I put out a call for ideas for a green veggie for Thanksgiving.  Someone suggested brussel sprouts . . . with bacon.  I knew that was a winner because every time I ask the Husband if he likes a dish he says "you should add bacon" or "it needs bacon".

I couldn't find any recipe that I loved.  Everything was too fancy and contained too many ingredients.  I just wanted sweet and simple.  So I simply cooked the bacon, added the sprouts, and served it.  It came out yummy and they were all gone by the day after Thanksgiving!

Bacon 'n Brussel Sprouts
Ingredients:
3 - 3.5 lbs brussel sprouts, halved and trimmed
1 lb bacon, preferably thick cut
1-3 T olive oil
salt and pepper

 

Directions

• Cook bacon in a large skillet until browned to your liking.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked bacon from the skillet to a paper towel lined plate.  Leave the bacon fat in the skillet and add more oil to the skillet if necessary (AFC note: you want to be able to lightly coat all of the sprouts.  I only had to add a little bit of oil because I had a bunch of bacon fat).  

• Add the brussel sprouts to the skillet, stirring so they get coated with the oil.  Keep the heat on med-hi and let the sprouts cook and brown, giving it a stir to make sure they are cooking evenly.  Cook until tender and browned to your liking.

Devour!!

P.S. I'm linking up to the blog hops at Mess for Less and Punkin Head and Dooda Loo's

Tuesday Edition: Kitchen Tip

Every time I make a meal I ask the Husband whether he likes it.  He has three standard answers: "sure", "yeah, I do like it" and silence.  Silence is the worst and when I ask him again, he plays it off like he didn't here me.  But I know he did.  To give him an out I usually say something like "should I make it again?" and then he usually 'fesses up and says no.

If he says "sure", it means that it is edible.

If he says "yeah I do like it", it means that he really does like it.

My next question to him is then "what can I do to make it taste even better?"  His answer is always, always, always, BACON.  Ugh!!

Don't get me wrong.  I love bacon.  But I am trying to, you know, stay healthy and not go up a size in my clothes!  But this past holiday weekend (and after I had a particularly tough workout), I decided to treat the Husband, the Toddler (she loves bacon too) and myself to bacon cheeseburgers on the grill.  Yum!

But these weren't just any bacon cheeseburgers.  These burgers had bacon and cheese IN the burger.  I found a fabulous butcher who makes all these fancy burgers and so I bought 3 along with 1/4lb bacon.  And since I was grilling, I decided to grill the bacon as well.  I had never done it, never read about doing it, but figured since you can grill just about anything, you could grill bacon. 

What you do: throw bacon on grill.  Keep flipping bacon until you get your desired crispiness.

Result: the most wonderful, crunchy, crispy, delicious bacon!  And, bonus:  no stinky house since you are grilling outdoors!  Love it.


I don't have a picture of just the bacon...we actually ate it too fast.  And actually, the pictures above are from the second time I made bacon cheeseburgers over the weekend.  They were so good that we had to have them again!!  But I will share a picture of the burger with you:

notice the chips in the background?  well if you are going to eat poorly, you gotta do it all the way!