So, the annual Bring It With Bacon Party that my friend throws was this past weekend. It's a lot of fun. Everyone brings a dish of some kind made with bacon. Last year I won with my bacon-pecan sweet potatoes (see previous post for recipe). This year, I didn't win the trophy, but I came in 4th place (out of about 20 dishes) with an easy bacon peach cobbler. I forgot to take a photo of it before I left the party, but here's the recipes, and it got RAVE reviews. And it's SUPER easy to make.

• 1 large can of sliced peaches (I like the light syrup, but hubby likes it in heavy syrup), about 15 oz.
• 1 box of white or yellow cake mix
• 6 slices of bacon, diced and cooked (or use a half bag of Oscar Meyer real bacon pieces)
• Cinnamon to taste
• 1 stick of butter or margarine (I prefer using real butter)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree (F).
2. Dump the peaches, liquid and all, into a 9 x 13 baking dish.
3. Dump dry cake mix evenly over the top of peaches.
4. Sprinkle cooked bacon over dry cake mix. Press down a little.
5. Sprinkle top with cinnamon BEFORE doing next step.
6. Cut butter into pats and place on top.
7. Bake in 350 degree (F) oven for 50-60 minutes.
8. Let cool slightly before serving. I like this served warm or cold. The mixture of cake mix and butter turns into a crunchy crust on top of the peaches. YUMMY!!!

By the way, this is really good without the bacon too, but who doesn't like bacon???

Here is a recipe I get lots of requests for. It's a favorite wherever I take it. Enjoy!

BACON-PECAN SWEET POTATOES
3-5 fresh sweet potatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 stick butter (softened)
12 oz. package of precooked bacon
1/2 cup pecan pieces

Peel and cube sweet potatoes, boil until tender. Mash with 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. (If you used canned sweet potatoes, cut back on the sugar.) Place mashed sweet potatoes into small greased baking pan (8x8 or similar). Blend 1/4 cup brown sugar with 2 Tbsp. softened butter. Mix pecans and bacon pieces into sugar mixture and sprinkle over top of sweet potatoes. Place under broiler for 5-10 minutes.

Everything is better with bacon, right? I ran across this crazy idea for apple-bacon muffins in a 1940s issue of Woman's Day magazine while doing some research for our local historical society's newsletter. It just happened that our church had our annual Mother-Daughter Tea just a few weeks later and we were serving muffins (pictured below), so I whipped up a couple of batches. Mmmm, were they good. The applesauce kind of merges with the muffin batter to make a nice, moist muffin, and the bacon on top gives it a bit of a salty flavor for a nice mix of sweet and salty.

To make a dozen muffins, you'll need a cup of applesauce (I used natural, unsweetened) and a bag of Oscar-Mayer Real Bacon Bits. Follow the recipe below for muffins, put a couple tablespoons of muffin batter in each muffin cup (about a quarter of the muffin cup), followed by a teaspoon of applesauce, and topped with another tablespoon or two of muffin batter. Then sprinkle a half a Tablespoon of bacon bits on top before baking following the instructions for the recipe.

Here's my "from scratch" muffin recipe from an old USDA Homemakers Cookbook my mama gave me years ago:

MUFFINS (makes 12)

• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup oil or melted shortening
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup sugar

Beat egg until yolk and white are well blended. Blend in milk and fat. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Add liquid and stir until dry ingredients are barely moistened. Do not overmix. Batter should be lumpy. Fill greased or lined muffin tins half full of batter. Bake at 400° F (hot oven) 20 to 25 minutes.

Here are a few other variations to the recipe:

Blueberry muffins -Increase sugar to ½ cup. Lightly blend ¾ cup fresh or drained canned blueberries when combining liquid and dry incredients. Do not crush berries.

Bran muffins - Reduce flour to 1¼ cups. Mix 2 cups of bran flakes or raisin bran cereal with dry ingredients before adding liquid.

Oatmeal Raisin muffins - Reduce flour to 1¼ cups. Mix 1 cup quick rolled oats and ½ cup raisins with dry ingredients before adding liquid.

This is probably one of my favorite recipes from the Curves Complete program. I use low-carb whole wheat flour tortillas because I'm not a big fan of corn tortillas, and a couple of other "free" alterations.

Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 medium onion
• 2 oz fresh spinach leaves
• 8 tortillas
• 1 cup green enchilada sauce (or tomatillo salsa)
• 8 oz light mozzarella cheese (sometimes I substitute queso blanca)
• 8 Tbsp. light sour cream (optional)
• Diced green onion

1. Cook chicken breast and shred. I find it easiest to bring it to a boil and boil 15 minutes.
2. Dice onion and chop spinach leaves. Saute together until both soften.
3. Mix chicken breast, vegetables and 1/2 of the cheese. (This is where I sprinkle in some cilantro and add a small can of diced green chilies to make it a little spicier.)
4. Fill tortillas with chicken and vegetable mix. Roll to enclose, placing seam side down in a casserole dish.
5. Top enchiladas with tomatillo salsa/enchilada sauce and remaining shredded cheese.
6. Bake at 350-degrees F until the cheese is melted.
7. Garnish with sour cream and diced green onion.

I have stopped buying boxed pancake mix because I have a great recipe from an old homemakers cookbook. This recipe is so easy, and made with stuff I always have around the house anyway. Now I'm sharing with you.

Makes 10-12 pancakes, approx. 5" across

• 2 Cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 2 Cups milk
• 1/3 Cup oil or melted fat

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Combine egg with milk and oil, add to dry ingredients, stirring only until combined. (Not over-mixing is the secret to fluffy pancakes.) Heat griddle on medium heat. Griddle is hot eneough when drops of water sprinkled on it bounce. For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup batter onto griddle. Cook until edges become dry and bubbles on top burst into craters. Turn and brown the other side.

These are the best pancakes, and healthier for you because they aren't preprocessed.