Bacon Wrapped Lil Smokies- quite possibly the best Tailgate food EVER!

So do you wanna knock the socks off of everyone at your next tailgate party?  I have a perfectly delicious and savory appetizer for you to try.  I just want to warn you that these contain bacon.   Bacon.  The reason why I will never ever be a vegetarian.  The food that I consider to be in a food group of its own.   Bacon- one of the items I would choose to take with me to a desert island in the middle of nowhere.  I bet if Tom Hanks had bacon in Cast Away the story would have been entirely different.   Just saying.  

Anyway, here are the ingredients I used to make the glaze.   Ketchup, BBQ sauce, ground mustard powder, red pepper flakes, brown sugar and maple syrup.

And here is also where things get a little sketchy.  I am not so great at measuring things.   When I cook- I tend to let my free spirit go.  And that means I just throw things together.   And trust me- this not such a good thing.   There have been many many failures.  But, I did try to track how much of everything I used because I am trying to be a more helpful blogger.

I whisked the glaze first and set it aside.

Next I wrapped the bacon around the lil smokies and used a brush to glaze each peace of heaven.

This is where the picture turn ugly.  Very ugly.   But even though these smokies looked burnt- okay they were technically burnt- they tasted great.   The glaze baked up very quickly in the oven and the brown sugar likely caused them to burn easily.   So I made a second batch another day and baked them at a slightly lower temperature which helped some.

And here is the finished product.   Not such a nice pic but I was packing them up to take to a friends so we could watch the game.  These are tasty.  Very very tasty.  In fact- my one friend called them little bits of honey baked ham bacon things.

Bacon Wrapped Lil Smokies:

for the glaze:

1 generous TBS ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

4 TBS BBQ sauce

1 TBS maple syrup

1 tsp ground mustard

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 pkg lil smokes

I pkg of center cut bacon cut into thirds

Dry the lil smokes carefully and place on cookie sheet in freezer.   Freeze for at least 

30 minutes.  This will help the bacon adhere to the lil smokies.

Keep the bacon cold in the refrigerator until you are ready to wrap the lil smokies.  

Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze and set aside. 

Wrap a  piece of bacon around each lil smokie and place on a cookie sheet covered in foil.   Glaze the tops of each wrapped smokie with the glaze mix.   

Bake at 345 degrees for 35-40 minutes until smokies are lightly browned on top (or slightly burnt on top :) )

I turned mine halfway through to ensure that the bottoms did not brown too much.   

Enjoy.  You can share them if you like.   But there would be no shame in eating them all yourself.  No shame at all.   

Bacon Coma-

Marci

Creamy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas.

Want a super duper quick and easy weeknight meal?  One that does not involve ordering by a number and talking into a faceless black box.   Well look no further.   Kevin & Amanda has a fabulous recipe on her page for Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.  

And if you keep a better stocked kitchen than I do- I bet you have most of the ingredients already on hand. 

I have been a little weird about cooking meat lately.  So, I bought a Rotisserie Chicken from Kroger's and shredded it.  It worked beautifully.   Plus, I had enough dark meat left over to share with the kitties and mama kitty.  She decided she likes me now that I feed her roti chicken.

Here is a quick-oh-so-not-beautiful Iphone shot of the enchiladas before I put them in the oven.

 And here are the enchiladas all bubbly and browned from the oven.  I love green onions- so I chopped some up and sprinkled them on top.

One enchilada was plenty for dinner for me.  But don't worry this recipe makes 8 large size enchiladas.  I halved the recipe because I have this "thing" with leftovers.  I can only eat them once or twice and then I am "done".  I wanted to make sure I did not waste any of these.   They were delicious right from the oven and warmed up beautifully the next day in my lunch.  

So head over to Kevin & Amanda and make these enchiladas soon.   

Smiles,

Marci

Farmers Market

I realized that August has been a busy month and I have fallen behind in all of my August posts.   So, in typical Marci fashion, I will be sharing August posts in September.   And to be honest, this post is not really about anything in particular.   It is just about color, flavors and smells.   Because I love farmers markets because they tease all my senses.

In Columbus, we are fortunate to have a great many of local farmers markets.  Clintonville has a beautiful one.   Worthington has always been one of my favorites and more recently, my place of employment has offered a farmers market every couple of weeks.   It is still a very small affair with only a handful of vendors there.   But, they do not disappoint with their selection of beauties.  

Take a look at these.   Can you just imagine that burst of flavor in your mouth.   And see those tiny pale orange round ones.  They are called Sun Gold Tomatoes.  And they are AMAZING.   The first burst of flavor is sweet, but the second wave of flavor is classic tomato with a twist.   Truly delicious. 

Look at these tomato beauties.   I did not get to try these, but the color striation is beautiful.

Look at these baby eggplant.   Every shade of purple imaginable.

And baby cabbages so tiny they fit in your hand perfectly.   I need my sister in law to make me her famed cabbage dish.  And SOON!

And I am not sure if these are more eggplant or not.  But, whatever they are- they are beautiful.   Almost too beautiful to eat.

Peppers.  Peppers and more peppers.   If you love peppers you would love the selection here.   My delicate (ahem) stomach cannot handle peppers.  I tend to burp them up later.   Like much much later.  Like you really do not want to be eating peppers this many hours later.   So, I try to limit my pepper intake.

And more pepper- the hot kind and tomatoes.

Again, there was no point at all of this post other than for me to ooh and ahh again at all the colors and smells that a Farmers Market brings.   Do you have any favorite Farmers Markets in your area?

Marci

Who am I rooting for??

Football Season starts today!!!  And you do know what football I am talking about right?  Why I live in Buckeye COUNTRY!!!  And I am a proud graduate of The Ohio State University.   So, naturally, I bleed scarlet and grey- except when OSU plays my other Alma mater- Miami University.  

So you can imagine that today's game will be a tough one for me.

So who am I going to root for? The winner of course! If you see me today I will be decked in my finest OSU/Miami logo wear I own.   

Go Redhawks!!

Go Bucks!!

Go Redhawks!!

Go Bucks!!!

Cheers!

Marci

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cherries and Cream Cheese Frosting

I had some cherries that I needed to use up.  I was already planning on baking some belated birthday cupcakes for a friend so I decided to add some cherries to the batter to see how they turned out.   I was sure that the cherries would sink to the bottom, but this batter is pretty thick so they baked up beautifully.   

The cake was tender and sweet and the cherries added a surprise pop of flavor.

I thought about trying these cupcakes again and adding a little cherry extract but a certain group of taste testers seemed to think that the cupcakes were good "as is".  I topped these cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting.   I like this one from Annie's Eats.  It is smooth, creamy and not too sweet.  The tang from the frosting complimented the cupcakes nicely.   I also must admit, I would be a huge fan of chocolate frosting on these cupcakes.

If you want to try this recipe for yourself- I will tell you a secret. I made these cupcakes using a boxed cake mix.   I doctor them up so they taste better, but when I don't have the time or energy, I have found that boxed cake mixes are the best.  Besides- yellow cake mix is my favorite and I have yet to find a made from scratch yellow cake that tastes as good as the boxed kind.  Not that I mind taste testing that theory- so send me some cake to try.

If you want to mix up a boxed cake mix. trying substituting one stick of melted butter for the oil.   Or try adding some sour cream or even an instant pudding mix.  You will find that your cake mix becomes thick and luscious (why yes- I did just use the word luscious).  You will never want to eat another runny cake mix again.  I also tend to favor Duncan Hines cake mixes.

Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather.  I, for one, am loving this fall preview.

Smiles,
Marci

Gold Medal

The Olympics may be over.   But these two cuties win gold for sure!!! I know they certainly bring a smile to my face and melt my heart every time.   

Cheers!!

Marci

Fair Food and Fun

The Ohio Sate Fair has come and gone.  Sadly,  it has come and gone a week or so ago and I am just getting around to doing this post because that is how I roll.   

This year's Fair experience did not disappoint.  The fun started in the parking lot- aka the grassy field- where J and I parked at.  We found an incredible spot close to the entrance.  Upon walking to the entrance I noticed the plethora of plaid shirts and jeans.  And I said out loud as I always do because my filter is off outside of work- "Why didn't anyone warn me that there was a dress code for the fair- plaid shirts and jeans".  J didn't know what to say as many people don't when randomness comes out of my mouth.  I did eventually learn why there were so many plaid shirted boys and girls running around.  It turns out that there was a country concert happening that night in the Crew Stadium.  Phew- I was dressed just fine for the fair.  However, I have duly noted that I should bust out a plaid shirt and jeans for my next country concert.  

But, back to the fair.  J and I went to eat. Yep you heard me right.  We went to eat.  And Eat we DID!  I was tempted to sample the KK donut Burger, but held myself back.  I was determined only to eat one fried item.  HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

J and I ate dinner first- I had a Schmidt's Bahama Mama and J had some healthy veggie thing.   My Bahama Mama was not healthy.  But it was GOOD!!
J wanted to try the fried snickers so we found the below booth.  You could order just about anything deep fried there- PB & J- yes, Oreos- check, BUCKEYES-yep, mac and cheese- mmhmm.   I had already tried a fried snickers before at a local restaurant.   But once I saw J's fried snickers I knew that I had been deceived.

It looked glorious.   And the dusting of powder sugar.  Help me now please!

Here is what the fried snickers looks like on the the inside.   The outside coating was tender and not too sweet.  The inside- AMAZING!!  I only had one bite as I was saving myself for a funnel cake.   But, next year I am all over this!

At the fair there are always foods you expect to see.  Like giant turkey legs.

And BBQ.   Note I do not have a BBQ picture here.   Fooled you huh??

Fair Fries.  Quite possibly a perfect food.  And full of potassium (an inside joke for all of my one friends who read my blog). Is one friend(s) even proper English?  Probably not.  Oh well.  Sorry Ms Davenporte!

I did stop for a moment to contemplate eating a bacon cinnamon roll.  But, again, my love for funnel cakes won out.  Perhaps another year.  Did anyone try these?  Let me know what you thought.

Okay okay.  I did not manage to consume only one fried item.   I was drawn into the donut line.  And I almost bought a bucket of donuts.  A bucket.  A bucket of 30 donuts.   I am not quite sure where my willpower came from.   But I did enjoy these beauties.  They were hot and melted in your mouth as you ate them.  And they were tender inside and sweet and sugary on the outside.   Perfection.   And they were just as good warmed up the next day for breakfast.  I am  SO getting the bucket next year!!!

Here it is.  Funnel Cake time.   I do not know why I adore funnel cakes so.   I just do.   And I don't care.   I guess I care enough about my hips that I only bought one funnel cake.   But it was worth it.

Of course, we had to take the Sky Ride back to the other side of the fair where we parked.   I had a moment of panic when a couple sat down ahead of us and rocked the entire sky ride.  Our seat rocked and the entire cable rocked as well.   J had to practically shove me into the seat.   We lived.  Obviously.

And I leave you with a parting shot of the fair.  I took this picture for my nephews.  I know nothing about tractors.  I know nothing about John Deere's.   I now know there is a country song about a big green tractor, but that is all I know.  But, I do know that somehow I ended up with three nephews who adore tractors.  So this picture is for you Doodles, Pie and Cake Butt.  Aunt CiCi loves you!

If you went to the fair, let me know what you ate.   Fair is Fair- I told you how much I consumed that day.   :)   Or at least tell me what you love about the fair.

Smiles,
Marci