Curing Bacon

Hello friends,

I've let my school work interfere with my blogging as most of you have noticed. I kid of course, an education is important. Lately I've had a hankering for trying my hand at curing some bacon. The lowest price locally for pork belly is about $3.79 a pound.  I've been looking for it elsewhere, but everyone online is higher.

I Hope to be able to blog about bacon very shortly.  the process takes about 7-9 days.

Memorial Day

I'd like to take a brief moment to thank our armed forces service men and women and our veterans for risking their lives to protect us all. I would also like to reflect upon what it means to be an American, and thank those that gave the ultimate sacrifice, so that I may be free.

Memorial Day is a time when we look back at our wars and remember those that died while fighting them. Many people travel to visit with family or to vacation, and many barbecue and entertain friends. This year, I smoked a 12 lb picnic that came out pretty tasty. I hope everyone has a safe holiday.

Have fun, be safe

he new summer is quickly approaching and I'm experiencing temperatures in the mid nineties. I planted some raised gardens and the harvests are just beginning to come in. Memorial day is quickly approaching and many of us will be grilling outdoors and entertaining family, friends, and neighbors. I certainly intend to grill or smoke something up for our neighborhood cookout. Today I want to share something a little different; cooking inside....

I recently harvested 3 nice looking crooked neck squash that I had been wanting to cook. I looked around for some ideas online, but nothing excited me, and I didn't want to fire up the grill just for a single side dish. I saw a recipe that looked easy enough for squash and onions that was done in a 10" skillet. It looked boring, so I kicked it up a few degrees. It went something like this....

3 med summer squash

1 med onion

4 pieces of bacon

salt

pepper

1/2 cup apple juice

Prepare the squash and onion and then slice them up. Cook the bacon until crispy, remove and drain bacon while leaving drippings in pan. With heat at medium-high, begin layering slices of squash and onions; salt and pepper the top of each layer. Cover the pan and let cook a few minutes, before turning over the bottom layer up onto the top and rearranging the contents of the pan. Add about half of the apple juice and immediately cover the pan. Continue to simmer on medium to med-high heat, occasionally stirring; for about 20 minutes. When you are ready to remove it from the heat, add the last half of the apple juice and stir it into the pan, making sure to mix it in with the pan drippings. crumble bacon and add back to the pan.

This was the best summer squash I have ever eaten. The onions were perfectly caramelized and the apple juice added a lot of flavor. I usually always get seconds on vegetables, but they were all gone when I went for more. :)