Wednesday, September 3, 2014

September's Here and Bacon Makes It Better


Oh, September how I love thee!  I ignore the fact that it is up in the 90s, even though last week we had a taste of cooler weather.  It's after Labor Day therefore it is FALL, AUTUMN, whatever you want to call it. I ignore the whole equinox thing and go by what the calendar says, September!

I have my September rituals, you see.

I get a new haircut:


I buy sunflowers, the last peaches and, shock, first pie pumpkin:


I look for the surprise morning glory, hiding at the end of the driveway in a day lily patch. It only blooms at the end of summer. Stubborn thing. Have you ever noticed the heart shape of a morning glory leaf?
 


And I start using my oven more.

I may have talked about easy ways to do bacon in the microwave, which is great for summer but not so great for saving the drippings. And you have to have drippings to make my spinach salad with hot bacon dressing.

Oven bacon: Into the oven, my bacon goes at 425.  Over a rack in a foil lined pan.






In 20-25 minutes, the bacon looks like this:
 


After draining it on paper towels, it is perfect for crumbling up into homemade bacon bits. That's because it doesn't sit in it's own fat while it's cooking. Store your crumbles in the fridge until ready to use.

Don't forget to drain the bacon grease out of the pan for the dressing and store in a small jar for later use!

Now in order to get this:




You need to make the following:

Hot Bacon Dressing: In a small sauce pan, combine 3 tablespoons bacon grease, 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1 heaping teaspoon sugar, and one teaspoon Dijon mustard. Cook on low and whisk until sugar is dissolved, mixture is combined and dressing starts to thicken. Set aside.  Increase ingredients proportionally for a larger crowd or if you like to drown your salad. This amount of ingredients makes enough for two servings. Note: I always make it fresh.

Julie's Rift on Spinach Salad:

Baby Spinach leaves to use as your salad bed
One hard boiled egg per person, sliced
One half small Yukon gold potato per person, microwaved until tender (served hot or cold)
Bacon crumbles
Optional: sliced onions, Gruyere cheese

Put together your salad and drizzle warm dressing over top. Serve immediately.   


So, how do you transition from late summer to early fall? Is there a place you always go? A crop you always look forward to? Are you sad summer is waning or ecstatic September is here?  


 

21 comments:

  1. Fall!! Yippee!! It's my favorite time of year. We are making plans to visit the apple orchards at the end of the month--since I can't come to see you. :(

    Thanks for this oven method to get the drippings. Bacon drippings in anything will have people licking the plate and asking what you put in there. It's awesome stuff!!

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    1. Love apples, love fall, do not love the heat we are having!

      Bacon drippings do! I miss cracklin bread with bacon drippings especially.

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    2. Sounds fun, Piper! Do y'all go up to the mountains around Ellijay?

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    3. Yes, Missy, that's where we are looking to go!

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  2. And of course you know that it was just National Bacon Day!! (September 26th is Hug a Vegan Day btw, so keep those party hats out!)

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    1. I didn't know. But thanks for the reminder!

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    2. hahaha! So they can love our bacon breath. Seriously, love vegans. They are inventive cooks.

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    3. They have to be. But we have cut down our meat consumption seriously. Can we be partial vegans?

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  3. Hi Julie~
    This salad looks really good. I've never seen a recipe for a green salad with a potato in it or made a hot bacon dressing. Must try this. I'm going low carb this month so I may forgo the potato and use sugar subsitute in dressing. Love new salad recipes, they can get boring if you don't switch them up.

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    1. Tracey, it's so true. That's the beauty of salad, especially this one, because you can switch things out and still have BACON!

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  4. I love the new haircut!! I'm going for mine today. I can't wait. :)

    I LOVE hot bacon dressing! Especially on a spinach salad with egg. Thanks for the reminder!! :)

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    1. Also meant to thank you for the recommendation of doing the bacon in the oven. I've never tried that (except for the time we basted it with sugar to make candied bacon).

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    2. Candied bacon!!!!!!!!

      And I can't wait to see YOUR haircut!

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  5. Cute do! Love the sunflower, too. :)

    Yes, once school is back in session, it's fall. No matter what the thermometer says. Of course, here in Texas it's apt to read 100 well into October. I hate those years.

    Julie, this recipe is a guilty pleasure. Sounds absolutely divine. I'll do my bacon in the oven once in a while, but it just doesn't fill the house with that amazing bacon scent the way it does when you cook it on the stove. Of course, the cleanup is worse on the stove, so I suppose it's a trade-off. Although the bacon does stay nice and flat when done in the oven.

    Ah, now I'm craving bacon.

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    1. Ha, I have an old oven that apparently leaks the smell because when ManO walked in the door after work, it was like "What are you cooking!" and then he looked at the stove with this puzzled look because it was clean.

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  6. well I'm on a bacon fast LOL overdid it for too long I guess (though it's only been a couple of days LOL!) I was a nuke the bacon person though- have one of those microwave dohickies with ridges and I put p aper towels down , lay the bacon on top, and cover and nuke - but I'm just cooking it for myself (ok and the dog gets some too usually)
    Susanna

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    1. When it's summer, I do that for sure. And you have a very lucky doggie!

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    2. sasha's been helping me with calorie control!
      susanna

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  7. Yay for bacon! We eat a lot of bacon around here - on its own, crumbled into pancake batter, in salads, on sandwiches.... I'm going to have to try this oven cooking method. My husband's minions (aka employees) cook it in the oven at the hospital, but I've never done it that way at home.

    And autumn! My favorite season. Definitely.

    Around here we get our Hills back (love the summer tourists, but love the quiet, pristine Hills more!). So lots of trips are anticipated for hiking, driving, and just sitting in the quiet.

    Last year our fall was cut short. Once our October blizzard hit, winter was here. Even though the weather turned nice, all that snow was still in the way when it came to hiking. So this year, I'm hoping. I've been told we only have an October blizzard about once every five years.

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  8. I'm praying a better winter for you, Jan but you did have great blog posts.

    And I didn't realize hospitals allowed bacon! :-)

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