Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Bacon & Being Married

After a long hiatus I am back blogging, but it will be rather sporadic.  And I may include stories that are more recent.

In the last year, I got married.  Life is sure full of surprises.  For my husband, Lance, and I, we both had decided we were done dating and happy with being single.  Our friends, on the other hand, were not there with us.  They wanted us to be as happy as they are.  There are so many rabbit trails I can take with that, but I'll stick to the story.  A mutual friend of ours invited us for dinner.  Lance says he knew he would marry me when we met.  I wasn't so sure.  It took me a couple months to know I could marry him.  We got married in April and celebrated with our friends & family in May.

It's hard to believe it has almost been a year that we've been married.  I've always heard the first year is the hardest.  If that's the case, this is going to be so easy.  I'm sure we will have trials and difficulties from time to time, but if how we handled the first year is any indication, we will get through them.

I learned to cook long before I got married.  I have my staple recipes I like to use, but that's not enough for dinner every night.  So I've been trying out new recipes.  But if you know me, I can't leave a recipe alone.  I adjust and make it mine.  Some things Lance has liked and some have been terrible.  My recipe book is bulging at the seams with the new recipes.  Some day soon, I'm going to get organized with them and be able to plan out a month of meals at a time.  But until then, I'll share them with you.

Lance is a bacon lover.  One of the first things my friend Kelly learned about Lance is that he loves bacon.  So I try to find recipes with bacon.  I think his favorite so far is the

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf


1 lb ground beef
1 lb bacon
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup mayo
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 + 2 Tbsp ketchup
1 small can french-fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.  In a bowl, mix first 9 ingredients plus 1/4 cup ketchup.  (I use my hands)  Place mixture in loaf pan.  Spread 2 Tbsp ketchup over the top.   Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven & spread onions over the top.  Bake for 10 -15 minutes longer.  Internal temp should be 160 F.