Bacon Week is over, y’all. Are you sad? I’m sad. I’m also a little relieved. It’s gotten to the point where I can actually feel all the bacon grease clogging my arteries. It’s not pretty.

That didn’t stop me from devouring a few of these muffins for breakfast this morning though. That being sad, these were not my favorite breakfast muffins. Don’t get me wrong, they were very tasty. They just didn’t feel like breakfast food. These would, however, be amazing along side a salad or a bowl of soup.

The texture of these was much more like a biscuit, but I hesitate to call them biscuits as they are baked in a muffin tin. Whatever you call them, I’m sure you’ll find they’re delicious. I’m definitely making these the next time soup is on the menu. These would perfect dunked in a bowl of something hot and cheesy.

Now let’s move on to your favorite bacon recipes! I’m feeling a bit sad and lonely and weepy because not too many of you played along for Bacon Week. Where’s the love, people? Where’s the love?

For those of you that did play along, I love you from the bottom of my bacon clogged heart.

To start, we have an amazing recipe for Bacon Stuffed Avocados from How Sweet It Is.  As someone who is just discovering the yumminess of avocados, this recipe just blows my mind. It sounds so tasty! Luckily for me, I have an avocado sitting on my counter just waiting for me to do something tasty with it! I think this may be the way to go.

{photo from What It Is}

I feel like a bit of a failure sharing this recipe for Bacon Salted Caramel Brownies with you from What It Is. I mean, I am a baker. I love bacon. I love brownies. I love caramel. Why, oh why, have I never made these myself?

And up next we have a tasty, cheesy, oniony, bacony recipe by The Balloon Whisk and Pyrex Dish. This dish is getting made very soon. Like tomorrow.

This next recipe is for pizza. I don’t know about you, but I love pizza. Pizza is my life. Pizza with bacon is even better. This pizza is from The Townsend Bakery and I’m pretty sure it tastes divine.

Okay, before I share the recipe for the Bacon, Cheddar, and Chive Muffins, I just have one more thing to share. Have y’all ever heard of a Bacon Takedown? Well, neither had I, but then I received an email with the subject line “Bacon Gladiators Wow Crowds @ Bacon Takedowns Across the Country” and I peed my pants laughing. I’m sorry, but that is the best subject line I have ever read. Bacon Gladiators. I love it!

Anyway, Bacon Takedowns are basically bacon cooking competitions. There is a Bacon Takedown coming to the Twin Cities on July 18 from 4-6pm at O’Gara’s Garage. The cost is $15 to taste and judge all of the bacon entries and a percentage of the sales support Feeding America. Hormel is also matching the donations to Feeding America. (This is not a sponsored post, I just thought I’d share the information!) So, uh, if you live anywhere near the Twin Cities? You might wanna attend the Bacon Takedown. I’m completely bummed that I won’t be there. Imagine the fun blog post that would follow something like that!

Thanks for participating in Bacon Week with me, y’all! It’s been fun!

Bacon, Cheddar, and Chive Muffins
adapted from allrecipes.com

• 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tbsp white sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used the powdery kind)
• 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup canola oil

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins and set aside.

In a large bowl combine all of the dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until moistened. Batter will be very thick, wet, and sticky. Spoon into prepared muffin tins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I’m pretty boring when it comes to sandwiches. My kids eat PB&Js quite a bit, I eat turkey, cheese, and tomato on white bread every now and then, and sometimes I spice things up with a totally gourmet grilled cheese sandwich (white bread, two slices of American cheese…we are fancy).

Sandwiches don’t have to be boring though. In fact, this sandwich will make you cry tears of joy. It will make you wonder why the heck you don’t eat sandwiches every day of the week. It will make you groan with pleasure, and that my friends is an amazing thing to be said about a sandwich.

This is super simple, super quick, and super flavorful. I like to cook my chicken on the stove in a bit of olive oil, but you could just as easily use grilled chicken. Even better, this sandwich is best when cold, so leftover chicken is perfect for this. Avocados add some fun color and creaminess, the red onion adds a bit of bite, and the bacon…well, the bacon just makes it delicious. Bacon has a way of doing that.

This recipe is a part of Bacon Week, the best week there ever was. If you’d like to participate, please send me a link to a bacon recipe on your blog and I’ll feature it here at the end of the week. Email the link (and feel free to include a picture sized 625px wide or smaller) by 10pm on July 1st to karly[at]bunsinmyoven.com[dot]com.

Chicken, Bacon, and Avocado Sandwiches
serves 4

• 1 package (about 1 3/4 pounds) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• salt, pepper, and garlic salt
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 avocado
• 8 slices bacon, fried crisp
• 1/2 red onion
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 4 kaiser rolls

Begin by pounding the chicken breasts to about 1/4 of an inch thick. Season on both sides with salt, pepper, and garlic salt.  Heat oil in a large skillet and add chicken breasts. Flip chicken breasts after about 5 minutes and continue cooking for 5 minutes more or until chicken is cooked through. Transfer to a plate, slice chicken into small pieces and place in the fridge to chill.

When the chicken is cold, slice the avocado and red onion into thin slices. Mix together the mayo and mustard and spread on one side of the kasier roll. Layer the chicken, bacon, avocado, and onion on the roll. Enjoy!

Would you believe me if I told you that I used to not like popcorn? I mean, I didn’t dislike it, but it certainly wasn’t something that I sought out or drooled over. Forgive me for saying this, but there were even a few times that I went to the movie theatre and didn’t eat one piece of popcorn.

Don’t worry, I’ve since made up for those days. I now go to the movie and spend the entire movie with my face shoved in a bag of popcorn. After all, they wouldn’t make DVD rentals if you were supposed to actually watch the movie at the theatre. No, the theatre is for the popcorn. Don’t try telling me otherwise.

Popping popcorn at home is super easy, but it’s hard to get that buttery movie theatre flavor. I’m not sure what they use on their popcorn, but it’s not real butter. In fact, it’s probably best that I don’t know what it is. It would simultaneously gross me out and make me start an internet search for an online store where I could purchase some of my own icky but delicious fake butter flavoring.

So, let’s just move away from buttery popcorn. Let’s take a step back from the bag of cheese popcorn. Let’s put down those little popcorn seasoning shakers they sell all over the place now. Let’s fry up some dang bacon and pop our corn in the dripping. Let us all rejoice in the bacon and sprinkle a good amount of crumbled bacon right in our bag of popcorn. Let us all live happily ever after.

This recipe is a part of Bacon Week, the best week there ever was. If you’d like to participate, please send me a link to a bacon recipe on your blog and I’ll feature it here at the end of the week. Email the link (and feel free to include a picture sized 625px wide or smaller) by July 1st to karly[at]bunsinmyoven.com[dot]com.

Bacon Popcorn

• 10 slices bacon
• 1/3 cup popcorn kernels

Dice the uncooked bacon and toss it in a large, hot skillet to fry. Stir frequently and continue frying until crisp. Remove piece of bacon from skillet and add drippings to a large stockpot over low-medium heat. Place 3 popcorn kernels in the bacon grease and wait for one to pop. When one of the kernels pops, your grease is hot enough. Add the remaining popcorn, cover the pan with a lid, and shake, shake, shake while the rest of the popcorn pops. Remove from heat and add the diced bacon to the popcorn. Salt if desired and enjoy!

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a huge fan of dips, but I’m not sure if I properly conveyed my deep love and affection for a good dip. You see, dips are so creamy and cheesy and dippy. They are fun to eat and are generally filled with some of my favorite things. Dips are fun. They take me to my happy place.

So, please, don’t tell me that it was wrong that my kids ate this dip, and only this dip, for lunch yesterday. It has four major food groups in it! Dairy, protein, grains, and vegetables! Well, I guess the vegetable group probably isn’t properly covered when you consider I only added a 1/4 cup of a very finely chopped onion, but I’m okay with overlooking that. We should all live on the wild side once in a while! Besides, dip doesn’t need to be healthy. It just needs to be delicious.

Trust me on this. This dip? Is outta this world. I’ve made a bacon dip before and it was good. Now, however, I know what good really means and this dip blows that other dip outta the water.

Besides, it’s served in a bread bowl which makes this dip infinitely cooler than those other dips that rely on bowls for serving.

Please. Make this dip. It’d be perfect for lunch. Or, if you’re more reasonable than me, perfect for your next get together. I guarantee people will beg you  for the recipe.

This recipe is a part of Bacon Week, the best week there ever was. If you’d like to participate, please send me a link to a bacon recipe on your blog and I’ll feature it here at the end of the week. Email the link (and feel free to include a picture sized 625px wide or smaller) by July 1st to karly[at]bunsinmyoven.com[dot]com.

Hot Bacon Cheese Spread
slightly adapted from Taste Of Home Bacon Recipe Cards, June 2010

• 1 unsliced round loaf bread
• 2 cups (8 ounces) Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 1 cup (4 ounces) Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 7 bacon strips, diced and fried
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 tsp crushed red chile flakes

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the top quarter off the loaf of bread and set aside. Carefully hollow out the inside, leaving a 1 inch shell. Cube removed bread and set aside for dipping.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large bow, spoon into bread bowl. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and cover with the reserved top quarter of the loaf to prevent the dip from becoming to brown while baking.

Bake for 45 minutes or until heated through. Serve with bread cubes and crackers.

To kick off Bacon Week, I thought it would be best to start at the beginning and by beginning I mean breakfast. When I think breakfast, I think bacon. I also think scrambled eggs and english muffins slathered in butter. Plain ol’ fried bacon would probably be a rather boring start to Bacon Week though (delicious, but nothin’ new or exciting), so I whipped out my trusty Taste of Home bacon book and I came across this amazing concoction.

As soon as I read the words bacon butter, I knew I was in trouble. Those are my two favorite foods! Why had I never though to combine them? Because, let’s face it, this really isn’t much of a recipe. It’s more of an idea. A very good, very tasty idea.

Softened butter, fried and crumbled bacon, and the teensiest weensiest little bit of dijon mustard. This stuff will blow your mind.

Don’t forget to email links to your favorite bacon recipes you’ve posted on your own blog! I’ll feature them here at the end of the week. Email karly[at]bunsinmyoven[dot]com by July 1st and feel free in include a picture (sized 625px wide or smaller) and I’ll include that as well!

Bacon Butter
recipe from Taste of Home

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 4 pieces of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard

Mix ingredients together and spread on toast or english muffins. Refrigerate leftovers.