Bacon, potatoes, and cream. It’s as easy as one, two, three!
I finally made time for The Kitchn (without an “e”), a cookbook given to me by one of my colleagues for my birthday last year. As I was browsing through its recipes last night, I found a delicious choice for today’s simple snack. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you: the crisp bacon-wrapped potato bites! It’s very easy to prepare and it’s tasty too. In the original recipe, the author used sour cream and hot sauce to complement the potatoes. But, I didn’t have hot sauce with me. So, I used a few stalks of spring onion instead.
If you want to give it a try, feel free to go through the photos and instructions below. I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I did! Here’s to more bacon-wrapped treats in the future!
Bacon-Wrapped Potato Bites with Sour Cream Dip
Inspired by Faith Durand’s The Kitchn cookbook
Ingredients:
20 Marble potatoes (or 2 large potatoes cut into large cubes)
1 teaspoon of Fresh or Dried Rosemary
1 teaspoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper
10 long slices of bacon (cut them in half, crosswise)
½ cup of plain sour cream
2 tablespoons of chopped spring onion
Steps:
1) Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes or until you can poke the potatoes with a fork without much resistance.
2) Remove the potatoes from the water and season with salt, pepper, rosemary, and olive oil.
3) Wrap each potato in bacon. Secure the bacon using a toothpick.
4) Bake* in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Make sure to turn them around after the first 15 minutes.
5) In a small bowl, add pinches of salt and chopped spring onion to ½ cup of sour cream.
6) Serve the potatoes while they’re still hot. Dip them in cream and enjoy!
*If an oven isn’t available, you may fry the bacon-wrapped potato bites on a non-stick pan for 8-10 minutes or until the bacon is cooked. Make sure not to add oil because the bacon already has fat.
A few days ago, I told my mom that I wanted to cook Sinigang for dinner because I was craving for it. She agreed and mentioned that she would also order pancit and pork barbeque to add to the menu. So, after work, I bought some of the ingredients in the grocery store and hurriedly prepared the meal at home.
While I was cooking the dish, she dropped by the kitchen and said “You only have less than a kilo of meat lang pala.” She sounded a bit disappointed and I got confused because I thought that ¾ kilo of meat was just enough since we were also having pork barbeque and pancit for dinner. After telling this to my mom, we realized that we had a miscommunication. Mom thought that since I chose to cook pork instead of shrimp for sinigang, she wouldn’t order pork barbeque anymore. On the other hand, I thought that she would still order pork barbeque in addition to the sinigang, regardless of whether its meat was shrimp or pork.
with my mom and sisters
One of the moments in my life that I am not proud of happened that night in the kitchen. I sort of ended our conversation by telling mom (with an irritated voice) “Well, I thought you were still ordering pork barbeque po. What will we do now? We only have a few pieces of meat for the whole family. It’s not enough.” I saw her leave the kitchen with a confused and sad look on her face. She then opened the freezer to check if we still had additional meat. But, we didn’t. So, we just settled with what we had.
A few minutes before the dish was done, I decided to taste the soup one last time before serving it. I got a spoonful of soup, blew on it, and slowly poured it in my mouth. You wouldn’t believe what happened next. Apparently, the soup was still piping hot and it instantly burned my tongue. I felt the pain, but I didn’t think of chewing on ice cubes or anything since it was already getting late and we needed to serve the dinner for the family. So, I joined them over dinner and ate the soup and pancit.
It was only after two days that I felt the effects of burning my tongue. I couldn’t eat, chew, sip, drink, swallow, and speak properly. It was also a struggle for me to brush my teeth and tongue and wear my retainers. Moreover, I had four mouth sores on my tongue and tonsils this week too!
While I was eating breakfast today, I asked God why he allowed me to experience this excruciating pain in my tongue/mouth. I only realized it today (four days after that night with mom) that he is using this painful moment in my life to teach me a very important lesson: TAMING MY TONGUE.
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” [Ephesians 4:29]
Dad and Mom went out of town the day after we ate sinigang, so I never really had the chance to personally talk to mom about what happened that night. I knew that I hurt her with my words and with how I said them to her, but I wanted to honor God by honoring mom too.
After four days of being away, my parents are finally back at home. I stopped typing on the laptop and greeted them a few minutes ago. After saying hi to mom, God gave me the courage to humble myself before her. We both got teary eyed as I recalled what happened that night and I apologized to her. I told her what God was teaching me through this experience and she immediately hugged me and said: “Aww.. it’s okay, anak. How’s your tongue now?”
Thank you, Lord, for my burnt tongue. I still feel the pain every second, but, at least you’re reminding me of honoring You with my tongue every second of the day too.
It says in Psalm 19:14 “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
I heard my nephew say these words after we said our goodbyes last Saturday night. My siblings and I spent the whole day with him at home and joined the rest of our relatives for dinner outside. It was heartwarming to hear him appreciate our time together that day.
Bacon, scrambled eggs, and homemade waffles.
I usually rest at home or meet up with friends at church every Saturday. But, last Friday night, our nephew, Maurie, asked if he could spend time with us and our dogs at home the next day. Without any hesitation, we said “Sure!” and my older sister picked him up the next morning.
My sister and Maurie
We spent the rest of the day cooking our breakfast, playing Kinect (Sports and Just Dance), sharing music, playing video games, walking the dogs, playing with our neighbors’ dogs, and relaxing in our living room with popcorn. Oh, and after lunch, Maurie helped my brother and sister buy groceries at the supermarket.
Maurie picked fresh basil leaves from the veranda.My sister and Maurie’s chopped basil leaves
One of the things that I thank God for that day was our nephew’s initiative to spend time together. It was humbling for me, because honestly, I feel more rested and filled when I’m by myself, having my quiet time in my own little corner, and just appreciating the beauty of solitude. But, I’m learning to be faithful in obeying God when it comes to being intentional with others, even if sometimes, it may take me out of my comfort zone.
Maurie whisking the waffle batter.Krups Waffle Maker
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. [Hebrews 10:24-25]
My brother and Maurie
Maurie sincerely asked if he could spend time with us and I’m glad that he did. God used that day to allow us to get to know our nephew even more and have special moments with him. It was our first time to cook and dance together! It was fun and funny! Haha. I pray that I will grow more in this aspect – in being more intentional in spending time with God, my family, and friends.
Maurie, if ever you’re reading this, I just want to say that I really appreciate the time that we had last weekend and that I’m looking forward to bonding with you and my siblings soon! God bless your heart! See you around. :)
INGREDIENTS
SCRAMBLED EGGS
5 eggs
1/2 cup of fresh milk
salt and pepper
1-2 tbsp. of cooking oil
3 tomatoes (diced)
half of an onion
10 basil leaves (chopped)
6-7 whole small mushrooms (sliced)
1/2 cup of grated cheese
slices of mozzarella cheese (optional)
1. Saute onion and mushrooms with oil in a pan. Add diced tomatoes.
2. Scramble eggs in a bowl, basil leaves, grated cheese, and milk. Mix carefully.
3. Add egg mixture in the pan with the sauteed onion, mushroom, and tomatoes.
4. Mix until the eggs are cooked. Make sure not to overcook the eggs, so that they won’t get tough/dry.
5. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the cooked eggs and add grated mozzarella cheese while the eggs are still hot.
WAFFLES
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of fresh milk
1 tsp. of cinnamon powder
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 eggs
My name is Nicole Obligacion and I started this blog because I was inspired by Hebrews 10:24 and Hebrews 3:13. I love to eat, cook, bake, read the Bible, and encourage. :)
