Anne McAlpine: January 17, 2019

One of my friends told Santa that I like to cook things that contain bacon and that I will add bacon to almost anything, so when I sat on Santa’s knee at a party he gave me a gift of a pound of bacon! I always keep a bag of precooked and chopped bacon in my freezer to add to salads, eggs, casseroles, and other things. I do have a recipe for Chocolate Bacon muffins that is really good. When a reader sent me this roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon recipe I just had to try it. It is a really great way to enjoy Brussels sprouts and the added apples and bacon create a delicious dish.

My grandma often made cornmeal muffins with bacon for my brother and me for breakfast. I enjoyed some just this morning, warm and smothered with maple syrup. I simply prepared my dry ingredients in a bowl last night and covered it, storing it in the cupboard. It took only a few minutes to prepare them and pop them into the oven. I prefer to eat them warm with maple syrup, but you could enjoy them with butter or jam, too.

This recipe for corn chowder comes from Sublimely Divine Too, a cookbook published by the members of St. John the Divine Church in Cayuga. It is one of those ‘go to’ cookbooks that I often use as it contains many great family favourite recipes. The recipe was contributed by Jim Armstrong and it is a good one. It is also very easy to make. When I made it I sautéed my bacon and onion in a frying pan so that I could keep the extra fat out of my soup. It turned out really well and is very filling, so it is a lunch dish on its own.