Holiday cheeseball

• 1 block of cream cheese
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
• 2 cups shredded Monterrey jack
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup crumbled bleu cheese
• poppy seeds
• fresh parsley, chopped fine
• chopped green onions
• 4 strips good quality bacon

Cook the bacon over a medium flame until done. Pat the grease out using a paper towel and chop into fine pieces. In a large bowl whip together the 4 cheeses and milk. Once blended, stir in the green onions and half the parsley and bacon. When complete, form mix into two large bowls and refrigerate on a plate for at least 1/2 hour. Combine remaining parsley and bacon with poppy seeds and roll ball in mix to evenly coat.

The dish: One of my favorite things about the Holiday season is watching all the available retail space vanish from our otherwise dying mall. Among the "as seen on TV" stores and people peddling skin moisturizers from the Dead Sea is usually a young lady wearing a Santa hat standing behind a tray of cut up processed meats speared with toothpicks. I'm not one to offend by denying those hardworking Hickory Farms folks their gracious generosity, so I've eaten my fair share of pork butt (and leaner turkey pork butt???). It's difficult for me to get that close to edible treats without making a purchase, and I sampled pretty much all the offerings from the farms of hickory. Among my favorite things were the cheeseballs, covered in nuts and colored a slightly disturbing shade of pink. It was a few years ago that I offered to bring an appetizer to my mom's Thanksgiving dinner. I found a recipe for the cheeseball, but was a little nervous to try making it because I was such a fan of the ones that showed up at the mall. I took a chance and decided to give it a go. I was having one of those mornings where I felt I could do anything and the ball-o-cheese I created cemented my resolve that I would never buy another nutty, pink cheese sphere. The ball in the picture above was hurriedly made during a party where we crammed 45 or so folks into our tiny condo. Of the cheeseballs I've made this one is undoubtedly the ugliest, but still tastes way better the one you'd pick up after dodging the guy selling talking fish plaques.

spinach salad with warm cider vinaigrette and seared scallops

• fresh baby spinach, washed and dried
• good quality bacon bits
• fried onion strips
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• fresh sea scallops

In a saucepan over high heat, bring apple cider to boil, reduce heat to medium high and continue to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add vinegar to cider and reduce heat to medium low, continue cooking while preparing scallops. Heat olive oil in pan over high heat. Season scallops with coarse salt and fresh pepper and add to pan when fully heated. Cook for 3 minutes, flip and continue to cook for three minutes or until done throughout. Arrange spinach on plate, build with onions and bacon, pour dressing over it and top with scallops.

The dish: Every now and again I'll have a dream that's so vivid that I'll wake up and not be sure if it really happened or not. While this phenomenon isn't always so pleasant when my dreams have bad twists to them, sometimes it can be quite enjoyable. Awhile back I woke up after having dreamt that I was at some social function where I stood with a drink in one hand and a bacon wrapped scallop in the other. The server was always nearby and by the time I pushed myself out of the REM cycle there was a formidable pile of discarded toothpicks on her tray and my drink had been refilled more than once. It was such a nice memory that I wasn't sure it didn't actually happen until Kim insisted it occurred only in my frontal cortex. From that moment I was on the hunt: I had to have some bacon wrapped scallops. Naturally things like this only happen on weeks when every minute I have is well spoken for in advance. It was about 6 days later when I finally dug into some and they tasted as good as I had been expecting (fortunately I didn't have to wait that long eternity for a cocktail). Bacon really does make most things better, but scallops in particular seem to benefit from their salty goodness. Throw in some spinach and a vinaigrette and you've got some nutritional absolution that tastes like a dream.

bacon roasted brussel sprouts

• fresh brussel sprouts
• 2 strips bacon
• fresh garlic, chopped

Place bacon in large dutch oven or casserole dish and roast in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes, or until just cooked. Remove bacon and drain with paper towels. Using the same dish, roast garlic in bacon grease for about 3 minutes. Add brussel sprouts and toss to coat evenly, season with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper. Roast in oven for about 10 minutes, or until brussel sprouts are cooked but firm. Chop bacon into small pieces, add to mixture and toss to coat.

The dish: Brussel sprouts are one of those veggies that everyone seems to hate but no one has tried since they were a kid and their food choices didn't involve much other than chicken nuggets, pizza and cheeseburgers. We know that roasting veggies brings out a natural sweetness that totally enhances their flavor, and we know that bacon makes everything better (faithful reader Rebecca posted an interesting question about bacon), but roasting with bacon; it just doesn't get any better. Brussel sprouts are also loaded with all kinds of good vitamins and antioxidants that do everything from fight various forms of cancers to keep your skin healthy, which means that you'll be ailment free when you have a coronary from all that damn bacon.

egg salad

• 8 eggs, hard-boiled
• 3 tablespoons low fat ricotta cheese
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• fresh parsley, chopped
• 4 slices bacon (optional- or for ease you can just rock bacon bits)

Cook the bacon until just barely crispy. Blot with paper towels, chop into small pieces. Peel and chop the eggs. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. We enjoyed it on 12 grain bread (Hannaford makes a great one) with some spinach.

The dish: Making a great egg salad is highly dependent upon properly hard-boiled eggs. Eggs peel easier when boiled in salted water, so always add a pinch. Place eggs in water that covers them and cook over a high flame. When water reaches a roaring boil, turn off the burner and let eggs sit in water until cooled. The result will be perfectly cooked eggs that retain distinctive yolk and white texture as opposed to just becoming one big yellow mushy mess.

spinach salad with warm bacon vinaigrette

• fresh baby spinach, washed and dried
• 4 slices bacon
• sherry vinegar (or any red wine vinegar)
• Dijon mustard
• sugar
• olive oil

In large skillet (I used my cast iron) cook bacon over medium high heat until just crispy, remove. Blot bacon with a paper towel and then chop into small pieces, set aside. Discard all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease from the pan. Over a medium high flame, whisk together the grease, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of mustard and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Assemble spinach on plates, adding bacon pieces and a drizzle of high quality olive oil. Spoon warm vinegar over salad, serve immediately (unless of course you have to stage a photo for your blog, then your guests can wait a few minutes as you line up the perfect shot).

The dish: I have a good friend that feeds her son oatmeal every morning figuring that it acts as "nutritional absolution" for whatever else may happen in the day. I believe bacon acts in the exact opposite way: no matter how healthy what you're putting it on may be, it instantly becomes a decadent treat. There's not much that's healthier than straight raw spinach, but you wouldn't know it when you take a bite of this salad. Serving the dressing warm wilts the leaves just a touch and gives it a distinctive flavor and texture. Just be sure to eat your oatmeal every morning so that you can begin throwing bacon around without any guilt knowing that you've already been nutritionally absolved for the day.

roasted cabbage with bacon

• 1 head of cabbage, cut into bite size pieces
• 4 strips of high quality bacon, finely diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (sorry Mike and wizzz, when I pasted in from word it showed as "4000"). Place chopped bacon in bottom of large casserole dish, I like either ceramic or cast iron, cook in oven for 5-10 minutes. Add cabbage and toss with the bacon, spreading around all that bacon goodness, return to oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until cabbage appears well cooked. Season with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

The dish: Everything really is better with bacon, and cabbage is certainly no exception to the rule. Roasting the cabbage gives it almost a sweet flavor without turning into the normal soggy mess that most people think it's supposed to be. If the bacon is a little lean and things look a little dry you can always add a little olive oil, but this batch didn't need it. Don't wait for next March, cabbage is cheap and great for you and this is a variation that even people who don't like cabbage seem to enjoy.