Bacon Meatballs

Yes, you read the title correctly. This is the recipe for bacon meatballs.
Best friend LOVES bacon. He actually loves the way it tastes, not just the awesome way it smells. (Best friend can't smell, by the way.)  So when I found this recipe for bacon meatballs, I knew I had to try them out.  The original recipe can be found on evilshenanigans.com, but I made a few modifications.

First, you will need a pound of bacon.  If you have a food processor, put the bacon in that after cutting it into one inch squares.  Process it until it looks like ground beef.  I don't have a food processor, so I just cut it with kitchen shears.  It definitely didn't look ground, but the pieces were small enough.  Just remember that you will eventually be rolling this up into a ball.

Mix the bacon with 6oz of ground beef, 8oz of ground Italian turkey (Walmart's version of Italian sausage),  1 egg, 2 teaspoons of salt, 2 teaspoons of paprika, 2 teaspoons of oregano, 1/2 a teaspoon of pepper, 2 torn up slices of bread, and 1/2 a cup of Parmesan cheese.  Honestly, the best way to mix this up is to just stick your hands in it.  Yes, it's as gross as it sounds.  Once it's all mixed up, roll the meat into one-two inch balls.  If you have a cookie dough scooper, it's just about the perfect size.

Next, wash your hands six bajillion times.

Next, put a few of the meatballs in a skillet on medium heat.  Cook until they are browned on all sides and then put the balls on a greased cookie sheet.  Cook for 10-15 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees.

We served ours on hoagie buns topped with our favorite spaghetti sauce and some Parmesan cheese.

I didn't take any pictures because, well, it's ground up meat.  It's not that pretty.  But these meatballs were seriously DELICIOUS.

Rhubarb Crisp

Yesterday, for the first time since moving to Oklahoma, I found rhubarb at the grocery store!  My mom used to make rhubarb crisp when I was a kid; we had some in our garden and we also had some growing wild in the field behind our neighborhood.  When I saw it at the store, I immediately texted my mom and asked her to send me her recipe.  

For those of you who are like the cashier at Crest and have no idea what rhubarb is, this is it:

I actually tried it raw last night - it's extremely sour.  I thought that it would be a lot like eating celery, but the texture is totally different.  Because rhubarb is so sour, most recipes containing rhubarb also call for a lot of sugar. :)

For rhubarb crisp, you will need 6 cups of chopped rhubarb.  You will have to buy 8-10 stalks.  Once it is chopped up, pour it into a shallow 6X10 baking dish.  

(I halved the recipe ... hence the smaller dish)

Then sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon over the chopped rhubarb.

In a separate bowl, combine 6 tablespoons of butter, 3/4 of a cup of sugar, 3/4 of a cup of oats, and 3/4 of a cup of flour.  Work together until crumbly.  Pour over the rhubarb. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  It's really good served with vanilla ice cream!