Father's Day 2013 * Missing my Dad!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there, and Father figures in our lives!

We had a nice brunch at Church this morning... the Sunday School kids helped by making chocolate covered strawberries for it, helping set up, make coffee, put out juice, bring up plates to the narthex, and more. We had a hotdog and brat roast with appetizers honoring all the men of the parish, and some fun duct tape gifts too.

It was nice to have all our kids there and grandkids too!

Here are some photos from this morning...

Chocolate Bacon Skewers... YUMMM!!

A friend of mine had posted a recipe for this, and it sounded like something fun to try.  I changed the recipe a bit, and used what I had here at home to make it... they turned out great!  A new taste sensation I might just have to make for the Father's Day Pot-Luck Brunch at Church!

The recipe called for thick cut bacon, but I just used regular cut bacon.
Weave it on a wooden skewer ribbon style. The recipe said to brush it with maple syrup generously. I couldn't find my pastry brush, so I just squirted some maple pancake syrup on both sides, generously. Make sure you foil line a baking pan (with sides), and put the bacon skewers on racks too.  Bake at 425 for at least 10 minutes on both sides, turning after 10 minutes. I actually had to bake it a lot longer than 10 minutes to get it crispy, the way I like it.

This is the bacon after it was done baking in the oven.  Let it cool well, then add chcolate drizzled on both sides.  I used those chocolate disks that you can melt in the microwave.  You melt them in a dish for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.  Then I put the melted chocolate in a plastic bag, snipped off the corner, and squirted it out the hole to drizzle it on the cooled bacon skewers.

The results turned out like this... pretty yummy!!

Loved the saltiness of the bacon with the sweetness of the chocolate.

They were a hit with my friends who I tried them out on tonite too!

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UPDATE:  Here are some I made for the Father's Day Brunch ... turned out to be a hit too!

Rhubarb Sugar Cookies with Rhubarb Sauce Glaze Experiment

I had seen a post for rhubarb cookies on Pinterest, but decided to try to make some with ingredients I had handy.  I chopped up some rhubarb, smaller pieces for cookies, added part of a package of raspberry jello sugar to it to give it a little more color and flavor.  I put the mixture in the microwave for about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, it softened up the rhubarb some and cooked it a little too.  Then I drained it.
 

I had a package of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix, all you do is add a stick of butter and an egg to it... so, I made it according to package directions.

I preheated the oven to 375 degrees, added the chopped, drained rhubarb to the cookie dough, and dropped onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet in small spoonfuls.

I already had rhubarb sauce I had made, so I added powdered sugar to thicken it into a glaze. (If I was doing this from scratch, I wouldn't have already pre-sweetened the rhubarb sauce since the powdered sugar sweetens it well.)

I baked the cookies for about 12 - 13 minutes or so at 375, then let them cool off and added the glaze to the tops of them.  It took a few hours for the glaze to dry enough to not be sticky... but I couldn't wait to try one... they turned out REALLY delicious!  They are very moist, even after sitting out uncovered all day long.  I think if I had put them into a sealed container they'd get too mushy or soft, so if I was going to make them for an event, I'd probaby store them in a paper bag or use them the same day.

This is one experiment I will do again, and again!!  YUMMMM!!