It’s been one heck of a long week. Why do they seem to slow down even more as the weekend approaches??
Not much exciting on the Vorwald food scene to report. Here are some hilights:
I picked up a container of this yogurt at The Fresh Market, where I stopped on Friday for lunch. I didn’t end up eating it until Monday. It was pretty good! And the milk they use come from pastured cows. Thumbs up.
It doesn’t have any added sugar other than what is found in the honey and pear, so it isn’t as sweet as most yogurts. I like that.
I finally got around to harvesting the rest of the basil from our plant. It’s been getting pretty cool at night (around 55*) and the leaves were slightly curling and browning in some spots. I should’ve picked it all earlier, but we’ve been overloaded with basil from the CSA and we’ve been picking this plant a bit, too. It’s supposed to be in the 90s today and really nice this weekend so maybe we’ll get an encore performance from the plant. I’ve only got maybe 10 jars of pesto in the freezer, what’s a few more? 
The hilight meal of the week was corn pancakes. Apologies for the awful picture, but sometimes we eat as late as 9pm and the lights in my kitchen are not very bright. This recipe comes from Mark Bittman’s How to Eat Everything Vegetarian except we subbed the regular flour for almond meal and fried them in coconut oil. Delicious, fluffy, and they re-heat well. This is the first time we’ve made them with fresh sweet corn and the flavor is incredible.
Last, but certainly not least, bacon wrapped dates! This picture was taken about 2/3 of the way through the cooking process, right before they go under the broiler. I fell asleep shortly after I made them and they were devoured too quickly to snap a photo. Imagine them plated nicely, golden brown, and super delicious!
Bacon Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45-50 minutes
Ingredients (as many as you want!)
- 4-8 ounces goat cheese
- whole medjool dates
- raw, unseasoned/unsalted almonds
- 2-3 pounds bacon, sliced (thick or thin is OK)
Instructions
Prepare the dates by slicing them gently down the middle the long way, and remove the pit. Insert the almond into the date. (note: tell people there’s an almond inside so they don’t think it’s the pit!
Using a butter knife, slather some goat cheese into the sliced open date.
Wrap the bacon around the date. The bacon should stay securely around the date, but if you think it’s going to fall off, use a toothpick to keep everything together.
When all the dates you want to stuff and wrap are done, place them in a 9×13 baking pan with reasonably high sides. They will leak out fat and juice and whatever.
Bake at 350* for about 40 minutes, then broil (high) for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Let them cool before you eat them! Hot cheese in your mouth isn’t pleasant, promise.
I made these for the Collar Cit Crossfit / Crossfit Beyond End of Summer Throwdown.. I can’t really imagine a more perfect recovery food than bacon and dates. If you don’t eat dairy, feel free to leave out the goat cheese. They come out just fine!
