caramelized bacon wrapped pears

Foodbuzz is running a bacon-themed contest, so I decided to get into the kitchen and crank out some bacon desserts. First up is a simple but elegant bacon dessert with fruit, so the artery clogging is balanced out. Kidding. I liked the pears because they have a neutral flavor, though any fruit like peach and other stone fruit would work as well.

The necessary ingredients are pears, bacon, sugar, and POM juice for the sauce, though you could substitute a red wine if you preferred.

I sliced the pears lengthwise, then scooped out the cores and the bottoms and stems. I then wrapped each pear half with a slice of bacon. I meant to buy toothpicks to pierce into the fruit so the bacon stayed in place, but I forgot. I would suggest doing it.

When the skillet heated up, I sprinkled sugar in the skillet and placed the pears, sliced side down, on the sugar. I wanted the bacon to pan fry in the caramelized sugar and develop a sweet, crispy, and chewy texture.

The bacon cooked up great like this. After I flipped the pears and cooked the other side for a few minutes, I transferred the pears to a parchment lined baking sheet to place in the oven. I had to scrape out the caramelized sugar before cooking the other four pears because it had cooked too much and tasted like burnt sugar with essence of bacon, which still was surprisingly good. I munched on burnt bacon caramel while I finished up the remaining pears. You may question how I have any sense of taste left, but don't worry about me.

After cooking and removing the other pears, I added a tablespoon of butter and POM juice to the skillet, then let it cook down a bit to reduce and thicken. As the sauce cooked, the pears were baking nicely in the oven. They were a bit firm to begin with, but the texture came out great afterward. Easily sliceable, but not mushy. I was pretty happy with the outcome of this recipe, and I liked how simple it was to make a tasty fruit dessert that didn't need a pie crust. Try it out if you're a bacon fan.

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caramelized bacon wrapped pears
Recipe by Christina Provo

Serves 4

ingredients -

4 firm Bartlett pears
8 slices bacon
2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup POM juice or red wine

directions -

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Slice the pears lengthwise. Scoop out cores and stems. Take a slice of bacon and wrap it around one half, securing ends with toothpicks (press them in deep, leaving enough of the end sticking out to remove before serving. Repeat with rest of pear halves and bacon.


2. Heat a large skillet over medium. When hot, sprinkle with 1/3 cup sugar. Immediately place pear halves on top, cut side down. Cook for 5 minutes; carefully flip over and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Remove to baking sheet and place in oven. Discard caramel in pan onto a sheet of foil to cool before throwing out. Add remaining sugar and repeat cooking process.


3. After pears are removed from skillet, add butter and stir. Slowly pour in POM juice, stirring with a whisk constantly. Let cook on medium for about 5-7 minutes, until thickened and reduced.


4. Spoon sauce onto bottom of plate and top with two pear halves. Enjoy!

New Iron Girl Energy Bars

Iron Girl sent me two packs of their new release, energy bars made with women's nutrition in mind. Iron Girl event series is comprised of 13 races nationwide, ranging from shorter distances like the 5/10k to half marathhon, duathlon, and triathlon. Iron Girl is part of World Triathlon Corporation, producers of the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. It makes sense that with all these events for women, they'd figure up an energy bar for their audience base. So, teaming up with Power Bar, they've released two flavors of fortified energy bars you can eat to fuel up a workout, or satiate your hunger between meals during a busy day.

With women's nutrition in mind, Iron Girl made sure to include some essential minerals to help us stay strong. Containing calcium, iron, and B vitamins, you have a nutrition packed energy bar that provides taste and substance. Iron Girl energy bars contains 40% of the Daily Value (DV) for iron, 20% DV for calcium, and the B vitamin blend contains: 45% DV riboflavin, 35% DV niacin, 40% DV vitamin B6, 20% DV folate, and 25% DV pantothenic acid.

As we all know, iron is important to the female athlete, as iron deficiencies greatly affect our performance. Iron helps carry oxygen around the body and muscles. If your iron stores are low, it can cause fatigue and negatively impact performance, not just during workouts but throughout the day.

Calcium plays an important role for bone health. Inadequate calcium effects include low bone mineral density and stress fractures.

B vitamins convert food to energy. Adequate B vitamin intakes is important to ensure our energy production remains revved and help our bodies build and repair muscle tissue.

So not only do the bars taste good, but they're good for you, too. Two birds with one stone.

Their bars, made with whole grains, real fruit, and cocoa, are soft and chewy and lightly sweet. The two flavors, strawberry & cranberry and cocoa crunch are available at Target beginning mid-April, $0.99 for individual bars and $4.99 for a six pack. Power bar is also offering a special on their website. Register on www.powerbar.com/irongirloffer and receive a "buy one, get one FREE" coupon.

My favorite flavor between the two was the strawberry & cranberry. The bar was studded with fruit pieces. I liked the contrast between the tart cranberries and chewy, sweet oats, and who can resist strawberry? This bar was 160 calories, not really enough for a snack but enough to get me through a run if I'm a bit on the hungry side. It wasn't heavy and didn't sit like a log in my stomach. I ate 1 1/2 bars about 45 minutes before going out on a 4 miler, and it never felt like I could feel the effects of the bar in my stomach, like ingredients that made you feel bloated and didn't digest quickly. A definite plus.

Next up was the cocoa crunch, a bar made from the same chewy whole oats, plus crispy rice cereal and cocoa powder. To me, this bar tasted deeply earthy and it didn't seem as sweet as the strawberry bar. I didn't really enjoy this one as I felt that it lacked enough sweetness to balance the cocoa so I probably won't be buying it on my own. One of my brothers liked it, though, so it's definitely an individual thing. I just likened it to a taste I didn't want in sweet foods.

If you are looking for a new bar to try, check out these Iron Girl bars. Thank you again for letting me try them out!

Foodbuzz Tastemaker: Nature's Pride Homemade Panko Breadcrumbs

I received a loaf of Nature's Pride 100% Natural Hearty Wheat with Flax bread a few weeks ago thanks to the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program. This brand has come to be a favorite with mine, as it's one of the better natural breads available on store shelves. The texture is soft and spongy and the flavors are always delicious. You won't have to worry about the ingredient label with Nature's Pride, either.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to make with it. I could make a strata or a bread pudding, but I've already done that. Since I had some fish, I came up with the idea of turning the loaf of bread into panko breadcrumbs, which are my favorite.

How does panko breadcrumbs differ from normal breadcrumbs? Panko crumbs are typically made from the crumb part of the bread and not the crusts, which explains the white color you see that identifies panko. However, for my first try I used the entire slice. I simply tore the slices into pieces and ground it in the food processor. Next time, I'd grind them a little finer as I don't feel they adhered to the fish in an even coating and some of the pieces of breadcrumbs were too big.

After spreading the crumbs onto a baking sheet, I mixed in 2 1/2 teaspoons of lemon pepper seasoning for 6 slices of bread. Next step is to bake in the oven, turning occasionally. You are aiming to dry the breadcrumbs out rather than toasting them. A bit of the breadcrumbs I made ended up being toasted, but that's probably because I turned the heat up to speed the process.

It's easier to see here how I should have ground the bread a bit more finely. However, the flavor was really good. You get the nutty sweetness of whole wheat flour with the tart lemon pepper seasoning all toasted up together.

And there you have it, homemade panko breadcrumbs! Economically speaking, I'm not sure which is the cheaper option, buying panko already made or making it yourself, but if you have a loaf that's on the stale side this is always a good idea to have so as to save the bread.

Also, I feel the need to explain that the coating on my fish wasn't as thick as it needed to be, preventing the topping from adhering more evenly. Still, the crumbs were a bit too big.

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Homemade Panko Breadcrumbs

The cooking time is determined by the freshness of your bread. If it's fresher, you'll need to bake it longer to dry it out. Older bread won't take as long. Don't let the breadcrumbs toast, as the aim is simply to dry it out.

Ingredients -

6 slices Nature's Pride 100% Natural Hearty Wheat with Flax bread
2 1/2 teaspoons seasoning powder or herb blend of your choice

Directions -

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Tear up six slices of Nature's Pride bread. Add half to a food processor and process until crumbs are coarse, but small. Pour out onto a rimmed baking sheet and repeat with the remaining bread chunks.


2. Sprinkle the seasoning powder over the breadcrumbs, stirring to coat the crumbs evenly. Place in oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and stir crumbs. If they're still moist, place in the oven and continue to cook for another 5 minutes


3. Once breadcrumbs appear slightly firm, remove from oven. Transfer breadcrumbs to a cool container or bowl to cool. They'll harden completely when cooled to room temperature.