Bacon Wrapped Roasted Asparagus

Asparagus came in my Bountiful Baskets this past week. I have a confession - I have never had asparagus. I've been offered, but never took the leap of trying it. This comes from not having a large offering of food choices as a child. With these baskets, I've been forced out of my comfort zone in order to use some of the items we receive. I adore roasted vegetables, so I decided to just do that to our asparagus. With bacon, of course. Because bacon.

Ingredients:

a bunch of asparagus

bacon slices

1/4 cup melted butter

a tablespoon of brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400F. Wrap a baking sheet in aluminum foil. Cut the ends off of the asparagus (not the tips, you want those). Make smaller bundles, about 10 pieces in each. Wrap the bacon around the asparagus, leaving about an inch free on top and bottom. You can secure with a toothpick, but mine wrapped just perfectly so I could place the seam side down. Pour melted butter evenly over the bundles. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 30 minutes. The asparagus should be starting to wilt. Serve with chicken or whatever you desire! We also roasted some potatoes at the same time drizzled with garlic infused oil.

keto friendly: feta stuffed bacon wrapped meatloaf

There is no introduction to this. Just look at the picture.

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef

1/2lb Italian sausage, out of casing

one onion, finely chopped

olive oil

1/4 cup feta cheese, cubed

2 eggs

1 cup finely riced cauliflower 

3 Tbsp thyme 

1 Tbsp hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste

6 slices of bacon

Preheat oven to 380F. Put foil on a baking sheet and on a cooling rack. Poke holes in the foil on the cooling rack. The rack goes on top of the baking sheet, which will catch the grease. Saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil. Let cool. While letting it cool, place all ingredients except feta in a large bowl and mix together. Add feta in center and form meat into a loaf around it. Move the loaf to the cooling rack. Take 2 pieces of bacon and lay them horizontally on the loaf. Weave the other 4 pieces vertically. Tuck in the edges under the loaf to prevent curling. Bake for at least an hour or until the meat thermometer reads 160F.