My father-in-law had a medical procedure done this week and is recovering like a champion, so this week’s recipes go out to him. He is so supportive of my cookbook collecting (hoarding) that he has single-handedly supplied about a quarter of the cookbooks I own, including the full Time Life Foods of the World collection. But those recipes are for another day. During my last trip to visit him, he gave me a stack of Taste of Home magazines that were from the early 2000s, which, to my surprise are close to 20 years old??? And that’s where I found these fun brunch recipes.
Zippy Praline Bacon ingredients:
1 lb. bacon strips - I used 2 strips because I didn’t want to ruin that much bacon, it’s a precious resource
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 ½ tsp. chili powder
¼ cup finely chopped pecans that you definitely didn’t just fish out of the mixed nuts jar
Waffle Monte Cristo ingredients:
½ cup apricot preserves, or whatever kind of jam-like ingredients you might have
8 frozen waffles, mine were completely freezer burnt, not sure if that changes the recipe
4 slices each of deli turkey, ham, and Havarti cheese
4 bacon strips that you didn’t make into pralines
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
Pancake syrup
I started by completely messing up the Praline Bacon recipe by putting all the sugar, chili powder, and nuts on it. Apparently, you’re supposed to put the bacon in the oven at 425 for 10 minutes before you put the sugar mixture on it, so I started by brushing off my bacon and THEN putting it in the oven. Once 10 minutes passed, I put the sugar back on it and let it cook for about 7 more minutes. Oh, and you were supposed to drain the bacon fat at some point? That didn’t happen either.
While the praline bacon was in the oven, and while my husband made a "safer" second breakfast for the family, I slathered one side of 4 waffles with butter. Then I took 2 of the buttered waffles and slathered the other side with my jam-like ingredients. One waffle got mango pineapple marmalade courtesy of a friend from Mexico, and the other got a Praline Pecan Honey Butter. I put the jammy waffles butter side down in the skillet with some bacon grease and topped them with the deli meats and cheese. Then I slapped that other waffle on top of it. I flipped the sandwiches over once the bottom was toasty and then covered the skillet with a lid until the cheese was melty.
The Praline Bacon looked pretty burnt and tasted like your standard candied bacon, with a little smokiness from the chili powder. The burnt part is probably my fault, but this recipe is 100% not worth the effort. However, the Monte Cristos were a hit! My husband ate all of the sandwich I put the honey butter on, and my kid even gave it a very rare thumbs up! Please don't mind the messy "I'm having waffles" bun. She gets it from her mama.
Final verdict: The PERFECT use of freezer burnt waffles. We will be making these sandwiches again.
Stay tuned next week when we make a recipe for a cake that someone sent me from the Buna, Texas paper that includes a can of pork and beans. Now if y’all will excuse me, I’m going to try to figure out how to make sangria and pina colada mix into a mimosa. I’ll report back with the results.
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