Pinterest Party at Jen's

I love Pinterest, but sometimes I think...there aren't enough hours in a lifetime to try all these ideas! Well, my daughter Jen started having Pinterest Parties where everyone brings a recipe from their Pinterest boards (most brought 2 😊.)  Of course, there is wine involved as well. Jen's friend Nancy even brought a bowl of "slushy" which is a fantastic concoction of o.j., cranberry juice, and vodka, all frozen to a slightly mushy consistency and eaten with a spoon....yum!

I have been on a bacon kick, so I decided to try my hand at chocolate covered bacon, and also a bacon jalapeño cheese ball which I have made before and it is always a crowd pleaser. First the chocolate covered bacon:

All the recipes I found were basically the same, so I decided to wing it. The first thing I did was to buy some good quality chocolate chips, and some thick cut bacon. I baked the bacon on a rack in the oven at 400 for about 30 minutes....my oven runs on the cool side, so adjust accordingly!  Then you have to let it cool and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes. (I cut mine in half before freezing.) While the bacon is freezing, I microwaved about a cup of the chocolate chips with 2 tsp shortening, stirring very 30 seconds or so till melted. Let it cool a little. After the bacon sits in the freezer for half an hour you are ready to start dipping. I put the melted chocolate in a shallow dish and tried to dip each piece of bacon, leaving just a small un-dipped end on each piece. Set them on wax paper till the chocolate is firm, then refrigerate till ready to serve. I had planned on adding either a white chocolate drizzle, or some finely chopped nuts, but decided I liked the plain bacon and chocolate look (the taste wasn't bad either!)

Next, I made my cheese ball.

I mixed together an 8 oz package of softened cream cheese with a half a cup of grated cheddar cheese. I added some fresh parsley, cooked crumbled bacon, finely chopped jalapeño, a little Worcestershire, cumin and salt and mixed it all together. It is easier to roll into a ball if you moisten your hands. After you have shaped the ball, roll it in a mixture of crumbled cooked bacon and finely chopped jalapeño......it is delicious! 

Some of the other wonderful treats were Jen's delicious lemon truffles, Val's great carrot cupcakes, Michelle's sliders, and Becky's delicious empanadas....yum! I can't wait till the summer Pinterest Party when we get to try some more delicious recipes from everyone's Pinterest board.