Convenience Bacon

American Vetch (food for the Plains Indians)

I was nearing home as the sun's golden rays kissed the prairie flowers on the hillside good night. The Vetch plant's purple flowers glowed as the beams of light passed through their petals like a stained glass window, its grandeur spotlighted.

The insistent rumbling of my stomach diverted my attention from the warm scene and rather than linger on the prairie with my camera, I hurried up the hill, my mind engaged in what I could make for supper. It needed to be fast, my energy was fading with the sun. I remembered the bacon I had just bought that morning and thought maybe a BLT sounded pretty good. If it had been T-bone steak or corn that was missing in our freezer, we'd have waited until we butchered or the garden refurbishes our supply, but I've a real weakness for bacon. You know, spinach salad topped with bacon, tomatoes, and sliced hard boiled eggs; cheese souffles with bacon and broccoli; baked potatoes with sour cream and chopped bacon. Yum!

But, it was Aunt LaRae's trick that created my downfall. She instructed me to bake or broil the meat and then freeze it whole or chopped. She was right, it was handy when company came and you wanted to serve bacon and eggs. By the time the bacon was reheated, the fried eggs were done. I figured why wait for company, and it was then that I began buying bacon when we ran out.

Tonight, I used a broiler pan but during the time I was powerfully confused where I'd placed it after cleaning the pantry, I tried cooling racks on a cookie sheet. It worked just as well. You can use the broil or bake setting on your oven. And, what I like best is the fat drips away and the slices remain flat and don't curl like they do when you fry them.

I cooked the two packages of bacon as I washed the milking pails and cleaned up the kitchen. Then, settled down on the couch to watch Rat Patrol, an old television series we had on DVD as I savored my bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.