Baking the Whole Package of Turkey Bacon

As we've discussed, breakfast for dinner has been on my supper menu this month. At the end of December, I bought several packages of turkey bacon, marked down to $1.39 per package. I've specifically targeted BFD nights for my busy evening of the week. Searing bacon in a skillet takes too much time for an evening when I have a meeting that I'm scrambling to get to.

So, I've been baking the bacon. My mother's 1957 cookbook has instructions for baking pork bacon in the oven, on a rack, in a jelly roll pan, at 400 degrees F, for about 15-20 minutes. This does work very well, and is a great way to avoid the painful grease splatters, while standing at the stove, cooking bacon.

What I have in the freezer right now is turkey bacon. So, I was curious whether or not turkey bacon would also bake well. I really loved how easy this was.

• I didn't use a rack, just laid the pieces out on the a jelly roll pan, close together.  Even turkey bacon shrinks up. I was able to fit about 12 slices, at one time, onto the jelly roll pan.
• And I preheated the oven to 375 degrees F (not 400 F like for pork bacon)
• I baked for about 15 minutes, until they looked done.
• I was able to bake the whole package in two batches, one right after the other.
• Leftover cooked bacon was kept in the fridge for a couple of days. It can also be frozen, and quickly reheated, one or two strips at a time.

I didn't line the baking sheet with anything. But you can, if you want an easier clean-up. And I didn't grease the pan. I've heard that oiling the pan, first, will result in crispier turkey bacon. I may try that this week. But you don't need to add oil, unless you are baking the super lean variety of turkey bacon. The regular turkey bacon doesn't stick to the pan.

What I liked most about this method is that I didn't have to tend to it, while it cooked. When I microwave bacon it goes from not quite done to overdone quickly. And standing at the stove takes time away from other, more desirable, tasks.

Cooking for One: Lunchtime at my House

Since it's just me for lunch at home, five days a week, I find it difficult to get motivated to stop whatever I'm doing, and cook myself a proper meal. I've come up with four types of lunches, for me that are working.

• the "desperately hungry, but no time to stand in the kitchen to cook, and don't want to wash any dishes" lunch. This consists of a slice of whole wheat bread, spread with peanut butter (natural-style chunky is my fave), and then topped with additional peanuts. It's really quite tasty and filling. The bonus is I don't put this on a plate, but use my cloth napkin from the table, and the only other thing I dirty is the knife used to spread the peanut butter.

• meal on a plate (or in a bowl, just not in plastic or food storage containers). When I'm serving up dinner, if there's enough leftover, I serve myself an extra plate or bowl of whatever is on the menu that night. I cover this serving and put it in the fridge. At lunchtime the next day, I reheat my meal in the microwave. It's ready in 1 minute, with zero fuss. I don't even have storage or reheating containers to wash. My plate, or bowl, goes into the dishwasher. These are my favorite lunch meals. They are better than commercial, frozen meals, in that I get to eat my good cooking, and on good dishes, not out of plastic.

• almost-instant soup for one. Earlier this month, I bought a bunch of ingredients from the bulk section to make almost-instant soups. These are the same ingredients that I bought to make soup mixes to give as Christmas gifts. I bought dried onion flakes, a bean and tortilla soup mix, chicken soup base powder, dried cheese tortellinis, dried vegetable soup mix, and some Parmesan cheese. I combine various ingredients in my pot, along with extra chili powder, cumin, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt and water, and cook. With some of the soups I make, I also add some canned tomatoes, or tomato sauce, and/or, top with the remnants of a bag of tortilla chips that I've stashed in a cupboard. These are delicious and I look forward to making them for myself. The hands-on time is under 5 minutes, and cooking can take 30 or so minutes, but I can be doing something else during that time. The cost per bowl of soup is about 35 cents.

• hot dog from the freezer or an egg, scrambled or boiled, along with some sort of starchy side dish, such as a corn tortilla, slice of bread, or a leftover baked potato. Not at all fancy, but it's enough to fill me, something I will enjoy eating, I always have this on hand at home, and it keeps me from getting take-out when I'm coming home from appointments or running errands.

If you're at home, every day by yourself, how do you manage your own lunches?