Hospitaltiy Dare #2 Make Someone Feel Special - Recipe for Bacon Cake

I'm participating in a 7 day Hospitality Dare. Each day I'll post about how I responded to the dare. See the end of the post to see how you can take the dare!

Day #2 Dare:  Bring the gift of hospitality to your own family today.  For dinner or dessert, light candles and put something special on each person's plate (a note, chocolate kisses, a favorite poem, etc.)   

For today's challenge I did put a little note in my husband lunch bag. It had to do with a private joke between us about square buns that I'm not going to share:-) He liked it and that's all that matters!

I would like to share with you something I did over the weekend that I think really exemplifies this challenge.

My oldest son had a birthday Saturday and since his wife is out of town we invited him over for a birthday celebration. 

Now this boy does not eat sweets. No candy, cake, cookies, brownies, ice cream...NOTHING! NONE! NADA! My husband and I joke that if he and his brothers didn't look exactly alike we'd swear he had been switched at birth! 

I'm ashamed to admit that during his growing up years we always had birthday cake because that's what you do on a birthday. Right? He'd always take a little piece and pick at it while the rest of us pigged out!

This year I decided to do something different. Something just for him. 

I made a bacon cake. Not the sweet and savory type that is so popular right now but a real savory bacon cake. 

Bacon Birthday Cake! 

I think he liked it!


The cake was a variation of a breakfast casserole that I make. Instead of baking it in a 13 x 9 casserole pan I used a 9 x 9 round cake pan.

The icing is just ranch dip and the chocolate sprinkles is bacon that I 

ground up in my coffee grinder. (Probably not a great idea since it was a 

chore to clean the grease out of the grinder!)

The Recipe

Bacon Cake (or breakfast casserole)
Makes 1 round 9 x 9 or 8 x 8 cake layer

Ingredients
2 pounds of bacon
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 stick of butter (to grease the pan)

Method
Fry the bacon till crisp. Drain on paper towels and cut or break into bite size pieces.
In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and stir together.
Add the eggs and the milk and beat till smooth. Stir in the cheese and bacon.

Melt the butter in the baking pan.
Pour in the bacon cheese mixture.

Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. Test the cake by inserting a wooded skewer or toothpick near the center. It should come out clean.

• To make this in to a cake I had to cool it completely before I put on the icing. The icing was really just for show. To eat the cake I scraped most of it off and reheated the cake in the microwave. 

• This does make a really good breakfast casserole. Double the flour, milk, eggs, baking powder and salt and bake it in a 13 x 9 pan. You can use sausage in place of the bacon if you want. 

I will have to admit that I really wanted a piece of chocolate cake and ice cream but my son enjoyed his bacon cake.  And that's really what matters.

It's never too late to accept the Hospitality Dare.

Go over to 

Kirstin Schell - Gather 'Round the Table for Food and Faith - 7 Day Hospitality Dare

For all the details.

I dare you!


You can see what I did to meet these dares:
Hospitality Dares and Challenges

Linking up with:

A Stroll Through Life - Inspire Me Tuesday

Hope in Every Season












Missional Women Faith Filled Friday

http://christianmommyblogger.com/fellowship-fridays-61/

A Small Thing Brings Great Joy-Write a Letter

"A letter is a blessing, a great and all-too-rare privilege that can turn a private moment into an exalted experience."  

Alexandra Stoddard

Do you write letters? Not email- typed on a computer but with pen and paper written by your own hand?

It makes me sad to think that handwritten letters sent by what is called snail mail are becoming (and maybe already are) a thing of the past. 

The other day my husband remarked that if it wasn't for junk mail we'd get no mail at all. Even the bills are paperless. More ecologically sound I suppose.

When my mother-in-law was alive she was a prolific letter writer.  At least once a week a letter would appear in the mailbox.

I loved to see the envelope in the mailbox with her small, not so neat handwriting. Her stationary usually had a red cardinal on it somewhere.

Sometimes the letter was addressed to me or my husband or to one of the children. 

She'd fill the letter with little bits of what was happening with my husband's brothers and sister. She'd send her love to her grandchildren. And somewhere in every letter to me she'd tell me I was a good mom and I was doing a great job...

I miss those letters. 

I miss my mother-in-law. 

I'm a keeper. A sentimental fool so I still have every letter she wrote to me and most of the ones she sent to her grandchildren. I love reading over those letters. Those little doses of love and encouragement that only cost her the price of a stamp but are priceless to me.

I wish I could be more like my mother-in-law but I do manage an occasional letter here and there. I like to think about the person coming to the mail box expecting junk mail or bills and being surprised to see a hand written letter. I hope that my letters bring a little moment of joy and anticipation to the person receiving it.

Is there someone in your life who could use a little note of encouragement? Why not drop a letter in the mail and send a little cheer?

Sometimes the smallest things bring the greatest joy.

Patti 

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