Bacon-tober Continues...

Well, since we had about 40 lbs of meat and only about 15 guests, BaconFest has not ended for me or Josh.  Pork seems to be part of our daily diet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and its been going on for almost the entire month of October now!  Luckily Josh and I are very creative with combining leftover meat and organic veggies from our veggie box, giving us the best of both worlds.  Good thing we like pork!  What follows is just a small sample of the many delicious items that we have created.

Sautéed Collard Greens and Bacon served alongside a Pork Stuffed Bell Pepper.

Scrambled Egg and Wild Boar Sausage Burrito, wrapped in a giant Collard Greens Leaf.

And the big winner of the month was this mouth-watering birthday cake creation, invented by Stacia Federowski Lange for our dad's birthday: Maple Bacon Ice Cream Layer Cake!! OMG, talk about amazing!! 

We also found a whole extra rack of pork ribs that got mysteriously stashed back in the oven instead of getting cut up and served at BaconFest...too bad they were a week old now and totally stinky and gross!!

Also missing from these photos was a huge batch of Wild Boar Stew that fed us for days and days... Again, cheers to Bacon-Tober, and we'll see you all again next year!

BaconFest 2012! 10/6/12

In honor of Josh's Birthday and a long time dream in the making, we hosted the 1st Annual BaconFest at our house last weekend.  It was a celebration of everything bacon or pork, as well as a good excuse to get all our friends together for a fall day of smoking and BBQing.  Josh and I got a little overwhelmed in the preparation phase since we took on preparing somewhere around 40lbs of meat all by ourselves and in many different ways, but after 3 days of hard work and preparation, the party was a huge success!  So much great pork, bite after bite was totally mouth watering and delicious.  Yay BaconFest!  Hope you can all join us again next year...

Pork Chili, made with pork that had been brined for 24 hours in a maple brine.

Homemade Sausages: half were Wild Boar and Apple, half were Pork Shoulder.

Sausages were smoked, BBQ'd, and dipped in Silver Spring Mustard.

Pork Loin stuffed with Bacon and Mushrooms (courtesy of Jesse Shirley).

Wild Boar Leg, shot and slaughtered by Sarah Jones, soaked in a Pepper Ale brine, and smoked.

Wild Boar Tenderloin, also soaked in a Pepper Ale brine and smoked.

Bacon-wrapped corn and Wild Boar Shoulder.

Homemade Bacon Garlic Bread.

Bacon Maple Beer (courtesy of Megan Shirley).

15 lb Pork Shoulder, soaked in a Honey Chili Brine and smoked for 8+ hours...so juicy and tender!

More Pork Shoulder.  (Missing from photos: Pork Ribs and Wild Boar Ribs.  These were eaten up way too fast!)

Watermelon, Arugula, and Feta Salad (no, its not pork, but we had to have something green!)

Maple Bacon Ice Cream

Day 2 of a week of leftover Bacon Festivities, Josh concocted this delicious little bit of mouth watering yumminess: Brown Sugar toasted Bacon Bread topped with Maple Bacon Ice Cream, Farmers Market Peaches and Plums and Caramel Sauce!!

A room full of full, happy BaconFesters!

Heather, Ryan, Nancy, and Josh stuffing their faces with Bacon!