Saturday, December 22, 2007

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

So there I am, making my way forward through the water, pushing my hands back and forth against the resistance, legs kicking out in front. I feel like a crazy subterranean robot. I am bouncing up and down and my hair is pointing straight out from my head in wild fuzzy spirals. I look over at Lynn, she is bobbing through the water with a determined, experienced look on her face. I see the perky woman dancing on the edge. She holds up a brightly colored strap of rubber and tells all the people to wrap it around their ankles and start doing jumping jacks. They all comply. How surreal would appear if someone were to view it from above. Wait, there are people viewing it from above, and they are pedaling bicycles.




No, it's not a dream: it's the water aerobics class that Lynn invited me to join her in at the health club she belongs to. I agreed because I need to burn off the calories from all of the holiday food that I have been consuming, and it's not realistic to ride my bike in the snow.


*******

Last night I consumed an extra large amount of that holiday food. I hosted an ornament exchange party for the women in my neighborhood. Here is a picture that I took of some of the guests. Aren't they all lovely? Everyone dressed up all Christmassy except for Heather who did not wear pants.


Patty made bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, delicious! Here is her recipe:



1 lb bacon (I usually get the kind already cooked)
2 (8 ounce) cans water chestnuts
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup chili sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut each strip of bacon in half. Wrap one strip around one water chestnut. Secure with a wooden toothpick. Place in a shallow baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While the wraps are baking, in a small mixing bowl combine the brown sugar, mayonnaise and chili sauce. After the wraps have finished baking, transfer them to a second shallow baking dish (I skip the whole transfer thing if I have used the precooked bacon. You are just getting them out of the grease by transferring them and there is little or no grease if you use the precooked). Pour the sauce over the wraps.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 additional minutes or until bacon is crispy. Serve hot out of dish with toothpicks.

2 comments:

kid_curry said...

Mindy can you forward me a copy of the group photo to post on the Glenmoor Gals website. Whatever you get around to it. I know it's Christmas Eve Eve.

Thanks Kendrea

Heather Leigh said...

Life is so much more fun when you don't wear any pants!!!

Seriously, Min, thanks so much for hosting this! It truly was a blast. So glad you stole and ended up with my cocktail sipping reindeer ladies ornament!!

And sober Heather echoes drunk Heather when she says, "I LOVE me some Mindy!!" xoxo