A Healthy Way To Serve Bacon

March 18, 2013   6 Comments

Whenever I write about bacon, Snack Girl gets a surge of readers. Why?

We all want a way to have our bacon and eat it too. Bacon, sadly, is a salty, fatty food that is best eaten rarely as a treat. It is basically salt cured fat with some meat attached.

The key to eating bacon and living a long life is to use it as a condiment. Bacon chunks on a salad comes to mind - not the bacon on a sundae from Denny's.

Also, buy center-cut bacon. It is right there next to the regular bacon and has 25% less fat per serving. If you can find some without nitrates - all the better!

Think of bacon as a flavoring agent and you can mix it with some healthy food to get a delicious side dish. I used bacon below to wrap around a pile of asparagus spears.

One serving of this bacon dish is merely 58 calories and packs a big nutritious punch. No need to feel shame or guilt for enjoying bacon here!

Roasted asparagus is one way to enjoy the fresh asparagus that is hitting our produce section at this time of year. When you roast asparagus with bacon, you get a smokier, fattier, porkier version of the roasted asparagus.

The bacon will not crisp up here (but it is cooked), unless you put it under the broiler for a minute. I was too lazy to attempt that maneuver. You can also grill this, which might be a bit tricky, but I hear gives great results.

If you find that the asparagus is too dry for you, spray with a fine mist olive oil before you wrap it in the bacon.

My kids managed to eat their serving of bacon without the asparagus (oh well :)

How do you incorporate bacon into your healthy diet?

Asparagus Wrapped in Bacon Recipe

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★★★★★

1.6 from 24 reviews

(4 servings)

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Ingredients

1 pound fresh asparagus
2 strips center-cut bacon
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 F. Snap the ends of the the asparagus at the stem end. Wrap 1/2 pound of asparagus spears into one strip of bacon, repeat. Carefully place wrapped bundles onto baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide into four portions (serve each pile of asparagus with 1/2 slice bacon). Eat with a knife and fork spearing a bit of bacon with each bite of asparagus. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

For one serving = 58 calories, 2.4 g fat, 4.4 g carbohydrates, 6.0 g protein, 2.4 g fiber, 137 mg sodium, 2 Points+

Points values are calculated by Snack Girl and are provided for information only. See all Snack Girl Recipes

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