Northwest Flavors (MattMatt's Birthday) Part I

I recently had my family over to celebrate my brother-in-law's (MattMatt) birthday. MattMatt loves bacon. He is always asking me to make him dishes that include bacon. So I thought it would be funny if I could make all my dishes with bacon. I didn't manage to get bacon into EVERY dish, but I came pretty darn close! So below are pictures and recipes from that special day. If I don't list a recipe, it's because it's not my own recipe, and I didn't change it up at all. Some of you may think this is way too unhealthy, and I would say to you, we don't eat like this every day! It was just a birthday celebration and the birthday boy happened to like bacon! Enjoy!

Winter Sangria

This recipe came from my mother-in-law. She was looking at recipes at her mother-in-law's house and made a photocopy of this and brought it home. I've made some changes to it, and I'm pretty happy with the results of it.

2 (750) bottles sparkling white wine, chilled (Don't go too cheap!)
1 1/2 cups triple sec, chiled
1 cup apple juice, chilled
3 oranges, 2 large and 1 small
2 small apples, any kind will do. I like gala the best.

Squeeze the two large oranges. You'll want about 1/2 cup of orange juice.

Slice the third smaller orange into thin, round slices. If you have a mandolin, it works so perfect for slicing the orange and apples into thinly sliced pieces of perfection! Probably if you are making this punch, you're making it for a special occasion - for friends or loved ones. And while getting the mandolin out might seem like more work, your family and friends are worth the extra five minutes, don't you think?

Next combine the orange juice, triple sec, and apple juice into bottom of punch bowl. Do this before you slice the apples, and then plop the apples right in as you're slicing them so they don't turn brown. Chill and let everything marinade for at least an hour, but if you have two or 3 hours its even more delicious!