Iron Chef Bacon Cookoff Party

When you've been craving bacon - which is always, in our home - the best thing you can do is round up a bunch of friends who love to cook and have a massive Iron Chef Bacon Cook Off. This is how we spent last weekend.

Our friends John and Peg hosted, and twelve of us sipped bacon-infused old fashioneds and chopped and baked and rolled our way to a glorious dinner. I love it when dinner takes a couple of hours and we all giggle and sprawl around the table in a food coma, taking just one more bite and a bit more wine.

We're ready to eat!

I'll be sharing a bunch of my talented friends' recipes over the next month, You'll have these to look forward to:

Bacon and Tomato Bruschetta

Bacon-stuffed ravioli in mushroom sauce

Stacked Bacon-Pecan Pear Salads

Goat Cheese Fruit Salad in Parmesan nests

Chocolate-caramel cheesecake with bacon

Bacon-bourbon brownies with pecans

Chocolate chip candied bacon cookies with bourbon cream

With all the bacon and a healthy helping of wine, we were all a little sluggish and dehydrated the next day, but it was worth every bite.