It's bacon time.

The snack of choice this weekend was bacon-wrapped water chestnuts. This is another recipe I've helped my family make so many times it's basically burned into my brain. They make excellent appetizers, but don't go pre-making them the night before a party; they're addictive and you WILL eat them.

Water chestnuts are not really chestnuts at all, but are actually an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes, under the mud. They have a sweet, crunchy texture that I normally enjoy in stir-fry, but also make an awesome snack.

Not to mention, a fellow blogger has been asking for some bacon-related recipes, probably to wash down with some crazy new beer. Well, here you go.

Improvised Refried Beans

I don't have a lot of traditions or rituals that I follow. I like change, and I get bored easily. But there is one food-related tradition I will always enjoy: Friday Night Burritos. 

Burritos, like most Mexican food, are very versatile. However, there is one make-or-break ingredient to having top-notch burritos, and that would be refried beans. Refried Beans are red kidney beans cooked down into a mushy paste and seasoned to perfection. They supply the texture and flavour that make burritos so delicious. Despite what others might say, they truly are the magical fruit.

So you can imagine how upset I was Friday night when, halfway through making burritos, I opened up the kitchen cabinet and found no refried beans. Normally a quick trip to the grocery store could've solved this, but the beauty of Friday Night Burritos is that the cooking is part of the festivities. My roommate and I had already had a few beverages, so driving anywhere would not be an option. 

Desperate to have a complete burrito night, I dug back into the cabinet and pulled out a can of black beans. 

"Aha!" I surely exclaimed as I ran to my computer to google if you could make refried black beans.

Turns out you can, and it's ridiculously simple.

Due to technical difficulties...

I had an excellent post planned for today. I made a stir fry. It was delicious. I took pictures, lots of them, and they looked good.

Unfortunately, my phone neglected to tell me there was no room to save the pictures, so they pretty much evaporated as soon as I took the next one.

So, unfortunately today there is

A Vegetative State of Mind: Chick Pea Pasta

 If you haven't already noticed, there's a theme in all the previous meals I've posted here on Bachelor Chow....

Meat. And lots of it.

Now, as an unabashed carnivore, this is just in my nature. But I've been asked by some loyal readers to branch out and try making something a little more vegetarian friendly.

However, I am a firm believer that every proper meal should contain complex carbohydrates, fibre and protein, the latter of which is hard to find in vegetarian cuisine.  Essentially, I needed a meat substitute. Tofu wasn't going to cut it. My solution?

Superbowl Snack: Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip

It's funny how our society associates events with some weird nutritional traditions. 

Take the Superbowl, for example. The Superbowl represents the pinnacle of athletic achievement - the world's most highly-trained athletes facing off for four hours of brutal competition with the whole world watching. Reaching this game has taken each participant years of training, practice, and self-denial. 

So how do we honour these modern-day gladiators that populate our televisions for one Sunday early in February? 

We get drunk and gorge on fatty foods, of course.

Yo Quiero Chili

Chili is the ultimate improvisational meal. Like a chameleon, it can adapt to the climate, and to your cupboard.  It also has the added bonus of falling under that "so easy even an idiot could make it" category that I enjoy so much.  So what better way to kill a sloppy, chilly Saturday afternoon then by making a pot of nice, sloppy chili?

The starting lineup.

Beer Butt Chicken & Mixed Potatoes

This weekend's meal of choice was a personal favourite of mine, Beer Butt Chicken. Merging beer with chicken is an obvious and delicious combination. It makes the juiciest, most tender chicken I've had. And it would take an enormous moron to screw it up, which is nice for me.

Of course, you don't eat JUST chicken for dinner. Gotta have a side dish. So I dug through my closet and decided to clean out the remainders of my potato stash. I chopped up two sweet potatoes, one regular potato, one onion and a clove of garlic.

I may have busted out the beer a little early, too.

Dr. Pepper Pork Ribs

I'm not usually a fan of making pork ribs - they take a lot of effort to cook, and even more to eat. But when I heard that you could marinate them in the nectar of the gods, Dr. Pepper, I knew I'd eventually have to try. What better time than now, for this blog?

I found a few recipes online, all of which had the same basic idea, so I decided to improvise a little bit.

The Cooking Commandments

Welcome to my blog, Bachelor Chow. I'm a student living on a tight budget who loves to cook.  I'll be writing and posting pictures of the the meals I've created over the my 4 years of university life. While this blog is officially a project for Niagara College's Public Relations & Marketing program, I also hope it serves as a bit of reference for the future.

This is my first official post, so I figured I'd give a bit of insight into my methods. Here are my 10 Cooking Commandments that I just made up right now.

1. Thou shalt use the fewest dishes possible to complete the meal, including making plates irrelevant by eating directly out of the pan/pot/tray/dish.
2. Thou shalt cherish thy slow-cooker and Foreman grill.
3. Thou shalt make any meal more filling by putting it between two slices of bread; sandwiches are proof God loves us and wants us to eat delicious food without utensils.
4. Thou shalt put cheese and garlic on anything and everything possible. (Except desserts.)
5. Thou shalt eat healthy whenever funds allow - Lean meat and veggies is a treat compared to chicken fingers.
6. Thou shalt barbecue whenever possible.
7. Thou shalt be inspired by this guy and these guys.
8. Thou shalt try every style of cooking to prevent boredom.
9. Thou shalt drink beer with dinner in the summer, wine in the winter, and liquor whenever necessary.
10. Thou shalt make enough to share.