What happened to me?

My family's delicious dinner this past Christmas. This about sums up my eating habits recently: potato sausage, potato bread (can you get more carbs than that?), Swedish meatballs. But I didn't go completely wrong - there's still salmon and broccoli!

What happened to me? That's a question I've been asking myself a lot lately. For the past 8 months I've thrown Paleo out the window. I said goodbye to Paleo and welcomed back bread, cheese, and baked goodies with open arms. I became re-addicted to bread and grains. I grew up as a bread, starch, and cheese sort of gal. If you had asked me as a kid what my favorite food was, I probably would have said either bread or mashed potatoes. Even now, I can tell you my favorite types of bread, because of course I've ranked them - naan, pita, ciabatta, and sourdough are the top four, but I could got on…

These past 8 months have brought that love/addiction/obsession back to the surface. A majority of meals consisted of pita bread or naan with cheese. I have favorite types of cheeses, too, in case you were wondering: gjetost (Norwegian brown goat cheese), brie, white cheddar, havarti, and gouda are just the top five. Part of the reason why I started eating non-Paleo again was because of some health-related issues that started at the beginning of last summer. I was exhausted all of the time and could barely scrape up the energy to cook Paleo meals. When I did cook, I was never in the mood for it - I've wasted a LOT of Paleo-friendly meals over the last few months. So I turned to pre-made meals from Whole Foods or easy-to-snack-on items, like bread and cheese, or vast quantities of chocolate.

Turns out, I was deficient in Vitamin B12. This vitamin is necessary for normal functioning of your nervous system and cell metabolism. It can cause tiredness, weakness, dizziness, numbness or tingling in your fingers and toes, nerve damage (sometimes permanent), GI issues, mood changes, irritability, memory loss, and disorientation. Vitamin B12 deficiency is usually the result of an absorptivity issue. Other causes include insufficient consumption of B12 (such as if you're a vegetarian or a vegan), intestinal conditions (Crohn's disease, celiac, or parasites), or immune disorders (Graves' disease or lupus). You obtain vitamin B12 through your diet - it is not something that your body produces on it's own. Sources of B12 include: meat, poultry, shellfish, eggs, and dairy products.

Not only was I deficient in Vitamin B12 at that time, but also I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is when your thyroid is under-active. Some of the symptoms include fatigue, weight gain, muscle weakness, joint pain/stiffness, depression, impaired memory, dry skin, increased sensitivity to cold, hoarseness, and peripheral neuropathy (numbness and tingling in your fingers and toes), among others.

I was diagnosed with both of these issues after going to a neurologist complaining of numbness and tingling in my fingers. The numbness was particularly bad when I was working out, and sometimes made me a little worried about lifting weights, because I had a hard time maintaining my grip. While this was going on, I was also struggling with waking up exhausted (despite 9 hours of sleep) and had to resort to chugging down caffeine to attempt to stay awake at work. The caffeine just made me simultaneously hyper and tired, and I still couldn't focus. I felt like I was in a constant fog, just struggling to make it through the day. Some days just fighting through work for the first 30 minutes of the day seemed like more than I could bear. I stopped being active because I was tired and I compensated feeling tired with eating more. I stopped cooking for myself because it took more effort than I had to give.

My doctor decided to run some blood tests… and that led to the addition of a few more pills to my daily regimen in order to get my thyroid and B12 levels back in check. I started feeling more energetic again, but couldn't quite get back into Paleo. In a way, I felt betrayed by the Paleo diet. For me, the biggest benefit of going Paleo, was NOT being sick and NOT having to go to the doctor all of the time. And that benefit was slipping away. Here I was, uncommonly tired, gaining weight, and back to visiting the doctor every month. Despite eating meat or animal protein at practically every meal, I was deficient in B12. Despite following the Paleo lifestyle of getting enough sleep, eating clean, lifting heavy things, and moving around more, my body was failing me.

Fortunately, the supplements started to help. After a couple weeks, I started feeling energetic again, but by this time, I was re-addicted to grains and sugar, and though I would tell myself I really needed to get back to eating healthy, I didn't want to give up my addictions. The motivation to eat clean just fell away. I continued to give Paleo the finger.

I was feeling pretty good for a little while, but things started to hurt again. Being the overachiever that I am, I ignored the pain and continued to push myself at the gym and at soccer. I started wearing a knee brace again and ibuprofen became a frequent companion. Then something happened that I've never experienced while working out... my muscles wouldn't completely respond. I tried to use a medium box for step ups at the gym, and I couldn't get my foot up high enough. My quad muscles had obviously started to fire, but seemed to stop half-way. It felt like my body wasn't listening to me. From there, I continued to fall apart. My lifts got harder, and my body began hurting more and more. Around the same time, I started having severe neck pain, which led to physical therapy for my neck, and my exercise was reduced to walking. My migraines came back, and my constant daily headaches returned.

Suffice it to say, I've been falling apart for a while now. And it's time that I try to take charge of my life again.

To start, I'm working my way back to Paleo. I'm beginning with gluten-free, and moving on from there. I'm going to try to break my re-addiction to sugar and grains. And I’m trying to be more active again, which at this point includes swimming, biking, physical therapy (on my knee this time), and walking. And every little bit helps, right?

As I mentioned, I was still cooking some Paleo dishes. And here's one of the desserts I made.

Bacon-wrapped Dates

2 strips bacon

8 dates

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Cut the strips of bacon into quarters, and wrap each piece around a date. Stick with a toothpick to keep the bacon wrapped around the date.
3. Place on a baking sheet and transfer to the hot oven. Cook for 15-20 minutes.

The Virgin Diet

In my continuing journey for health, I've started a new "diet" today. It's slightly different, but not much of a stretch from what I've been doing for the last year and a half. It's just more strict, because obviously my diet wasn't strict enough (read with sarcasm). Before I get into what this new diet change entails, let me give you some details of what's been going on for me lately (since I've so rudely disappeared lately). For the past three or four weeks, I've been severely lacking in energy/will power/excitement. Suffice it to say that I've been feeling burnt out. I wasn't sleeping well and I was under stress, which resulted in a massive migraine that left me crying at work and being driven home by one of my co-workers. The pounding headaches lasted for the next five days, and consisted of me taking my migraine medicine more over the course of one week than I have in the past year. The irony of the whole thing was that I had just gone in for a 6-month check up with my doctor a few days before and talked about how my daily headaches were manageable and I wasn't having to take the migraine meds. I should have known better than to say that out loud and jinx it.

At the beginning of this month I started a 6000 squat challenge, meaning 200 squats per day for 30 days. After the first day of squats, I had to start icing my knees. For the next couple weeks, I was icing my knees every day. Walking up and down stairs as well as just plain walking was painful. Then it seemed like all of my joints started hurting. Both knees, my left ankle, my shoulders, both elbows, my left wrist and thumb, my right fingers... it was ridiculous. I'm 26 years old and sitting hurts. Something obviously isn't right. Add in the fact that my jawline has been breaking out like crazy for the last month or so, and I think I need to make a change.

So that's what I'm doing. Last week I listened in on Real Food Con and while most of the sessions I listened to talked about eating quality foods while cutting out gluten and dairy, I heard something new. What I heard was the Virgin Diet. It's very similar to Paleo, but it doesn't exclude legumes. On the other hand, you can't have any eggs. I took the leaky gut quiz associated with the Virgin Diet and scored a 52. 16+ is a "high likelihood of leaky gut," so I'm literally off the charts. I needed a change, so here goes. The 7 foods that you can't have are:

1. Gluten
2. Dairy
3. Eggs
4. Corn
5. Soy
6. Peanuts
7. Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners

So the things that I'm going to be changing are cutting out eggs (which supposedly will help reduce joint pain - please!), and reducing my sugar intake. No, I don't eat foods with granulated sugar or artificial sweeteners in it, I'll be cutting down on the amount of natural sugars I consume. So when I eat fruit, I'm going to try to stick to berries and citrus fruits which tend to have more nutrients. Anyways, let's see how this goes.

BLT Salad

2 cups butter lettuce/radicchio salad mix

1 handful grape tomatoes, sliced in half

3 slices bacon, sugar-free, no nitrates

Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

sprinkle of pepper

pinch of dried thyme

dash of garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and lay strips of bacon on the pan.

2. Cook the bacon for 20 minutes or until the bacon reaches your desired crispiness. I prefer mine super crispy, but not burnt.

3. While the bacon is cooking, mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, pepper, thyme, and garlic.

4. Chop the cooked bacon into small pieces, and toss in a bowl with the lettuce and tomatoes. Add the dressing and enjoy.

I tossed in a couple blackberries and some mushrooms because I had them lying around, but make it your own and add in whichever ingredients you want.

21DSD - Follow-up

Well folks, I finished! I will admit that I didn't do a FULL 21 days. I made it to day 20. So in one way you could say that I failed because I didn't last the full time, but it wasn't like I gave in to a craving. One of the women on my crew team invited me to a crepe-making party at her friend's house on Saturday night. I was super excited to be invited and potentially start cultivating a new friendship, so I didn't want to go into my little spiel of "I follow this thing called the Paleo diet" as we stood outside of the Panera Bread where our team socializes after our Saturday and Sunday morning practices. And it's weird to say, "Yes! I want to go to a crepe-making party. Oh, but just so you know, I'm not going to eat any crepes. Or the fruits or cheeses that you want to put inside the crepes... In fact, just give me a bowl of meat and I'll be good." So I made the conscious decision to just eat crepes. They tasted pretty good, but it wasn't some mind-blowingly awesome experience for my taste buds. And by the time I came home, my stomach was super bloated. Bummer.

I cut out sugar for 20 days. And I decree that it was good. Here's what I learned, or re-learned, about myself (in no particular order):

1. I am so very much better at cutting things out completely than trying to do this thing called moderation.

2. I don't really crave sweets during the day. I mainly just crave distractions. For instance, when something particularly stresses, upsets, frustrates, or bores me, I like to have a mini break to give myself a chance to regroup, which usually comes in the form of a snack. It gives me an opportunity to get up, walk away from my desk, and possibly talk/vent to someone else.

3. I can have fun without drinking (like Memorial Day weekend).

4. I need to cut down on my consumption of nuts. I found that I replaced my fruits/sweets snacking with almond butter, which means I probably consumed too many nuts and my stomach didn't appreciate it. I must remember that while our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, they didn't have easy access to pounds of conveniently shelled nuts.

5. There are a few things that truly excite me to think about or talk about. One of them is Paleo; another is crew. And I'm loving that I'm doing both right now. Even though waking up early on the weekends is difficult to do because that means I have to restrain my socializing and night life a bit, I ALWAYS feel happier after crew practice. And I often find myself thinking about blog posts as I go about my day. I'll be walking to my car and thinking about how I want to write about the benefits of apple cider vinegar, or working out and thinking about analyzing the benefits of combining a good workout routine with Paleo and how it's hard an intense workout routine will affect how many starchy foods you'd consume while doing Paleo (i.e., sweet potatoes).

6. I still need to find a suitable balance of work, cooking, blogging, working out, and hanging out with friends. Currently, the working out portion has been absent from most week days. Maybe I just need to learn to blog faster? Is that possible? I don't often proof-read what I write as it is now. I'm not sure if I can speed that up.

7. I have a nervous habit. I pick at my lips... like literally pick at the skin of my lips, and if my lips aren't completely smooth, I end up pulling off any imperfections. I really dislike imperfections.

8. I have a hard time planning out food for the week. As much as I would love to cook everything up in advance and plan easily based on the foodstuffs that I have available, I still haven't perfected that skill. That's something I intend to work on.

9. I need to take a two-prong approach to caring for my body: internally and externally. Eating healthy is a good call, but I think it should be supplemented by taking care of your skin, hair, and eyes, so that you don't get sunburned, don't strain your eyes too much by too much sun or improper eyewear, and don't fry your hair with hair dryers, curlers, straighteners, etc. I've invested in castor oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, and additional coconut oil for a skin care regimen.

I'm sure I recognized/learned more things, but that's all I can think of right now.

Oh, and I apologize for not posting much last week. I tried to "catch-up", but I got distracted by prioritizing hanging out with friends instead of blogging. As much as I love talking about Paleo and how it pertains to my life, there are some times when I'd really like to talk (or write) to something or someone that will talk back. Sadly, or fortunately, my blog has not yet developed a mind of its own. So last Friday, I cooked this up for breakfast. Every once in a while, I like my breakfast to be all fancy-like: Lamb chops with fried egg, avocado, and bacon. Magic in your mouth!

I met up with my girl KAOS for Tex-Mex dinner. It took them two tries to get my order of carne asada right. The first try was some pork thing. Who knows. Anyways, she came over to chill with me while I started packing. We ended up watching a musical (singing and dancing) episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I first saw this episode three-and-a-half years ago at a Buffy Musical Sing-a-long, held at a nearby park. My college buddy MN was kind enough to let me drag him along so I didn't have to go by myself. (In case you haven't noticed, I really like going to random things like sing-a-longs, celtic festivals, and obscure sporting events.)

So that's some of things I ate this weekend. As well as a spinach and sausage crepe with a tomato paste-based sauce.

In case you're wondering what went into the crepes, we made neutral (neither sweet or savory) crepes. The recipe was:

1 kg flour

2 L whole milk

12 eggs

Pan fry with a little bit of vegetable oil. Easy, right? And TOTALLY non-Paleo.

Baked Cabbage

I found this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a try because it seemed easy. It is easy, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. The bacon makes it tasty, but if you're not a huge fan of cabbage, it might not be too awesome. I didn't use Worcestershire sauce, so maybe that was my problem... 

1 green cabbage, quartered

per quarter:

1 Tbls olive oil

1 Tbls bacon bits

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

After pouring/rubbing in the ingredients over each quarter, wrap each quarter individually in tin foil. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.

Bacon and Veggie Frittata

The last morning that I was in Atlanta, my parents made a frittata for me. Aww, aren't they just the sweetest? I don't know exactly how they prepped everything, so I'll just tell you what I would do.

Bacon and Veggie Frittata

1 cup kale, ripped to pieces

1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup orange bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1 cup roasted cauliflower (precooked)

5 strips bacon, chopped

8 eggs, whisked

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place your uncooked and chopped bacon into a large pan over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 minutes or until the pieces are crispy. Remove bacon pieces.

Add the onions and cook until starting to turn translucent. Toss in your kale, stirring to coat with the glorious bacon grease. (If you're not using grass-fed bacon, you could remove the bacon from the pan and pour out the bacon fat. Instead use coconut or olive oil for cooking the veggies.) Cook for a couple minutes before throwing in the rest of your veggies. Remove from heat and stir the bacon bits back in.

Transfer the veggies and bacon to a greased 13"x9" baking pan. Pour the eggs over the veggies and bacon, making sure that the ingredients are evenly distributed. Bake for 25 minutes.

Bacon Brussels Sprouts

What Brussels sprouts really look like...

Looks kind of funny, doesn't it? If you have the time, go ahead and buy the stalk. However, if you're not on vacation like me and generally short on time, just buy a bag of the buds, because it definitely takes some extra time to pull the buds off of the stalk and then pull off the outer leaves. Also, rinse thoroughly, because when my mom and I were working our way through the stalk, there were some tiny black bugs crawling around (shhhh, I didn't point them out to my mom at the time because I didn't want her to freak out).

I've mentioned cooking Brussels sprouts with bacon before, and I really need to emphasize this fact. It's delicious! And in case you need step-by-step instructions to realize this for yourself...

Bacon Brussels Sprouts
1 stalk Brussels sprouts (or 1-2 lbs of buds)
5 slices bacon
2 Tbls EVOO
2 tsp garlic salt (or use a combination of garlic powder and salt)
1 1/2 tsp fresh-ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Rip the buds off of the stalk and pull off the top two outer leaves (I always do this, but it's not necessary). Cut the stem off and then cut the bud in half. Place all of the halved buds into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and add the EVOO, garlic salt, and pepper (other seasonings can be used as well). Seal the bag and shake well.

Using a sharp knife, chop up the slices of bacon. Cook in a pan over medium heat until crispy. Scoop out the bacon and transfer to the bag with Brussels sprouts. Remove the pan from the stove and let cool for a couple minutes. Then pour the bacon fat over the Brussels sprouts, seal the bag, and toss to coat. If you don't let the bacon fat cool, you could end up melting the plastic bag, which is bad. I said the Brussels sprouts were good with bacon, not plastic. Even bacon can't make plastic taste good.

Cover a baking sheet with tin foil. It works best if you use a baking sheet with edges. Spread out the Brussels sprouts and place in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes before flipping the sprouts over. Cook for another 15-20 minutes, then remove and serve.

Lamb Stew

Lamb Stew

Acorn Squash - I ended up only using the one of the left.
The picture below shows the squash after chopping.

2 lbs lamb (cut into bite-sized chunks)

2 tbls EVOO

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbls EVOO

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, roughly chopped

7 cloves garlic, chopped

3 strips of bacon, chopped

1 acorn squash (~1 lb), peeled, seeded, and chopped (can use butternut squash)

splash of white wine (any kind will do, I used Sauvignon Blanc)

1 1/2 cups carrots

1 can diced tomato

1 cup beef broth

1/2 cup red wine (any kind will do, I used a blend)

1 tbls dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Heat 2 tbls of olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. When the oil is hot, add the chopped lamb, and cook until browned (if some pink remains, don't worry), stirring occasionally. Remove lamb from the pan, leaving the small bits of meat and fat. Set lamb aside.

Without cleaning the pot, add 1 tbls olive oil, celery, onion, garlic, and bacon. Add a little bit of white wine, thus deglazing the pot. Cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Add carrots, squash, diced tomato, tomato paste, red wine, browned lamb, red wine, beef broth, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir. Cover the pot and turn heat to low. Cook for 2 hours. Stirring every 30 minutes. After 2 hours, remove the lid, and turn heat up a few notches. Set timer for 30 minutes. (This last 30 minutes will boil off some of the liquid and thicken the stew. It's up to you how thick you want the stew, so adjust the time accordingly. For a thicker stew, mash up some of the chunks of squash.)

Road Trip to Pensacola

I made a 530-mile drive to Pensacola today to attend KM's winging ceremony tomorrow. I left my apartment at 10 this morning, and after a quick stop at Whole Foods for some cut celery, baby carrots, fresh fruit, and Larabars, I began my journey. After driving for 250-miles, I found myself at The Tiger Truck Stop along I-10, where I stopped to fill up on gas and take a 30-minute lunch break. My lunch consisted of an extremely greasy hamburger pattie. I don't recommend it, but there wasn't a whole lot of other options around. Alas, such is life. I only stopped once on my drive and made the entire trip with 1.25 tanks of gas. I love my new car and it's gas mileage. I've averaged 33.0 mpg in the past week of driving my car.

This morning my breakfast was a kale, spinach, mushroom, and Swedish Meatball Turkey Burger crumbles omelet, with two slices of oven-baked bacon. It was delicious, but ended up being too much food for me. Unfortunately, one-third of my omelet ended up in the trash since I was taking off for my 9ish-hour drive.

Tonight I broke Paleo for some fried, Boursin-stuffed artichokes at the Global Grill. They were delicious and went very well with pork tenderloin! I'm well aware that I won't be able to maintain Paleo all of this weekend with all of the winging activities, but I'm going to choose the healthier options wherever available. And I'm not going to worry about it. Stay tuned...

Swedish Meatball Turkey Burgers

I come from a family of proud Scandinavians and I identify strongly with my Swedish roots. One of the traditional dishes that my family would always have for holidays was Swedish meatballs. I'm guessing that most of you will probably think of Ikea when I mention Sweden and Swedish meatballs; I love walking through the grocery section of Ikea to get some of the candies (back when I ate candy), flatbreads (back when I ate grains), and sparkling pear juice (back when I had carbonated beverages). Huh. Apparently I shouldn't eat anything at Ikea. Swedish meatballs are usually made with ground beef and ground pork, but I only had ground turkey at home right now. So I ended up making...

Swedish Meatball Turkey Burgers
1 lb ground turkey
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Allspice
1 Tbsp. parsley

Salt and pepper, to taste

Use your hands to mix the ingredients together in a bowl. Form into patties and broil in the oven. I did 8 minutes on each side. Serve wrapped in lettuce. I topped mine with bacon, red cabbage, and baby spinach.

Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast

This is the second time that I made stuffed chicken breast. The last time I made it, my friend told me it was the best meal anyone had ever made for him and that he had been worried about what type of food we were going to be eating considering that I was on the paleo diet. Tonight was a slight variation from before, but basically the same.

Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast
1 tsp coconut oil
2 mushrooms, chopped
1 large shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 chicken breast
2 slices bacon
roasted red pepper (See Pistachio-Crusted Chicken Breast for roasting instructions)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Heat coconut oil in skillet over medium-low heat. Once the oil has liquefied (coconut oil is solid at room temp), add shallots and garlic. Cook until the shallots are soft. Add mushrooms and cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until the mushrooms have cooked down. While the veggies are cooking, prep the chicken. To do this, you need two pieces of plastic wrap and a meat tenderizer (you'll want to use the flat end). If you don't have a meat tenderizer, you can use a study pan. Get your hand a little wet and rub it across your counter-top, then place one piece of plastic wrap on your counter (the water will keep the bottom piece from sliding around on you). Place the chicken on the plastic wrap and cover with the second piece of plastic wrap. Take whatever instrument you have available to pound the chicken so that it's roughly 1/4" thick. When the stuffing is fully cooked, place a mound of about 1/3 cup onto the chicken. Top with a few pieces of roasted red pepper, and roll the chicken around the stuffing. Then take your bacon and wrap it around the chicken, using toothpicks to hold the bacon in place and the edges of the chicken together.

Place wrapped chicken on a greased baking pan (I used a tiny amount of coconut oil to do this) and cook for 30-35 minutes. Once the bacon starts to look a little crispy on top, flip the chicken breast over and switch the oven to broil. Watch the bacon closely so that it doesn't burn; this will only take 3-5 minutes. The flip and broil allows the bacon that was under the chicken breast to get a little crispy as well.

Serve over mixed salad greens with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Or over sauteed spinach or kale.

If you want to make the stuffing extra delicious:
Do this before cooking the shallots, garlic, or mushrooms (so before you put it into the pan, possibly even before you chop everything). Cut two slices of bacon into bite size pieces (these two slices are in addition to the two you need to wrap the chicken breast). Pan fry these pieces over low heat so you don't burn them. Once they are fully cooked and crispy, remove the bacon but leave the rendered fat in the pan. Add the shallots and garlic, cooking until the shallots are soft. Then, add the mushrooms and cook for 5-10 minutes. Mix in the chopped bacon and use this stuffing mixture for your chicken.

It's BACON!

Mmmmm... bacon! I'm currently picturing the Beggin' Strips commerical. "Bacon!?! Gotta get that bacon! ... I'd get it myself but I don't have thumbs!"

There are three ways to cook bacon: stove, microwave, and oven. Up until yesterday morning, I had only tried the stove method. Usually it didn't work out very well for me. There were a few interesting experiences when I tried to pan-fry bacon. One unfortunate experience during college, I ended up smoking up my apartment and had to open all of the windows and turn on all of the fans for hours to get the smell to dissipate. However, this was the only way that I knew how to cook bacon.

My family has never been big on meat in the morning and bacon was deemed "unhealthy." I'm honestly not sure if my parents said something along those lines or if I just determined this on my own. I grew up in a grains for breakfast household, and it was usually special occasions or on some weekends that my parents and I would eat eggs. (Side note: I remember LOVING Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal and Basic 4. So yummy. Too bad I'm not eating those now.) I don't have any memories of eating bacon for breakfast at home though. That all has changed as of 2 weeks ago. I had my first piece of bacon after 6 months on not having bacon and let me tell you, it was fabulous!

So back to the three methods of cooking bacon...
Number One: Stove
If you're going to fry bacon, you need to watch it closely, and fresher bacon is better. If you put the heat on too hot, you can accidentally burn the bacon (oops), so use medium to medium-low heat. Also, the bacon tends to curl when you cook it this way so it ends up cooking unevenly. You'll have crispy bits and soggy bits right next to each other. You can use a fork to prick the bacon and reduce the curling. So you should cook slowly, turning the bacon frequently. Once the bacon is done, remove and place on paper towels to drain excess fat. (You can then save the remaining bacon fat from the pan for use in cooking later. You might want to strain the oil first before you store in the fridge or freezer. Or, if you're like me, use the bacon fat to cook something else, like sauteed kale, or even breakfast eggs.)

Number Two: Microwave
My current favorite, this is the fastest and easiest. Spread a paper towel over a microwave safe plate. Place 4-6 pieces of bacon on the plate (the number of pieces depends on the size of your plate) and cover with a second paper towel. Cook for roughly 4 minutes in the microwave. The time will depend upon your microwave, so start by cooking for 2 minutes and then cook at 1 minute intervals until the bacon is nice and crispy.

Number Three: Oven
This is new to me as well. Spread the bacon on a foil-lined pan (the foil is there to make clean-up easier). Place on the middle rack of the oven and set the temperature to 400 F. Let it cook for 15-20 minutes. Again, the time depends on your oven - mine is a bit overzealous so I usually check whatever I'm baking halfway through.

Viola! Three ways to prepare bacon. If you know of some better way, please let me know!