Bacon Wrapped Green Beans!

Leave it to me to take something healthy and ruin it.  Not that adding bacon is ruining it, it's just that whole pesky eating in moderation thing.  Which my husband did not practice when eating these.  It's not my fault...I have all these green beans coming in from the garden, and How Sweet It Is posted Green Bean Bacon Bundles.  What's a girl to do?  Well, make them of course...

Green Bean Bacon Bundles 
from How Sweet It Is

makes about 10-12 bundles *I made 14

1 pound fresh green beans

10-12 slices of thick-cut bacon  *I used regular bacon

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 cloves of garlic, minced  *I only used one

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick spray.

Wash and thoroughly dry green beans, then season with salt and pepper. Bundle together about 5-8 green beans – this will depend on your size of beans and the amount of beans you get for one pound. Bundle together as many as you’d like! Using a slice of bacon, wrap it around the center of the beans to hold it together. Lay the bundle bacon seam side down in the baking dish to hold it together. Repeat with remaining beans.

Heat a small saucepan over low heat. Add butter, brown sugar and garlic and whisk until melted and combined. Using a pastry brush, brush the mixture over top of each green bean bundle. Cover the bundles with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10-15 (it took more like 25 minutes for me to get the bacon somewhat crisp, and I still ended up putting it under the broiler for a minute) minutes more, just until bacon gets crispy.

Verdict?  Bacon makes everything delicious. Even vegetables. 

The only thing for me is that I baked them in a casserole dish, and the beans cooked in all that grease.  Which may be the point, but the green beans absorb a lot of that grease, which obviously is not good for you.  I think when (when, not if) I make them again, I'll cook them in a roasting pan, with the wire rack, so the beans still get the juices of the bacon while it's cooking, but a majority will drip down into the pan.  That should also get the bacon crispier without having to broil it.  (b/c I almost always burn everything I put under the broiler - see 1st pic)

These were definitely a winner with the hubs, not so much with the kids.  But as you may have noticed, my kids don't like anything!

Since I've been blogging for a year now, I thought it would be fun to look back on previous posts.  Fun for me anyway :)  So...
Last year's Post:  Healthy Choices (and ongoing struggle fo' sho')

I'm linking it up with Homemaker on a Dime, Delightfully Dowling, Mouthwatering Monday @ A Southern Fairytale, Skip to my Lou, Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative, Delicious Dishes at It's a Blog Party, Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff,  Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays @ 33 Shades of Green, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Made from Scratch Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday @ For The Love Of Blogs, At Home with Haley, Lady Behind the Curtain,  Little Brick Ranch, These Chicks Cooked, Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Mangoes and Chutney for Fat Camp Fridays, EKat's Kitchen (currently being held at Girlichef), Simply Delish, Feeding Four, It's a Keeper, Bacon Time with the Hungry Hungry Hypo, The Sweet Details for Savory Sunday; Eat at Home (Ingredient Spotlight: Bacon!), Mom-Spot.com, Gooseberry Patch Blog