Pounds of Bacon

Ahhh bacon… such a glorious piece of meat!

How do bacon lovers celebrate this delicious salty goodness? By having a Bacon Fest of course! The 5^th annual Bacon Festival was held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and 4000 bacon lovers stood in line to try these creative bacon concoctions…

• Bacon Gelato. This was good. Subtle bacon and salt flavor.
• Bacon Etouffee. Great way to kick of Mardi Gras. It had a great favor of onions, green peppers, bacon, and salty goodness.
• Elvis Pizza (peanut butter, bananas, and crispy bacon). This was my favorite of the day. I loved the combination of the sweet bananas and salty bacon.
• Dark Chocolate covered bacon strip. The dark chocolate actually over-powered the bacon. I don't think using such good chocolate with bacon was necessary. Chocolate and bacon is actually a great combination.  
• Blue cheese, bacon crumbles, drizzled with honey. I love honey drizzled over a strong blue cheese. Then you go and sprinkle on smoked bacon... pure joy!
• Bacon, caramelized purple onion, and cheese quesadilla. For as simple as this dish was, it was very good. This was another favorite of the day.
• Pork loin and smoked bacon crumbs. Hallelujah! The pork loin was pounded flat, than topped with a handful of smoked bacon crumbs, rolled up like a swiss roll and then cut into a patty and placed on a bun. This was worth standing in line for 15 minutes.... twice.
• Bacon, peanut butter mousse bar. This tiny bite sized treat was very rich. It had more of a peanut butter flavor than bacon.
• Bacon Mexican style meatballs. These had a nice bacon gravy. Good home-style meatball.
• Bacon and onion cream cheese on onion ciabatta bread. This would be a great appetizer. I actually enjoyed the bread more.

Of course there were companies just frying up strips of bacon and I tried over a half dozen different types of bacon. 

All in all, it was a good day being with close friends and eating pounds of bacon. Ohhhh BACON!