A Dozen Bacon Roses: Our Valentine's Tradition

So yesterday was Valentine's day and my husband and I were excited to celebrate it as husband and wife for the first time. Our tradition has been that I make him a special breakfast, and he makes me a special dinner.  Last year, I made him a dozen roses out of bacon...and that's near-impossible to top, so I decided to make them again this year! :) Unfortunately, they came out a little under-cooked on the bottom, but I think I know how to solve that!  But I didn't stop there...I also made a coconut limeade to drink, and a huevos rancheros-like stack in the shape of hearts. :) Gotta love themed breakfast!  We also picked up a roommate recently who happens to be single.  Rather than making him feel left-out from our celebration of love, I made him breakfast too! Here's our little set up!

Okay, so here's how I made Valentine's breakfast! Let's start with the tortillas. I happened to have a big heart-shaped cookie cutter from years past, so I used that to cut out heart-shaped corn tortillas.

I did this the night before, then the morning of, I placed them in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes just before my eggs were done.  Before baking, I sprayed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with salt on one side.

I also had to do a little prep-work on the bacon bouquet the night before.  While Matt was at work, I ran down to the Dollar Tree and grabbed two things of roses (with six flowers in each) for a buck a piece.  When I got home, I removed the tags, and ripped out the flower petals and their inserts.  I kept the plastic sepals to frame the bacon roses and to give them stability.

This wasn't my first rodeo with bacon roses.  I made them for the first time last year.  So I already had a special bacon-rose-making pan.  This was an old 12 cup mini muffin tin with holes drilled in the bottoms of the cups to let grease drain out properly.  Upon waking Valentine's morning, I preheated the oven for 375 degrees F and pulled out the bacon.  Working with single strips at a time, I started on one end of the bacon and tightly rolled it into a nice little coil. I then sat each roll upright into the special tin, which was sitting on a cooling rack stacked on a jelly-roll pan.  It's better if you use a broiler pan to catch the drippings, but I don't have one of those anymore, so I made due best I could. I placed the whole apparatus into the oven for 45 minutes.


When they finally came out, they weren't completely cooked, but we ate them anyway. The tops were cooked fine, but the bottoms were a little under done.  I'm not sure if flipping them halfway through would have helped, or if they were just more fatty than usual and I should have cooked them longer.  The tops were nice and crispy, so I kind of liked the texture/flavor contrast, but next year I hope they are more thoroughly prepared! The rolls went directly onto the plastic-coated metal stems  above the sepals. Then a few aesthetic adjustments to flower positioning and placing the bouquet in our traditional Valentine's day flower vase (the first bottle we ever shared together one of our infamous "not-dates"...) and the bacon roses were done. For better details on how to make these, check out this link.

While the bacon was in the oven, I sauteed some hashbrowns from frozen shredded potatoes in a skillet with olive oil drizzles.  Seasoned them with salt and pepper...nothing special here. I also heated up a can of chili beans just before I was ready to assemble the plates.  The hashbrowns were reheated in the microwave just before serving because they ended up getting cold by the time they were needed. Somewhere in there, I also made the morning beverage.  This year, the drink was a yummy coconut limeade! I started with cool water, a quarter cup or so of lime juice, and a half a cup or more of white, granulated sugar. Once mixed well, I added a half of a teaspoon or so of coconut extract.  After stirring again, I tasted the product and made adjustments to the recipe until it tasted lightly sweetened with tangy lime notes and undertones of coconut. Yummy!

The toughest part was the eggs, but after making six of them, I got pretty good at it!  Using the same heart-shaped cookie cutter as I used for cutting tortillas, I sprayed a small skillet with olive oil, then placed the cookie cutter into the skillet (sharp side down).  I cracked an egg into the heart, then lightly broke up the yolk and spread the white around to make sure I got the heart shape that I wanted.  Then I seasoned with salt and pepper before adding a little grated Parmesan cheese as it began to set. (Careful with temp. here...too hot and it burns without being completely cooked, too cool and the egg won't cook properly.) When mostly set, I used a dishtowel to lift the hot cookie cutter up and a butter knife to free the egg by cutting the edges carefully.  Then I flipped the heart over and cooked it a minute or so longer on the other side to make sure it was done.  I repeated this until I had made six egg-hearts.

Then it was finally time to assemble.  The eggs went on bottom.  The now-baked tortillas where placed on top of the eggs.

Then came the re-heated hashbrown layer:

Followed by the chili beans layer....and finally, topped with mozzarella cheese! Mmmmm!!!!

We each got two of these tasty stacks.  I ate them as is, but I sat out hot sauce for the guys.  Then I set the table with the bacon roses as the centerpiece.  I even set out gifts for each of them.  What better way to start your day than with presents and a good breakfast?! Both approved of the breakfast in both flavor and appearance categories! :p It was a little more time intensive, but it was a lot of fun!

Happy Late 

Valentine's Day Everyone!