With the pandemic and social distancing still on, shopping has been anything but easy.

For instance, I have NEVER ever seen the meat case at Costco completely empty before.

I am not talking less variety than normal.

I mean completely empty of all fresh meat…

No ground beef.

No fresh chicken.

No pork roast.

Nada.

So, I tried to haunt the rest of the store to see what else I could find.

Frozen burgers…

Nope.

Frozen pork chops…

Nope.

How about frozen chicken breasts?

Nope.

They were even completely sold out of canned tuna fish and salmon. And, no, I did not want to buy the sardines they offered in their place.

It’s just a good thing I already have a freezer full of meat but I wanted a little variety.

So, I decided to do the rest of my shopping and head home.

Nice large portobello mushroom caps. Definitely in the cart.

Asparagus? Hello, yeah!

Wandering through the feta cheese, I turned and —

WHAM! Ouch!

A cart ran into my foot.

“Are you okay?” asked the cart handler.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I said as I rubbed my calf.

“Sorry, I was just getting ready to unload and didn’t see you there.” said the rep.

“No problem” and I looked up from leg to the cart and saw the labels.

“BACON!”

It was Bacon!

Did I mention it was bacon?

I went from being an aggrieved customer to being a stalker as I followed the young man to the refrigerated section.

Although I tried to look nonchalant, I watched as a hundred pounds or so of maplewood smoked bacon found a new home. Then, I wandered off right behind the barrier he had set up to keep people away from the cases.

The young man did give me a look but then I rubbed my calf and all was forgiven.

Oh, did I forget to mention that ten pounds of that bacon somehow ended up in my cart?

BACON! BACON! BACON!

NOW LET’S DO IT RIGHT!

BACON AND ASPARAGUS STUFFED PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS

Ingredients:

Eight LARGE Portobello Mushrooms

1 Lb. Maplewood Smoked Bacon

16 stalks Asparagus

4 Tbsp. Butter

1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Pepper

Olive Oil

Secret Ingredient: 4 oz. Genoa Salami

1, Clear the mushrooms and remove the stems.

2. In a frying pan, shred the bacon and fry it until done but not burnt. Do not drain off grease.

3. Turn down the heat to low and add the butter to melt.

4. Shred the mushroom stems and add to pan.

5. Chop the asparagus into one inch segments and add to pan.

6. Lightly brown the asparagus and then add the balsamic vinegar. Cook until done and then remove from heat.

7. Preheat oven to 250.

8. Place mushroom heads bottom up in a baking pan.

9. Thinly slice the Genoa Salami and cover the mushroom heads in a single layer.

10. Spoon the bacon/asparagus mixture onto the mushrooms until all are evenly covered.

11. Grind fresh pepper and sprinkle over mushrooms.

12. Add a dash of olive oil to the pan and then mix in the bacon grease mixture from the frying pan.

13. Cover the baking pan and put it in the oven.

14. Bake for one hour until done and serve.

15. Serves four.

16. ENJOY!

copyright 2020 M.J. Hobbs