Every once in a while, my hubby does something that seems kinda out of the ordinary.

Not anything bad – just different and not something I would expect him to do.

Before you start suspecting that it’s something horrid, allow me to explain: 🙂

Somehow I started getting Every Day with Rachael Ray mags for free. I don’t remember how – I think it was a special promo or something that I signed up for. Anyway, a while back (September 2010), I got the new magazine and asked my hubby if he would go through it and mark things he liked. He did and I forgot about it.

Then one day I was doing my meal planning and pulled that magazine out. I flipped to this page that had a recipe for Bacon-Cantaloupe Wraps and thought it looked nasty.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this:

I had to do a double-take to make sure that was really his writing.

Indeed it was.

Shocker.

Well, I wanted to make it since he really had written “good” by that recipe. So I put it in my menu plan and slightly dreaded that specific meal.

Wow – let me tell ya, this stuff is good!!! And this is coming from a former doubter. 😉

Seriously, though, the combination of the sweet cantaloupe, salty and crunchy bacon, and fresh lettuce is SUper-yum. The original recipe calls for red onion (which I don’t really care for unless it’s cooked), red wine vinegar and dijon mustard (which I didn’t have). I substituted some honey mustard and spicy mustard (1/2 and 1/2) for the dijon and used some apple cider and white distilled vinegar (1/2 and 1/2) in place of the red wine vinegar. Both the substitutions and omission had excellent results.

I’m giving you the recipe without the red onion (since that’s how we tried and liked it) but feel free to check out Rachael’s original recipe if you want the extra bite.

And now I present to you:

 

 

Bacon Cantaloupe Wraps
original recipe from Rachael Ray

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound bacon
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard (or 1/2 spicy & 1/2 honey mustard)
• Pepper
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 4 large flour tortillas
• Half of a 4-pound cantaloupe, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 1 head green-leaf lettuce, cut into ribbons

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp; drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat in the skillet. Whisk in the vinegar, sugar and mustard; season with pepper. Transfer to a medium bowl. Finely chop the bacon.
2. Spread the mayonnaise evenly on the tortillas. Layer with the bacon, cantaloupe (placed horizontally), and 2 cups lettuce. Roll up the tortillas lengthwise; secure with toothpicks and cut in half. Add the remaining lettuce to the bowl of dressing and toss. Serve the wraps with the salad.

 

 

Ohhh…now I would like to eat one of these right now. Another thing I’ve discovered is that bacon is one of my husband’s love languages. If he walks into the house and I’m cooking bacon, I have just earned 10 gold stars. Or maybe 20. The point is – he loves bacon. I don’t like cooking bacon. It’s greasy and permeates the house and my clothes for the entire day. I’ve tried cooking it in the oven, but can’t seem to get it to cook evenly. I think part of the problem is my pans.

I wonder if anyone sells bacon perfume? Because, if they do, that might come in handy. Date nights, anniversaries, birthdays…you know, any special time – just spritz on a little bacon perfume and I’m good to go.

Well, I’m sure all the dogs in the neighborhood would love me anyway even if my hubby wasn’t a fan.

All that to say…try this recipe and it will not disappoint.

Especially if your man is a bacon-lover. 😉