Water Chestnuts and Bacon

“...no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.” 

― Julia Child, My Life in France

I made this appetizer for our friends Super Bowl Party and it may have created more conversation that the absolutely horrible football game. Their is just something supremely satisfying about the saltiness of the bacon combined with the crunch of the water chestnut and the sweetness of the brown sugar glaze that just makes me want to eat the entire batch and make a second for everyone else. I procrastinated making this dish that I found on Emily Bites because for some reason I was intimidated by the entire process. Michelle and Kevin have been my testers many times so I thought their house would be a safe place to experiment. Now that I have made them, I will never be intimidate by them again because it was soooooo easy! For having bacon they are not as many points as I thought they would be.

Nutritional Information (calculated on myfitnesspal.com): 12 servings, 2 weight watchers points plus. 67 calories, 12g carbs, 1g fat, 2g protein

These did not last long!

Ingredients:

• 2 (8 oz) canned Sliced Water Chestnuts, Drained
• 12 Strips Center Cut Bacon, Regular Thickness
• 1/3 c Ketchup
• 1/3 c packed Brown Sugar
• 1.5 t Fat Free Yogurt (The recipe calls for plain but my store did not have plain so I used Apple Cinnamon.)
• 1/2 t Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/4 t Hot Sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot)
• 36 Toothpicks

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

North Carolina Barbecue Sauce

This sauce is one that I have been searching for a good vinegar based barbecue sauce for a long time. I found one on About.com that was outstanding and I have used ever since. I use this on everything from meatloaf to burgers to ribs. And at only 1 point for 1/8 of a cup it is low in points for the amount of flavor that it provides. Also, this uses mostly things that you would already find in your kitchen so there is generally very little if any shopping needed for this recipe.

This is a thinner sauce so beware it may not create a thick coat on whatever you are cooking but it will still provide a great flavor. I am posting this because there are a few recipes coming up that use this sauce and this way you have this ahead of time.

Nutritional Information (calculated on myfitnesspal.com): 1 weight watchers points plus. 46 calories, 9g carbs, 1g fat, 0g protein

Ingredients

• 2 c Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 c Ketchup
• 4 T Dark Brown Sugar
• 4 T Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 T Light Butter
• 4 t Salt
• 1 T Hot Pepper Sauce (I use Franks Red Hot)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pot and bring to a simmer.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Enjoy!