Wednesday Recipes...Bacon-Cheddar Toast Strips

I may have already mentioned the cookbook this recipe comes from...

--Good Cookin' from the Heart of Virginia, a college graduation gift from my second college roommate (for my junior and senior years), Nancy. Nancy just received a difficult medical diagnosis so please pray for her!

Now, this recipe is interesting to me because I put off making it for so long, thinking it sounded like too much work and I'm not a fan of white bread (healthy whole wheat for the win). Turns out that a few of these are absolutely delicious--too many would be too much, but oh, they're good!

And something very cool--they can be frozen and retrieved at your convenience to cook for just a little time and there you have party food at your fingertips!

Ingredients:

1 loaf thin-sliced firm white bread

1/2 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped almonds

1 cup mayonnaise (use olive-oil type and feel a little less wicked)

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Remove crusts from bread (I'd recommend only doing a few slices at a time--I ran out of fixings before I used all the bread so a few slices extra). Cut each into three strips.

2. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl.

3. Spread cheese mixture on bread strips.

4. Bake in preheated 400 degrees oven for 10 minutes.

5. OR freeze before baking: to do so, please a single layer of cheese strips on a baking sheet and freeze until hardened, about an hour. Transfer frozen strips to plastic bags and keep frozen until ready to bake. Remove from freezer and bake in preheated 400 degrees oven until cheese is bubbly--about 15 minutes.

So convenient! I actually transported these frozen (and I'm sure they thawed some) to church and then baked them there so they came out hot and bubbly. They worked for brunch--and they will work for your next party or get-together.

Blessings, Christina!