Bacon Gravy

Whew.  This week has been crazy with final tests and final projects for 9th grade.  Today is the last day of actual work and we have completed the Geometry final test and we are taking a break before the Biology final test.

I have never used bacon grease to make gravy before.  I have used it to cook many other things, especially my vegetables, but never used it to make gravy.  It turned out great.  Someone at work was talking about how their nephew loved gravy made with bacon grease, so I thought I should try it.

After cooking my morning bacon, I left the stove on medium heat, removed the bacon pieces and added 2 Tablespoons of Pamela's baking mix flour.  This was too much and in the future, I will only use 1 Tablespoon.  I just thought it was a lot of grease and I needed to soak it up with flour.  However, that much flour made it taste a little grainy in the end.

After mixing the grease and flour into a nice slurry (love that word) I slowly added coconut milk (unsweetened "so delicious" brand which doesn't have a coconut taste or smell).  I think I added about 2 cups.  I stirred it until it bubbled and was nice and thick like gravy should be.  I added pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.  I think I could add some "Better than Boullion" any flavor to make different flavors as well as the drippings from whatever meat I cooked.

This gravy would be perfect over some biscuits and goes great with any meal.  I am going to try it with almond flour next to make it a truly paleo gravy instead of just gluten-free.

I used it for my lunch meal which was a hamburger patty with broccoli and a couple of slices of bacon. It had my protein, veggie carb and coconut milk and bacon grease for my good saturated fat.  It was a very satisfying meal.

Bacon and bacon grease are a good way to get protein and good, saturated fats in your body.  Good, healthy fats are a great source of energy and help us digest fat-soluble vitamins (Fragoso 19).  Animals raised on food sources other than grains, raised humanely with no additives are an excellent source of healthy fat.

Our brain and our heart need healthy fats to function correctly.  Women, especially, need fat to aid in regulating hormone balance (Fragoso 19).  We still need to choose wisely and have a good balance of all foods, but included good fats helps us feel full longer and we get to eat foods that taste amazing.

I have added bacon gravy to my list of paleo and gluten-free foods and will never throw out bacon grease again.