Finally! Easy instructions to make bacon roses and a fun bouquet for your Fathers' Day table.

I made these for my step-son's graduation and tweaked some of the instructions I found on the internet. There was a lot of fussing with drilling holes in muffin tins on other sites, and I wanted to find an easier way. I also didn't want to use artificial flowers for leaves and stems and wanted to turn this into more of an appetizer rather than just straight bacon-on-a-stick. So, this is slightly fussy, but not bad and I love the idea of a BLT-on-a-stick with a fun presentation.

OK, so it's not "serious" interior decorating, but well, who cares?

You need:

• 1 pound of bacon
• Some clean spinach leaves (or I used watercress)
• Cherry tomatoes
• Ranch dressing
• Skewers and toothpicks
• A cookie sheet, tin foil and a cookie cooling rack or something that will allow fat to drain or a broiling pan
• A vase

Cover your cookie sheet with tinfoil and set your oven to 375 F. Place whatever you are using for drainage on top ie. a cooling rack or broiling pan. 

Roll bacon rashers into coils and skewer with a toothpick to hold their shape. Place on the rack with the reddest bits on top. Bake for about 35-45 minutes. You need to keep an eye on things and see when they are crispy. Take them out and allow them to cool and drain on paper towel.

To assemble, put a cherry tomato on the skewer with about 1 inch extra skewer above. Be careful not to get your fingers and this is not a great part for kids to help with. Put two spinach leaves on the skewer facing away from each other. You have to skewer the leaves themselves, not the stems. Pop a bacon "rose" on top. When you have completed all the roses, put them in a vase and serve with a side of ranch dressing for dip.

Simple as this is, it's even more delicious than you'd think.

Happy Fathers' Day!