Mini Fruit & Bacon Kabobs with Sugared Lime Zest

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Honey, I shrunk the fruit kabobs! (And added bacon, too – muwahaha!)

It seems Mother Nature was not pleased with my fall soup shenanigans last weekend, and took her revenge by handing us a sweltering 100 degree day today. Thus, plans to show you my favorite oven-baked potato side dish this evening seemed rather ill-timed…

What sounded better, and way more refreshing, were these crazy cute Mini Fruit & Bacon Kabobs with Sugared Lime Zest! It is so true what they say – big things definitely come in small packages!

The inspiration for these tiny bundles of joy came from last night’s episode of Top Chef Masters, when everyone on the show was tasked with creating a one-bite dish for a Las Vegas pool party.

While I certainly don’t see any yards o’ daiquiris or dinging slot machines around here, the heat is on point, so I recreated one of the chef’s recipes for a Mini Fruit & Bacon Kabob (although he used tuna bacon – eek) for a quick light lunch today.

Each mini kabob is made up of 3 ingredients including sweet cherry tomatoes and salty BACON. Center cut would be best, but I had regular on hand and it worked out just fine – bacon is bacon! Cook a few slices using the microwave method (as to not heat up the kitchen) then cut the slices into 2″ pieces.

The third ingredient is melon or fruit. The contestant on Top Chef made his kabobs with watermelon, which I happened to have on hand, but I thought I’d also throw a peach and green apple into the mix to really jazz things up.

Use whatever you’ve got on hand though. I mean, what fruit doesn’t play nice with bacon?

Assembling the kabobs is complete rocket science. Not!

Just thread a cherry tomato onto a toothpick, add a hunk o’ bacon,

then a piece of melon or fruit. So adorable!

Wait, it gets even better…

I was going to reduce a cup of balsamic vinegar to drizzle on top, but the thought of turning on the stove was too unappealing, so I zipped up some sugared lime zest to sprinkle on instead! The combo of sour lime and sweet sugar, with salty bacon and acidic tomato is incredible!

Just combine the zest of 1 lime, 1 teaspoon lime juice, a dash of salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor, then let ‘er rip.

Sprinkle the sugared lime zest down over the kabobs, or get more coverage by dunking the bottom of the fruit straight into a cup of the stuff (aka the preferred method. )

Mini Fruit & Bacon Kabobs with Sugared Lime Zest

Print this recipe!

Ingredient:
Cherry tomatoes
Bacon, cooked and cut into 2″ pieces
Melon or fruit, cut into hunks (here’s how to cut a watermelon!)

For the sugared lime zest:
Zest of 1 lime
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
dash of salt

Directions:

1. Thread cherry tomato onto a toothipick, followed by a piece of bacon then piece of melon or fruit.
2. For the sugared lime zest: Combine lime zest, lime juice, sugar, and salt in a food processor, then process until well combined. Serve sprinkled over mini fruit & bacon kabobs.

Like choosing a favorite child, it’s nearly impossible to say which combo I liked the best, but if I had to choose…peach, bacon, and tomato might have a slight edge! There’s something about that floral, tropical peach flavor that I just can’t get enough of right now.

These are perfect for a crazy-hot day, when appetites can kind of wane, but they’d also be great as an app for Labor Day!

Hope you enjoy ‘em, and try not to pinch their cute little cheeks too hard!

In other news…

I will be on KCCI Channel 8 tomorrow morning sharing a yummy, healthy Labor Day Menu. Tune into channel 8 at 6:38am if you can!

Have a great night!