BLT--Bacon, Lettuce, Turtles!

Once again, I made these yummy treats. (Tony wanted them!) This time, we called it a seafood lunch. Tony and Jon brought home leftover fish and shrimp from the Fireman's Banquet, so they were a perfect side for the turtles. I have gotten better at making these critters. I don't weave the bacon. It is too fiddly and uses a LOT of bacon. Wrapping it is quicker and more efficient. 

I use a mixture of ground meat. I generally mix together about 2 and a half pounds of meat with  two eggs, 2/3 cup of bread crumbs, seasoning, and a  half a cup of milk. I have a favorite meat loaf recipe I use for turtles. Any left over meat makes great meat balls. I take about a 1/4 pound of meat and form it into a patty. In the center I place cheese, minced pineapple, or shredded veggies.I form another patty and place it on top, pressing down the edges to make a mound of meat. Then, I take 4 strips of thin bacon and wrap them around the burger.This means one turtle only has 3 pieces of bacon, but it is doable. (Oddly, bacon packages have 11 pieces and not 12. Crazy!) For the appendages, I use smokies. They are the perfect size for slicing into tails and heads and toes. (You need to cut 6 smokies per turtle.) Once they are all assembled, I add two cloves for eyes on the head. The smokie doesn't taste too strong after having cloves baked in it! Toothpicks are added in order to keep the turtle 'shell' from curling up during baking. 

 A weave makes for a prettier turtle. Wraps make for less work. I assembled these guys with about 10 min per turtle. NOTE: I forgot to put down foil in the bottom of the baking pan. Making for a LOT of work in clean up.

 Turtle with shrimp and salmon and on a bun with lettuce~

 Sucking the leg off a turtle! How can something so wrong be so right?????