Sometimes life allows for overindulgence.

I love to eat, and I love to especially eat carbs–in particular foods like pizza, fresh bread, pretzels, and jelly beans. But it’s hard not to overeat when you are eating things you really love. And so I, like many Americans, have a bit of a weight problem.

I saw my doctor yesterday for a physical, and while my cholesterol and blood pressure numbers are pretty good, I’m about 40 pounds above what’s considered a good weight for my height. I’m only 10 pounds above what is considered borderline overweight, and so I really don’t have TOO far to go.

But the best part? My doctor said he does not believe in diets. He says I should not deprive myself of any food item because then I will resent him and resent myself and be miserable in general. Everything in moderation, fair amount of exercise, and all should be well–as long as I drop a pound a month or so. Totally doable, right?

So the numbers were mostly good news, but the food news was even better. Because it’s coming into summertime, and there are so many summer foods I love–ice cream, burgers, corn, tomatoes, melon. Ah yes. But there is a small catch–I can’t let myself get out of control, because freedom to eat is not an absolute. In other words–moderation.

Which also means that, fear not, Mikey’s Kitchen readers, I’m going to write about all of the great summer foods that lie ahead. Let’s get to it!

We’ll have plenty of bacon talk this week, but I wanted to just offer a few items today to kick things off.

First of all, I have to have blood drawn tomorrow morning for my semi-annual cholesterol check. I’ve come to learn that it’s not so much bacon and eggs that muddy your blood, or at least my blood. But rather, it’s carbs. So I like to eat lots of bacon and other meats when I’m watching my weight and/or carbs. But that doesn’t mean I at a pound of the stuff today before my blood test. But I will indeed eat much bacon this week as I sample and create some more recipes. Our 4 year old son also loves bacon, and often pulls the package out of the deli drawer in the fridge and hands it to me or Mrs. Mikey. Pretty funny.

Anyway, the other thing I wanted to mention was how to best cook bacon. The traditional way is in a frying pan, but this can get extremely messy and not result in the best product. You can also bake it in an oven on a wire rack set over a baking sheet, and it comes out perfectly crispy this way, but also takes a while.

The best way is to use a microwave. And I don’t mean cooking that “pre-cooked” bacon that you nuke in like 15 seconds. That stuff isn’t the same. I’m talking nuking real slices of bacon with either a bacon tray or a plate with paper towels. I’ve broken many a tray, so I am currently using the plate and towel method. You put about 2 sheets of paper towel down on the plate, lay a few slices of bacon down, and top with 1-2 more sheets of paper towel. You nuke on high for two minutes, turn the paper towels over and change them, and then nuke for another 1-2 minutes. Your bacon, unless it’s super thick, will be just about perfect. And you may never look at cooking bacon as a chore again!