Honestly, I would not have ever tried making these of my own accord. A similar recipe was made for the first Paleo Girls' Night that we do monthly here in Austin.

The joy of just being able to eat everything everyone had brought to our first gathering must have overwhelmed me because I grabbed at least one of everything.

When gluten and soy sneak into so many foods at "normal" family/friend gatherings, you take advantage of the times when you don't need to worry about it!

Anyway, I was biting into a bacon-wrapped date before I knew it and then someone said, "whoa! There's meat INSIDE of them, too?!"

I looked at my halved piece of food and saw the hidden surprise peeking out. That's when I fell in love.

Since making my own version, listed in the recipe below, I've used these as meal prep for one of my lunches the past few weeks and I can't get enough!

Moral of the story: Take your pork on a date. You never know how it may turn out! ;)

Pork Dates

Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes Total time: 45 minutes

Yield: 25-30 dates

Directions

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Mix all seasonings in with the ground pork. Melt the coconut oil in a pan on the stove and cook ground pork until browned.
While the pork is cooking, remove the pits from the dates. Cut the bacon pieces in half, and then cut down the middle of the halved pieces again length-wise so the strips are half as wide.
Once pork is done, remove from the stove and place in a bowl lined with a paper towel. Allow to cool for a few minutes before handling.
Fill pitted dates with the ground pork. Wrap each date with one piece of bacon, pinning down the loose ends underneath the side of the date that is not open.
Place the dates on a cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes, or until the bacon is done to your liking. The bottoms of the dates will be slightly crunchy, with the top still soft and sweet. Serve as an appetizer, side dish, snack, or full-blown main part of a dinner!

2/3 lb ground pork

1/2 lb uncured bacon

1 lb medjool dates (this has given me 25-30, depending on their size)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp sea salt