Equipment

• a 4 quart or more pot/pan with a lid
• a frying skillet
• a wire whisk
• a spatula
• a wire strainer
• a can opener

Initial Preparation:

• Put the Pot on a burner at the lowest setting (low, warm, whatever) and put the block of cream cheese into it, uncovered.
• Cut the bacon into 1-inch to 1½-inch strips before frying.
• Rinse the salad shrimp thoroughly to get rid of any sand the packing plant missed.
• Open the can of tomato sauce

Variation:

• If shrimp is not-your-thing, add an extra 4 oz of bacon instead, or the mushrooms as for the vegetarian version. Both work well.

Cooking:

• Dump the bacon into the skillet to fry, stirring it around with the spatula.
• As soon as the bacon is in the skillet, flip the cream cheese over, the side that was down should now be nice and "gooshy" on top.
• As the bacon fries, keep an eye on the pot and when the cream chees is equally gooshy on the now-bottom side, add in the tomato sauce, bringing the heat up to medium-high
• Cook the bacon until done, but not crisp
• Meanwhile, use the whisk to homogenize the sauce/cheese mixture as much as possible, then cover
• When bacon is finished, drain excess fat/grease/oil off with the strainer
• Uncover sauce/cheese mix, add in the bacon and shrimp, stir thoroughly, cover and reduce heat to medium
• After 5 minutes, stir thoroughly again and reduce heat to low/warm/simmer/what-have-you and cover for another 10 minutes.