Bay scallops with corn and bacon

I mystery shop on a regular basis as a way to earn some extra cash.  As such, I'm in the grocery store quite a bit lately.   Some projects require a deli and meat/seafood purchases.  Other times, I stumble across a good deal as I'm evaluating the store.  This afternoon I was doing a project in Kroger and spied a package of bay scallops with one of the "WooHoo" yellow stickers.  I love scallops.  I am also trying to eat healthier, and thought I'd put the scallops in some sort of green leafy salad.  A google search turned up "Scallops in creamy bacon and corn sauce" with a green salad on the side.  It looked good.

The original recipe called for fresh corn, half and half, and sea scallops, as well as a trinity of tomatoes, bell pepper and onion.  Well...no fresh corn, no half and half and no fresh tomatoes.  A pantry search turned up a can of creamed corn and a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles.  Okay, so creamed corn is basically kernel corn with cream added.  And who cares if there's a little heat in my canned tomatoes.  I figured I could make it work. 

I first cut up six slices of bacon into little pieces and fried them until crispy in a cast iron skillet.  I took the bacon out of the skillet, set it on paper towels to drain, then removed most of the bacon grease from the skillet.  I then sauteed 1/2 a red bell pepper, part of an onion, half that can of tomatoes and chiles, and some minced garlic until the veggies were soft.  I poured the can of corn into the skillet, then let it simmer for a bit to thicken up.  Then I added the bacon and let it all get friendly.  I seasoned it with some Crawdads Cajun Blackened seasoning.  I tossed some in, tasted it, and added some more.  It looked like this when it was done.

The scallops got sauteed in butter, with just a smidge of olive oil added.  I seasoned them with some of the same Blackened seasoning.  Then, for picture purposes, I put the scallops on top of the sauce.  

The pictures really don't do justice to how amazing this dish was.  After taking the picture, I stirred the scallops into the sauce and dished some up.  It was heaven in a bowl.  Sadly, I never got around to making the salad.