simple yet gourmet – BLTs

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here is a running joke in my house about the time we eat dinner.  If we are eating before 9:30 that is a GOOD night.  We often entertain at our house.  My husband and I both love to cook so we often have friends over for dinner.  One of my best friends always jokes that she eats a big snack before she comes over because she knows she won’t eat dinner until 10.  Which is not far from the truth.

Last night I was CRAVING bacon wrapped shrimp.  However, the small Whole Foods near our house did not have shrimp.  We live downtown Detroit where grocery shopping used to be a chore.  Until WF opened one of their smaller stores in our city.  It was a first for WF.  If I remember correctly we were an area with the lowest income average they have opened in.  However our store is crazy busy.  All the time.  I love it.  But the selections are smaller due to the size of the store.  As my husband and I were texting while he was at the store about what to do for dinner I still really wanted bacon.  BLTs are so easy to make so I told him to get the stuff to make them.

BLTs seem like such a basic, simple dinner.  And they are!  However, you can amp up your basic meals by adding a few ingredients and making it “gourmet”.  I remember my mom used to make us BLTs a lot when we were kids.  She always used this cracked wheat bread from a local grocery store that was really good.  I used to hate tomatoes as a kid so our BLTs were BLCs, bacon, lettuce and cheese.  Now that I am older my BLTs are really BLACTs.  I love cheese and avocado on my sandwiches.  But it doesn’t stop there – remember how picky I am?  I HATE mayo!  It grosses me out.  Something about how it looks on a shelf.  That weird kind of yellowy-white, thick goopy slop does not appeal to me (sorry, it might turn you off now too!) but anything made of eggs that can sit on a shelf for YEARS does not sound appetizing to me.  ^[3]But a dry BLT also is not fun.  I love honey mustard on my BLTs.  Now days as I get pickier and I read the ingredients on a store bought dressing I get really turned off.  My husband and I make our own dressings at home.  I know what kind of oil I am using, I know I am not putting in artificial flavors or partially hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup.  As weird as I am the ONLY place I will eat fast food at is Chic-Fila.  It’s a blessing and a curse that we don’t have them up north.  A blessing because I eat there like 2 times a year when I travel.  Their honey mustard sauce is awesome.  But the ingredients are frightening!  Soybean oil, corn syrup, “natural flavors”, sodium benzoate “added as preservative” and carmel color.  (http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Menu-Detail/Honey-Mustard-Sauce ^[4]) No thank you!  I found a recipe on my Pinterest from Table for Two (http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/chick-fuh-lay-nuggets-sauce/ ^[5]) for a knock off Chic-Fila honey mustard.  But go figure – it calls for MAYO.  We use Greek yogurt for EVERYTHING.  I haven’t used sour cream in years.  I figured well, worst case scenario the dressing isn’t good and I don’t eat it.  This stuff turned out amazing.  The Greek yogurt did give it a slight tangy taste but it was a decent replicate of Chic-Fila without the garbage.

^[6]We also don’t own a toaster.  I don’t know why.  I guess I don’t eat things like toast, English muffins etc so when I make BLTs I usually put my bread in the oven to crisp up.  You can really add some flavor by making a simple garlic butter to brush on your bread before you toast it in the oven.  I put 2 TBS of unsalted butter in a little pan with 2 smashed cloves of garlic on medium low, let that cook and infuse the butter with that great garlic flavor and you just added another dimension of flavor to your sandwich.  ^[7]

Simple cooking doesn’t have to be basic and plain.  You can elevate the flavors and ingredients to make simple seem gourmet.  My husband asked me last night when I was taking pictures while we were cooking (which is a sure sign that the meal has the potential for a blog spot) “Are you really putting something as basic as a BLT on the blog?” Absolutely! (and by the way, we ate dinner at 9pm!)

b.l.a.c.t.s with homemade honey mustard

---

• Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the sandwich

• 12–16 slices of bacon (3–4 pieces a sandwich)
• 1 avocado sliced thinly
• 2 tomatoes of your choosing (roma, heirloom, campari, beefsteak) sliced thinly
• 8 leaves of butter lettuce
• 4 slices of provolone (I also love muenster here as well)
• 8 slices of good bread
• 2 TBS unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves smashed

For the Honey Mustard (as modified from Table for Two)

• 1 6 oz container of plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 TBS Dijon mustard
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 TBS white vinegar or lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

1. For the honey mustard – Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together
2. Preheat oven to 410
3. Place bacon on a cookie sheet so all pieces are seperate. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes then flip. Bake an additional 3-5 minutes until bacon is done to desired crispiness. Baking in the oven eliminates all of the smoke from cooking it on the stove.
4. In a small frying pan over medium low heat add butter and garlic cloves. Heat for 10 minutes until butter is all melted and garlic is a nice golden color.
5. Brush bread with garlic butter. Place directly on oven grates for 3 minutes. Set your timer. It’s very easy to burn the bread.
6. Spread honey mustard on both sides of the bread. Layer cheese, tomatoes, bacon, avocado and lettuce. Cut sandwich in half (if you want to get fancy cut it diagonally) and serve. A side salad goes great with this dinner.

• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 15

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 4

Find it online: https://eatbreathelove.net/simple-yet-gourmet/ ^[8]