Celebrating the Flavors of Arkansas: Variations on BLT
Oh, the beloved BLT: a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich is so good you can almost get by without one of the three core ingredients. Except the Petit Jean Meats bacon. Or the tomato.
I haven’t much need to mess with the original, except that variations are fun and in some cases and for some food preferences, add pizzazz to the standard sandwich. Following are a few BLT variations I’ve played around with in my kitchen.
The Breakfast BLT
Of course you can have a BLT for breakfast (BACON, people), and with tomato to boot. I am leaving out the lettuce on this one, because I’m not sure about lettuce for breakfast. So, it’s more like a breakfast BLT minus the L . No worries, though: I’ve added some vowels.
- thick white or whole-grain bread, toasted
- 1 to 2 strips Petit Jean bacon
- 1 to 2 slices tomato
- 2 to 3 slices avocado
- 1 egg
- salt to taste
- cooking oil
- Lay toasted bread on plate.
- Cook bacon, pat with paper towel, and set on toast.
- Pat tomato slices with a paper towel to soak juices and sauté in a skillet on medium heat for about a minute. Add to bacon.
- Cook egg over easy, runny yolk or solid yolk. Add to bacon.
- Lay avocado slices on top. Eat the open-faced toast while ingredients are nice and warm.
The BLT Salad
I like whole cherry tomatoes for this one. The egg provides perfect companionship to other ingredients, and crispy bacon adds the crunch.
- a mixture of dark greens and crispy lettuce
- 2 to 3 strips Petit Jean bacon, cooked slightly overdone (to crispy), cooled and chopped or torn into small pieces
- a few cherry tomatoes
- 1 hard-boiled egg, cut into wedges or crumbled
- other good toppings for this salad: croutons, shredded cheddar cheese, avocado, grated carrots
- dressings to make this salad delightful: ranch, blue cheese or balsamic vinaigrette.
- Toss lettuce with chopped bacon
- Top with cherry tomatoes, egg and other ingredients you’re using.
BLT Kabobs
This one’s just for fun. Iceberg lettuce works the best for sticking on skewers, but it works with any kind of lettuce folded over a time or two. The best part of these kabobs is that they can be eaten cold.
- several pieces of toast
- iceberg lettuce cut into small wedges or leaf lettuce torn into big pieces
- cherry tomatoes, whole or halved
- cooked potatoes, sliced or diced
- several strips of Petit Jean bacon, cooked and cooled (for this recipe, it’s best to have the bacon not overdone)
- In any order, slide the ingredients onto a skewer.
- In any order, eat the ingredients.
Ingredients
Rhonda Franz is an educator, freelance writer, and mom. She is a born city girl who is raising three boys in the woods of northwest Arkansas with her husband, a corporate pilot. She works as the Girl Friday for the Women Bloggers, and writes for websites, parenting magazines, and on her blog, Captain Mom.
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