BLT Pizza

When you have a garden and you plant tomatoes, they all seem to come on at once!!! What to do, what to do? BLT Pizza of course.

BLT Pizza

I don’t know about anyone else, but nothing beats a Summertime BLT, and a BLT Pizza= Summertime heaven.

There is something that just can’t beat a summer fresh from the garden tomato. The flavor is something that cannot be duplicated in any hothouse or other mass produced tomato.

BLT Pizza

Just a few thing to know about tomatoes you get at the grocery store. The ones for mass production have been breed to have tougher skin so they don’t bruise, and the skins won’t break so easily, so they have a higher yield, and are uniform in shape and size. The saddest thing is they are ALL picked green……that right green. It’s the easiest way to ship them so they are intact when they reach the store. But they never reach their full ripening potential without sunlight which gives tomatoes their wonderful flavor.

BLT Pizza

Tomatoes from a Farmers Market or home grown have a thin skin that is, for lack of a better word, fragile.Fresh home grown tomatoes almost melt in your mouth, with a sweet, juicy, rich flavor that is beyond compare. So, when in season, eat them up!

Now, for a word on bacon…….when using the best of summer tomatoes, buy good, thick cut bacon. No whimpy, skinny, no flavor bacon! Enough said!

BLT Pizza

As always, I am a Miracle Whip lover, I don’t get paid to say it, it’s just the fact! If you must use mayo…..she says with a slight gag;) Its the perfect “sauce” for a BLT Pizza

This pizza is super duper easy, so you can whip it up any weeknight. I used a pre-made crust, but you can use your own crust if you desire. If using your own, be sure to pre-bake the crust first or you will have a soggy mess.

BLT Pizza

You can make this pizza in the oven or on the grill. Whatever your pleasure.

If you love BLTs, and who doesn’t, you will love BLT Pizza. Try one this week!

BLT Pizza

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BLT Pizza

  • Yield: 8 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup miracle whip
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • 6 slices thick cut applewood smoked bacon, cooked until just crisp
  • 1 Boboli pizza crust
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup baby arugula or lettuce of your choice

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450*
  2. Mix miracle whip, olive oil, basil, garlic, and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
  3. Chop tomatoes, and bacon.
  4. Spread miracle whip mixture over pizza crust.
  5. Top with chopped bacon and tomatoes.
  6. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
  7. Place pizza on a cookie, sheet, pizza stone, or on the rack in your oven.
  8. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown.
  9. Top with arugula and serve.

 

Cranberry Almond Bakery Cookies

What’s better than a thick chewy bakery style cookie? NOTHING!! Cranberry Almond Bakery Cookies …..oh yeah!!!

Cranberry Almond Bakery Cookies

I have mentioned before that I used to manage a bakery. Said bakery was in a grocery store, so volume was king. It would have been impossible to make all of the choices from scratch. So, we did what I fondly called fake and bake.

If you can decorate it or add a little something to the flavor it’s a win! Cookies for us came in the form of frozen pucks. All you had to do was put them on a cookie sheet and bake them. They were surprisingly good.

Cranberry Almond Bakery Cookies

But alas, they were not homemade 🙁 These days I do not need to produce in bulk, so creativity and made from scratch are the order of the day.

I love cookies…….sigh! I love cranberries…..sigh! I love almonds……sigh! All three together…….Woot!!

I wanted to make an extra special, bakery style cookie. Big, chewy, and full of flavor. Continue reading “Cranberry Almond Bakery Cookies”

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

It has been HOT!!!! Let’s not heat up the house with the oven…….let’s GRILL.   Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms.      Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

Grilled stuffed mushrooms, full of gooey cheese, crispy bacon, and spinach. What’s not to love?????

I don’t know about anyone else, but when its ubber hot like it was last week, the last thing on my mind is cooking indoors. Outdoors is another story. No need to heat up the house and over tax your AC…thank you Mr. Carrier for inventing the best thing since sliced bread.

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

Sometimes the grocery store has a pre made item that will catch the eye. Such was the case of some stuffed mushrooms. They were stuffed with cheese and we were grilling so we threw them on the grill.

Other than the fact that they were probably not the healthiest things in the world. I recently have issue with too much pre-packaged foods, maybe because we have been eating too much of it. But they were little bites of heaven.

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

My mission was clear……to make my own version. Stuffed mushroom are pretty straight forward to make and you can stuff them with most anything.

I knew I wanted to use cheese,a given and cream cheese makes things super rich and creamy, besides every recipe I researched had cream cheese. They all couldn’t be wrong!

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

If all else fails, bacon is your friend. I swear it could make the worst thing take great. O.K. maybe not liver, but most anything else. So, a veggie would be nice, spinach. A nice green color, good for you, and tastes great with bacon.Everything gets all mixed up and stuffed in the mushroom cap.

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

For my money, baby bellas are the best stuffing mushrooms, but any nice sized mushroom will work. Be sure to remove the stem and wipe them clean with a damp paper towel or a mushroom brush.

I had a mushroom brush at one time and I don’t know what happen, but it disappeared. I can hear my Mom saying “Well it didn’t grow legs and walk off”……I sure do miss my Mom. But for cleaning mushrooms they are a great gadget to have.

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

The cool part of stuffed mushrooms is, you can make them in advance and cook them at your leisure. Outside, on the grill, with your choice of beverage.

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms make a great appetizer, or can be a side dish for grilled meat. Give them a try for your next cookout!

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

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Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

Grilled Stuffed Mushrooms

  • Author: Marty Boyd
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 12 1x
  • Category: Appetizer/Side Dish
  • Method: Grill
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 pieces bacon, cooked crisp, reserving 2 tablespoons for topping, reserve
  • 1 tablespoon bacon fat
  • 2 cups baby spinach
  • 1 large shallot, minced
  • 16 oz whole mushrooms
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese mix
  • Salt and Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Prepare grill.
  2. Using a damp paper towel or mushroom brush wipe mushrooms of any visible dirt and remove stems.
  3. In a small skillet, heat reserved bacon fat over medium high heat. Add shallots and sauté just until translucent. Add spinach and cook until spinach is wilted.
  4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, Panko crumbs, 1 cup cheddar cheese mix, egg, salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
  5. Add spinach and bacon to the cheese mixture. Mix until evenly incorporated.
  6. Place mushroom caps onto a small sheet that will fit your grill or use a grate made for the grill.
  7. Fill mushroom cups with cheese mixture I used a small ice cream scoop and then pressed down lightly so you can get more filling in.
  8. Sprinkle each stuffed mushroom with a little bit of reserved cheese and bacon.
  9. Grill about 20 minutes.
  10. Alternately you can bake in a 350* oven for the same amount of time.

Keywords: bacon, mushrooms, spinach, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, appetizer, side dish, grill