BLTA Lettuce Cups with Chipotle Sauce
Cook together. Eat together.
A fun and delicious appetizer for a small crowd.
We’re finally sitting on the patio again, together, enjoying the late afternoon with its low, slanting light and a cool, fall breeze. What a relief – the wildfire smoke has finally cleared, at least for today. The last heatwave is over. We have a few weeks now of cool weather before the rain (hopefully) begins.
So we get to blog in person. Time to focus now and tear ourselves away from all the catchup conversations about work, our messed up sleep schedules (haha), and our recent get together with our little grandson/nephew and the family.
September is a big birthday month for us and we just celebrated a first birthday with Tiny Human (TH). Let me tell you how much he loves cupcakes. His mom, Elyse, wanted them to be gluten free and with little sugar so they were more like modified muffins. But what a treat for me, getting to bake for our little guy. I put some chopped strawberries in the banana muffins and he loved it.
Since we’ve got a couple people in the family who are essential workers interacting out in the community all week, we’ve been super careful getting together. We had a couple of bring-your-own-snack visits in the park. Then for TH’s birthday, we decided to gather in our backyard.
TH and his parents had a little tent – so cute – so they could sit on the grass and have their own contained space. Rebel and her husband brought a blanket and lounge chairs for another spot on the grass.
Before the party, Keith and I cooked the sides, portioned everything into foil packets and stored them in the fridge. Then while he grilled the meat, I reheated all the side dishes in the oven.
I gave each family a covered tray with tongs and spoons to serve with and plates and flatware. Masked up, I had pulled all that from the dishwasher (so it was sterilized) and set them on the trays a day ahead. Each group brought their own drinks and a cooler to take home leftovers of their individual packets of food.
It was a lot of effort but felt pretty sanitized and comfortable. I’m not a medical expert nor is anyone in our family, so this story isn’t meant to be advice to you as much as an example of how we made it work. What we were careful to do ahead of time was exchange emails and set up guidelines. Just as important as actually staying healthy and free of the virus is to feel comfortable and ok with the setting and how everyone is respecting the boundaries.
A poignant detail after we all were home again, Rebel, Elyse and I noticed how tired we felt. It was incredibly good to be together and hang out for several hours. But I suspect that having to remember to keep our masks on and stay six feet apart instead of relax into our usual way of being together simply exhausted our brains.
One easy appetizer we’ve enjoyed all summer for small gatherings or as an easy dinner is this BLTA without the bread. Extra bonus is it’s low carb. Such a delicious way to enjoy the last tomatoes of the season and say goodbye to the hot (smokey!) days of late summer and early fall.
Be well,
Lee
Speaking of smokey (in a good way), we love this Spicy Chipotle sauce on just about everything.
We can’t decide which way we like best: a whole strip of bacon or chopped up pieces. The picture above shows the two different options. Lee prefers the whole strip of bacon (left) and Rebel likes the bacon bits (right). Which do you prefer?
BLTA Lettuce Cups with Chipotle Sauce
Ingredients
- 7 ounces romaine lettuce hearts (about 12 full pieces)
- 12 ounces uncured bacon
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 avocado, firm but ripe
- 1¼cup diced red onion
- mayonnaise
- bottled chipotle sauce
Instructions
- Wash and thoroughly dry the lettuce and tomatoes. Trim lettuce as needed and select the best cup-like pieces for filling. Slice tomatoes in half or quarters depending on tomato size.
- Dice the red onion. Cube the avocado about the same size as the tomato pieces.
- Fry the bacon, drain well on paper towel. Keep the bacon in whole strips or course chop into 1/2" pieces. (See photos for a comparison.)
- To assemble, spread a small amount of mayonnaise down the center of each lettuce cup. Sprinkle the chopped bacon into each cup, or place a piece of bacon slightly off center in each cup. This allows space for the other ingredients to fill in.
- Add tomatoes and avocado pieces. Sprinkle with onion.
- Drizzle with chipotle sauce, according to taste.
- Serve on individual plates or transfer to a platter.
