• Blog
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Tips & Tools
  • International LOVE
  • Love Notes
  • Shop
  • Powered by MSI Media Group

Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches

August 24, 2013 by Mary Frances 22 Comments

Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches cut in half.Now is the time!! The tomatoes are magnificent! Go and visit your nearest farmer’s market and buy those amazing heirloom tomatoes. Get some nitrate-free bacon and whip up bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches! We had just that for lunch today with an ear of corn, leftover from last night’s dinner, and it was just so delicious. So flavorful, like eating sunshine. Can you eat sunshine? Well it felt like it because this was just so fresh and yummy. So simple, yet full of flavor but light at the same time.

Once again, it’s all about the ingredients. Our bacon, from a local farm, was delicious and crisp. Our bread was toasted and also crisp. It was whole wheat sourdough artisanal bread. The orange tomatoes were vine ripened and just picked this morning. The two red cherry tomatoes I grew and picked this morning. The lettuce was iceberg for the cold crunch and the mayo was Hellman’s, not even homemade. I sprinkled a little fine grind sea salt and fresh ground black pepper on the tomatoes, before closing the sandwich.

Don’t let summer come to a close without making this. You won’t be sorry.
Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches with an ear of corn on a brown plate.

BACON, LETTUCE AND TOMATO SANDWICHES – serves 2

4 slices of whole wheat sourdough bread, toasted and cooled
2 – 3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced 1/4” thick
6 slices of nitrate-free bacon, fried crisp, drained on paper towels and patted dry of top grease
3 – 4 leaves of iceberg lettuce, torn in half, folded to fit
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Hellmann’s real mayonnaise

Spread a thin film of mayonnaise on each slice of bread, Top one slice with a double thickness of tomatoes. Salt and pepper the tomatoes, top with 3 slices of bacon, the lettuce and then close with the other slice of bread. Cut in half and serve.

Eat with gusto and enjoy the summer sunshine!! You will LOVE it!

Filed Under: Lunch, Meat Tagged With: bacon, bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich, BLT sandwich, farmer's markets, heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, nitrate free bacon, sea salt, tomatoes

Last of the lettuce and a beautiful pork roast

July 24, 2013 by Mary Frances 15 Comments

So you saw my beautiful bounty of lettuce last week. This past Sunday I went out to cut the lettuce again for the week and some animal ate it all!! Except for one plant leaning over the mint on the left, my crop was decimated! Gone!! Overnight! So frustrating. I had put down dried blood as a fertilizer and animal deterrent in the middle of May. I guess it had all worn off by now. Bummer!When animals attack your garden, this is what it looks like.

But let me tell you about the gorgeous pork roast I made on Sunday night. First, I started marinating it on Saturday afternoon. I love marinades. Because you do the work the day before, the day you roast it becomes a breeze. This is very good for us because we like to stay late in the country on Sundays, till 5, so we give ourselves a full day there. That puts us back in the city at around 7 pm. But if your roast is ready to go in the oven, you can still have dinner on the table by 8:30, even with unpacking a weeks worth of groceries on top of everything.Herb, garlic and olive oil marinade on a pork loin roast.

Roast Pork in a ziplock bag from Jul 20, 2013Herb, garlic and olive oil marinade on a pork loin roast in a ziplock bag.     Raw bacon covering an herb marinated pork loin roast.     
I combined fresh herbs from my garden with garlic and olive oil, blanketing the roast overnight. Then I wrapped it with some locally raised and cured bacon with no nitrates (pork and pork, yum!) and set it on a bed of sliced onions, and we went to town! It was so delicious. And the leftovers warm nicely in the microwave, making a great lunch. This is super easy. Give it a go!

Roast pork on a platter from Jul 21, 2013

BACON-WRAPPED GARLIC AND HERB ROASTED PORK LOIN – serves 4

¼ cup of olive oil
9 large cloves of garlic, chopped
½ cup chopped sage, rosemary and mint leaves, combined
2 tsp. Kosher salt
½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
2 lbs. center cut pork loin roast
4 – 5 thick slices of bacon, grass fed, organic, nitrate-free
2 medium onions, sliced ¼” thick

Combine the olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rinse and pat dry your meat with paper towels. Spread herb mixture evenly all over the roast with a spatula and carefully slide the roast into a Ziplock bag. Seal, removing air and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Let the roast stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Arrange the onion slices in a rectangle in a roasting pan or large ovenproof skillet. Place the roast on top, fat side down, and then lay the bacon slices on top, probably wrapping them around would be better than my horizontal job. Either way, they’ll flavor the meat with amazing goodness and with the fat side down on the roast, this is actually healthier and more flavorful as long as your bacon is fairly lean.

Roast for 55 – 60 minutes, until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 145 degrees. Lift the roast and onions to a platter or carving board (leaving the grease behind) and let rest for 10 – 15 minutes before serving. Slice in 1/4″ slices and enjoy!!Herb roasted pork loin roast with bacon on a white Wedgewood plate with fresh tomatoes and cous cous.

We started this meal with a kale salad and as you can see, I served the roast with some fresh tomatoes and couscous. Really yummy!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: bacon wrapped pork roast, cous cous, easy marinated meat, garden lettuce, herb marinated pork loin roast, mint, nitrate free bacon, rosemary, sage

Join 32k+ followers!


Never miss out on a recipe!

Subscribe to receive new posts via email:

Mary Frances

Mary Frances

Spread love through cooking.

Summer Favorites

Easy Cheesy Sautéed Squash The Best Potato Salad Super Quick Chicken and Summer Vegetables Stir-fry Chimichurri-ed Wilted Endives with Walnuts Chilled Curried Zucchini Soup with Apple Garnish Best Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp to make now!

Categories

  • Appetizers
  • Breakfast
  • Brunch
  • Cocktails
  • Contest
  • Cookies
  • Cookware and tools
  • Desserts
  • Dinner
  • Events
  • First Course
  • Fish
  • Food Responsibility
  • Guest Post
  • Lunch
  • Meat
  • Pasta
  • Poultry
  • Products for sale
  • Salads
  • Sauces
  • Sides
  • Soups
  • Tea time
  • Travel
  • Vegetables

Pages

Blog
About
Recipes
Tips and Tools
International Love
Love Notes
Shop
Mary's secret ingredients

Blogs We Love

  • 1840 Farm
  • A Pug in the Kitchen
  • Cottage Grove House
  • Food, Photography & France
  • Food52
  • From the Bartolini Kitchens
  • Go Bake Yourself
  • Hotly Spiced
  • Jovina Cooks Italian
  • Lavender and Lime
  • Orgasmic Chef
  • Smitten Kitchen
  • Sophie's Foodie Files
  • Steven’s Wine and Food Pairings
  • That Skinny Chick Can Bake
  • The Pioneer Woman
  • The Squishy Monster
  • Tips on Food and Drinks
  • Yummy Chunklet
  • LOVE - the secret ingredient


  • GET IN TOUCH
  • E mary@lovethesecretingredient.com

· All Rights Reserved ·© 2016 Love- the secret ingredient. All rights reserved. Disclaimer | Privacy Policy Disclosure Policy Terms & Conditions