The Friday Football Foodie does not endorse having cater-waiters serve game time snacks.
This weekend marks the one year anniversary of my wedding to Bryan, which means we have less than 48 hours to finally select our wedding photos from the photographer. In going through the 1000 photos, we’ve realized several things: 1) It really is amazing who the photographers took lots of pictures of and who they totally missed. I knew we should have given them a look-book beforehand. 2) There really has never been a picture of my upper arms I have ever liked. Are they really the size of my thighs? 3) How many things we didn’t get to eat at our own wedding, including these very football-friendly BLT bites appetizers.
I’d like to say we picked our wedding weekend because it happened to be the week the Steelers played Thursday night game, but that was complete dumb luck. Our family and friends started arriving early in the week, so getting everyone together to watch the Thursday night game at Barney’s Beanery was probably one of my favorite events around our wedding. Andrea, fresh off her flight from Belgium, showed up at the bar in her Lambert jersey. Kara and Steve hung with Jelisa.  Jeremy got to bond with my mom. I got to see my dad look completely out of place at Beanery, even though it would have been open while he was growing up in LA. The Steelers? The Steelers completely rolled over the Cincinnati Bengals. (Thursday November 20 was Week 12 of the 2008 season, and the Steelers were sitting a pretty 8-3. This Sunday’s game is Week 11 and the Steelers are 6-3. Took me a while to wrap my brain around those numbers this morning for some reason.)
Right after the our wedding, we went for a pre-honeymoon in Vegas. (Although we’re going to have to stop using the “pre” prefix soon if we don’t go on our real honeymoon soon.) I put down a small amount of money on the Steelers, Penguins, Pistons and Pirates to all win their respective championships. I wanted to put down more on the Pens and the Steelers, but since marriage is a compromise and suddenly our money was all the same money for the rest of our lives, I respected Bryan’s wishes to keep my bets “reasonable” at the sports book.  Well thank you, Luxor-MGM. Both the Pens and the Steelers were 8/1 odds when I placed my bets, so now for the rest of our lives I have a handy little, “Well, if you would have trusted me…” from our first week of marriage. That was a heck of wedding present.
BLT Bites!
You will need…
Everything you would need for a BLT, minus the bread.
1 pound of thick cut bacon
2 bunches of cocktail tomatoes (between 40-48 tomatoes)
About 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded lettuce
1/3 – 1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 – 1/2 cup mayo
salt and pepper
chives (not pictured for some reason)
What do you mean you've never baked your bacon?
When you are making this much bacon, it is easier just to hot box that meat Santonio Holmes-style. (Can you believe it has been a year since that incident happened?)  I’ve found the easiest way to bake bacon is is to line a pan with aluminum foil, and place it into a cold oven. Turn the heat up to 400 degrees, and leave it alone for about 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes has passed, check it and see if it if almost crispy. If not, give it about five more minutes.
It just looks like a lot of work. Be sure to save the tomato "tops" for salads for the rest of the week. That tag down there that says "Eat veggies and fruit for the rest of the week" isn't just for show.
While the bacon is cooking, slice the top off each tomato and core the center. Don’t have a tomato corer? Me neither. That’s a sign you’re spending too much on kitchen gadgets. I just use the 1/4 teaspoon, which works just as well. Rest on a paper towel to drain off the excess water.
Gratuitous bacon porn shot.
By the way, is anyone else over the bacon craze? I said this to I think Holly — she edited together the films that were shown in the screening room at our wedding! — a couple of years ago. Everyone is going to over do bacon at some point and it will no longer be special. Quit putting bacon on things, people! Not everything is better with bacon! I don’t want to have bacon lemoncello tarts, bacon-infused Vitamin Water with extra vitamin B, and I especially do not want bacon wrapped in bacon around a core of pancetta and prosciutto deep fried in lard and then served with a bacon-seasoned bacon ranch dressing with bacon salt on the side.
Save the bacon, I say.
Why yes, I could just eat tomatoes seasoned with just salt and pepper.
Place the tomatoes bowl-up in a small dish and season with salt and pepper.
Bry bought this to make one of my favorite appetizers, fried stuffed olives, one year for Valetine's Day. (Or my birthday.) The "sign' that our wedding caterers were the ones to go with was that they served fried olives.
Mix in equal parts the mayo and sour cream together, and season with a bit more salt and pepper. Why not all mayonnaise? Do you really want to bite into a giant glob of mayo without having bread there to soften the blow? I don’t think so. Fill each little “bowl” 1/4 – 1/2 full with the dressing.
Do not put your face into the baking dish and just start eating.
Stuff each both with a little lettuce and then a small bit of bacon. You might have a little leftover bacon, but I doubt it.
Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving, and garnish with chives.
And now a year later, less than $20 gives us a taste of what we paid much more for not eat.
No cocktail this week. Last week’s loss to the Bengals was so depressing all we could think of doing for this week’s Friday Football Foodie was pull out every bottle of brown liquor and just start drinking. (And during last Sunday’s game we drank champagne for my birthday, which let’s face it, is kind of girlie.)
So instead of a cocktail, why not go get a tall glass of water in the form of Cotter and Nic’s “Unnamed Steeler Pregame Show” and rest before Sunday. Sure this weekend seems easy against the Chiefs, but you don’t think Upper St. Clair native Todd Haley isn’t going to want to show up his dad’s old team? And don’t be distracted by Thanksgiving folks, the Ravens are finally here.  This fan is nervous.
I hinted at an upcoming FFF “Chili Cook-off” coming soon. Hammering out the last details, so look for an announcement in the coming weeks.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by TheStarterWife, Jason Arnold. Jason Arnold said: RT @TheStarterWife "Friday Football Foodie – Happy Anniversary! BLT Bites!" http://bit.ly/6oRmpc […]
bacon wrapped in bacon around a core of pancetta and prosciutto deep fried in lard and then served with a bacon-seasoned bacon ranch dressing with bacon salt on the side
I think I had a heart attack just reading that.
Happy Anniversary to you and Bryan!
bacon wrapped in bacon around a core of pancetta and prosciutto deep fried in lard and then served with a bacon-seasoned bacon ranch dressing with bacon salt on the side
You’ve finally turned me off bacon.
What’s funny is that Nic from PSAMP just sent us a “Happy Anniversary” email, and my response was still football oriented.
“Ha! Thanks. One year married in Nov, seven years together (with just a few months off in the middle) at the end of Jan / start of February.
You know what I remember about our first date? We talked about the NFL realignment. And he took me to dinner to a hole in the wall out in Venice that was known at the time for being “Brad and Jen’s” place.”
Football: The fabric of our lives.
Bry’s Note: The infamous Olive Injector was part of VALEN-PIES DAY 2008.
It’s not necessarily our first date that I remember most distinctly, but the entirety of the seven years (thus far) we’ve spent together. From Tommy Maddox to Roethli-somethin’, to “Special Chicken,” to some Pens first round draft pick of a teenager dubbed “The Kid,” to THE Pizza Roll, to the Pirates losing (and losing and losing and losing… ad infinitum). I recall every day and every bite of it all.
Happy Anniversary, Button.
Congratulations TSW and IJMTU!
Happy Anniversary! For Bacon or worse.
Good to see Metschick is here….that’s awesome Haven’t been on deadspin/DUAN in a couple years, but still keep this link active. One of these days I’ll actually make an FFF item, instead of just gawking over the food porn.
Happy Anniversry! What I remember of the food at your wedding was that it was all good!!
Best. Wedding. Ever.
[…] BLT Bites!!! […]