One of my all-time favorite sandwiches in the summer is the Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich, especially when tomatoes are vine ripe in my garden. I could eat them every day for lunch and dinner! Cook the bacon until it’s crisp tender, add some lettuce, tomato slices and good mayo on toasted sourdough bread and I’m in hog haven.

Every year I try and grow tomatoes in my garden and usually my kitchen counters are covered with fresh ripe tomatoes. I’m the only one in my family that likes them. My husband and son do NOT like tomatoes. They like things with tomato sauce in them but NOT tomato chunks or slices on anything. Go figure. I just love them! They make any sandwich so much tastier and run with flavor. This year I have to admit, my tomato plants just didn’t prosper. I have no clue why, but they didn’t. Maybe it was a little too dry, or not enough sun or maybe even too wet. I have no idea. However, I have neighbors and friends that did have fabulous tomatoes and was willing share with me. I am so blessed. Don’t know what I’d do without tomatoes in the summer time.

One day I was in my garden and was getting ready to go inside and make the famous BLT for lunch. I brushed by my monster basil plants and inhaled deeply. I just love basil. Then it struck me, why not put some on my BLT? Just enough to give it a little extra flavor. And that’s what I did. I picked a few leafs and took them into the house. Now, if you noticed, the title of this blog isn’t BLT with Basil. It’s BSTB. When I went in to make my sandwich, I realized I didn’t have any lettuce! But I did have some fresh spinach. Hence the BSTB Sandwich. (Bacon Spinach Tomato Basil Sandwich)

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Here’s how I made it:

BSTB Sandwich

Start out with some good quality bread. I happen to like sourdough for this. You’ll need 2 slices.

You’ll need to cook the bacon. For the sourdough bread slices I buy, I like 3 slices of bacon. No sense in having a BSTB if you can’t taste one of the star ingredients!

I like cooking my bacon in the oven. For me, it’s much simpler than standing over the frying pan letting it pop grease on my hands and arms. I lay the slices in a 9×13 pan and put them in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes turning once about half way through.

Here goes the assembly:

Toast your bread to a golden brown color.  Spread on a nice thin layer of your favorite mayonnaise on one side of each slice of bread.

Layer thick slices of tomato on one side of the sandwich.

Lay about 3 basil leaves on the tomato slices.

Then the 3 slices of bacon.

Pile on the spinach.

Top it with the other slice of bread with mayo on it. And Voila, you have a BSTB Sandwich! I like cutting my in half on the diagonal. Just easier to handle and eat.

Add a nice bowl of Tomato Basil Bisque and that’s a meal I’ll eat any day!

What is your favorite summertime sandwich?

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Here’s a printer friendly recipe: