I promised you bacon, and I like to keep my promises. This isn’t a revolutionary recipe. It’s not much a recipe at all, actually. More of a simple suggestion. And here it is – next time you make a BLT, add avocado and skip the bread. It’s delicious, it’s gluten free, and let’s face it, there’s just a whole lot less standing in the way between you and the bacon.

Bacon makes everything better, right? Nowadays there seems to be no end of the creative recipes with bacon. But we’re gonna start with a classic. I challenge you to find a better combination of three ingredients than fresh crisp lettuce, juicy ripe tomatoes and deliciously salty bacon. Oh, and you want to add avocado? Well that just pushes it over the top into the realm of divine. They key, of course, is to use quality ingredients. So let’s start.

Find yourself a bunch of fresh romaine lettuce, a ripe tomato, and a good looking avocado. Wash lettuce and pat dry.  Cut off the bottom part of the lettuce stem, but keep the leaf in tact. Wash and slice tomato.  Slice avocado.

Cook the bacon over medium heat in a large saute pan. I use nitrate-free applewood smoked bacon. Yummm…..isn’t the smell of bacon intoxicating?

Remove from pan and pat off excess oil with a paper towel.

Now we’re ready to assemble. Use the lettuce as the base and layer avocado, bacon, and tomato. Romaine lettuce works well because it has a natural crease and it’s easy to fold up like a taco. Try it and I swear you won’t miss the bread!  I don’t.

Speaking of not missing bread, have you heard all the buzz about “paleo”? If you want to learn more about this way of eating, I suggest you visit Robb Wolf’s website where you will find nutritional information on why its beneficial to avoid grains, dairy, and processed sugar. And if you want to try paleo in earnest, I highly recommend Sarah Fragoso’s blog, Everyday Paleo and her cookbook, which provides an excellent shopping list and 30 day meal plan.

I gravitate towards paleo recipes because they are gluten and lactose free. I’ve been lactose intolerant for awhile, and I recently learned I have a sensitivity to wheat/gluten. Honestly, once you get started, eating paleo isn’t that difficult. Mostly because you start to feel so good, that when you do eat that doughnut or piece of pizza and realize how crappy it makes you feel, it starts to lose its appeal. Sure, there are times when I miss eating almond croissants, but you know what I don’t miss? The migraine headaches, foggy depressed feeling, and swollen joints that I get from eating gluten.

Paleo isn’t a “diet” in the weight-loss sense of the word (although many people tend to lose weight when they cut out sugar and grains). Instead it is s a way of eating, the same way that being a vegetarian or a vegan is.  But of course, with paleo the idea is to mimic what our ancestors in the paleolithic era might have eaten, which means lean meats and veggies, and avoiding grains, processed sugar, and other foods that can cause inflammation. Many of my friends and family members have had amazing health benefits by switching to eating paleo – particularly people who were suffering from arthritis.

While this blog won’t be 100% paleo, you will find several recipes that will fit into your paleo lifestyle, if you’re in to that sort of thing. And if you aren’t, you should still give the paleo recipes a try because they are delicious!

Paleo BLTA

1 lb nitrate-free bacon

3-4 romaine lettuce leaves

1 ripe tomato

1 ripe avocado

Cook bacon over medium heat in a large saute pan.  Flip the bacon occasionally to avoid sticking to the pan, and to ensure even cooking.  While the bacon is cooking, wash lettuce leaves and pat dry.  Cut off bottom part of stem, but keep the leaf in tact.  Wash and slice tomato.  Slice avocado.  When bacon is done cooking (15-25 minutes, depending on desired crispiness), remove from pan and put slices of bacon on a plate lined with several sheets of paper towels.  Use paper towels to pat the bacon, removing excess oil.  Cut bacon slices in half.  To assemble:  use lettuce leaf as a base, and layer avocado slices, bacon, and tomato.  Fold lettuce in half like a taco and enjoy!  Makes approx. 4 lettuce wraps.