Baked BLT Dip Recipe For Tailgating

Who doesn't love a good BLT? The classic combination of bacon, lettuce, and tomato delivers a little bit of everything. Which makes it a perfect dish for the tailgate. This recipe serves eight, but it might go fast. Real quick, the recipe calls for baking the bacon in the oven. You can just grab a bag of precooked crumbles from Costco, BJ's, or Sam's. Once you've got your bacon, whether fried, baked, or from a bag like lazy Austin Cox, it's easy peasy, baby.

Actual "Effort / Work" Time: 20 mins Total Time: 1 hrs Results: Serves 8 (serving size: 1/2 cup)
Ingredients

• 1 pound bacon
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 6 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped and mashed to a paste
• 1 romaine lettuce heart, shredded
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Crackers or toasted bread

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large lipped (no leaks off the edge) baking sheet with aluminum foil, and fit with a wire rack. Arrange bacon slices in an even layer on rack, and bake in preheated oven until crisp, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool bacon, saving a tablespoon of bacon grease; chop bacon, and set aside. 
2. Toss tomatoes in the bacon grease you saved or a tablespoon of vegetable oil for that went with precooked crumbles. Spread the tomatoes out on a lipped (like a high edge) baking tray, and bake at 400°F oven until tomatoes burst, about 10 minutes. Let cool slightly. Drop your oven temperature down to 350°F. 
3. Combine cream cheese, Cheddar, sour cream, mayonnaise (it's just a little), garlic, 1 cup of the chopped bacon, and 1 cup of the tomatoes in a large bowl; transfer to a 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 350°F until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Top with lettuce, remaining tomatoes, and remaining chopped bacon; drizzle with lemon juice. You're ready to go. You can serve it with anything from Club Crackers to Triscuits, or some toasted french bread is good too. But then it's getting more complicated. Just get a box of crackers.

Posting this recipe made me hungry.