Roasted Stuffed Tomatoes with Bacon and Cheese

Roasted Stuffed Tomatoes with Bacon and Cheese ~ incredible flavor and texture, easy and inexpensive and they present as a very elegant appetizer.

Back in 2015 I came up with Roasted Stuffed Tomatoes for an appetizer and they tasted exquisite! One of my blogging friends actually created her own recipe because they sounded so good and told me how impressed she was with the idea. Fast forward to this year and I created a recipe I did not think could top the first one. Well I'll tell you, I think this new version is simply incredible and it just may have edged the original recipe by a nose.
As always at Cooking On A Budget, I taste what I make and if I am in love with it I write a post to publish and share with you all. By the time I got done making these Roasted Stuffed Tomatoes with Bacon and Cheese, taking photographs, sending them to my e-mail, etcetera, they had become cold. So wanting to know how they came out to be sure I should post this, I ate one cold.

Well if they taste this magnificent cold, I can only imagine them warm! These are unbelievably good and I could easily eat 3 or 4 more! There's no doubt that you are going to love these.

We begin with the filling:

• 6 Roma tomatoes - cut in half
• 6 strips bacon - cooked crispy and crumbled
• 1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 4 oz. cream cheese - softened
• 1 large clove garlic - finely minced
• 1 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp. half and half or milk
• 1/2 tsp. dried dill
• 1/4 tsp. ground mustard
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the topping:

• 3 tbsp. panko bread crumb (or use regular plain bread crumbs)
• 2 tbsp. shredded Monterey Jack
• 1 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley or dried
• 1 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic

Now on to the prep and instructions.

1. Cut your tomatoes in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and some of the meat to make a small cavity. Lay the de-seeded tomatoes upside down on a piece of paper towel to drain.
2. I used my tiny food processor to crumble the bacon.
3. Add all of the filling ingredients to a bowl and mix well, using the back of the spoon to break down the cream cheese.
4. In another bowl combine all of the topping ingredients.
5. Fill the tomatoes with the cheese mixture then top with as much topping as you like.
6. Baked in a 375° oven for about 15 minutes.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Servings: 12
Cost: $5.51, .45¢ each

The center is rich and creamy with the flavors of the cream cheese and Monterey Jack cheese. Then you get just a hint of the dill and mustard, crunch from the crumbled bacon and the sweet and slightly acidic taste of the tomato. The topping is a little added flavor and texture.

I think Roasted Stuffed Tomatoes with Bacon and Cheese are an elegant appetizer that your family and friends will thoroughly enjoy. And, they cost just 45 cents each to make! You can't beat that.

P.S. - By the time I finished writing this post I had three "samples". Wow are they delicious.