Cream Cheese, Scallion and Bacon RITZwich

Brianna's week. Late July. The catering business was steady — three to five jobs a month, average three hundred dollars per job, give or take. I was clearing about a thousand a month after costs. Not life-changing money but a meaningful supplement to the plant paycheck. I put most of it into the savings account I'd labeled "FUTURE" in my online banking. The future was vague. The savings were not.

Tuesday Big Mike's wife's fiftieth birthday catering — 40 people, $450. I'd built the prep schedule like a flight plan: Friday brine ribs, prep mac and cheese, prep greens. Saturday smoke ribs starting 7 AM, bake mac and cheese 11, finish greens noon, load and drive to Big Mike's house in Inkster at 2, set up at 3, serve at 4. It went perfect. Big Mike cried when he saw the spread. His wife told me it was the best food at any party she'd ever been to. I'll take it.

Wednesday I made dinner for myself — pasta carbonara. New attempt. Spaghetti, eggs, pecorino, guanciale (Meijer didn't have guanciale so I used good bacon), black pepper. Done in twelve minutes. Italians have been telling us for centuries that the simple food is the best food. I'm slow but I'm catching up.

Sunday at Mama's. She made beef stew — chuck roast cubed, browned, simmered with potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, tomato paste, beef broth, bay leaves. Three hours on low. Pop ate two bowls.

That Wednesday carbonara stopped me cold — twelve minutes, four ingredients, and it was better than food I’d spent hours on. Bacon was the whole move, same as it always is. So when I wanted something I could put together fast without overthinking, I kept coming back to that same lesson: let the bacon do the work, keep everything else out of the way. This Cream Cheese, Scallion and Bacon RITZwich is exactly that — dead simple, no apologies, and good enough that you’ll be glad you didn’t try to make it complicated.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 20 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

24 RITZ crackers
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
3 scallions, thinly sliced (green and white parts)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Cook the bacon. In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon strips until crisp, about 8–10 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain, then crumble into small pieces once cooled.
Make the filling. In a medium bowl, combine softened cream cheese, crumbled bacon, sliced scallions, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt. Stir until evenly mixed and smooth.
Assemble. Spread a generous tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture onto one RITZ cracker. Top with a second cracker to form a sandwich. Repeat with remaining crackers and filling.
Serve. Arrange on a platter and serve immediately, or refrigerate up to 1 hour before serving. If refrigerating, bring to room temperature for 10 minutes before serving for best texture.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cream Cheese, Scallion and Bacon RITZwich — When Simple Food Is the Best Food