TLT Salad

Thanks for letting me know this post disappeared Claudia, here it is again :)

I started this week's challenge a little negatively. I'm not sure I've ever followed a recipe for a salad before. Sure, I take tips on ingredients, but no measuring, no real direction following occurs when I make a salad.

This salad went something like this.

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Throw it all in a bowl:

Toss with dressing, top with croutons and serve:

Okay, I skipped over the two things that actually took me any time in this recipe. The lovely dressing, simply mayo, basil & white wine vinegar. The homemade croutons. This is something my mother has perfected. Always made with stale bread, many seasonings and several glugs of oil. These were not those croutons. When I picked up the bread at the grocery store it was so fresh it was still warm. This made for a slight chew to the middle of the little bread cubes, which was actually quite nice.

The moment I ate this salad any lingering thoughts of "who needs a recipe for a salad?" disappeared. This salad is delicious. I don't know if it was the bacon or the dressing, but it was definitely one of the two. Having given up red meat for unknown reasons far too long ago to remember I often miss out on that bacon salad combo. This recipe called for turkey bacon, which added a lovely crunchy salt to this salad.

We paired this with some grilled fish for dinner, but that wasn't necessary - this could have been an entree all by itself.

TLT (The Larry T) Salad
Adapted from "Bite Me"
makes: 6 servings

Ingredients

Croutons

1/2 mini baguette, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 T olive oil
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
1 tsp kosher salt
Creamy Basil Dressing
1/4 c light mayonnaise

1 T finely chopped fresh basil

1 T white wine vinegar

Salad

1 romaine heart, coarsely chopped or torn into bite-size pieces

1 c cherry tomatoes, halved

4 slices turkey bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

1 avocado peeled and chopped

1. For the croutons, preheat the oven to 350F. Coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, toss bread crumbs with olive oil. Add Parmesan and salt, tossing to coat. Spread pieces on baking sheet and bake 15 minutes, stirring every 5.
2. For the dressing, in a small bowl, whisk mayo, basil and vinegar.
3. In a large bowl combine the salad ingredients.
4. Add dressing, toss to coat. Top with croutons.