BLT Chopped Salad

Summer seems like it's just around the corner and lately, I've been into a lot of salads. One particular salad I can't get enough of is this BLT Chopped Salad. First off, bacon. That's reason enough to know it's gotta be good. Second, it's all the best parts of a traditional BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich, only in salad form and without the extra carbs. Third, it's ridiculously easy to make and perfect for the season. And fourth, more bacon. Bacon makes everything better, you know...

This is a just a base recipe which you can jazz up however you'd like. As is, it's straightforward and the cirtus vinaigrette really ties it all together. Some additional ingredients you can include in the salad are: ditalini pasta, sweet kernel corn, diced avocado, grilled chicken, steak or shrimp, crumbled blue cheese or feta cheese, black beans, etc. The possibilities are endless yet the results will definitely be delicious!

BLT Chopped Salad

• For the Salad:
  4 cups crisp green lettuce like romaine or green leaf, chopped6 slices bacon, crisp-cooked and chopped1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
  2/3 cup diced seedless cucumber
• 1/4 cup matchstick carrots
  1/4 shredded red cabbage
• 1/2 cup cooked ditalini pasta

• For the Citrus Vinaigrette:
  ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lime juice
  1 tablespoon orange juicezest of 1 lime2 teaspoons sugar, or to tastesalt and pepper to taste

Place all the salad ingredients in a large serving bowl and toss to incorporate.

Prepare the dressing:
In small bowl, add all the vinaigrette ingredients and whisk until well-combined and sugar is dissolved. Drizzle over the salad just before serving.