A Twist on Classic Cobb Salad

I love salads, but sometimes they are not always hearty enough to eat as a meal so my salads typically consist of adding some greens and veggies as a side to a meal. I was craving a good salad for dinner but I did not want to be left feeling hungry a few short hours later. I feel discouraged when searching for a snack late at night.

I came across a pin for 20 Hearty Salads on pinterest about a month back. It was one of those "pin now read later" (as I like to call them) pins. While meal planning for the week, I decided to check them out. It was hard choosing just one because so many of them looked super delicious!! The Classic Cobb Salad caught my eye. I checked out the ingredients and when I saw bacon, I knew it was the right one for this week. Okay...before you all think I am some bacon crazy girl (I do know one who I will keep anonymous haha), I am the first to admit that we tend to only have bacon during 2 special occasions; Easter and Christmas Breakfast. It is very rare that I plan a meal around bacon or even think about buying bacon outside of special occasions. 

Back to the recipe. I loved the look of the salad and the fact that it would yield enough for lunch the next day. One major problem, the recipe asked for avocados and I am really not a fan of them...and yes, I realize that I may be one of the only people out there. I decided that this would not stop me. With this being a salad recipe, you get to change it up a bit, and so I did.

I decided to use ground turkey instead of chicken breast because I already have a couple of chicken breast meals coming up. I used low in sodium bacon, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, boiled 6 eggs and added a little cheese. I had also purchased the ingredients for raspberry vinaigrette, however, I decided to use low fat ranch dressing instead as it was what I was in the mood for. 

This salad took a while to prepare, but what hearty salad doesn't? I began by cooking the bacon until it was crispy enough to chop up. I then used a little bit of the bacon grease to cook the ground turkey in. I had boiled the eggs the night before so all I had to do was take off the shells and cut them up. While the bacon and ground turkey cooled, I cut up the tomatoes and prepared my lettuce. All in all, in took about 45 minutes to make and yet it did not feel like I was stuck in the kitchen. 

Here is the recipe, but really you can add as many twists to this salad as you like!!

Salad

one large head of romaine or iceberg lettuce
2 lbs chicken breasts, grilled or cooked in leftover bacon grease and chopped
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped 
1/2 lb bacon, chopped and cooked crisp
2 large avocados, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 cup shredded Monterrey and Colby cheese (or crumbled blue cheese)
salt and pepper

Method

1. Cook bacon until crisp. Reserve bacon fat to cook chicken in if desired. Salt and pepper chicken. Grill chicken or cook in bacon fat for extra flavor.

2. Add lettuce to a large bowl. Top with cooked and chopped chicken, crisp bacon, chopped hard boiled eggs, avocados, onion, tomatoes and cheese.

Rating:

Preparation: 8/10...There is a lot to prepare and it did take some time. There is some stove top cooking involved as well as veggie prep and chopping too. However, you can get creative during the preparation process so it is fun :) I found myself checking out the veggie drawer wondering what I wanted to add next!! I think next time, I will add fresh peppers, mushrooms and celery.

Taste: 10/10...How could I not give this 100%? Bacon, veggies, cheese and you can top with whatever salad dressing your heart desires!!

Servings: 10/10...This hearty salad is very filling and yields plenty to go around plus have some for lunch the next day. You could also make up a big bowl and eat it for a couple of lunches or dinners. It also makes enough that you could take it to a dinner party or pot-luck.


Overall, this recipe is a 28/30 and really the only thing stopping it from being a 30/30 is the amount of preparation. Just remember to keep this mind when making it. You may not be able to whip it up really quick after work or kids activities.

Enjoy!

~Amanda