I decided to make a salad the other night with ingredients on hand. It sounded so good in my head. And I knew I was going to want to share this with you. But one camera is hiding. And the other camera was full and didn’t want any more food. And I was in too much of a hurry to delete the pictures. And my camera phone is broken so I couldn’t even resort to that.
So, I am going to do something very old-fashioned. I am going to just give you a recipe with very little commentary. And I am going to ask you to do something very old-fashioned as well. Read without pictures. I’m sorry, I know this is horrible but I didn’t want to not share at all!
This salad was delicious. It was a filling salad. It would be a good entertaining salad. It’s a good, “I have leftover chicken that I don’t know what to do with” salad. Even Baker Man went back for seconds – so it is a Man-Friendly Salad. I mean, it has bacon after all.
INGREDIENTS
Bag of baby spinach
½ lb of bacon
3 small apples – I used fuji
1/3 large onion, about 2/3 cup chopped
2 cooked chicken breasts cubed
Grated cheddar cheese – optional
Honey Dijon dressing
PREPARATION
Start by cooking your bacon. While your bacon is cooking, rinse your spinach and let it dry. Then chop your onion. Core and roughly chop your apples.
Set your bacon on a paper towel to drain. Lightly cook the apples and onions in the bacon grease. You want them to be warmed through and just starting to soften. And you don’t have to use the bacon grease if you don’t want too – it just adds a little bit of flavor but you could skip that and make this slightly more healthy.
As for the chicken, I had left over chicken so I sliced it cold and tossed it in the salad. You could grill, bake, broil, sauté, fry, or cook it just about any way you want to and add to the salad. Or you can buy pre-cooked. The point is, cooked chicken, cut bite size, hot or cold.
Mix all of the prepared ingredients into a bowl and toss. Grate cheese into the salad if desired. Or cube cheese. Cubed brie would be delicious in this salad though I used cheddar. Both work with the other ingredients – just in different ways. Serve with Honey Dijon Dressing.
TOTAL PREP TIME – About 10 – 15 minutes (not including chicken cook time)
Woah, woah, woah! Slow down there killer! What’s with this? “Set your bacon on a paper towel to drain.” You did say “Man-Friendly”, did you not?
I like it crispy not soggy in salads. I didn’t drain the apples and onions if that makes you feel better.
The key to making a “proper” man friendly salad would be to use the bacon drippings to make the salad dressing 🙂
Ha – so yes, my sister in law emailed me that very same thing just last night.
If Dave were to make a Man-Friendly salad, he would make the cheese and cure the bacon himself. He may even slaughter the pig. I don’t know.
@Jackie Your sister in law is a smart woman 😉
@mr3dphd I have not made bacon yet. . .. .
Ha – YET. And I agree, my sister in law is a smart woman.
Dude…the day you make your own bacon, you will officially become my hero. And none of that wacky Canadian bacon!
Mr3d: I gotta build a cold smoker first.
[…] he is going to do that, I am proactive and cook extra. He actually whined a little when I made the Man-Friendly Salad because I didn’t make […]