Recipe: Chopped Salad

WTF is chopped salad? It's good.

Chopped salad close-up. To your health!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Red Bell Pepper; diced
• 1-2 Cucumbers; peeled, seeded, and diced
• 12 oz Snow Pea Pods; diced
• 1/2 Red Onion; diced and rinsed
• 1/4 Cup Sliced Green Onion
• 3-4 oz Bacon; cut-up
• 12 oz Ditalini (or other small ring pasta); cooked, drained, and cooled
• 2-3 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese; diced
• 1 Small Head Romaine Lettuce; sliced thin
• 12-16 oz Cherry Tomatoes; halved
• 1 Can Chick Peas; drained and rinsed
• 1 Chicken Breast (~1/4 lb); cooked and cut into small pieces (optional)
• Dried Cranberries
• Creamy Italian Dressing

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare the ingredients: everything should be about the same size - 1/4"


• Red pepper: instructions on another post (learn something)
• Red onion: after dicing the onion, put into a wire mesh strainer and rinse under cold water. This will remove some of the punch of the onion - otherwise, the salad will taste too onion-y
• Romaine lettuce: take-off the dirty outer leaves of the lettuce and cut the lettuce cross-wise into thin ribbons
• Cucumber: remove the seeds (I cut it into quarters lengthwise and then cut the "wedge" of seeds at the top of the triangle (see picture)), then dice the cucumber into the appropriate size and shape

Cut-along the dotted lines

• Chicken: brown the chicken in a skillet--both sides--and then cut into small pieces
• Bacon: fry the bacon until crisp and then cut/break into small pieces
• Ditalini: cook in salted water, drain, and rinse under cold water to cool. If you plan ahead, you can put it in the fridge to cool completely. I cooked a pound of pasta because I didn't know how much I needed and now have left-over pasta in the fridge (can add to soup)

Ditalini in its natural habitat

• The rest of the ingredients are self-explanatory

2. Mix
3. Eat (you can dress the salad all at once or dress individually)

RECIPE NOTES

• How much cranberry should I use? >> I used a "handful." It's a to-taste kind of thing - it adds a nice tangy sweetness. Now, the size of my impressive handful isn't the same as yours - so start with a Cup and go from there
• How much dressing? >> Another "to taste" ingredient. Use your best judgment