Who Needs Croutons? I've Got Bacon!

CaveBoy and I have been overwhelmed lately with work and end of summer activities (those holiday weekends aren't going to celebrate themselves).  So "easy to prepare" has been the most important quality for our weekly meals.  Enter the salad.

Earlier this summer, we spent a long weekend at Club Med, Sandpiper Bay basking in the Florida sun, sailing and paddle boarding daily, and taking full advantage of the all-inclusive meal package.  This included a 3 PM chicken caesar salad snack.  While the bottled dressing was full of ingredients I normally avoid, the experience reminded me how much I love a good caesar salad. Fast-forward to the end of the summer, and voila.

Look at those chunks of bacon!

Cal       Fat       Carb       Protein

667.4     39.5      9.2        79.5 

For the dressing, I mixed one serving of Annie's Naturals Organic Caesar Dressing and one tablespoon lemon juice to make the salad easer to toss.  I then sprinkled one tablespoon parmesan cheese and salt and pepper, then topped it all off with bacon croutons.  Each salad also included one grilled chicken breast.  

For the bacon croutons, I cut Wellshire Farms thick cut bacon into small cubes and cooked them in a large skillet until they became crunchy but not burned.

Here they are, just getting started.

All finished. See how crunchy and delicious they look?

I cooked all the bacon (and grilled chicken) ahead of time so I could just rinse the lettuce and assemble each salad at meal time.  Of note: I found that this salad is also delicious dressing-free.  I needed a quick packed lunch one Saturday, so I tossed the ingredients (minus the dressing) into a container and ran out the door.  The saltiness of the bacon and parmesan made up for the lack of dressing.