The recipe for a BLT Layered Salad came in an email from the nice folk at Kraft, and I was lovin’ the whole idea, except…
Their recipe made way too much for a salad for just the two of us, and this recipe simply looked too darned fine to wait until we had a crowd around, so, I adapted a bit. And then adapted some more.
I wouldn’t necessarily call this a health salad, but it’s better than some, and you can always add more veggies.
INGREDIENTS
Basic Salad:
•Romaine lettuce, washed, drained, and torn
•Sun-dried tomato, julienne cut
•Bacon (I use uncured), cooked & crumbled
•Shredded cheese (Colby, Jack, or Cheddar)
•Best! Creamy Caesar Dressing
Optional Additions (all good):
•Sweet onion, thinly sliced
•English or Persian cucumber, thinly sliced
•Buttermilk marinated chicken, grilled
•Dark rye croutons*
Use as much of everything as you think you’ll need, I went with one head of Romaine and that worked out fine; we had enough for our salad, then for Rich to go back for seconds, and then for another large bowl for me for lunch the next day. Nice.
Note: you can, of course, use halved fresh cherry tomatoes, but I really like these sun-dried julienne-cut tomatoes in a salad, so just use them.
Putting the salad together, once you’ve got the lettuce washed and crisped and the rest of the veggies prepped is a snap:
Place the romaine in the bottom of a large salad bowl (clear glass, if you’re going for the layered look – a trifle bowl works a treat).
Top with a layer of sliced sweet onion, then the sun-dried tomato and the sliced cucumber.
Crumble the cooked and cooled bacon and place on top of the salad, finally topping the bowl with a layer of shredded cheese.
The nice folk at Kraft call for adding the dressing to the salad and tossing just before serving, but I’ve found that if you do that, 
any leftovers are gonna be wilted and just not that appealing, so, unless we are having a huge crowd, I just toss the salad to combine the ingredients, and then pass the dressing for folk to add as they like.
*Rye croutons add a really nice crunch to this salad, and are also pretty darned simple to make:
Heat the oven to 325º. Cube a loaf of good, dark rye bread and season with Gateway to the North Maple Garlic Seasoning – or a bit of garlic powder and your favorite steak seasoning – then drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive 
oil. Toss with your hands to coat the bread cubes evenly, then arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet.
Bake for 30 minutes, giving the sheet a nice shake each ten minutes.
Cool, then store in a closed container until needed.
Tasty in this salad, but I will confess to just popping a few in my mouth as a munchie.
As an option, try sprinkling 1/8 to 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan over the bread cubes with the olive oil – you may want to line your baking pan with foil for ease of clean up.
Wanna make this your main course?
No Problem!
Add some grilled, sliced chicken breast over the top of the salad in a large, shallow bowl, then add dressing and enjoy your salad.