Bacon, Gorgonzola, and Dried Cranberry Salad with a Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette

I'm not sure what it is about this salad that I'm addicted to. It could be the combination of the salty bacon with the tart cranberries, or the creamy dressing with the Gorgonzola cheese. I don't know, and I don't care. I'll I know is that I LOVE it! I first had a version of this salad a local restaurant years ago. That happens a lot, where I will have some dish out that I really like, so what I do when I get home is check out the restaurant's website for the dish and see what ingredients they have listed, what I remember ,and then I try to re-create it at home. Sometimes it works, like in this case, sometimes not so much! The only problem with doing that is experimenting with sauces, or in this case dressings. Restaurants don't list ingredients in the sauces the make so you have to be creative.

If you wanted to make this salad more hearty you could certainly add a chicken breast. In fact, at the restaurant that is what they did.

Daryl doesn't really care for this salad so the ingredient list is just for one. Just like all of our meals you can add more, or less of what you like or don't like.

Salad Ingrediants
2 cups of your choice of lettuce (I used romaine this time), chopped
1/4 cup of dried cranberries
1/4 cup Gorgonzola, or blue cheese, crumbled
4 pieces of bacon, cut
Sprinkle of croutons
Sprinkle of nuts, whatever you have on hand

Dressing
1 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. olive oil
1/4 t. dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

Whisk and pour

Comments

Coffee Rubbed Filet Mignon with Ancho Mushroom Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

It really was as good, or even better then it looks! Tonight's meal is all Daryl! He asked me what I wanted and my response was something like, "Meat sounds good, clean, not a lot of cheese, cream etc..." and what he came up with was Coffee Rubbed Filet Mignon with Ancho Mushroom Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts. Did I marry a good man or what?! I also thought another Cesar Salad sounded good so, you guessed it - we're having one! We are huge fans of Bobby Flay and we chose his recipes a lot. I have said before that his recipes can be pretty time consuming, but there are days when that can be fun, and this was one of those days. Daryl enjoys the steps that he has in his recipes, it makes it interesting for him, and a it is a challenge. I am grateful to Bobby because of him I get to eat awesome food! SMOKED RED PEPPER SAUCE Yields: 2 ½ cups 4 roasted red bell peppers, chopped ½ small red onion, coarsely ...

Chili

Yes, I know this is a food blog, but I have to talk about the weather again. I have heard that people from MN like to discuss the weather a lot. Well, can you blame us? It effects our lives and what we eat! So here is another weather report: we are on the cusp of what the weather people are calling a Polar Vortex . Yes, it's what it sounds like --- cold! As I write this it's -9 and with the wind chill, and that's what really matters, it's - 21. The Governor of Minnesota canceled classes for all public schools in the state tomorrow due to the COLDER weather that's still coming in. Now, the reason I'm telling you all of this is because of what we made today. What better thing to eat on a cold day like today? Chili! Like most of you, we have tried many, many chili recipes over the years. Honestly, I have liked a lot of them, but a couple have really stood out among the crowd. One was by Bobby Flay, a very...

Mom's Old Fashioned Chow Mein

This was a recipe my mom had in her "rotation" and it was always a highlight. She would use leftover pork roast as the protein, which really made it tasty. We don't eat much pork in our house, another one of my "rules" which I don't want to bore you with at this point. You could just as easily use ground chicken, but I think that the pork just adds a better flavor. Sometimes stores will have a chow mein meat mixture, which is just course ground pork. What we decided to do was grind a pork roast. The recipe calls for 3 pounds of it, but I don't like that much meat, the best part of the dish, in my opinion, are the vegetables. Also, when my mom gave me this recipe it only listed a few of the amounts of things. Another great example of her saying, "Just use a little of this and little of that..." which now I totally understand! I have given amounts here just to make it easier, but you can obviously do what you want too! (This...

Couple of Cooks in Love

Search This Blog