This salad is a consistent winner – it always comes out great and is repeatedly requested.

I made this for a potluck party about 12 years ago when I thought to myself, “no one every brings anything healthy to potlucks, so I’m making a salad!”

This one looked interesting to me, so I tried it out.

I actually thought that me bringing a salad would go over like a lead balloon, since the theme of the party is an annual Wild Game party featuring exotic meats from all over the world. I was convinced everyone going to this shindig wanted meat, not lettuce.

There were teen-aged children running about when I arrived and I placed my salad on the table with the other fly-ridden pasta dishes and whatnot (potlucks can really be disgusting… echhh).

To my surprise, the children started to scream when they ran in and saw the salad. Yes, screaming for the salad (whaaaat??). “THERE’S SALAD IN HERE!! THERE’S SALAD!!!” they squealed with delight. The three of them were literally pushing each other out of the way to fill up their plates with all of the components (I always keep them separate due to nut allergies or dislikes).

Seriously, you could have bowled me over with a feather that kids were screaming about salad as if it was a cake on top of a brownie, topped with ice cream. In less than an hour, the whole thing was gone – and not just from the kids devouring it.

Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of a good salad.

Since then, I have probably made this salad over 100 times. I have adjusted it over the years to my taste. As some have mentioned in the comments for the original recipe, the dressing was a little on the bland/understated side (also too much oil in my opinion), so I’ve changed some of that and added more seasoning to give it a bit more “punch”.

Adjust it as your taste dictates, and enjoy!

That Good Salad

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour

Adapted From: TasteofHome

Originally published as That Good Salad in Taste of Home June/July 1997

Ingredients

Salad

1 package cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
3 heads of Romaine lettuce, chopped up
1 cup shredded Swiss or Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, shredded (can be grated as well)
8 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled (we use turkey bacon)
1/4 cup almonds, slivered and toasted
1 cup croutons

Dressing

1/2 cup light olive oil (the original recipe uses 3/4 cup canola)
1/4 cup lemon (this is a full, squeezed lemon for me)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp Mrs. Dash Lemon Seasoning (any seasoning you like that has a bit of a tang to it will work)
1/2 tsp pepper (lemon pepper works here as well)
salt, as needed (optional, if needed)

Instructions

Prepare dressing by adding all dressing ingredients to a Tupperware container with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well and store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Place 8 strips of bacon on tin foil or pan, and cook until browned. I use the toaster oven on 375 for 12 minutes or so, until bacon is crispy. Remove and cut the bacon up.
Use the foil with the bacon grease to toast your slivered almonds. Roll the almonds in the bacon grease, sprinkle them with a healthy coating of salt, then set them in the toaster oven on "toast" setting. Be careful toasting almonds, they can burn very easily. This typically takes around 5 minutes or so.
Chop the lettuce and tomatoes.
Grate and shred cheeses.
When ready to serve, mix all ingredients. *

Notes

For the best results, do not add your dressing until you plan on serving (we actually put this on the side so people can add it as they wish), otherwise your salad can become soggy.

*We typically only combine the lettuce, tomatoes, and cheeses together for serving. Then, wrap the remaining ingredients separately and put these on the side so that people who don't eat meat, nuts or bread can add them as they wish.

Nutrition Information

Yield 12 Serving Size 1 cup
Amount Per Serving Calories 274Total Fat 21gSaturated Fat 7gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 32mgSodium 420mgCarbohydrates 11gFiber 4gSugar 3gProtein 12g

This nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although alteredrecipe.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.