Salad - Eric's Ultimate Chopped Salad

 

Ingredients  

• 2 chicken breasts
• 8 slices bacon
• 1 cup cooked and cooled Ditalini pasta (About 1/2 cup uncooked.)
• 3 heads romaine lettuce
• 1.5 cups chopped red cabbage raw
• 5 green onions chopped
• 1 yellow and 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
• 10 marinated mozzarella balls, sliced in half
• 1–2 roasted red peppers, sliced into thin slices, and cut in half
• 3–4 sun dried tomatoes, sliced into small slices (optional)
• Marinated mixed green, black and Kalamata olives
• Pecorino Romano, Grana Padano, Caciocavallo, Fontinella, or Provolone cheese, sliced into thin one inch pieces
• 1 cup artichoke hearts drained and roughly chopped (optional)
• 1 cup blue cheese crumbles
• 1 cup dried cranberries (optional)
• 1 cup of croutons
• 1/4 cup of red onion, cut into thin slices,
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• pinch of salt, pepper, red pepper, and oregano

Red Wine Vinaigrette (optional)

• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Instructions 

• Begin  by dicing chicken breasts in to small, bite-size pieces and saute  and cook thoroughly in 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Set aside.
• Cook  bacon according to package directions. (I prefer a softer bacon  texture, rather than crunchy for this particular salad.) Set aside.
• Tear romaine leaves off of the stalks and wash and dry (air or salad spinner).
• Chop lettuce into bite-size pieces. (I remove most of the white stalks  and discard, as this tends to add bitter flavors to the salad.)
• Chop remaining veggies and bacon in to small, bite-size pieces. 
• In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and toss either individually or as a bulk salad! (Just remember, tossing all of your salad with the dressing will make any leftovers soggy!)