Bacon Ranch Salad. I bet I had you at ‘bacon.’ Need I say more?
Well, duh, yes. It’s ME after all.
While I will get to this Layered Bacon Ranch Salad – a delicious and easy summer salad – in just a mo’, I thought you’d all like to know that in my quest to live to 100, I have reached another milestone. Yesterday was my 46th birthday 🙂 As far as birthdays go, it was tops. Since we’re in a heat wave here around Boston, we headed to Rockport for a beach day. Refreshingly cool water, great waves, $10 parking, ice cream around the corner, and a good book — that (and my family) is all I needed for a perfect day!
I would have a ton of pictures to share, but my phone’s battery was fairly tapped out from all the calls, FB posts, messages, and texts coming in all day (for which I am so grateful!). But here’s a brief visual tour of my favorite day of the year:
Hot sand, a good book (Sue Miller, For Love) and a 1970’s diet soda – I know, I know, save your breath 🙂
A true testament to motherly love —
my own momma turned on her oven, in this heat, to make me a beautiful cake. You’re the best, Mum!
Does anybody else put a lucky dime in the birthday cake? Guess who found it in their piece? 1967 baby! 
Amazing handmade card and volleyball themed scrapbook pages from my dear friend, Dee. 
Gorgeous purple pendant from my sweet Casey
Chilling at the end of the day, watching Harry Potter with my kiddos. 
Now, before the Summer runs off and crashes wildly into September (which it tends to do as soon as my birthday hits) I had to share this great twist on salad.
Do you have the Iceberg vs. “real lettuce” debate in your house? We did. For a long time. I used to buy Iceberg for them, and “real lettuce” for me. What a pain. Then I simply stopped buying Iceberg and held my breath. What? No mutiny? Fab. As it turns out, Casey loves salads, and the greener the better. Zach got used to the switch easily. Georgia? She loves Iceberg, but the other lettuce is “okay” which is quite a concession for her. However, since they all really love the crunch and mild flavor of the lamest of lettuces, I caved and crafted this layered salad that includes both the kid-pleasing crunch of Iceberg, as well as a layer of darker greens.
Layers of crunchy summer veggies, topped with Ranch, eggs, bacon and cucumbers.
It’s crisp and cold, and sure to please everyone around the table. It’s easy to assemble, pretty to look at, and at our table, acceptable to 4 out of 5 kids, not to mention both adults. WIN!
Just looks at those layers – like a food rainbow!
HINT: Feel free to assemble all the cold veggies and layer them ahead of time. But I recommend adding the ranch dressing, eggs, cukes, and bacon just before serving, so that the greens don’t get soggy. That said, we did eat the leftovers the next day, and it was still quite good!
Layered Bacon Ranch Salad
Serves 8
Cook time (eggs/bacon): ~20 minutes Prep time: 15 minutes
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 and 1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted (or fresh if you have them)
1/2 cup grated carrot (~2 medium carrots)
2 cups spring mix greens
2 cups chopped iceberg lettuce
1 cup light Ranch dressing
cucumber slices
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into wedges
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
In a 2-quart glass casserole or other see-through bowl, layer the peppers first, followed by peas, carrots, spring mix, and iceberg lettuce. Chill this part of the salad if you are not serving it right away. Just before serving, smooth the Ranch dressing evenly over the top later. Arrange cucumber and eggs in alternating pattern. Sprinkle bacon pieces around or in the center.
ENJOY!!
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