Chopped Salad w. Orange Citrus Dressing

Do you ever have a recipe planned out, and then you think you have everything to make it but actually you have almost nothing to make it so you just improvise? Well, I had every intention of making this tasty chopped salad last week, and for company no less!  But when it came time to make it, I was actually missing some of the ingredients.  So you know what?  I improvised!  And my guests said it turned out pretty darn good. And what goes better with a salad than a crusty piece of bread? So, I am also including a simple recipe for what I am deeming 'Rosemary Oven Bread' below.

Servings: 4
Serving Size: 1/4 of the salad recipe, 1 slice of bread and about 1 T dressing (for an oil based dressing this is plenty of flavor)
     Salad: 6pp
     Dressing: 1pp
     Bread: 4pp
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5-7 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:
Salad

2 oz of bacon, cooked crispy making it easily crumble. OR you can buy pre-cooked bacon, which in my opinion is delicious

16 oz mixed greens

1/4 cup almond slivers
1/2 cup dried cranberries 

2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Dressing 

1 1/2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T freshly squeezed orange juice
1 t Dijon mustard 

Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 T olive oil

Rosemary Oven Bread

8 oz french bread, cut into 1.5 oz long flat pieces (see photo)

4 t olive oil

Rosemary to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Pour 4 t of olive oil in a small bowl.  Using a silicone brush, slightly brush each piece of french bread evenly with olive oil. Sprinkle with dried rosemary to taste.  Place prepared bread in your warm oven for 5-7 minutes.  Watch closely as oven temperatures very.

Mix all salad ingredients in a large pretty bowl, layering, with lettuce on the bottom. Whisk together all dressing ingredients.  Slowly drizzle dressing over salad and toss gently with a tongs until salad is coated.

Tip:

If you are making this salad ahead of time, don't add the dressing until right before you serve it.  This will prevent any sogginess.  You could easily divide the serving size into 8 for smaller portions and half the pp!

XOXO - Katie