Summer Salad

A memory that I have of summer as a kid is sitting on our back porch eating supper. Yes, supper, not dinner. Casual, simple, barefoot, relaxing. The porch was screen-enclosed and we only used it in the summer. What a treat it was to eat out there and tell stories about wiffle ball games, rides on our bikes around the neighborhood, or dips in the baby pool in the yard. The table and chairs we had on the porch were something from the 1950's. You know those tables, the ones with the chrome legs and formica tops? And the chairs with the chrome bottoms and backs and plastic seats? Oh yeah, just seeing tables like that floods my brain with summer memories.

Of course, the meals we ate out there were strictly summer meals. Things like BLT sandwiches and cold tuna and shells. Complete with a glass of cold, grainy Kool-Aid and a popsicle or ice cream sandwich for dessert.

I got the recipe below from Mickey last year and never made it. When I was home yesterday with a bit of time of my hands, I had an urge to cook. (But not too much of an urge.) I thought back to those days of eating dinner on the back porch and suddenly had a taste for a BLT sandwich. Which led me to getting this recipe out (I asterisked the items I changed/substituted). I think it's from Rachel Ray since it lists "evoo". I don't really like Rachel Ray (her personality and use of abbreviations like evoo) but her recipes are usually pretty easy and pretty tasty. It was just what we needed for a summer supper. Stein and I ate ours outside on the patio.

BLT Salad
6 cups (1/2 inch) cubed French bread or other firm white bread*
cooking spray
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 T water
2 T fat-free mayonnaise
2 1/2 t sugar
2 t evoo
1/4 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
1/8 t ground red pepper
3 cups torn curly leaf lettuce*
2 cups chopped seeded tomato*
2 T thinly sliced green onions
4 bacon slices*

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Place bread cubes in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan. Lightly coat bread cubes with evoo. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until golden, stirring once.
3. Combine vinegar and next 7 ingredients(through red pepper) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add toasted bread cubes lettuce and tomato toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with onions and bacon. Serve immediately.

*Here are the changes I made to this recipe: I didn't want to use my oven (or time) for making croutons, so I bought some really good whole grain garlic and cheese croutons. I just used bagged romaine lettuce for the lettuce, and chopped cherry tomatoes (not seeded). And the bacon? 4 slices is simply not enough for Stein and me. I think I made 10-12 slices, and 8-10 of them ended up in the salad.

Enjoy!