Cobb Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

We had this Cobb Salad for dinner tonight, and it was absolutely delicious. I was actually surprised at how delicious it was because as I’ve said before…I am not much of a “salad” person. You will almost never catch me ordering a salad as my meal at any restaurant, but if I knew they served this recipe I would definitely think again.

And, to top things off, my two daughters (ages 3 and 6) ate it for dinner too! Well…for the most part. They don’t like tomatoes that much, and they certainly wouldn’t touch “stinky” cheese with a 10-foot pole. But we worked around those issues by making the tomatoes easy-to-avoid and putting the dressing on the side, and they ate just about everything else. I really hate that I never even thought to offer my girls a salad until recently. I just assumed that because they were kids they would not eat a salad…that’s “adult” food after all! I guess I can just blame the same influences that at one time made me believe kids could only really enjoy kid food like chicken nuggets, macaroni, and pizza. Don’t get me wrong, my kids absolutely love those foods too (and some kids truly won’t eat anything else), but with a little patience and persistence my girls have slowly started to accept a surprising variety of other foods as well. And since I am such a foodie…nothing could make me happier!!

Also, this is definitely one of those recipes where you can easily get creative. If you have everything on hand except for the pear, then just skip it. If you aren’t a fan of bacon you can add some ham or leftover chicken or forget the meat all together and make it a vegetarian dish. If you don’t like blue cheese then don’t be afraid to make a substitution. One of the greatest lessons I learned during our “100 Days of Real Food on Budget” pledge was to get creative with the ingredients you have on hand (or skip over required ingredients in a recipe) rather than running out to spend even more money on food. So have fun with it and enjoy!

Cobb Salad

Course: Salad

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4

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Ingredients

• 1 head lettuce any variety
• 8 slices bacon
• 3 eggs hardboiled and peeled
• 2 avocados
• 2 tomatoes or equivalent amount of cherry tomatoes
• 1 pear ripe

Instructions

1. Set a frying pan over medium heat and fry the bacon until crisp (3 - 5 minutes on each side).
2. While the bacon is cooking, dice the boiled egg, avocados, tomatoes, and pear.
3. Chop and arrange the lettuce on a large platter.
4. Drain the bacon on paper towels. When it is cool enough to handle, dice into small pieces.
5. Arrange the toppings in rows over the lettuce.
6. Serve with a side of homemade blue cheese dressing.

Recipe Notes

* For a dairy-free salad choose a different dressing.
We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.

Click here for the blue cheese dressing recipe.