As ye plant, so shall ye reap...

On my way to the green house earlier this spring to buy some annual

flowering plants
the dear husband
yelled out,
"pick me up a tomato plant"...
We gave up on a large vegetable garden years
ago, our yard is just too shady.
He seemed to have forgotten
that tomatoes need sun.
So I found a patio tomato already potted,
it even had a marigold and green pepper planted in with it.
I thought, I'll just put the pot in the sunniest spot
in our yard I can find...
The tomato was big and already had small
tomatoes setting on,
it looked good
so I bought it for the dh.
I would have taken a picture of the thing
but,
well,
let's say it doesn't look so good anymore...
the dh isn't the best at keeping it watered,
it has caught a blight,
thee marigold died
and so did the green pepper
but
hey....
we harvested enough tomatoes
last evening for
a favorite
summertime salad...

So this big tomato harvest of ours
calls for
celebration
&
to celebrate,
I
cut up a pound of raw bacon in small pieces
with kitchen shearers
and fried it nice and crisp.
I then drained the bacon on paper toweling.

I then whip up a batch of home made dressing:
2/3 cup real mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons vinegar
Stir until the sugar melts.

I then make a batch of home made croutons.
I know,
I know,
you're starting to think
Martha Stewart,
right??
No cheating here folks,
really,
they got to be home made kind,
they are B.E.S.T!
I take a small loaf of french bread and cut into small cubes (day old bread works the best).
I throw the cubes into a large zip lock bag and
drizzle light olive oil over them and shake the bag. I continue to add more oil, until the bread looks evenly coated. I then grind in some fresh pepper and sea salt. Toss in some garlic salt and about a half a package of dry Hidden Valley salad dressing mix. Toss cubes around in the bag until they are nicely coated. Lay cubes on a cookie sheet and bake in a 400 degrees oven for about 15 - 20 minutes.
Yummers...

I then chop up a half of an onion
and our days harvest of tomatoes...

Chop up a head of lettuce

and toss it all together....
you now have made BLT salad,
the best summer-time salad,
a family favorite!
(Note- must be eaten right away, isn't a salad you can keep)

And the tomatoes
in this salad???
They were D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S,
thanks to the dear husband
:-)

Note- we use this as a main course salad,
it's our meal,
period.
nothing else.
just blt salad.
We just eat and eat
and feel like a couple
of maniac rabbits
when the bowl is empty.
{sigh}

Enjoy!
Brenda