BLT Salad

Yes, you read that right.
BLT Salad....Bacon Lettuce Tomato Salad.
Just like the beloved BLT sandwich, but this is the salad version & it's amazing.
I don't know about you, but now that the summer months have arrived, most of our dinners consist of grilling some meat (steak, chicken, salmon, chicken apple sausages) on the BBQ and serving it with a yummy salad.
I have blogged several of our "go-to" salads (you can find them HERE on the Salads tab of my Recipe Box) but have quite a few more go-to salads that I need to blog.
This BLT Salad is one of them:

This salad is so good & so full of flavor even though there are only a few ingredients.
The bacon is the star of the show, because...hello....BACON!
Here is what you need:

- Romaine Lettuce (I used romaine lettuce from my Garden!)
- Bacon (my favorite is Hormel Thick cut)
- Tomatoes (I like red cherry & sun gold tomatoes. I am growing both varieties in my garden, but they aren't ripe yet)
- Croutons (optional)
-Avocado (optional)

This salad is super simple to make. First, I cook the bacon.
I cook my bacon on a cookie sheet in the oven.

So much easier than cooking it in a pan!
I line my cookie sheet with parchment paper.

I bake my bacon at 425 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.
Every oven is different. I check mine at 10 minutes & cook it longer if it isn't as crispy as I like it.

Yum. Bacon.

You will need to save some of the bacon drippings for the dressing.
I let the bacon cool for about 10 minutes before I chop it up:

While your bacon is cooking, I prep the salad.
This salad is super easy to make.

Chop the tomatoes in half:Then I make the dressing.
Here is what you need for the salad dressing:

- 1/4 cup of Mayo
-1/4 cup of Sour Cream
- 2 T Red Wine Vinegar
-1 t ground black pepper
- Fresh Basil, chopped finely
-2 T of bacon drippings/grease

I chop up the fresh basil pretty fine.
(Hint for chopping basil: roll it in a ball & then dice it up! Super easy!)

Add the mayo, sour cream, pepper, red wine vinegar & bacon drippings to a mason jar (or other container)

I put the lid on the mason jar & shake it up! If you want a thinner consistency, add a splash of milk (or a splash of lemon juice):

Assemble your salad....lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, croutons, avocado...so pretty!

Don't add the dressing until you are ready to serve your salad! A little dressing goes a LONG way.

I like my salads to be *slightly* coated. The bacon gives this salad so much flavor, so you don't need a lot of dressing.  If you don't feel like making your own dressing, you could add store bought dressing (like ranch). I prefer homemade dressings because they just taste fresher, especially when the salads are full of fresh ingredients!

Disclosure: This post was written as part of my participation in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. While Hormel Foods provides me material and necessary resources to complete various activities, the thoughts and statements in this post are my own.

 I sometimes eat this for lunch because it is so delicious!
Enjoy!

Birthday Weekend Fun!

We had a jam packed weekend!

The end of the school year is always crazy busy & this weekend was no exception!

Plus, it was my birthday, so that added to the weekend festivities!

Saturday morning started out with the girls Swim Meet, it was Time Trials....our first meet of the year!

The girls did a great job, they have so much more confidence this year. I am really proud of them!

I had to leave the swim meet early because I was headed to Napa for a baby shower for my friend Brittany!

Brittany was one of my youth group girls. When Kevin and I first got married, I worked at our church as the Assistant Director of Student Ministries while I got my teaching credential. I posted about her wedding {HERE}. She is expecting a baby boy at the end of July!
The shower was in Napa at a family friends home & it was gorgeous!

The shower was a wine tasting shower, so each dish was paired with a different wine.
Don't worry, the wine tasting was for the guests, not the Mama to be :)

The food & wine were delicious! Then it was time for cake!

The views from the house are amazing! I love Napa!

Our favors were a bottle of wine...love it!

After the shower, I met up with Kevin & the girls at their end of the year Father Daughter Adventure Guides pool party. I was in charge of one of the desserts, so the girls requested funfetti cupcakes :)

 

After the pool party, we headed to our friend Tara's 40th birthday party!

A bunch of the kids were playing street hockey at the party & Luke picked up a stick and started playing with them. The girls would never have done that when they were 2. Boys are so different. Love it!

After Tara's party, we dropped the kids off at the in laws because we had dinner plans with some of our best friends for my birthday. One of my favorite things to do is ride our cruisers downtown for dinner.
The girls made me a birthday sign for our garage :)

I got my cruiser for Christmas 2.5 years ago. My favorite color is pink, so I wanted a pink cruiser. I love my bike, her name is Bubble Gum :)
Me & Jackie riding our bikes on the trail to dinner:

After dinner we all headed to the bar that has dualing pianos. SO much fun!!

We go to this place for a lot of our friends birthdays, it is always a good time.

Because it was my birthday, I was called on stage & had to do the hokey pokey.

It was a FUN birthday, but also so busy! There was no down time, we went from one party to the next!
So, on Sunday, we decided to have a mellow day & celebrate my birthday with family.

Kevin & the kids surprised me with roses, coffee & donuts in bed:

Later that afternoon, I went and got a pedicure. It was nice to sit and read for an hour & get my toes done :)

It was a great (and busy!) birthday weekend!

I have a feeling 36 is going to be a good year!

Show & Tell Tuesday {When I Grow Up}

Today, I'm linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals for "Show & Tell Tuesday"

The question today is "What did you want to be when you grow up?"

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to be two things when I grew up: a mom and a teacher.
I remember playing "school" with my dolls and stuffed animals.
I would line them up and have class each day when my older sister was at school and I was at home.
{Photo of me at age 4 playing "school" with my dolls and stuffed animals}

Being a teacher runs deep in my family.
My mom got her teaching credential.
I have 4 aunts. All 4 of them are teachers (and are still teaching to this day!).
I have 3 cousins who are teachers (and my cousin's wife is a teacher)

And, of course, my younger sister is also a teacher.
So, as you can see, teacher blood runs thick in my family.

Growing up, I was always eager for school to start up.
I loved going back-to-school shopping for new supplies and clothes.
The night before the first day of school was like the night before Christmas.
I couldn't wait to wear my first-day-of-school outfit and find out who was in my class and what my teachers were like. I couldn't wait to fill in my planner and use my fresh notebooks and new pens.

I was fortunate to live in an area that has really good schools, and I had some amazing teachers growing up. The teacher that stands out to me the most as influencing my decision to become a teacher was my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Calvert.

As a 5th grader, I was terrified of Mrs. Calvert. I had her for reading and she was strict and hard. She challenged me and often told me I wasn't doing my best work...because she knew I could do better. I knew that I DID NOT want her in 6th grade. The day before 6th grade started, my best friend (and neighbor) AK and I went down to the school to find out who our teachers were. It was a hot day in August and we arrived at the school 10 minutes before the class lists went up. I was praying that AK and I would get the same teacher, because we had never been in the same class together. And I was praying I didn't get Mrs. Calvert. We were waiting by the office and it was 5 minutes until the list was going to be put up. The office door opened and out walked Mrs. Calvert.
She looked at me and said, "I know who your 6th grade teacher is," and then she winked at me.
I was filled with despair. I knew I was in Mrs. Calvert's class.
When the list went up, my fears were confirmed.
And my best friend AK was in a different class.
I had tears in my eyes as I walked home. I was officially dreading 6th grade.

But, it turned out to be one of the best years ever.
Mrs. Calvert was an AMAZING teacher.
She made me work hard. She challenged me and made me realize that I can be better than average, I can be great. It would take hard work and effort, but she made me realize I could do anything I wanted to do if I put my heart toward it. I grew so much that year and I owe a lot of it to Mrs. Calvert. On the last day of school, I had tears in my eyes, just like I had 9 months earlier.
But instead of crying because Mrs. Calvert was going to be my teacher, I was crying because Mrs. Calvert wouldn't be my teacher anymore.
That year confirmed that not only did I want to be a teacher, I wanted to be a teacher like Mrs. Calvert, who makes a difference in students' lives.

I continued to keep in touch with Mrs. Calvert. I would go by her classroom when I was in middle school and high school and let her know how I was doing. She came to my high school graduation and let me know how proud she was of me for getting a soccer scholarship. When I was off at college, I would write her letters as I was going through my teaching credential. I thanked her for being such an inspiration to me. The year before I finished my teaching credential, Mrs. Calvert retired because she was battling cancer. Two years later, I was hired at the same school that Mrs. Calvert had taught at.

I called her on my first day of teaching in 2004 and let her know where I was working and that I would have loved to teach alongside her. I thanked her again for being such a great teacher and said that I hoped I would have an impact on students like she did. It was a brief conversation because Mrs. Calvert was losing her battle to cancer. She ended up passing away in 2006.

 

Next week, I will finish my 11th year of teaching (!!!!)

I have taught 7th grade math at the same school all 11 years.

After Kate was born in 2007, I stopped teaching full time.

I kept teaching, but part time. I teach every morning & am done by noon each day.

It is the best of both worlds.

I get to teach in the morning, but I get to be with my kids also & pick them up from school each day.

I love that I am able to volunteer in the girls classrooms in the afternoons a few times each month.

I am thankful that both principals that I have had are really supportive and allow me to just teach the first 4 periods. (And, the beauty of teaching middle school is that you don't have to job share!)

I am also extremely thankful for my mom & mother in law who watch Luke in the mornings while I teach. (They have been doing this since Kate was born. My mom watches 3 days & Kevin's mom does the other 2 days) I know that I am so lucky to have a situation like this and that my kids didn't have to go to daycare while I am at school.

Even though it can be hard being a (part-time) working mom and figuring out the balance, I do feel called to be a teacher. I know I am at my job for a reason.

The middle school years can be rough for some kids, but I love teaching middle school and I can't imagine teaching any other age! Middle School rocks :)

I became a teacher because I was inspired from teachers that I had. 

My hope is that I can make a difference in my students lives as well!

To all my readers out there who are teachers, keep doing what you are doing & keep making a difference. What you do for your students each day matters.

And also....hang in there....it's almost summer! 

8 days left for us!

What did you want to be when you grew up? 

And, are you doing that?