International Bacon Day - Bacon and Blue Cheese Salad

How did I, the Queen of Baconville, not know that today was International Bacon Day?  To be honest, every day is a Bacon Holiday for me.  I find ways to put bacon in every meal I can possibly eat.  I haven't perfected bacon as a dessert yet (although apple and maple syrup bacon is aMAZing!) but I do have several recipes to make bacon your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

I'm going to go with one of my healthier options, a Bacon and Blue Cheese Salad. Now I know the next few sentences are going to sound a bit crazy, particularly to the UK readers as mixing flavours seems to be out of the question for you lot - but I promise it's delicious.  So here's what you need:

• Spinach although I got stuck with iceberg lettuce today - it's mildly refreshing)
• Bacon and no messing about, none of this Danish/Canadian whatever bacon. This needs to be crispy so American Streaky is the only way to go
• Red Onion, not white, red, otherwise you'll mess up the flavours
• Blue Cheese 'cause that's what I said was going in the salad
• Assorted veg if you want to make it a bit healthier, but they have to be mild in flavour so no peppers or tomatoes, I threw in some mushrooms today
• Dried cranberries yes, something sweet with cheese and meat and everything. Just do it. Or strawberries even.
• Egg - hard boiled, not scrambled. It's good for you.
• Vinaigrette - the sweeter the better. Strawberry vinaigrette does well or red wine and add some sugar - no balsamic.  This salad is a heavy dose of sweet+salty, which is probably my favourite food combination ever.

Fry the bacon (2 slices per person) in a little bit of veg oil on high heat until it's crispity good. At the same time boil a pan full of water with the egg covered in water. When the bacon is done take it out and chop it up. In a large bowl, throw in those greenery and veg things to make it healthy.  Don't forget a little bit of red onion roughly chopped. The egg is probably done by now, you can take that out and run it under cold water until it's cool - it helps to break the shell as well. Cut that up and you've got this colourful little salad happening! Throw about a kid's handful (or 2 tbsp if we're counting and stuff - we don't do that in my kitchen) of the dried cranberries in. Chop 1 tbsp of Blue Cheese and throw that on top.  Next is the dressing. If you don't have pre-made vinaigrette then separately mix 2 parts vinegar to 1 part oil (preferably Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and whisk it as fast as you can so they mix and become a little thicker. If it's too tart, pinch some sugar in the mix. Drizzle over your salad, and put the food in your face. You can thank me later.

I'd put a photo of the salad I just made, but I ate it all while writing the post.