Have your BLT and eat low-cal too!

Hubby and I love BLT's and anxiously await for sweet summer tomatoes so the feast can begin.  Admittedly, one double-decker BLT sandwich apiece for supper leaves us still wanting a bit more.  Our guilt over the calories and fat (in 4-6 slices of bacon, 3 pieces of toast and 3+ TB Mayo each) was killing us--in more ways than one!!  We finally found a solution to satisfy our BLT cravings while reducing the calories and fat:  Enter the BLT salad

(drum roll)

One-third the calories, yet we're stuffed after this salad!

The BLT Salad (one serving)

Start with a serving bowl half full of greens and layer in:

Lots of chopped tomatoes

2-3 strips of fried cut-up bacon (2 gives sufficient bacon flavor to the bowl)

A little of any other fresh veggies you enjoy in a salad.  (I like green pepper, hubby likes cucumber and we both like onion.)  Just be sure not to use too much of these other veggies or you will lose the BLT flavor.

1 bread-slice amount of croutons.  I toast bread 2 times on med. setting, then cube it up and let it sit to dry more.  No need for oil!  Also, I use my own Italian herb bread (recipe file) for added flavor.

Thinned-out Mayo-type dressing.  I take Miracle Whip (because it has more tang) and add some milk to thin it to salad dressing consistency; then splash a bit of balsamic vinegar to counter the milk.  You could use a creamy commercial salad dressing; i.e. Ranch, but the Mayo-type is more authentically BLT flavor. 

Bon appe'tit (with no guilt)