BLT Pasta Salad

A pasta salad that's perfect for your 4th of July weekend entertaining. Who doesn't love a classic BLT! Closetcooking.com was the starting point for this recipe, as I put my own spin on it. The ingredients below are enough for four servings, but you can easily increase them to serve more. A word of caution: add diced avocados to the salad just before serving to keep them fresh and prevent browning. The salad can stand alone as a meal or be served as a side dish or an accompaniment to a BBQ or grilled entree. A prepared Lite Ranch or Lite Caesar dressing works well for this salad. Fruit and cornbread were the perfect pairings for this salad.   

Salad Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried small pasta (use your favorite kind). I used bowtie pasta. 
• 5 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 cups shredded Romaine lettuce 
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup diced cucumbers
• 1/3-1/2 cup diced red onions
• 1 avocado, diced
• Optional croutons and grated Parmesan cheese

Pasta Salad Directions:

• Cook pasta until al dente, drain, and rinse.
• Cook bacon and drain on a lined paper towel plate.
• Shred the Romaine.
• Dice tomatoes, red onions, and cucumbers. 
• Toss the salad ingredients with dressing and refrigerate to chill before serving.
• Top with diced avocados and croutons.