Autumn Chopped Salad

Tonight I made this yummy salad I had seen on Pinterest.  The recipe comes from Madison and you can find the recipe here on her blog, Espresso and Cream Blog.  It was chopped full of juicy pears, sweet tart dried cranberries, crunchy pecans, salty bacon, and the tang of feta. The dressing was poppy seed and balsamic vinaigrette.  I don't really like the sweetness of poppy seed dressing but adding the vinaigrette really cut through the sweet and made a perfect dressing for this salad.  When pears aren't in season I'm thinking a juicy apple will work too.

Ingredients
*6 to 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
*2 medium pears, chopped
*1 cup dried cranberries
*1 cup chopped pecans
*8 slices thick-cut bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled
*4 to 6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
*Poppy seed Salad Dressing (I like T. Marzetti)
*Balsamic Vinaigrette (I like Newman’s Own Light Balsamic Vinaigrette)

Instructions
*On a large platter, combine the lettuce, pears, cranberries, pecans, bacon and feta cheese. Drizzle generously with poppy seed dressing, followed by some of the balsamic vinaigrette. (I would estimate that I used about a cup of dressing: 70 percent poppy seed dressing and 30 percent balsamic vinaigrette) If you prefer your salad to have more dressing, feel free to experiment with the combination.

Happy Cooking!