Patience a must for cobb salad

By Lauren Iverson

The easiest way to make a cobb salad is to plan ahead.

Cobb salad can be a more time-consuming meal to make than simply slicing up a few vegetables. But, the flavor of this salad and toppings make it worth the time. Cobb salads include so many toppings: bacon, chicken, cheddar cheese, Gorgonzola cheese, sliced black olives, avocado, tomatoes, hardboiled eggs and lettuce. The amounts may vary depending on what those eating prefer.

Prepare everything the night before you actually serve the salad and get ready for a little bit of multi-tasking. The first part of the salad to start cooking is the chicken. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and cook for about 30 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 degrees after a half hour and bake for another 20-30 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, place a pot of water on the stove to boil the eggs. As soon as the eggs are done, place them in a bowl with ice and water. Put the eggs in the fridge overnight so the shells will peel off easier.

While the eggs are boiling, go ahead and start frying the bacon. When each slice of bacon is cooked, place it on a plate covered with a paper towel. This will help to absorb the excess grease. When the bacon and chicken are done cooking, allow them to cool off. Crumble the bacon into little pieces, and put the pieces in a plastic bag in the fridge for the next day.

Take the chicken and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Put the pieces into a bag or container and place them in the fridge for the next day.

The slicing and cutting of the vegetables should be done on the day the salad will be served. Put lettuce in a large bowl. Top the lettuce with the desired amount of shredded cheddar cheese and Gorgonzola cheese.

Grab a large cutting board and small bowl to start peeling the hardboiled eggs. It is easiest to use a metal spoon to peel the shell off the egg. The spoon is just thin enough to slip between the egg and shell to help prevent losing chunks of the egg. Discard all the peels in the small bowl and cut the eggs into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle the egg pieces onto the salad in the big bowl.

After finishing with the eggs, cut the olives into slices and sprinkle them on top of the salad. Take the avocados and tomatoes and cut them into the desired-sized pieces. Sprinkle these and the meats on top of the salad.

Serve this delicious salad for lunch or dinner with ranch dressing.