This salad is the most Midwestern thing I've ever put on this blog.

I spend a lot of time exploring recipes from India and Mexico and all over the world, but sometimes I just want to eat something, well, American. Midwestern, specifically.

Midwesterners are notorious for putting ranch dressing on everything. I'm not above it up here in Minnesota. I totally order a side of ranch with my fries. I like to dunk my pizza crust in it, too. (Don't even start with the judgement—it's amazing.)

In my always-on quest to put more salad in my body, I recently came across the most amazing brand of real-food dressings—Tessemae's. I swear this post isn't sponsored by Tessemae's... I just genuinely think their creamy ranch dressing is fantastic (not just paleo-fantastic, normal-fantastic).

Using this newly discovered dressing, I decided to create the most classic of classics with the holy trinity of Midwestern ingredients: chicken, bacon and ranch. 

This easy, un-fancy salad is easy to prep and convenient to pack for a not-sad desk lunch. (And if you don't have any Tessemae's, I have a scratch suggestion, too!)

Chicken-Bacon-Ranch Spinach Salad

gluten-free, paleo, whole30-friendly recipe | serves 2

Ingredients

• ~2 cups cooked chicken breast, diced (~2 chicken breasts)
• 3 T Tessamae's Creamy Ranch Dressing (substitution below!)
• 3+ cups fresh spinach chiffonade (i.e. chopped)
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• ~1/2 cup bacon, chopped
• 4 T fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped finely
• optional: 2 T fresh dill, chopped

Instructions

1. Put everything into a big bowl and toss it together. 
2. Eat it.

Tips

• If you don't have Tessemae's dressing handy, use another ranch dressing you like. Or you can make your own paleo ranch dressing if you really want to get into it. Mix up some mayo (or buy some) and then combine it apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, dried dill, dried parsley and some salt and pepper (add a splash or two of cold water if it's too thick). It's easy and breezy, but you'll just want to keep tasting and adjusting the seasonings until you're happy with it.
• If you're packing work lunches, leave the dressing until you're ready to eat. Alternatively, romaine will hold up better overnight if you really want to dress it up beforehand.