Butter Lettuce Salad with Avocado and Hearts of Palm

I first had a version of this salad at a local restaurant with a few friends, and was reminded of how much I like hearts of palm.  They pair beautifully with avocado, and lend something altogether special to this week's salad - a couple of "decadent" ingredients all packed up and ready for healthy lunches!

YIELD: 4 quart-sized salads

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 c freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1 large avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
• kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 14 oz can hearts of palm, drained, patted dry, and sliced
• 2 heads butter lettuce, roughly torn
• 4-8 strips bacon, cooked, cooled, and crumbled
• 1/2 c walnuts, toasted and chopped 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pack the salads: add 1 tbsp each lemon juice and olive oil to each of 4 tall quart-sized containers; season with salt and pepper.  Layer the avocado, onion, hearts of palm, and butter lettuce in the jars.  Divide the walnuts and bacon crumbles evenly between 4 2-oz jars or snack-size zip-top bags for each salad.  Refrigerate until serving.
2. Enjoy your salad: invert your salad onto a plate or into a bowl.  Top with walnuts and bacon.

TIME-SAVING TIPS: Use bottled lemon juice instead of the freshly-squeezed juice.

SPECIAL DIET SWAPS: This salad is gluten-free as-is.  For a vegetarian/vegan salad, substitute tempeh bacon, your favorite prepared mock bacon product, or smoked almonds for the bacon.  For a nut-free salad, substitute sunflower seeds for the walnuts.

Food styling, photography, and infographics by Robert Campbell.