Feta Pear Salad

(This recipe was first posted in conjunction with the Meijer Ad Week of 2/5/12 - 2/11/12)

I can't see pears and bagged lettuce on sale together without thinking of this salad!  If you make this for company, be prepared to give out the recipe!

Ingredients:

Salad:
1 bag pre-washed lettuce (use any blend without extra stuff in it like carrots or radishes)
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1 ripe, fresh pear, diced into small pieces
diced red onion, to taste (I use just a 1/4 cup or so)
sprinkle of French Fried Onions
Dressing:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup mustard
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
OR use any bottled honey mustard or honey dijon dressing

Directions:
Make the dressing first:  wisk first 6 ingredients together, then add mayonnaise.  Keep in refrigerator 6-8 hours before serving to allow flavors to blend.  Mix all salad ingredients together at the last minute.  Serve with honey mustard or honey dijon dressing.

Options and Tips

• Although this salad has to be thrown together at the last minute, you can prep ahead by cooking and crumbling the bacon, and dicing the red onion.  You could even dice the pear a few hours ahead of time...just toss with a little lemon juice to prevent browning. 
• If you put the salad together too early, it will get soggy in a big hurry.  It makes a pretty small recipe, but that's OK, because the leftovers are kind of slimy! 
• The homemade honey dijon dressing recipe above is delicious, but if you're in a hurry, use a bottled version!  There are a few different varieties of prepared honey mustard or honey dijon dressings available:  Wishbone (on sale this week) only makes a "light" version, but Kraft bottles up a full-fat version.  My personal favorite is T. Marzetti, which can be found in the produce section, usually near the bagged lettuce.  It's generally a little more expensive, but there's a $1.00 off coupon available right now in the 1/29/12 Smart Source coupon insert.
• I usually get my feta cheese from Costco.  It's a screamin' deal there, but you end up with a LOT of it.  I'm not sure what the original price is on the feta cheese at Meijer, so I don't know if the BOGO at Meijer or the regular price at Costco is a better deal...but when I find out, I'll post the information!

This recipe in its original form can be found on page 58 of the Adams' Tasting Bee Cookbook.  It was submitted by Renae Baas as "Pear Gorgonzola Salad".