Hubby's favorite caesar's salad

Hubby likes caesar's salads, especially in hot summer days. Basically, he likes romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese, carrots, and the white lightly sweet and sour dressing. So I try making something like that for him. After his first mouthful, he simply put his thumb up, speechless. The charm in this salad lies in the small amount of pineapple and dried cranberries, along with a little walnuts, and some freshly toasted croutons.

Recipe: Caesar salad (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup of fresh croutons from about 2 thin slices of French bread or fried bread
- 4 cups of 1"-cut romaine and escarole lettuces
- 1 small carrot, shredded very thinly
- 1 slice of pineapple, cut to 1/4" wedges
- 1 TB of pineapple juice
- 1 TB dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup walnut pieces
- dash of pepper
- dash of celery seeds
- 1/3 cup (or two generous scoops) or miracle whip

Procedure:
1. To prepare fresh croutons, spread a thin layer of butter on staled French bread, then cut into 1" cubes. Bake at 350 F for just a few minutes. Watch carefully and turn heat off once the crumbs are golden. For more uniformly baked croutons, trim off crust and bake separately, because crust generally browns faster than the crumb. Croutons made from crust can taste just as good as from crumb as long as they are not over baked. If fried bread is used, then slice it while frozen, because fried bread tends to be soft.
2. Mix all the vegetables, fruits and nuts together. Shake well. Add miracle whip. Then sprinkle pepper and celery seeds. Lastly, sprinkle croutons on top just before serving.

Observations:
For a good salad, the following points are noted:
1. Use equal amount of green leaves and white stems from the lettuce. If possible, use the center part of each lettuce leaf because it has both green and white parts, and is both crispy and flavorful.
2. The ratio of lettuce to carrot is about 4 large leaves to 1 small carrot.
3. Carrot needs to be finely shredded because it's hard.
4. Use flavorful ingredients, such as pineapple, cranberries, walnuts, in small portions. About 1-2 TB of each ingredients will be good, because they are very flavorful.
5. Drain all water from the vegetables before mixing the salad.
6. Use sufficient miracle whip to dress the vegetables thoroughly. Miracle whip is a thick dressing. This helps keep the salad thick.
7. Do not add the crouton to the dressed salad until it's time to eat.

This is such an excellent salad, hubby wants to have it all to himself!