Stuffed Tomato Salad - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 slices bacon
3 tablespoons light mayonnaise
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 cup celery, diced
2 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups 2% fat cottage cheese
4 large tomatoes, freshly harvested, vine ripened
salt and pepper (I like a touch of cayenne pepper)
romaine lettuce leaf (inside leaves)

Preparation

Cook bacon until crisp; drain, crumble bacon and set aside.
In a bowl combine mayonnaise, vinegar, basil, crisp bacon and a dash of cayenne pepper.
In another bowl, stir together celery, green onion and cottage cheese.
Add bacon mixture.
Cover and let stand for one hour in refrigerator.
Line four salad plates with romaine lettuce leaves.
Cut stem ends from tomatoes.
Place tomatoes cut sides down, on lettuce leaves.
Cut each tomato into sixths to within 1 inch of the bottom, being careful not to cut through.
Carefully spread out sections, forming a flower.
Sprinkle with salt.
Fill each with an equal amount of cheese mixture.