A Different Broccoli Salad

I’m really struggling with finding a good time to blog these days!  I have a list of recipes that I need to share, and ‘m just not finding the extra time to sit down and blog.  One of these days, I”ll get it figured out, and I hope that my dear internets will forgive my sporadic-at-best posting this summer.

Last weekend we had our big family get together, and discovered one problem over the weekend-poor food planning.  Not as in, there wasn’t enough, but as in, we all brought waaaaay to much.  There was so much food, I brought almost everything back home with me that I took- and I know everyone was in the exact same boat. We’ve learned a lesson, and will plan better next year, and this week I had to get creative with a boatload of crudite, because there’s just no way we were going to get it all eaten before it went bad.  So I’ve been using vegetables everywhere I can.  I made a stir fry, using chopped peppers and celery, and adding some snap peas and greens from the garden.  I also made an un-seasonal chili, to try and use up a plethora of bell peppers and mushrooms, as well as some leftover pasta in the house.  The surprise hit of the week though came from this ridiculously simple Broccoli-Bacon Salad featured in June’s issue of Eating Well.  This used up a great deal of my broccoli, and utilized celery (which I used in place of the water chestnuts) and put on some happy faces, because it was very tasty.

I’ve had my share of broccoli salads, and what I really like about this one is that it is not dripping in dressing.  There’s just enough to coat the broccoli, and the craisins add the perfect hit of sweetness from time to time. I would be tempted to add more craisins, and throw in a handful of sunflower seeds should I make this again.  It’s definitely worth a repeat when you find yourself with an excess of broccoli.

Broccoli-Bacon Salad

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

4 cups finely chopped broccoli crowns

1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped

3 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

3 tablespoons dried cranberries

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Whisk garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, and sugar in a large bowl.  Add broccoli, water chestnuts, bacon, cranberries, and pepper.  Stir to coat with the dressing.

Makes 6 servings, 1 scant cup each. To make ahead, cover and refrigerate for one day.