DIY Recipe: Broccoli Salad

Lately, I've been into trying out new recipes and I wonder if it has anything to do with Spring. I love how it is still daylight by the time I get home from work and it makes me want to be productive. My goal this spring is to incorporate veggies into my everyday meals. I definitely do not get enough of those things called vegetables.This isn't really a diet in terms of portion control or anything because I know for a FACT that I have no self control; this is evident by the fact that I ate more than half of those Magic in the Middle Cookies I made. So the least I can do is to introduce myself to something good in my food (and continue to eat a lot of it).

So this time I made a Broccoli Salad; it has greens and it has BACON. How can that not be a winning combination for my new goal?

BROCCOLI SALAD

SERVINGS: ~5   PREP TIME: ~30-45 MIN

INGREDIENTS:

3 strips of bacon

1 head of broccoli 

1/4 of a purple onion 

2/3 C candied walnuts (you can buy this prepackaged, or make them yourself)

1/4 C raisins 

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:

1/2 C of mayonnaise

1 TB white wine vinegar

2 TB sugar

2 tsp honey

CANDIED WALNUTS INGREDIENTS:

2/3 C of walnuts

2 TB honey

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp sugar

PREP DIRECTIONS:

1, Cook bacon and chop into small pieces.

2. Cut broccoli into florets

3. Dice the onion (as small as possible)

DRESSING DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix mayonnaise, white vinegar, sugar and honey together until smooth.

CANDIED WALNUTS DIRECTIONS:

1. Take 2/3 C of walnuts and toast in a pan on medium-low heat.

2. When you begin to get a fragrant smell from toasting the walnuts, add 2 TB honey, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. 

3. Turn off the heat and add the 2 tsp of granulated sugar.

SALAD DIRECTIONS:

1. Add broccoli, bacon, onion in a bowl. 

2. Add dressing and mix with other ingredients in the bowl.

3. Top with walnuts and raisins. (You can add this to the bowl in step 1... but if I was serving this to others I would let the guests add these because sometimes people aren't a fan of raisins or walnuts). 

4. Refrigerate it or eat it!

This salad required more prep time than a usual salad, but it was pretty delicious. The salad tastes way better if you let it marinade in the fridge for a little. But as usual, I have no self control and ate it right away and it tasted good. I got battle scars from making this salad.. I burned myself cooking the bacon... so the taste made up for my burns. Totally worth it. Anything for bacon.